Here are several more criticisms I have of Butler's novel:
1) There is too much unrealistic dialogue. How else can I describe it?
When I read a book (I try to refrain from "novel" because a
novel-length SF piece isn't really a novel) I like to be able to image
the characters' behavior and speech as being real and actually happening.
I had a hard time doing that with this book.
I already wrote of this a little bit when I discussed Lauren's pre-fab
responses to people's intricate questions.
2) What is the deal with this planned marriage to Bankole? Lauren
admits that she doesn't trust him fully, and then several lines later she
reaffirms their marriage plans. Is this believable to anyone else?
3) I found myself wishing something really bad would happen to them
while they were on their long and supposedly dangerous journey. Only one
person died the whole time, and the group easily survived a fire at the
end. It seemed to me like there would have been many more hardships to
endure in such a situation (at least, one in the real world), but they
were never out of food or water, they had no major medical incidents, and
no one they invited to travel with them betrayed them.
4) The funeral at the end, involving the use of trees as memorials,
reminded me of the same ending of Kim Stanley Robinson's _Pacific Edge_.
This similarity is not a bad thing, necessarily, but since I just read
_PE_ I found it rather repetitive.
I liked the book because it made me really think about survivalism and
defense, but I also have a lot of problems with it.
Anne Stuecker <avs5@juno.com> Washington, DC, USA
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Don't mistake my kindness for a weakness.
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