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5th out of 20 books
—
14 voters
The Color of Distance (The Color of Distance #1)
by
Amy Thomson
Juna is the sole survivor of a team of surveyors marooned in the dense and isolated Tendu rain forest, an uninhabitable world for humans. Her only hope for survival is total transformation - and terrifying assimilation - into the amphibian Tendu species. Now she speaks as they speak. She fears what they fear. And in surviving as they survive, Juna will come to fathom more...more
Paperback, 480 pages
Published
July 1st 1999
by Ace
(first published 1995)
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I tracked down this out-of-print book because it was recommended on Language Log as being an interesting science fiction take on linguistic fieldwork and "one of the best discussions of contact with a radically different intelligent species" they'd ever read. Yeah, yeah, I'm a nerd.
On the surface, The Color of Distance is science fiction, but it's really a fictionalized ethnography. Having taken a cultural anthropology class recently, the structure of the novel and the research methods employed...more
On the surface, The Color of Distance is science fiction, but it's really a fictionalized ethnography. Having taken a cultural anthropology class recently, the structure of the novel and the research methods employed...more
This novel breaks some interesting new ground in the interpretation of how humans will deal with the exploration of other planets. It sets the stage for our not being able to cope with the environments of other worlds, and the issues this would bring - a very different view than the Star Trek concept of "exploring strange new worlds" with no problems or issues. Ms. Thomson also choses to hold the state of the current human condition constant, which adds a tension to the story as well as a realis...more
One of my main criteria when rating a book - and, when skillfully done, one aspect of the writer's art that can just leave me in awe - is the author's ability to bring the reader into an unfamiliar culture with a minimum of pedantry or obvious explication. Given that the culture of this book is one where the inhabitants communicate by shifting patterns and colors (like squids), scents, and other chemical signatures, Thomson's world-building ranks right up there with Frank Herbert's, IMO.
This science fiction novel has all the elements of a great read, and deserves a place alongside great social science fiction classics such as Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness. Thomson puts together a fascinating world, a compelling non-human point-of-view character (alternating with a human point-of-view character so we can have some familiar place to hang our hats), and a carefully thought out social system that values sustainability. Then she throws in an interesting plot, plenty of character d...more
I first read this book in middle school and have been trying to get my hands on it ever since. Having purchased it online and reread it instantly, I can confirm that this is one of my most favorite books. The world of the Tendu is painted so clearly that I actually smelled the forest, tasted the fruit, felt the allu'a. A lot of concepts in the book (connecting to each other and the world via allu'a, a human partly transforming into an alien body) remind me so much of James Cameron's Avatar that...more
This is the best alien novel I have ever read by far. It stayed in my mind for years after I read it. It is such a shame that this book isn't more widely known. Everyone I have loaned my copy to has loved it too. It avoids so many of the annoying bits and cliches in so many alien and sci-fi novels. (Being seriously ill, I also admit to a slight bias for books that feature aliens in them that could easily cure me too! It is a nice dream...) This is a special book that deserves to be widely read....more
Jul 07, 2008
Matt
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Science fiction fans
Shelves:
science-fiction
One of my pet peeves is a sterotypical first contact story in which the aliens vaguely resemble anthromorpic Earth animals, have limited technology, and are protrayed as 'noble savages'. I tend to dislike any of those things and think that they somewhat harm the story, especially when they come together.
This story has all those 'problems', and yet I enjoyed it alot because, quite honestly, it is the single best story of the type I've read in that well travelled path. This is the one by which I t...more
This story has all those 'problems', and yet I enjoyed it alot because, quite honestly, it is the single best story of the type I've read in that well travelled path. This is the one by which I t...more
This is the story of a human woman who was marooned on another planet and had to learn to adapt and survive until her people returned. The topic was interesting although I felt like the story dragged in places and was overly detailed, which made the ending feel undone, as if the rest of the story was missing. All in all, the details and emotions and actions described felt authentic, and it kept my attention for the most part, but this really isn't my cup of tea as far as topics go.
Fascinating on several levels. The alien society contacted in the story lives in harmony with the forest. When one is brought to earth he is able to heal people and save them from terminal illness. This causes many problems. Not typical SF--more like Ray Bradbury than like what SF has now become--a mix of steam punk, horror and end of the world scenarios.
An amazing novel about what it means to be human. The main character is the sole human survivor of a ship that crashed on an inhabited foreign planet. She must survive and even acculturate into the extremely foreign culture. Superior writing and character development make this the best science fiction book I've ever read.
(Re-read it in Feb 2002)
(Re-read it in Feb 2002)
I'm going through a bunch of first contact books for my own project. This one looked promising but is in fact disappointing. The aliens are basically noble savages in frog skin. This anthropomorphism is what kills most alien- encounter books. There are some notable exceptions but this is not one of them.
Extraordinary. This book is best read without knowing anything about it. The early pages convey what might happen in a very different world, without the props of text descriptions of the most important things to notice. There is confusion, some wonder, and complacency. Mind-blowing. and lyrical.
This was an awesome read. I could hardly put it down. It put me in mind of the Daniel Quinn book 'If they give you lined paper, write sideways'. It was a study in learning an alien culture and then trying to explain why yours is so messed up in comparison. Lots of fun. :)
When I was watching Avatar, there were places where I thought, "Oh, right, Color of Distance dealt with that aspect in a really cool way..." Only the book of course goes deeper into the nuances of what it would be like to have first contact etc. Worth reading.
I read this many years ago, and found it utterly absorbing. A good read, well written and an excellent tale about how to understand other cultures from the emic perspective.
From Amazon, April 22, 2000: Great story about VERY unusual aliens!
This is one of the best SF books I have read in many years. Having the story told from the viewpoints of both Juna and the aliens was very different. It was fascinating to see the same things from totally different points of view, especially at the beginning before Juna realizes how intelligent the Tendu really are. I thought that the communication by colors and symbols was also very unique and well thought out. The amazing vari...more
This is one of the best SF books I have read in many years. Having the story told from the viewpoints of both Juna and the aliens was very different. It was fascinating to see the same things from totally different points of view, especially at the beginning before Juna realizes how intelligent the Tendu really are. I thought that the communication by colors and symbols was also very unique and well thought out. The amazing vari...more
Excellent story of alien culture from the point of view of a human becoming an alien being. Everyone I've given this book loves it.
This was pretty damn awesome if you like sci-fi This lady lands on an alien planet, but she's allergic to the atmosphere so the aliens have to reconstruct her DNA so she's more like them. It tells of how she adapts to their culture and learns to communicate by changing the color of her skin. The author switches constantly between the alien's point of view and that of the human to keep it interesting.
I'm not a big SF fan, but my husband is, and whenever he reads one with good characterization and relationships, he recommends it to me. He was spot-on with this one. It's a "first contact" novel, which means an earthling is stranded on some other planet and has to adapt to the culture of that other planet. In this case, the planet is technologically backward, but in healing, it's light years ahead. More explanation than that would give too much away, but suffice it say, the author has created q...more
Loved this book, for some inexplicable reason. Maybe the right time the right place?
Apr 23, 2010
Sarah
marked it as to-read
Recommended by Andrew Schindler at the NSM
Pretty fun first contact story.
this is a one star kind of book . i hated it a lot. i mean, it was kind of an interesting plot and twist, but all the sexual things in it were just unbearably awful. I mean, this book should not be recomened to seventh graders. AND all the sexual stuff wasn't even written well. Come one people, if you are an author, you should not be using dumb 10th grade sex innuendos. I'm in 8th grade and I wouldn't pout that into a story.
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Read this book several years ago. It's an okay book, but highly derivative of early Alan Dean Foster. The ecology review is better, but the aliens are really "just like us" only "living in harmony with their environment" which at this point puts it between Avatar, Ferngully and Dances With Wolves as the most overused plot point ever.
I thought this book had a decent story and set-up, but the end of the book sort of got sloppy and slightly incoherent. There were a lot of story points that suddenly came out of nowhere and didn't seem to fit. That said, the environment and setting were very well crafted, and on the whole I did enjoy this book.
An excellent science fiction novel. If you are a SF reader or writer you need to pick up this book.
May 16, 2013
Dogfutt
marked it as to-read
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