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Jay · 21st September 2005, 08:40 AM

My introduction, and appreciation for Macleod began this year, I really hting it's a bit of a renaissance period for Science Fiction. The only Macleod books I read prior was Newtons Wake, I also made the mistake of reading his Fal lrevolution out of order - and since bought the first 2 books (yet to read) - so I'm not sure what comparisons I can draw, but Learning the World in excellent. We always read books regarding first contact, but often it is the us (humanity) who is run up on, and in this book Macleod makes us the technologicaly advanced race meeting a avian society.

The first pages caught me depicting a boy on a a seemingless endless sky ladder, which is more of an inviting introduction to - it encited wonder - and not necessarily a overload of technical jargon (don't geet me wrong Macleod has plenty of that in the text), that generally makes work like this hard to get into in the beginning. It's really fascinating to read Macleod's speculation on humanity, and the ship life which has a caste of it's own, and than be swithced to the Alien perspective, of 2 scientists tracking what they first think is a comet - but one that is impossibly slowing down!

Due to limted reading, I can't compare with Macleod's prior work, but at this point in the year, this is one of the 10 most enjoyable books I have read this year - and perhaps with Olympos the best pure SF book I read. I read Orphans of Chaos by John C. Wright, and Vellum by Hal Duncan (that has both have some SF elements) but are a bit cross-genre.

I'm going to review this book soon (I have an interview lined up with Macleod as well), right after I put up my Princess of Roumania review by Paul Park in the next two days, so if you want I'll let you know when I do.

I definitely recommend it. It has a very human element fron non-humans, a wonderful possible look into humanity advancing, the aformentioned flip of usual roles. One of my favorite lines is made by one of the aliens who says "if god didn't intend fo us to fly he wouldn't have given us wings" (hmmm...I can't remember if he said god, or reffered to a another deity (one of the planets in their system - so excuse a possible paraphrase), when remarking on a ground based transportation system

Really enjoyed it.

21st September 2005, 08:40 AM	#32 (permalink)
Jay Registered User Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 545	Re: Sci-Fi Recommendations - for the unenlightened My introduction, and appreciation for Macleod began this year, I really hting it's a bit of a renaissance period for Science Fiction. The only Macleod books I read prior was Newtons Wake, I also made the mistake of reading his Fal lrevolution out of order - and since bought the first 2 books (yet to read) - so I'm not sure what comparisons I can draw, but Learning the World in excellent. We always read books regarding first contact, but often it is the us (humanity) who is run up on, and in this book Macleod makes us the technologicaly advanced race meeting a avian society. The first pages caught me depicting a boy on a a seemingless endless sky ladder, which is more of an inviting introduction to - it encited wonder - and not necessarily a overload of technical jargon (don't geet me wrong Macleod has plenty of that in the text), that generally makes work like this hard to get into in the beginning. It's really fascinating to read Macleod's speculation on humanity, and the ship life which has a caste of it's own, and than be swithced to the Alien perspective, of 2 scientists tracking what they first think is a comet - but one that is impossibly slowing down! Due to limted reading, I can't compare with Macleod's prior work, but at this point in the year, this is one of the 10 most enjoyable books I have read this year - and perhaps with Olympos the best pure SF book I read. I read Orphans of Chaos by John C. Wright, and Vellum by Hal Duncan (that has both have some SF elements) but are a bit cross-genre. I'm going to review this book soon (I have an interview lined up with Macleod as well), right after I put up my Princess of Roumania review by Paul Park in the next two days, so if you want I'll let you know when I do. I definitely recommend it. It has a very human element fron non-humans, a wonderful possible look into humanity advancing, the aformentioned flip of usual roles. One of my favorite lines is made by one of the aliens who says "if god didn't intend fo us to fly he wouldn't have given us wings" (hmmm...I can't remember if he said god, or reffered to a another deity (one of the planets in their system - so excuse a possible paraphrase), when remarking on a ground based transportation system Really enjoyed it.