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Book recommendation
Dec. 18th, 2007 01:41 amI just finished reading Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress. It was a very good story (go read Amazon for a real review), as well as being fascinating for a couple indirect reasons.
One was that the book is an expansion of a short story/novella, and manages the transition particularly well. Along with that, Kress manages to change the scope of the story without losing the connection built up to individual characters. (Zooming out plots often lose me when they no longer connect to individual stories, or because they focus unrealistically on a couple people changing everything. This one worked for me.) The other big thing is that the story is anti-libertarian science fiction, a theme you don't see all that often. (Well, not precisely, but enough to bring up fascinating assumptions and questions that "independent genius" type stories don't reach.)
I'm not sure how coherent these ideas are, since I haven't had a chance to discuss the book with anyone who's actually read it and might have better vocabulary for me. Anyhow, I recommend it.
One was that the book is an expansion of a short story/novella, and manages the transition particularly well. Along with that, Kress manages to change the scope of the story without losing the connection built up to individual characters. (Zooming out plots often lose me when they no longer connect to individual stories, or because they focus unrealistically on a couple people changing everything. This one worked for me.) The other big thing is that the story is anti-libertarian science fiction, a theme you don't see all that often. (Well, not precisely, but enough to bring up fascinating assumptions and questions that "independent genius" type stories don't reach.)
I'm not sure how coherent these ideas are, since I haven't had a chance to discuss the book with anyone who's actually read it and might have better vocabulary for me. Anyhow, I recommend it.
