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Review of Planetfall by Emma Newman
Feb. 9th, 2016 09:48 amI've heard a lot of Hugo buzz regarding Emma Newman's novel Planetfall. I recently read it and found it terribly disappointing. Without giving too much away, here's why I didn't like it.
1) Our intrepid astronauts have arrived at an alien planet, and settled at the base of what's clearly an alien organism or colony of same, yet they call the organism the "city of God." Huh?
2) Our intrepid astronauts, when traveling to said alien and uncharted planet, brought exactly one (1) gun - a small pistol illicitly smuggled. Sorry, when *I* travel to an alien planet, I'm bringing a rifle, in case some of the local fauna follow a "bite first, see if it's digestible later" eating strategy.
3) Lastly, the key to the plot is a handful of colonists decide to play let's keep a secret with the bulk of the group. Besides the fact that these things rarely end well, I didn't see a compelling reason for keeping the secret in the first place.
Now, the novel does some things well. The narrator is mentally ill (hoarder and compulsive) which is handled well and slowly revealed. I found the general concept (albeit flawed) interesting enough to stick with the book to the end. But overall, it's an idiot plot and not recommended. It will not be on my Hugo list.
1) Our intrepid astronauts have arrived at an alien planet, and settled at the base of what's clearly an alien organism or colony of same, yet they call the organism the "city of God." Huh?
2) Our intrepid astronauts, when traveling to said alien and uncharted planet, brought exactly one (1) gun - a small pistol illicitly smuggled. Sorry, when *I* travel to an alien planet, I'm bringing a rifle, in case some of the local fauna follow a "bite first, see if it's digestible later" eating strategy.
3) Lastly, the key to the plot is a handful of colonists decide to play let's keep a secret with the bulk of the group. Besides the fact that these things rarely end well, I didn't see a compelling reason for keeping the secret in the first place.
Now, the novel does some things well. The narrator is mentally ill (hoarder and compulsive) which is handled well and slowly revealed. I found the general concept (albeit flawed) interesting enough to stick with the book to the end. But overall, it's an idiot plot and not recommended. It will not be on my Hugo list.
