Most helpful customer reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Better than expected, Jun 3 2004
My first book of Delany was Babel 17, followed by Empire star, and I must say that I was dissappointed upon finishing them. So, I kinda picked this one with careful consideration, wanting to give Delany one more chance to astound me, and he did. Whatever lacked at those first two books, you'll find in this one. World that he built resembles our own in such scary details that you actually start to wonder would you be better of dead? Interwoven with ancinent myths of Oprheus and Euridice, or to say with quest for love long lost, which was a common theme in the elder days, this book will draw a tear into your eyes. Though rather short, it will seem that it lasted for ages. Why four stars? After all the praises that I have spoken I still cannot escape from that fact that conversation in the book is obviusly patterned, or to say, nobody speaks or has converation in that way....
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Can you handle the differentness?, April 26 2001
This book itself was very different and weird, but it didn't bother me at all. I was drawn right into the story and was able to follow it. There are many layers of myth and symbolism and I'm sure I'd have to read this book a few more to understand them better. I liked the differentness. There was a common thread of reality through this book and a set of rules. A lot of fantasy books lack this and in my opinion this ruins the story. When anything can happen at any time for no reason, there really is no story. This is not the case with EI.This story is about an alien race dealing with the myths of humans, and is itself a myth. Every character fits many roles from many different stories. It was fun to recognize Green Eye as XXXXX and Kid Death as XXXXX. This was a story with meat on it's bones. One I will have to read again in a year or so. I will keep thinking about all the implications of this story for many books to come, just as Lobey has gone off to think about what happened.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Not worth the effort, Aug 1 2000
This seems to be the type of book that would either raise admiration or ire in the bosom of the reader. I find myself in the latter category. This novel is one of those philosophical/mythological science fiction stories. I find that such books require a large investment of time to understand (flipping through encyclopedias and dictionaries) with my physical sciences education. Then, at 150 pages, after you've invested the effort, the book ends. Perhaps someone versed in the classics would enjoy this book, but for me it was simply not worth the effort. This book is not really about anything, its about images. They come fast and furious, but there is little explained, and often times you are left wondering why a certain image is introduced at all. It seems like the author thought up a clever image and decided to write it in, heedless of its relevancy. This happens often enough to by irritating. To sum up - if you are looking for a hard science fiction novel, this is not the route to go. It's not scientific at all! If you are looking for a modern mythological tale, I would recommend something like Lord of Light (Zelazny) where I also had to invest some extra effort, but the investment was well worthwhile.
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