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The way the book stuff in this blog works is that I like to find an angle. Once I have that then I can write something. Sometimes it is a proper review but more often it is just a limited comment. The angle usually occurs while I am reading the book rather than afterwards. From time to time I get more than one idea and have to pick one. Sometimes, when I am feeling particularly clever, I manage to incorporate more than one approach - but not often.
In the case of City of Pearl by Karen Traviss I considered looking at how to make an unsympathetic character work in a novel. I thought about how an author can incorporate a political point of view in their work without losing the plot (sorry). I paused briefly on the first contact approach. Then I wondered about the monoculture like nature of hard SF. That was quickly supplanted by comparing the monoculture of the American variety with what comes from authors from elsewhere around the world. That lead to considering the way environmental issues are addressed by sf authors and how that has changed recently. Perhaps most appealing I thought about tomatoes and their connection to the political language of oppressed minorities.
Instead I did this. Read the book.
In the case of City of Pearl by Karen Traviss I considered looking at how to make an unsympathetic character work in a novel. I thought about how an author can incorporate a political point of view in their work without losing the plot (sorry). I paused briefly on the first contact approach. Then I wondered about the monoculture like nature of hard SF. That was quickly supplanted by comparing the monoculture of the American variety with what comes from authors from elsewhere around the world. That lead to considering the way environmental issues are addressed by sf authors and how that has changed recently. Perhaps most appealing I thought about tomatoes and their connection to the political language of oppressed minorities.
Instead I did this. Read the book.
