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Kiri's Reviews > Star Maker
Star Maker
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I really wanted to like this book, especially given its glowing reviews and being hailed as early sci-fi with lots of great ideas, etc., etc. It does contain some really cool ideas about extraterrestrial species (and some somewhat less accessible/relevant/persuasive ideas about the organization of the universe), but it reads like a textbook. There is no real character/narrator, just a frame story about "mental interstellar travel" that allows the text to move around from planet to planet. There is no real plot. There are no actual stories that happen on these planets, just summaries. Did Stapledon miss the "show, don't tell" guideline? My attention waned, and in the end I only made it halfway through. I did, however, discover the best way to get acquainted with the innovative ideas buried in the book -- have your fellow book club members, who actually did finish the book, recap the cool bits and save you the reading time.
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Donna
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rated it 2 stars
Nov 26, 2011 09:18AM
I only made it half way through too for exactly the same reason.
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Great, I'm not the only one! :)
I third! It was missing, like, a plot :P
It's a classic, studied in universities and revered. Don't expect it to be a Star Trek novel. This book changed my life, made me reassess my beliefs, and took me to the edge of the universe and time. Only a great novel can do that. You judged without understanding what you read. I am sad for you.
E, a book review is by nature an opinion. This is my opinion of this book. If we got different things out of it, that's okay. You don't need to be sad for me. :)
You are right. I will not pity you :).
I finished it, but it was a slog. It's one of those books that you 'have' to like otherwise you're not intelligent! I found a lot of it repetitive and my mind wandered as I read. Not really a novel, no plot, characters (well only a few).
Precisely! I’m stuck on this one for literally years. Trying to finish it with an audiobook now, going at 1.5X speed. Perhaps I’m just a masochist. :)
Leonardo wrote: "Precisely! I’m stuck on this one for literally years. Trying to finish it with an audiobook now, going at 1.5X speed. Perhaps I’m just a masochist. :)"More power to you, Leonardo! :)
