Scan barcode
geofisch's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
micahhortonhallett's review against another edition
2.0
Old school adventure sci fi with some niggling post colonial and slightly misogynistic elements. Taken as an artifact of its time though, it was a bit of fun.
branch_c's review
4.0
First re-read in many years of one of my favorites by Alan Dean Foster, and it holds up remarkably well, considering it was written in 1978. Sure, not everything makes perfect sense here, and it's not particularly deep. The tran culture comes across as a bit superficial, in the vein of Star Trek / Star Wars aliens, and the offworlders befriend the Sofolders with impressive ease, almost immediately becoming key members of the society. But the writing is well above average for this type of SF adventure, with more than one literary turn of phrase. The deadly battles are all in good fun, with little to no grim drama - which may be one reason I prefer a light-hearted writing style to this day.
The characters are interesting enough, even if each is a caricature of his type - Ethan, the unwilling protagonist; September, the confident and good-hearted tough guy: Williams, the bookish one, etc. The female characters are even less well-defined, with Elfa being decidedly silly; Collette manages to be at least somewhat multi-dimensional in her role as a woman for Ethan to underestimate and misunderstand. As for the tran, their biology, if not their culture, is certainly original and fascinating, and Hunnar is a solid character, if a bit bland.
The construction of the eponymous Slanderscree happens surprisingly late in the book; I'd remembered it coming onto the scene earlier, maybe from having accidentally read the sequel (Mission to Moulokin) before this one. Will plan for a re-read of that one too. Anyway, I was not as knowledgeable about sailing back in '82 when I first read this, so I was gratified to see this time that there were no obvious blunders when it came to nautical concepts and terminology - which is not at all the case with modern SF/F, though you'd think writers could do enough research to confirm that they know their sheets from their spars.
So, my four star rating stands, even accounting for the nostalgia factor, and I'd recommend this for anyone looking for a light, quick, fairly original SF adventure.
The characters are interesting enough, even if each is a caricature of his type - Ethan, the unwilling protagonist; September, the confident and good-hearted tough guy: Williams, the bookish one, etc. The female characters are even less well-defined, with Elfa being decidedly silly; Collette manages to be at least somewhat multi-dimensional in her role as a woman for Ethan to underestimate and misunderstand. As for the tran, their biology, if not their culture, is certainly original and fascinating, and Hunnar is a solid character, if a bit bland.
The construction of the eponymous Slanderscree happens surprisingly late in the book; I'd remembered it coming onto the scene earlier, maybe from having accidentally read the sequel (Mission to Moulokin) before this one. Will plan for a re-read of that one too. Anyway, I was not as knowledgeable about sailing back in '82 when I first read this, so I was gratified to see this time that there were no obvious blunders when it came to nautical concepts and terminology - which is not at all the case with modern SF/F, though you'd think writers could do enough research to confirm that they know their sheets from their spars.
So, my four star rating stands, even accounting for the nostalgia factor, and I'd recommend this for anyone looking for a light, quick, fairly original SF adventure.
roach's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
He sailed past an alien gray landscape, a vast confusion of ice and cold sky. Night came hard.
This winter, I was in the mood to give some arctic scifi a shot and Alan Dean Foster's Icerigger sounded perfect for that. A small group of people in a more or less distant future crash-land on a completely frozen, desolate planet with few signs of life strewn about. Even more interesting, the native inhabitants of this planet seem to live medieval lives, which makes for some interesting genre-clashing of scifi and fantasy at points.
I really adore the setting and setup. There are lots of cool idea here with great potential and Foster definitely manages to string together a rather lighthearted, easy-to-read romp. The characters aren't are rather flat and the stakes never bear that much weight, but it got drama, action, and comedy. It made for a decent read with a couple highlights here and there.
It just never became great and it left some things to be desired for me. I wish the book would have spent more time exploring the ice cold wilderness with its limited flora and fauna more than it did. The bits there are are fun, but the book focuses much more on the medieval culture of the indigenous hosts. That is interesting too, but there could have been more.
The final act also delivers some oddly sudden and abrupt action pieces that felt very disconnected. A couple of ideas that could have been fleshed out to make for their own adventure all sort-of discarded to the final pages of the book. One of them including an encounter with another group of brand-new characters that could have made for their own adventure, which makes me wonder if they show up in one of the sequel books again.
Either way, this was a decent read at least and I enjoyed my time with it fairly well. But it didn't leave me very satisfied and I hope the sequels will give me more of what I want from this setting.
vintonole's review against another edition
4.0
Very entertaining story of action and adventure on a frozen planet. Sad that I held on to this one for so long before reading it.
assur191's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
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? No
3.75