What I got instead was fanfiction in which the lightly disguised cast of Firefly enacts various scenarios that illustrate Examples of Proper 21st Century Social Interactions for the Education and Edification of Readers
Yep -- that was my impression of it as well, which led to the sentiment in the icon. Because I do actually really like the way Chambers' alien worldbuilding works, for the most part -- there's a lot of cool inventive stuff there, and some of the characters are charming when they're not being used to teach moral lessons.
I agree with you on the weirdness of the Ohan conclusion where apparently everything is fine after the nonconsensual medical procedure. It also pissed me off that the morally questionable decision got farmed out to Corbin, the token non-enlightened character in the bunch, which felt like trying to have your cake and eating it too.
I do think book 2 is a lot better in some regards. Positive characters are allowed to have actual flaws, and some developments even surprised me, which this book never did. I also liked book 3. But none of these are Imperial Radch level of plot of intrigue, like, not even in the same neighborhood -- they're just interested in very different things.
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Date: 2021-11-04 02:49 am (UTC)Yep -- that was my impression of it as well, which led to the sentiment in the icon. Because I do actually really like the way Chambers' alien worldbuilding works, for the most part -- there's a lot of cool inventive stuff there, and some of the characters are charming when they're not being used to teach moral lessons.
I agree with you on the weirdness of the Ohan conclusion where apparently everything is fine after the nonconsensual medical procedure. It also pissed me off that the morally questionable decision got farmed out to Corbin, the token non-enlightened character in the bunch, which felt like trying to have your cake and eating it too.
I do think book 2 is a lot better in some regards. Positive characters are allowed to have actual flaws, and some developments even surprised me, which this book never did. I also liked book 3. But none of these are Imperial Radch level of plot of intrigue, like, not even in the same neighborhood -- they're just interested in very different things.