Come and enter Samuel Delany’s tomorow, in this trilogy of high adventure, with acrobats and urchins, criminals and courtiers, fishermen and ...
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reviews
Apr 20, 2009
Akiva
rated it: 
This is early Delaney and it shows (well technically it is a short trilogy packaged in one volume, but he plotted them together and wrote them in quick succession). It's set on an earth that has rebuilt itself into a small empire following a nuclear war, essentially making the setting a science fantasy world of aristocracies, power blades, and a weird alien consciousness always written in italics called The Lord of the Flames.
The pacing is weird and many of the events end up resolvin More...
The pacing is weird and many of the events end up resolvin More...
May 07, 2011
Genevieve
rated it: 
Samuel R. Delany keeps blowing my mind, and all I've read so far is his early stuff--practically juvenilia. I can't wait to get my hands on some of the later works. This trilogy is peculiar in having a pretty straightforward adventure-story plot, with telepaths and aliens and a kingdom at war, but not being written at all like a summary of its plot would suggest, not moving according to any of the expected beats. It's not without flaws, but ... the writing! so good! It's evocative and beautiful
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Jan 29, 2012
Roxane
rated it:
The galaxy suffered from a great fire centuries before, which caused the destruction of the transfering device (I've read this in French so I don't know the exact term used in English for this) humans' only access to the stars, cutting off all the planets from one another. At the planets' surface, the great fire also caused the emergence of a barrier of radiations which prevents humans from settling beyond a certain point.
The Empire of Toromon on Earth has therefore been forced to grow and More...
The Empire of Toromon on Earth has therefore been forced to grow and More...
Apr 09, 2011
Andrew
rated it:
I would give it 3.5, if Goodreads had half stars. Amazing, considering her wrote all three volumes before he was even 22 years old. It suffers slightly structurally, perhaps from that inexperience, but is still a non-linear quest that will not fall the way you think it will, ever. And that's what I love about Delany, nothing is straight-forward. The action doesn't go from A to B to predictable heroic climax C. Rather A will happen, then we see vignettes of our characters' lives, then B will
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May 04, 2008
Gabriel
rated it: 
This is a bit stupid, but I kept getting distracted by the ridiculous name "Jon Koshar." It put me in mind of Lousi Gossett, Jr., in "Enemy Mine"-- "Your Mickey Mossss is one big stupid DOPE!" Probably just my hangup, but Ko-Shar (Action Goy!) was too silly for me.
This book, or at any rate the way it presents itself in language and plot, is locked fathoms deep in the SF ghetto. I read this because I really rather liked Delany's book "About Writing More...
This book, or at any rate the way it presents itself in language and plot, is locked fathoms deep in the SF ghetto. I read this because I really rather liked Delany's book "About Writing More...
Apr 01, 2008
Kathy
rated it:
An extraordinary journey through time and across the universe ... or is that "universes"? Delany's prose is full of brilliant colors, ambiguous landscapes, exotic but attractive characters, opposing narratives oddly interwoven. His complex yet relevant images are reminiscent in a fleeting way of Bob Dylan's, especially Dylan's work of the 1960s. Delany's book is contemporaneous with Dylan's early work, so perhaps it was something in the very air.
Apr 23, 2010
Derek
rated it:
I kept falling in and out of like with this one. On one hand, it's unevenly plotted, with the occasional rough edge to the writing. On the other, the scenes of the cosmic battle against The Lord of the Flames were brilliant and gripping.
It had a Viriconium vibe to it in parts, and the overall effect was unsettling.
It had a Viriconium vibe to it in parts, and the overall effect was unsettling.
Aug 19, 2007
Tessa
rated it:
This book was interesting. It was my introduction to Delany, and there were many things I liked about this book, but there were also many things I did not. I never felt any true connection to any of the characters, though the world was fabulous. The resolution left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, as well.
Jul 02, 2008
Leonard
rated it:
A trilogy of sci-fi/fantasy that was among the first indications of what Samuel Delany was capable of. Inconsistent, but overall quite good.
Feb 07, 2012
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