peapod_boston's review against another edition
3.0
One of Harrison's early science fiction works, you can see glimpses here of what he accomplishes in Light. Includes one of my top 10 favorite opening lines of all time:
"It was St. Crisipn's ve on Sad al Bari IV when Captain John Truck, impelled by something he was forced to describe to himself as 'sentiment,' decided to visit the Spacer's Rave, on the cornoer of Proton Alley and Circuit (that chilly junction where the higher class of port lady goes to find her customers)."
hamja's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sirlancelot2021's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
quiraang's review against another edition
1.0
A bleak, nihilistic, and dark satire on the space opera genre. The drug and violence fuelled excesses of William Burroughs, meet and corrupt, shades of Banks and Reynolds. The plot is weak, the characters shallow, and the (anti-)hero totally miserable and unlikeable. All of this buried in impenetrable, florid prose.
An SF classic? May have been when it was written in 1974, but now it's just wearisome.
Don't read this, unless you are particularly masochistic . Score 1.5
An SF classic? May have been when it was written in 1974, but now it's just wearisome.
Don't read this, unless you are particularly masochistic . Score 1.5
pandoozled14's review against another edition
2.75
Very readable, but the plot didn't fully pull me in.
rebeccafish23's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
jamesdig's review against another edition
4.0
I just love MJohnHarrison's bizarre prose at this stage of his writing career. I wouldn’t even say it was “good” prose, it’s just that it’s so his prose and no one else’s. It’s weird enough to be occasionally opaque but it’s mostly rhythmic and full of sometimes pointless but wonderful imagery. Also, the story is sad like a nail through the foot when walking barefoot on a warm and peaceful rainy day over a soft grassy field. Oh, also, the edition I read is LOADED with scanner-autocorrect errors, which only add to the lovely writing style.
sophiecountsclouds's review against another edition
1.0
An interesting plot idea lost on unnecessarily complex language. Took me three times as long to read because i had to read most of it at least twice to understand it and it took so long to get anywhere it kept sending me to sleep.
sexton_blake's review against another edition
3.0
This was published in 1975 and, though ostensibly set in the far future, feels pretty much like ’75 but with spaceships and extraterrestrial colonies. Nothing wrong with that, I say! Subversive, diseased, often impenetrable, and giving the illusion of a convoluted plot where, in truth, the plot is simplistic and virtually irrelevant, this reads like a drug-fuelled spanking of space opera conventions. Taken as such, it works, and is pretty astonishing. As entertainment, though, THE CENTAURI DEVICE can be tough going. This is no Star Wars. You read it and you want to wash your hands.
dcunning11235's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this up from the library because I'd heard it referred to as a classic of Sci-Fi. The writing is certainly a cut above, but the story, settings, language are pure 70's... and, to my taste, haven't aged well. The blurb on the front gives this much away:
"A last-chance loner from the back alleys of space hold the fate of the earth in his hands."
Well then.
I suppose... think "Escape from New York" but in space. And "Escape from New York" is a classic, too, in its way; but it is very much aged, and not entirely for the better.
"A last-chance loner from the back alleys of space hold the fate of the earth in his hands."
Well then.
I suppose... think "Escape from New York" but in space. And "Escape from New York" is a classic, too, in its way; but it is very much aged, and not entirely for the better.