Sign in with Facebook
Dawn F's Reviews > Star Maker
Star Maker
by
by
I was somehow let down by this one. The foreword waxes on about how mindbrowing and transcending it is, calling it undefinable and not really a scifi novel. Well on that point we can at least agree.
A human learns without any explanation to travel in space and time with his mind, and thus begins a long account of his explorations on other planets where he meets other intelligent beings (annoyingly called humans when what he actually means is they are humanoid), one which he mindmelts with, and together he explores the world of this other man, and later brings him along into the universe to explore together.
There are chapters upon chapters of descriptions of life on other planets, how they look, how they reproduce. I mostly felt like I was watching a very long nature program about life on the savanna - and not narrated by Attenborough.
While I do love nature programs, it meant that this has very little plot and dramatic tension. It does have some philosophical speculation on our creation and creator, the Star Maker, but otherwise this sort of comes off as a non fiction book, only with made-up animals - or peoples. So I agree, it is not exactly a science fiction story as there is no science in it.
It is certainly imaginative, though, I’ll give Stapledon that. But I doubt I’ll read more of him.
A human learns without any explanation to travel in space and time with his mind, and thus begins a long account of his explorations on other planets where he meets other intelligent beings (annoyingly called humans when what he actually means is they are humanoid), one which he mindmelts with, and together he explores the world of this other man, and later brings him along into the universe to explore together.
There are chapters upon chapters of descriptions of life on other planets, how they look, how they reproduce. I mostly felt like I was watching a very long nature program about life on the savanna - and not narrated by Attenborough.
While I do love nature programs, it meant that this has very little plot and dramatic tension. It does have some philosophical speculation on our creation and creator, the Star Maker, but otherwise this sort of comes off as a non fiction book, only with made-up animals - or peoples. So I agree, it is not exactly a science fiction story as there is no science in it.
It is certainly imaginative, though, I’ll give Stapledon that. But I doubt I’ll read more of him.
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
Star Maker.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
September 24, 2018
– Shelved
September 24, 2018
– Shelved as:
to-read
June 8, 2020
–
Started Reading
June 9, 2020
–
20.0%
June 9, 2020
–
45.0%
"So... this is basically an encyclopedia of alien populations around the universe. I feel like I’m watching a nature program about the animals of the savanna."
June 9, 2020
–
73.0%
"It's a little grating that he keeps saying the aliens are human when surely he means humanoid."
June 10, 2020
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-3 of 3 (3 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Hank
(new)
Jun 11, 2020 07:34AM
Sounds like the draw was simply the new ideas 100 years ago, great review Dawn!
reply
|
flag
Agree with all of this. I like this mostly as inspiration. Think I mentioned in my review that there are sentences and paragraphs that I'd like to see expanded and explored in a trilogy, but by a different author. The planet with the two co-dependent water based creatures being the most intriguing to me.I've not even considered reading anything else by stapledon in the intervening years.
