Reviews

An interesting book that runs a bit long for what it is. It's the most subtle investigation I've seen of how alien genders might work.

Gender roles in this alien society are strictly conformed to. Still there are deviants who break from the norm, and face teasing (light ostricization?) for it. All in all, the system seems stable and beneficial for those involved. Is this an argument for separate but equal? I think it is the opposite: extremely rigid gender norms the can only be positive of the sexes are fundamentally different, and even then non-conformists will still exist and face discrimination.

And the first act, centering around petty academic squabbles, is fun and accurate (I think I suspected even when I first read this book that that is where I was headed). The third act is boring though, as it takes a simple story way too long to wrap up.

oyonok's review

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Got a little weird there towards the end, very 80s and lost me really hard

tegs_russell's review

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adventurous challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

kate_rose312's review against another edition

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2.0

The last 50 pages of this felt like an entire lifetime. None of the characters are interesting, the plot makes almost zero sense, and the entire middle section could have been 20 pages instead of 100. Skip this one.

mdpenguin's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Overall, I liked this. It was clever and a fairly good allegory. The non-earthling cultures were very well fleshed out and quite believable. That said, I felt that the story lagged a bit while explaining details of the other cultures and each shift took me away far enough away from the main story arc that I not so much forgot about it but perhaps lost track of it and found myself naturally inclining towards wanting a different story.

gioxthemaster's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Књига ми је била супер, међутим, први део је био 5/5, други 3,5/5, трећи 2,5/5 и то ми се није свидело, јер тај део на земљи са Ламонтом и Халамом ми је био и најбољи, док после ванземаљци и после Лунари ми је био онако, и зато 4/5, али супер премиса и супер фора са ванземљацијма, Деа, Один и Трит, та тријада као.

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