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Вейский цикл #7
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НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ ЛАТЫНИНОЙ ЮЛИЕЙ ЛЕОНИДОВНОЙ, СОДЕРЖАЩИМСЯ В РЕЕСТРЕ ИНОСТРАННЫХ АГЕНТОВ С 09.09.2022 18+Если ваша империя из центра мира превратилась в камешек на краю необъятной Галактики; если ваши чиновники уверяют, что во всем виноваты люди со звезд, а ваши сектанты уверяют, что во всем виноваты чиновники; если все вокруг готовы продать родину за банку сметаны – смогут ли отчаянный террорист и хитроумный интриган добиться больше, чем добились благонамеренные реформаторы?
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1999
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September 25, 2013
I wanted to read this mainly because I'm a fan of Yulia Latynina's journalism: she has been a vocal, unbiased, and adept voice in the Chechen conflict and in addressing other issues in contemporary Russia but best-known despite this (to Russians at least) as a writer of popular sci-fi novels. My understanding is that indeed, she's made her money (her fortune, if some rumors are true) on her fiction and mainly is involved now in journalism as she believes it to be an ethical calling she wishes to embrace. So, what are her very-popular sci-fi novels like?
Overall, well-written but filled with a bit more over-the-top drama and expected tropes than I'd like. This novel was compelling and engages the reader in its world, certainly, but it has a bit of that original series Star Trek tone to it in places though in other aspects recalls Joan D. Vinge's work and I'm a huge Vinge fan, so that's only a good thing. The other-worldly Wiejska Empire and Terence Bemish alike will remind readers of the current Russian government and eager, often-corrupt officials and businessmen and that's obviously intentional: Latynina is no fan of Mr. Putin and is outspoken in her journalism so it should surprise no one to find motifs ripped from Moscow headlines running through this novel though it's set on an alien world.
I hate saying something is "really three and a half stars", as if Goodreads really needs half-stars, but in this case, there you have it: three and a half stars, not four I feel. But not just three. It's a good sci-fi novel, it will draw you in, you'll care about the characters and what's going on, but the examples drawn from post-Soviet life are so apparent in places I wish the author had invested more in developing a more complex world within this novel, making the sci-fi aspects more detailed and more unique. As much as she is aware of politics, the author clearly is repeating the motions of many Soviet-era sci-fi writers in using the genre as a mechanism for political pedagogy, which I find interesting in and of itself.
While I read the novel in the original Russian, I think it's translated into English, too. I considered writing this review in Russian, but English probably will reach more Goodreads users. If you're not Russian and don't read Russian but into sci-fi, I would still recommend this novel as a good place to start with foreign sci-fi, which many readers should find interesting.
Overall, well-written but filled with a bit more over-the-top drama and expected tropes than I'd like. This novel was compelling and engages the reader in its world, certainly, but it has a bit of that original series Star Trek tone to it in places though in other aspects recalls Joan D. Vinge's work and I'm a huge Vinge fan, so that's only a good thing. The other-worldly Wiejska Empire and Terence Bemish alike will remind readers of the current Russian government and eager, often-corrupt officials and businessmen and that's obviously intentional: Latynina is no fan of Mr. Putin and is outspoken in her journalism so it should surprise no one to find motifs ripped from Moscow headlines running through this novel though it's set on an alien world.
I hate saying something is "really three and a half stars", as if Goodreads really needs half-stars, but in this case, there you have it: three and a half stars, not four I feel. But not just three. It's a good sci-fi novel, it will draw you in, you'll care about the characters and what's going on, but the examples drawn from post-Soviet life are so apparent in places I wish the author had invested more in developing a more complex world within this novel, making the sci-fi aspects more detailed and more unique. As much as she is aware of politics, the author clearly is repeating the motions of many Soviet-era sci-fi writers in using the genre as a mechanism for political pedagogy, which I find interesting in and of itself.
While I read the novel in the original Russian, I think it's translated into English, too. I considered writing this review in Russian, but English probably will reach more Goodreads users. If you're not Russian and don't read Russian but into sci-fi, I would still recommend this novel as a good place to start with foreign sci-fi, which many readers should find interesting.
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