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A review by y_rui
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
adventurous
medium-paced
1.25
Word of Warning: I may be biased because I put this on my TBR after I read Silence. I used to read tons of Sci-Fi as a kid so most concepts in this book have already been explored. I also don't care if this book is some fantasical allegory to whatever biblical or golden-age-of-exploration tale. It does not excuse the author from the following criticism.
A decent story mired in poor worldbuilding, poor writing, lots of telling-not-showing, poor pacing, capricious characters, ham-fisted plot contrivances, etc. It took me two weeks to read the first 40% of the book and one day to read the rest. The blurb is misleading, it certainly did not make me question my humanity. (Maybe how stupid humanity is becausethe Father General decides to send another mission. I can see some dumbfuck world/co-orporation leader doing this. lol .) I find it insulting to my intelligence that it is expected for a reader to just go along with everything the author throws at us. 1 star for the first third, 2.5 stars for the middle, 0 stars for the end.
Sometimes I wonder if I read the same book as everyone else.
A decent story mired in poor worldbuilding, poor writing, lots of telling-not-showing, poor pacing, capricious characters, ham-fisted plot contrivances, etc. It took me two weeks to read the first 40% of the book and one day to read the rest. The blurb is misleading, it certainly did not make me question my humanity. (Maybe how stupid humanity is because
Sometimes I wonder if I read the same book as everyone else.
Perhaps I've missed some things, because I was either supremely bored or seething mad, but I state my case:
Worldbuilding:
Look, I won't get into the thick of things and nitpick everything but the worldbuilding is not there. The aliens have similar technologies, and sure, if it was stated that 'oh this is just the word that can be best used to describe this thing that serves the same purpose but is not completely the same', I can 100% give that a pass. But Rakhat is just Earth but with giant cat people and pseudo-cat people and other funny animals.
Why was this not made into a fantasy? "Something something different realm or dimension" and "that's just how it is in magical fantasyland" and the author does not have to explicitly explain why they failed to do sufficient, technical worldbuilding.
Characters:
The one interaction I did like: Sandoz and Anne's conversation just before landing. That was cute.
Writing:
X does this and Y is that. That's it, that's the prose. Dry. Bland. Much like this paragraph, everything is told to you. Pet Peeve no.3: telling me everything instead of showing me and letting me decide for myself. The author knows no subtlety nor purpose.
Tell me the lesson to be learned from this book. Tell me what it is, because I cannot for the love of god extract anything of meaning from this godforsaken book. Christopher Columbus is misunderstood? (For reference, author was inspired to write this book due to Columbus's actions. Whole drama there, I won't get too much into it.) Forcing someone to testify to his rape when he does not want to is…somehow a satisfying conclusion? (Look, I know in court they question every action you do to, to establish precedent. And the Church has a long history of not giving a damn about rape victims. This wasn't that. It was meant to shock the readers. He must admit that He Was Raped, in those exact words, to spell it out for the dumbfuck readers. In court they question what happened, did you consent, did you do this or that. This was more in the line of 'state explicitly that you were raped by aliens' to prove it to us. Its fucking disgusting - not what happened, but the audacity of the author. IS ALIEN PROBING TOO SUBTLE A TRAUMA? THE ALIENS HAVE TO BE OUTRIGHT RAPISTS OF THE HUMAN FASHION FOR THE CHARACTERS TO BE CONSIDERED ASSAULTED?) The arrogance of a bunch of dumbasses always gets them killed or tortured? It is not enough to watch people be exploited or a world go to shit or your friends die or your life change forever, one must be brutally tortured on top of that to question their existence and philosophies? What is the revelation?
Somewhere in the author's notes she writes (in not so many words) that she consulted a man of the Church and any inaccuracies regarding Christianity are not his fault, but due to her own arrogance. That's what this book is: an author, full of themselves, telling you these Big Important Lessons and throwing in all these things that she found funny or clever or entertaining but failing to account for reality and humanity and the craft of storytelling along the way.
Somewhere in the author's notes she writes (in not so many words) that she consulted a man of the Church and any inaccuracies regarding Christianity are not his fault, but due to her own arrogance. That's what this book is: an author, full of themselves, telling you these Big Important Lessons and throwing in all these things that she found funny or clever or entertaining but failing to account for reality and humanity and the craft of storytelling along the way.
Graphic: Body horror, Rape, and Colonisation