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ayeheartbooks's review
1.0
I could only make myself suffer though one-third of this book before I quit an threw it on the ground (something I have never done before to a book).
The characters are really flat in this book. I couldn't even imagine faces or bodies for them because there was no character development that would give my mind an idea of how to shape them. For instance, the only thing I know about one of the two pilots of the spaceship is that Martin (the main character) is nervous around her because she is pretty. That's it. No descriptions about what she looks like, why he thinks she's pretty, is she intelligent, is she strong, or fast, or has interests in anything? Nope! No characteristics.
Oh, and the only thing we know that Martin actually likes is programming and code. There are so many passages where Martin has a hard-on for programmers, constantly thinking things like "I really must congratulate these programmers for doing such a thorough job."
But, the thing that really did it in for me was the really really slow descriptions. For heavens sake, the author spent SEVERAL pages describing the walk from Martin's chambers to the chambers of one of his crew members.
I just couldn't stand the extremely wordy snails pace.
The characters are really flat in this book. I couldn't even imagine faces or bodies for them because there was no character development that would give my mind an idea of how to shape them. For instance, the only thing I know about one of the two pilots of the spaceship is that Martin (the main character) is nervous around her because she is pretty. That's it. No descriptions about what she looks like, why he thinks she's pretty, is she intelligent, is she strong, or fast, or has interests in anything? Nope! No characteristics.
Oh, and the only thing we know that Martin actually likes is programming and code. There are so many passages where Martin has a hard-on for programmers, constantly thinking things like "I really must congratulate these programmers for doing such a thorough job."
But, the thing that really did it in for me was the really really slow descriptions. For heavens sake, the author spent SEVERAL pages describing the walk from Martin's chambers to the chambers of one of his crew members.
I just couldn't stand the extremely wordy snails pace.
miss_annasita's review against another edition
2.0
Ich mag Hard-Science-Fiction, wirklich. Besonders als Wissenschaftlerin mag ich es wirklich gerne, wenn sich intensiv Gedanken dazu gemacht werden, warum etwas wie passiert und möglich ist. Ich kann auch wirklich anerkennen, welches Wissen und Recherche in das Buch geflossen sein müssen.
Aber: Das heißt NICHT, dass eine Geschichte deswegen rein in TELL erzählt werden muss und die Charaktere einfach nur weitere "Fakten" sind. Ich konnte keinerlei Bezug zu den Leuten aufbauen, konnte ihre Handlungen nicht nachvollziehen und sie bis über die Hälfte des Buchs noch nicht einmal wirklich auseinanderhalten. Die Hintergrunderzählung hilft dabei auch gar nichts und trägt (zumindest für den ersten Band) rein gar nichts zur Geschichte bei, verlängert diese nur.
Klar, natürlich passieren auf der Reise immer wieder unvorhergesehene Sachen - und natürlich lösen sie diese auch - aber es KÜMMERT MICH NICHT. Und das finde ich schade. Manchmal werden auch einfach irrsinnige Zeitsprünge gemacht und gesagt "Ja, die haben sich das so und so gedacht, und so haben sie das Problem dann auch gelöst". Äh ja, schön.
Die Geschichte endet dann auch relativ unspektakulär. Ich weiß mittlerweile zwar, dass es einen zweiten Band gibt, aber eigentlich blieben für mich nach Band 1 auch keinerlei Fragen offen, die als solche deutlich gemacht worden wären ;) oder mich interessieren.
Band 2 steht daher definitiv nicht auf meiner Lese- beziehungsweise Hörbuchliste.
Aber: Das heißt NICHT, dass eine Geschichte deswegen rein in TELL erzählt werden muss und die Charaktere einfach nur weitere "Fakten" sind. Ich konnte keinerlei Bezug zu den Leuten aufbauen, konnte ihre Handlungen nicht nachvollziehen und sie bis über die Hälfte des Buchs noch nicht einmal wirklich auseinanderhalten. Die Hintergrunderzählung hilft dabei auch gar nichts und trägt (zumindest für den ersten Band) rein gar nichts zur Geschichte bei, verlängert diese nur.
Klar, natürlich passieren auf der Reise immer wieder unvorhergesehene Sachen - und natürlich lösen sie diese auch - aber es KÜMMERT MICH NICHT. Und das finde ich schade. Manchmal werden auch einfach irrsinnige Zeitsprünge gemacht und gesagt "Ja, die haben sich das so und so gedacht, und so haben sie das Problem dann auch gelöst". Äh ja, schön.
Die Geschichte endet dann auch relativ unspektakulär. Ich weiß mittlerweile zwar, dass es einen zweiten Band gibt, aber eigentlich blieben für mich nach Band 1 auch keinerlei Fragen offen, die als solche deutlich gemacht worden wären ;) oder mich interessieren.
Band 2 steht daher definitiv nicht auf meiner Lese- beziehungsweise Hörbuchliste.
enno's review
I'm never going to finish this. The bad writing was taking me out of the story several times per page.
justaguy's review
2.0
Not so much hard-science
I like hard science but I’m sorry to say this book isn’t one of them. Hear me out, many reviews saying differently that’s fine. For me, hard science means well-meaning knowledge and a near-realism plot. Seems like this story plot is too rush and filled With science jargon. The truth is that this story has too many holes especially with space stuff, challenges, situations, and circumstances with discovery. This one is a no-go for me.
I like hard science but I’m sorry to say this book isn’t one of them. Hear me out, many reviews saying differently that’s fine. For me, hard science means well-meaning knowledge and a near-realism plot. Seems like this story plot is too rush and filled With science jargon. The truth is that this story has too many holes especially with space stuff, challenges, situations, and circumstances with discovery. This one is a no-go for me.
gustavoberman's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty good. Some strange writing, I guess something is lost in the translation. Will continue with the next one.
tob's review against another edition
5.0
Toller Schreibstil, interessante Geschichte, Charaktere vielleicht etwas wenig tiefgründig, viel interessantes Hintergrundwissen - was man auch überlesen kann wenn es zu speziell wird.
Ich fand es richtig gut. Wer "realistische" science fiction mag muss das Buch lesen.
Vielen Dank für die Geschichte.
Ich fand es richtig gut. Wer "realistische" science fiction mag muss das Buch lesen.
Vielen Dank für die Geschichte.
jagoda_cieslik's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
txaggie2016's review
5.0
Wow.
I haven't been as thoroughly engrossed in a novel as I was with this in a while. I'll agree that the descriptive nature of the author's writing is sometimes a bit much sometimes but it's hardly a net negative - the information only adds to the story.
I found myself deeply fascinated with the world the author predicts for us. Being hard sci-fi, this is more of an extrapolation of where we could go than a fantasy - and I think everything about the science described in this book is realistic. It actually makes me hopeful for our future!
SPOILER ALERT PAST THIS POINT
Of course, the idea of a super-cellular intelligence on Enceladus seems to be purely fantastical - but is it? If nothing else, it's an interesting thought experiment. I'm certainly interested enough to check out the next book in the series.
I haven't been as thoroughly engrossed in a novel as I was with this in a while. I'll agree that the descriptive nature of the author's writing is sometimes a bit much sometimes but it's hardly a net negative - the information only adds to the story.
I found myself deeply fascinated with the world the author predicts for us. Being hard sci-fi, this is more of an extrapolation of where we could go than a fantasy - and I think everything about the science described in this book is realistic. It actually makes me hopeful for our future!
SPOILER ALERT PAST THIS POINT
Of course, the idea of a super-cellular intelligence on Enceladus seems to be purely fantastical - but is it? If nothing else, it's an interesting thought experiment. I'm certainly interested enough to check out the next book in the series.
mistaekn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
(may contain spoilers)
Don't know how to feel about this book. I started reading it expecting a heavy focus on plot and instead got a lot of character stories that i didn't think were all that necessary. Normally I prefer character-driven stories over plot; I enjoy stories that are more character-studies and explore the characters flaws and strenghts, their relationships and everything that makes them part of the main-cast. Yet i didn't like any of the characters in this book.
They're actions, the way they behaved and interacted with each other seemed so strange to me and unrealistic as well. What bothered me most, was the apparently unavoidable sexual relationships between the three men and three women - every man got one of the woman, which funnily worked out that well huh? ... I didn't feel there was any chemistry between any of these pairings to begin with and thought that it were rather annoying details and passages to read. Especially when Martin (the main character) was describing Jiayings smile or the shape of her breasts under her tight spacesuit for the hundredth time again.. I thought it to be unnecessary and the story wouldve worked just as well without it. EXCEPT OF COURSE for the baby... I'll summarise my opinion about this entire thing with one emoji: 😒. I found this whole sub-plot of the relationships highly unprofessional for six individuals who had such an important mission to do.. that may just my personal opinion but it all seemed forced, unnatural and unnecessary to add emotions to otherwise blank characters.
The plot - minus the character focused parts - was interesting and i loved reading about their journey from the planning of, training for and execution of the mission, which ended on the Saturn moon and continued with the discoveries on it. A praise has to be said for all the hard research and knowledge that went into this book. I'm sure this took a lot of work and time to be as realistic as possible and it was incredible to read all of this!! To be fair, there was a lot of info-dumping (especially the first half) about technical things that the Martin of course knew about and could explain to the reader. It all was a lot and as someone who isn't very much into all things tech, physics or science in general, I sometimes glossed over it pretending to have unerstood every detail.
Its a decent hard-scifi book, but certainly not the best i've read and theres a lot of things that kept bothering and and triggering long rants that made me put the book down completely. I'm not sure if i should continue the series at all even though it seemed so promising and the 'science' in it was incredibly interesting.
Don't know how to feel about this book. I started reading it expecting a heavy focus on plot and instead got a lot of character stories that i didn't think were all that necessary. Normally I prefer character-driven stories over plot; I enjoy stories that are more character-studies and explore the characters flaws and strenghts, their relationships and everything that makes them part of the main-cast. Yet i didn't like any of the characters in this book.
They're actions, the way they behaved and interacted with each other seemed so strange to me and unrealistic as well. What bothered me most, was the apparently unavoidable sexual relationships between the three men and three women - every man got one of the woman, which funnily worked out that well huh? ... I didn't feel there was any chemistry between any of these pairings to begin with and thought that it were rather annoying details and passages to read. Especially when Martin (the main character) was describing Jiayings smile or the shape of her breasts under her tight spacesuit for the hundredth time again.. I thought it to be unnecessary and the story wouldve worked just as well without it. EXCEPT OF COURSE for the baby... I'll summarise my opinion about this entire thing with one emoji: 😒. I found this whole sub-plot of the relationships highly unprofessional for six individuals who had such an important mission to do.. that may just my personal opinion but it all seemed forced, unnatural and unnecessary to add emotions to otherwise blank characters.
The plot - minus the character focused parts - was interesting and i loved reading about their journey from the planning of, training for and execution of the mission, which ended on the Saturn moon and continued with the discoveries on it. A praise has to be said for all the hard research and knowledge that went into this book. I'm sure this took a lot of work and time to be as realistic as possible and it was incredible to read all of this!! To be fair, there was a lot of info-dumping (especially the first half) about technical things that the Martin of course knew about and could explain to the reader. It all was a lot and as someone who isn't very much into all things tech, physics or science in general, I sometimes glossed over it pretending to have unerstood every detail.
Its a decent hard-scifi book, but certainly not the best i've read and theres a lot of things that kept bothering and and triggering long rants that made me put the book down completely. I'm not sure if i should continue the series at all even though it seemed so promising and the 'science' in it was incredibly interesting.