strangledfruit's review against another edition
4.0
[3.5 stars] Surprising that the titular story is the least compelling, given it’s the only one of these that’s been adapted or expanded upon (twice!)—the rest is well worth the read, with evocative, frontier-centric stories that frame Martin as a victim of his own success a la George Lucas.
david_agranoff's review against another edition
4.0
This will be short as I am just reviewing the novella. I wanted to re-read this classic as the SYFY channel is set to turn it into a series soon. When I was young there was a direct to video movie made based on this novella. Now the cover of the books says a "Major motion picture." Major may be a strong word to use as the most famous person involved in the production was Catherine Mary Stewart. Doesn't ring a bell? If you are my age you'd know her as the Last Starfighter's girlfriend or the lead in the weird zombie movie Night of the Comet. That reminds me I need to see Night of the Comet again - because I am sure it will totally live up to my memory. As cool and amazing of an idea as Nightflyers was, this movie did not have the budget or the resources to pull it off.
This movie is the reason I bought this paperback in the day and read George Martin decades before HBO launched him to the point that he became a SNL character.
So SYFY channel being in the George RR Martin business makes sense. The thing that makes the most sense about it is that at 104 pages Nightflyers just scratches the surface of the ideas contained. Written in 1978 I am assuming GRRM just was not at the point of writing sprawling epics yet. It is a story that can and should be expanded.
This is a masterpiece of blending Science Fiction and horror. Long before event horizon Martin crafted a perfect deep space haunted house. The Nightflyer is haunted by ghost but in true genre blending fashion the ghost inhabits the AI at the heart of the ship. Royd is the captain but his relationship with his vessel is more like Norman Bates and his mother. While Martin manged to seed these horror tropes he also does the work of far future world building. in 104 pages a full universe is built and very different human culture is ripe for exploring.
It is amazing to know this was written during The Carter administration and holds up perfectly story wise. The biggest negative the sexual nature of the female characters are male nerd fantasy bullshit. Considering how Rapey Game of Thrones is this made me more uncomfortable, I hope SYFY ejects that aspects of Karoly.
Over all Nightflyers is a must read Sci-fi classic that should be read as is before the TV show changes our perceptions of it.
This movie is the reason I bought this paperback in the day and read George Martin decades before HBO launched him to the point that he became a SNL character.
So SYFY channel being in the George RR Martin business makes sense. The thing that makes the most sense about it is that at 104 pages Nightflyers just scratches the surface of the ideas contained. Written in 1978 I am assuming GRRM just was not at the point of writing sprawling epics yet. It is a story that can and should be expanded.
This is a masterpiece of blending Science Fiction and horror. Long before event horizon Martin crafted a perfect deep space haunted house. The Nightflyer is haunted by ghost but in true genre blending fashion the ghost inhabits the AI at the heart of the ship. Royd is the captain but his relationship with his vessel is more like Norman Bates and his mother. While Martin manged to seed these horror tropes he also does the work of far future world building. in 104 pages a full universe is built and very different human culture is ripe for exploring.
It is amazing to know this was written during The Carter administration and holds up perfectly story wise. The biggest negative the sexual nature of the female characters are male nerd fantasy bullshit. Considering how Rapey Game of Thrones is this made me more uncomfortable, I hope SYFY ejects that aspects of Karoly.
Over all Nightflyers is a must read Sci-fi classic that should be read as is before the TV show changes our perceptions of it.
fetch's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sdl010's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
geve_'s review against another edition
3.0
It was okay. I love scifi horror and it has to go pretty wrong for me to give it less than 3 stars. The premise is kinda cool, a team of scientists/researchers are on a mission to find some uncontacted aliens who have been located in a specific area of space. They contract a ship and captain to take them there. Then things go wrong...
There are some things I really loved about the story and some things I really hated, and the rest was pretty meh. I guess the things I loved outshined the hate by just a touch, so this gets 3 stars.
The bad:
-The main characters are very bad. the captain is not likeable or interesting, although a bit sympathetic a character at some points. The hero is extremely sexy and smart, but in that kind of way that men really like, not in an authentic way. Like she's acting in a way that is less about her and more about what men will appreciate in her, which was pretty disappointing because she could otherwise have been a fun character (like say, Ripley, the ultimate scifi horror protag). She also constantly talks about how she's a improved model of human, then insinuates several times that it makes her better at fucking, which begs the question, who exactly was deciding what improvements to make? Cause if it was GRRM I'm guessing it was tit and sex related.
-The rest of the characters are also pretty much boring, except one, but I'll cover that one in the good.
-The twist was very lame, the the next twist was also very lame. The fact that it was he is a clone of his mother was pretty twisted in a fun way, but the fact that she's still controlling the ship as a ghost was meh, whatever, it didn't ruin the book for me, it was just meh. I rolled my eyes and read on. Then the twist that she has psi powers is meh. Just kinda reading this shit to get to the more fun parts.
-the relationship between Melantha and Royd was weird. I guess it's fine to be weird but when there is this powerful amazing woman and she for some reason goes for a weird 68 yo gross dude it's like, uh, yeah sure. There are zero cases where hot, perfect, powerful intelligent male characters go for old, fat gross women characters. And there's really no explanation for it. At first it sounded to me like she was just interested in him because he's someone new, she propositions him and it seems like he's a sexual conquest/experience for her, but that's not how it actually goes, so whatever. I guess when it comes to her relationship with a gross senior citizen who she knows nothing about and spends no real time with, she suddenly has more depth. weird.
The good:
-I really liked d'Branin. He's the only character I liked. He's so driven and naive, he just wants to find these aliens. And he's totally wrong about everything. (I almost liked Melantha too, she's fine)
-I liked that the volcryn turn out to just be weird animals that shuttle themselves around space with telekinesis. They aren't some ancient civ with amazing tech, they're just straight up animals.
-I like that Melantha is just stuck in this ship with the two ghosts, knowing that she'll jsut die out there at some point.
-I just fundamentally love scifi horror. I love when shit goes wrong on ships and people get lost drifting in space, that's my fav, so check that box for this one at least.
TLDR: Mommy bad, Future improved model women are very strong and sexy and fuck all the time and will fuck old gross men, but at least there are ghosts in space and the aliens are nothing and everyone dies except the final girl.
There are some things I really loved about the story and some things I really hated, and the rest was pretty meh. I guess the things I loved outshined the hate by just a touch, so this gets 3 stars.
Spoiler
The bad:
-The main characters are very bad. the captain is not likeable or interesting, although a bit sympathetic a character at some points. The hero is extremely sexy and smart, but in that kind of way that men really like, not in an authentic way. Like she's acting in a way that is less about her and more about what men will appreciate in her, which was pretty disappointing because she could otherwise have been a fun character (like say, Ripley, the ultimate scifi horror protag). She also constantly talks about how she's a improved model of human, then insinuates several times that it makes her better at fucking, which begs the question, who exactly was deciding what improvements to make? Cause if it was GRRM I'm guessing it was tit and sex related.
-The rest of the characters are also pretty much boring, except one, but I'll cover that one in the good.
-The twist was very lame, the the next twist was also very lame. The fact that it was he is a clone of his mother was pretty twisted in a fun way, but the fact that she's still controlling the ship as a ghost was meh, whatever, it didn't ruin the book for me, it was just meh. I rolled my eyes and read on. Then the twist that she has psi powers is meh. Just kinda reading this shit to get to the more fun parts.
-the relationship between Melantha and Royd was weird. I guess it's fine to be weird but when there is this powerful amazing woman and she for some reason goes for a weird 68 yo gross dude it's like, uh, yeah sure. There are zero cases where hot, perfect, powerful intelligent male characters go for old, fat gross women characters. And there's really no explanation for it. At first it sounded to me like she was just interested in him because he's someone new, she propositions him and it seems like he's a sexual conquest/experience for her, but that's not how it actually goes, so whatever. I guess when it comes to her relationship with a gross senior citizen who she knows nothing about and spends no real time with, she suddenly has more depth. weird.
The good:
-I really liked d'Branin. He's the only character I liked. He's so driven and naive, he just wants to find these aliens. And he's totally wrong about everything. (I almost liked Melantha too, she's fine)
-I liked that the volcryn turn out to just be weird animals that shuttle themselves around space with telekinesis. They aren't some ancient civ with amazing tech, they're just straight up animals.
-I like that Melantha is just stuck in this ship with the two ghosts, knowing that she'll jsut die out there at some point.
-I just fundamentally love scifi horror. I love when shit goes wrong on ships and people get lost drifting in space, that's my fav, so check that box for this one at least.
TLDR: Mommy bad, Future improved model women are very strong and sexy and fuck all the time and will fuck old gross men, but at least there are ghosts in space and the aliens are nothing and everyone dies except the final girl.
crowfood's review against another edition
3.0
A nice collection of some early GRRM sci-fi. Not at the level of his Tuft Voyaging stories, or some of his sci-fi novels such as The Dying of the Light or Hunter's Run.
I enjoyed Nightflyers and a Song for Lya the most, though the other stories explored some interesting topics.
The TV version would have done well to stick closer to the original plot rather than the random stuff they made up.
I enjoyed Nightflyers and a Song for Lya the most, though the other stories explored some interesting topics.
The TV version would have done well to stick closer to the original plot rather than the random stuff they made up.
pbanditp's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting premise on a futuristic theme but it really doesn’t get into it much. The whole thing felt like it was trying to lead you one way and give you a surprise twist but it fell flat for me
hannahchair's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0