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Title: Starfish by Peter Watts ISBN: 0-8125-7585-7 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 15 February, 2000 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.45 (31 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating main female character & supporting cast.
Comment: I admit it. I pulled it off the shelf based on the cover art. What's under the cover is a fantastic read, filled with characters that are twisted, but somehow sympathetic. They are the unwanted of society, doing a job no one else wants. But, what to do with them once the job is over....
This book explores the characters that mind the underwater rift, a big vent in the deep sea. They have all been modified to live and work under the intense pressure of the ocean. With time, some of them feel more comfortable in the cool embrace of the water than with their own kind, with one even "going native."
Lenie Clarke is the main protaganist, and she is likable, despite her many faults. You just feel for her when she's lying on the ocean floor, falling asleep alone in the dark rather than going back to the dismal station environment. No one in the "Company" anticipated the profound impact this environment would have on these outcasts from society.
It's really a fast read with compelling dialogue and motivations. An excellent read. Take it to a beach or poolside. It works well next to water. :)
Rating: 4
Summary: Candy for the Mind
Comment: This is the most enjoyable sci-fi book I have read in the last ten years. I like my SF hard, with exciting stories based on solid science. This book has a few weak pillars, but on the whole it's solidly constructed. It's a wonderful romp through such great subjects as deep-sea exploration, deep-seated pscyhological trauma, the evolution of life, frontiers of artificial life and AI, and the future of the Internet. All of it told in the context of believable characters and compelling events.
Starfish is a first book, and it shows. The viewpoint shifts in some strange ways. The story-telling is heavy handed, with the author frequently telling when he should be showing. The book loses focus toward the end, and the finale is pure Buck Rogers -- you ain't seen nothing yet, and please make a down payment on the sequel now in progress.
But these faults are easily compensated by the intellectual delight and compelling drama of this book. Watts is clearly a gifted writer, and I for one will willing plunk down my dollars for his future books. I just *know* he's got five stars in him!
Rating: 4
Summary: Realistic near-future sci-fi
Comment: The potential reader should have already gathered from the other reviews that this is not the book for you if you want some feel-good escapist fiction.
In case you haven't, let me repeat the point. _Starfish_ is a lot of things, but uplifting isn't one of them. It's a disturbing realistic look that plays on the notion of what we reap when we create survivors. Someone said here that the book features a world where criminals are sent to the bottom of the sea to work-- but the criminality of the people is incidental. The conceit of the book is that all of these people are survivors of horrific abuse, and as such have developed the ability to live in environments that are less than nurturing. In the end, that ability to survive is exactly what works against the government that can no longer control its project.
What's good about the book?
The diction is crisp and the writing style is clean and biting. The characters and politics underwater are well-formed and believable. It avoids unnecessary drama while still keeping the reader's interest.
Whý not five stars, then?
The plotting (particularly around Behemoth) feels a little bit like a first novel. I was much less interested in the Great Threat To Humanity than I was in the lesser issues. I'd also argue that it is hard to keep unrelenting bleakness from feeling a bit flat at times-- a little bit of sweetness by way of contrast now and again would have gone a long way.
Despite any reservations, I'll definitely read the next book in the series & will look forward to doing so.
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Title: Maelstrom by Peter Watts ISBN: 0812566793 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 18 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds ISBN: 0441009425 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: 28 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson ISBN: 0812545249 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 17 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan ISBN: 0345457684 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Ventus by Karl Schroeder ISBN: 0812576357 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 19 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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