I was drawn in by Dllenahkh's first chapter, which was excellent--Lord's worldbuilding was fun and her imagery fascinating. To Cygnus Beta, refuge of the hurt and homeless in a haven of second-chances. I loved that Lord thought to include alternative sexualities, ages, religions, and lots of varied appearances.* I wanted to sink into the world and not come back up for a very long time.There were a few issues which led to frustrated book-skimming toward the end. The lack of plot importance in most of the events, places, and people of the book made me soon realize this was all about one arc: Dllenahkh's & Grace's relationship. The author clearly loved all of the characters and had a full understanding of them herself, but didn't develop them at length for the readers so we could have a equal appreciation. Were I her editor, I'd have asked her to remove or condense a few into less total cast members so they would come out more clearly. Possibly, too, the frustration of the book was the fault of being in Grace's head. She was a problematic heroine, for she didn't deal in insight and didn't dwell on many of the events--we were always abruptly in the thick of things, and it all came back to Dllenahkh, and so we had to follow, wondering how someone who thought about him so often could fail to notice she liked him. For most other events, I kept asking aloud, "Yes, but don't you care?" or "Who is this person? How come you never thought of him/her until now?" The transitions were abrupt. Concepts were introduced at convenient moments, with no seeds of knowledge beforehand. (Maybe I was a bit empathic; no actually, I do it all the time.) She was constantly rescued. The negatives aside, I still recommend this book. The world Lord created leaves much more to be explored, with dangling hooks left in the Ainya, Caretakers, and time traveling mindships. I'd been staved for original space opera, and I think this fits the bill in all respects. I hope to see many more stories in Cygnus Beta.--* Though it was disappointing that the character with the most enormous paragraph of description and association with beauty was a slender white woman. I gave this book one star, but I can see why other people might rate it higher. It's just not for me. Here's why.1. Characters. I found none of them interesting. Most of the characters of the book are telepathic, "Vulcan-like" people from a far-future human ethnicity known as Sadiri. They are all refugees from a tragic disaster, and I would have been interested in understanding how they felt about this disaster. Unfortunately they are so reserved and dedicated to masking their emotions that they all come across to the reader as undifferentiated. There is some complexity to them, but the reader is kept at too much of a distance.2. Betrayal of expectations. The back-cover summary of this book says "Now a man and a woman from these two clashing societies must work together to save this vanishing race [Sadiri] —and end up uncovering ancient mysteries with far-reaching ramifications. As their mission hangs in the balance, this unlikely team—one cool and cerebral, the other fiery and impulsive—just may find in each other their own destinies . . . and a force that transcends all."This book does not uncover ancient mysteries with far-reaching ramifications. It tacks close to some mysteries, but floats by them without exploring them. Instead this book proceeds more like a romance, with the two main characters gradually falling in love. That's the plot. Most of the events in the book are disconnected vignettes about isolated settlements of people with varying cultural quirks. The only common among these vignettes is the developing romance between the two main characters. The promise of of ancient mysteries is never fulfilled.3. No dramatic tension. The plot revolves around the romantic arc between the two main characters (the cool and cerebral man and the fiery and impulsive woman). Unfortunately, I didn't care about either character. Thus, I didn't care if they ended up together, which was the "big question" that this book pivoted toward. It was just dull.The book is packed with dialog, where characters struggle to understand each other, given that they are from different cultures. Since the book lacks any dramatic tension and nearly all of the characters are dull, this dialog falls flat on it face.4. Some reviewers have described this book as "subtle." I would describe it as meandering and vague. As in any work of speculative fiction, world-building is critical. The author takes a rather casual and uneven approach to her world-building. There is a lot of telepathy in the book, but the rules around how these abilities work are sloppily introduced. Events happen, the reader gets confused, then afterward the narrator explains how telepathy affected events. That's just one example. There is also some sort of metaphysical time/space warping thing introduced that is criminally vague to the point that I coudn't even been to describe it to you. This metaphysical stuff promises the reader some great and wondrous mystery to ponder, but ultimately the reader is lost. The metaphysics, the telepathy and everything else in the book is just a series of devices to advance the romantic relationship of the two main characters, who are thoroughly boring and unsympathetic. I found this book a great disappointment. With that said, readers who are interested in speculative romance might find something to like here. It just wasn't for me.
Do You like book El Mejor De Los Mundos Posibles (2013)?
A Very interest Sci Fi story. Recommended but only if you like the genre.
—camolarte
Not too bad. Interesting ideas. Fun characters--too much mooshy stuff.
—britterbug
