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Spiral Arm #1
The January Dancer
A triumph of the New Space fast, complicated, wonder-filled!
Hugo Award finalist and Robert A. Heinlein Award–winning SF writer Michael Flynn now turns to space opera with stunningly successful results. Full of rich echoes of space opera classics from Doc Smith to Cordwainer Smith, The January Dancer tells the fateful story of an ancient pre-human artifact of great power, and the people who found it.
Starting with Captain Amos January, who quickly loses it, and then the others who fought, schemed, and killed to get it, we travel around the complex, decadent, brawling, mongrelized interstellar human civilization the artifact might save or destroy. Collectors want the Dancer; pirates take it, rulers crave it, and they’ll all kill if necessary to get it. This is a thrilling yarn of love, revolution, music, and mystery, and it ends, as all great stories do, with shock and a beginning.
Hugo Award finalist and Robert A. Heinlein Award–winning SF writer Michael Flynn now turns to space opera with stunningly successful results. Full of rich echoes of space opera classics from Doc Smith to Cordwainer Smith, The January Dancer tells the fateful story of an ancient pre-human artifact of great power, and the people who found it.
Starting with Captain Amos January, who quickly loses it, and then the others who fought, schemed, and killed to get it, we travel around the complex, decadent, brawling, mongrelized interstellar human civilization the artifact might save or destroy. Collectors want the Dancer; pirates take it, rulers crave it, and they’ll all kill if necessary to get it. This is a thrilling yarn of love, revolution, music, and mystery, and it ends, as all great stories do, with shock and a beginning.
350 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2008
98 people are currently reading
1479 people want to read
About the author
Michael Flynn
115 books237 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. Please see this page for the list of authors.
Michael Francis Flynn (born 1947) is an American statistician and science fiction author. Nearly all of Flynn's work falls under the category of hard science fiction, although his treatment of it can be unusual since he has applied the rigor of hard science fiction to "softer" sciences such as sociology in works such as In the Country of the Blind. Much of his short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact.
Flynn was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. He earned a B.A. in Mathematics from LaSalle University and an M.S. in topology from Marquette University. He has been employed as an industrial quality engineer and statistician.
Library of Congress authorities: Flynn, Michael (Michael F.)
Michael Francis Flynn (born 1947) is an American statistician and science fiction author. Nearly all of Flynn's work falls under the category of hard science fiction, although his treatment of it can be unusual since he has applied the rigor of hard science fiction to "softer" sciences such as sociology in works such as In the Country of the Blind. Much of his short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact.
Flynn was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. He earned a B.A. in Mathematics from LaSalle University and an M.S. in topology from Marquette University. He has been employed as an industrial quality engineer and statistician.
Library of Congress authorities: Flynn, Michael (Michael F.)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews
June 20, 2024
Amazing world-building; vast and intricate.
This is a space opera that reads like fantasy in it's scope and tone, reminiscent of all my old favorite classics.
It contains great writing and plot, an awesome and fully realized characters with nary a stray or boring paragraph (and that's saying a lot considering the word count) and it's an excellent read all through.
I will definitely be continuing on with this series. A Hard Sci-Fi space opera with classic vibes, awesome! recommend.
2022 Read
This is a space opera that reads like fantasy in it's scope and tone, reminiscent of all my old favorite classics.
It contains great writing and plot, an awesome and fully realized characters with nary a stray or boring paragraph (and that's saying a lot considering the word count) and it's an excellent read all through.
I will definitely be continuing on with this series. A Hard Sci-Fi space opera with classic vibes, awesome! recommend.
2022 Read
February 9, 2017
I don't know about this one. I mean, it feels pretty awesome on so many levels, and yet the characters kinda fell a bit flat for me.
I totally recommend this novel for the wild and weird adventure of the Immovable Force, aka the Dancer as it bends the wills and minds of entire civilizations, the world-building of the Rift, a lawless portion of space and it's civil war and so oddly Irish characters, and the sense that so much is going on that it's really hard to follow the enormity of it. Drunks, scam artists, freedom fighters, and cops. This novel really has it all.
But there was something about the threads of the story that didn't really satisfy, for me, nor the characters. January, the captain, seemed kinda bland to me. The Hound seemed pretty interesting and the Pup, more so, but what can I really say about the Seducer?
It just felt... icky, somehow. Nothing overt. And maybe it was just me.
On the other hand, I really loved the quirkiness of the language that evolved in the galactic society. It was particularly wonderful: so many weird ideas were pulled out of our context and were turned into enormous and odd memes that get passed around like old sawhorses, and I had a great time with all of them.
Plus, there is the Immovable Force, the Dancer, too, that acts like the Spear of Destiny. Whoever holds it shall rule. Pre-human artifact or no, it's fascinating. Maybe I just wanted to see something more interesting happen with it, too.
Decent read and enough to make me continue with the trilogy. :) There's definitely a lot more good going on than blah. :)
I totally recommend this novel for the wild and weird adventure of the Immovable Force, aka the Dancer as it bends the wills and minds of entire civilizations, the world-building of the Rift, a lawless portion of space and it's civil war and so oddly Irish characters, and the sense that so much is going on that it's really hard to follow the enormity of it. Drunks, scam artists, freedom fighters, and cops. This novel really has it all.
But there was something about the threads of the story that didn't really satisfy, for me, nor the characters. January, the captain, seemed kinda bland to me. The Hound seemed pretty interesting and the Pup, more so, but what can I really say about the Seducer?
It just felt... icky, somehow. Nothing overt. And maybe it was just me.
On the other hand, I really loved the quirkiness of the language that evolved in the galactic society. It was particularly wonderful: so many weird ideas were pulled out of our context and were turned into enormous and odd memes that get passed around like old sawhorses, and I had a great time with all of them.
Plus, there is the Immovable Force, the Dancer, too, that acts like the Spear of Destiny. Whoever holds it shall rule. Pre-human artifact or no, it's fascinating. Maybe I just wanted to see something more interesting happen with it, too.
Decent read and enough to make me continue with the trilogy. :) There's definitely a lot more good going on than blah. :)
June 26, 2019
I'm torn between giving this 3 or 4 stars (for the moment, I've settled on 3). It's definitely more than 3 but I want a few more days to pass while I digest the book because I've read a few lackluster efforts recently and I want to be sure I'm just not overcompensating for finally finding something worth reading and fun.
As you may have surmised, I very much enjoyed this space opera. It reminded me a bit of Iain Banks' Culture books in the irreverent style of writing and the variety of worlds Flynn can just barely touch on. Actually, the length and pacing of the book is nearly perfect. I may have wanted to know more but it would have needlessly slowed the narrative, and Flynn is good about giving the reader enough information to follow what's going on (though it does demand a bit closer reading than one might usually give a book like this).
The story is simple enough - a tramp freighter finds a prehuman artifact (the January Dancer) when it's forced to stop for repairs in an uncharted system. The discovery sets off a chain of events where a number of actors all vie to take possession of the treasure. The book focuses on a group thrown together by chance: Hugh O'Carroll (aka Ringbao della Costa), once asst. Planetary Manager of New Eireann and quondam guerilla leader; Greystroke and Bridget ban, a Pup and Hound, respectively, of the Ardry (explained below); and the Fudir, a Terran criminal from Jehovah. They track the Dancer across several worlds before finding it and confronting its power.
The universe Flynn creates is very interesting. Human-colonized space is divided between the Confederation of Central Worlds and the United League of the Periphery, divided both by politics and a galactographic feature known as the Rift. An unspecified (but long) time in the past, a catastrophic war brought down the Commonwealth of Suns (centered on Earth), Terra was devastated, and the Periphery worlds entered a "dark age." When our story begins, the CCW rules the worlds near Terra on the far side of the Rift. By all accounts, it appears to be a grim, authoritarian state ruled by Those of Name (Flynn is quite good at names with just the right amount of "verve" and "cadence"). The ULP is an extremely loose concatenation of the periphery worlds that give varying degrees of allegiance to the Ardry of High Tara, who enforces his will through the efforts of his Hounds and Pups, a highly trained policing force. Space travel is accomplished by following "rivers" or "roads" of non-Einsteinian space-time anchored to star systems (they're named for old Terran trade routes and highways: "the Silk Road," "Pacific Palisades," "Route 66," etc.). My stripped down description does little justice to Flynn's ability to create colorful and interesting settings and characters, alas.
This is my first encounter with Flynn's writing, and I was favorably impressed. Enough so that I'll keep my eyes open for opportunities to read more.
As you may have surmised, I very much enjoyed this space opera. It reminded me a bit of Iain Banks' Culture books in the irreverent style of writing and the variety of worlds Flynn can just barely touch on. Actually, the length and pacing of the book is nearly perfect. I may have wanted to know more but it would have needlessly slowed the narrative, and Flynn is good about giving the reader enough information to follow what's going on (though it does demand a bit closer reading than one might usually give a book like this).
The story is simple enough - a tramp freighter finds a prehuman artifact (the January Dancer) when it's forced to stop for repairs in an uncharted system. The discovery sets off a chain of events where a number of actors all vie to take possession of the treasure. The book focuses on a group thrown together by chance: Hugh O'Carroll (aka Ringbao della Costa), once asst. Planetary Manager of New Eireann and quondam guerilla leader; Greystroke and Bridget ban, a Pup and Hound, respectively, of the Ardry (explained below); and the Fudir, a Terran criminal from Jehovah. They track the Dancer across several worlds before finding it and confronting its power.
The universe Flynn creates is very interesting. Human-colonized space is divided between the Confederation of Central Worlds and the United League of the Periphery, divided both by politics and a galactographic feature known as the Rift. An unspecified (but long) time in the past, a catastrophic war brought down the Commonwealth of Suns (centered on Earth), Terra was devastated, and the Periphery worlds entered a "dark age." When our story begins, the CCW rules the worlds near Terra on the far side of the Rift. By all accounts, it appears to be a grim, authoritarian state ruled by Those of Name (Flynn is quite good at names with just the right amount of "verve" and "cadence"). The ULP is an extremely loose concatenation of the periphery worlds that give varying degrees of allegiance to the Ardry of High Tara, who enforces his will through the efforts of his Hounds and Pups, a highly trained policing force. Space travel is accomplished by following "rivers" or "roads" of non-Einsteinian space-time anchored to star systems (they're named for old Terran trade routes and highways: "the Silk Road," "Pacific Palisades," "Route 66," etc.). My stripped down description does little justice to Flynn's ability to create colorful and interesting settings and characters, alas.
This is my first encounter with Flynn's writing, and I was favorably impressed. Enough so that I'll keep my eyes open for opportunities to read more.
October 26, 2012
High 3.5 stars
_The January Dancer_ is a very good space opera…I wish it had tipped over into great. There is a lot going on here to love: a sufficiently deep future history created through the liberal use of allusion that references any number of existing earth cultures (heavily relying on Celtic and cultures from the Indian subcontinent) along with some pretty swell creations of Flynn’s own (the Hounds, ‘those of Name’, the Terran Corners, the Rift, the People of Sand & Iron, etc.) in which the diaspora of humanity has settled across the cosmos, making use of an intriguingly pseudo-scientific explanation for FTL travel; a cast of varied and interesting characters of disparate parts coming together, as though by chance, to solve the mystery of a powerful pre-human artifact; and perhaps most of all the well-crafted prose of Michael Flynn that provides a certain shine to what might have been little more than a bloated pulp epic in weaker hands.
And yet I just didn’t find myself utterly captivated by the story as I hoped I might. Somehow it felt as though I was being held at arm’s length from the narrative and I was unable to fully immerse myself into this world as I have done in Herbert’s Dune, Zindell’s Neverness, or Simmons’ Hyperion. Perhaps it was Flynn’s use of a dual narrative structure in which the main story was a tale being told by a character in another narrating arc, but I don’t think that’s it: I am not averse to the technique (indeed it’s not unlike that used by Simmons’ in _Hyperion_) and I don’t think Flynn did a bad job in making it work.
Perhaps the story was too much of an obvious set-up for the required sequels. There was a lot happening, but so much of it was seemingly to get the board into a state of readiness for the game to *really* proceed that it might have made the story of this volume itself seem weak, unable to support its own weight. Whatever the case may be, I did quite like the story Flynn had to tell, but I just wanted to love it more.
We follow the wanderings of a group of characters as they in turn follow the peregrinations of an alien artifact able to change its shape imperceptibly (and may have other, less benign powers) that was discovered by the tramp freighter captain Amos January (hence its name, The January Dancer) as it moves from hand to hand across large swathes of known human space. As various players from different factions come across the Dancer (or rumours of it) a race to attain the hidden power of the alien artifact begins. We are given a tour of many of the main worlds that make up the loose conglomeration of planets known as the United League of the Periphery (under the nominal control of the Ardry of High Tara and his specially trained police force, the Hounds) whose great enemy, the Confederation of Central Worlds (in which is held the lost home-world of Old Earth), lies watching and waiting across the great galactic rift.
The main characters (and even many of the secondary ones) are fairly well-fleshed out and have interesting motivations, the prose is very good, and the story moves along at a decent clip. Somehow though I just didn’t fall completely under the story’s spell. I have to admit, though, that the final reveal about the Dancer was pretty freakin’ awesome and well worth the lead-up. All-in-all a worthy read.
_The January Dancer_ is a very good space opera…I wish it had tipped over into great. There is a lot going on here to love: a sufficiently deep future history created through the liberal use of allusion that references any number of existing earth cultures (heavily relying on Celtic and cultures from the Indian subcontinent) along with some pretty swell creations of Flynn’s own (the Hounds, ‘those of Name’, the Terran Corners, the Rift, the People of Sand & Iron, etc.) in which the diaspora of humanity has settled across the cosmos, making use of an intriguingly pseudo-scientific explanation for FTL travel; a cast of varied and interesting characters of disparate parts coming together, as though by chance, to solve the mystery of a powerful pre-human artifact; and perhaps most of all the well-crafted prose of Michael Flynn that provides a certain shine to what might have been little more than a bloated pulp epic in weaker hands.
And yet I just didn’t find myself utterly captivated by the story as I hoped I might. Somehow it felt as though I was being held at arm’s length from the narrative and I was unable to fully immerse myself into this world as I have done in Herbert’s Dune, Zindell’s Neverness, or Simmons’ Hyperion. Perhaps it was Flynn’s use of a dual narrative structure in which the main story was a tale being told by a character in another narrating arc, but I don’t think that’s it: I am not averse to the technique (indeed it’s not unlike that used by Simmons’ in _Hyperion_) and I don’t think Flynn did a bad job in making it work.
Perhaps the story was too much of an obvious set-up for the required sequels. There was a lot happening, but so much of it was seemingly to get the board into a state of readiness for the game to *really* proceed that it might have made the story of this volume itself seem weak, unable to support its own weight. Whatever the case may be, I did quite like the story Flynn had to tell, but I just wanted to love it more.
We follow the wanderings of a group of characters as they in turn follow the peregrinations of an alien artifact able to change its shape imperceptibly (and may have other, less benign powers) that was discovered by the tramp freighter captain Amos January (hence its name, The January Dancer) as it moves from hand to hand across large swathes of known human space. As various players from different factions come across the Dancer (or rumours of it) a race to attain the hidden power of the alien artifact begins. We are given a tour of many of the main worlds that make up the loose conglomeration of planets known as the United League of the Periphery (under the nominal control of the Ardry of High Tara and his specially trained police force, the Hounds) whose great enemy, the Confederation of Central Worlds (in which is held the lost home-world of Old Earth), lies watching and waiting across the great galactic rift.
The main characters (and even many of the secondary ones) are fairly well-fleshed out and have interesting motivations, the prose is very good, and the story moves along at a decent clip. Somehow though I just didn’t fall completely under the story’s spell. I have to admit, though, that the final reveal about the Dancer was pretty freakin’ awesome and well worth the lead-up. All-in-all a worthy read.
June 8, 2011
This is the second book I've read by Michael Flynn, the first being Eifelheim. Both Eifelheim and The January Dancer have beautifully written, well crafted, and practically self-propelling stories taking place in vivid settings at once alien and familiar, with characters you believe and characters you don't, and you're not always sure which is which.
And in both books Flynn feels the need to interrupt those gorgeous main stories multiple times with secondary plotlines. It seems apparent that the secondary plots are intended to tease more meaning from the main stories, even to help drive the main stories along their intended paths. But the effect on me of the secondary plotlines, in both instances, was nothing more than a series of unwanted interruptions. Think commercial advertisements interrupting your favorite TV drama (before the days of the DVR, of course).
Now, admittedly, I’ve only read a small sample size of Michael Flynn’s work (just two out of ten novels). So it’s not like I can make a generalized statement about his tendencies as an author. But I’ve read two of his more loved books, and in two out of two cases he made the same mistake, namely, not trusting his own storytelling ability. Flynn can weave a damned fine yarn, there’s no doubt about that, and then it seems he wants to take that one extra step to perfect his novel ... and it’s a step both unnecessary and counterproductive. Like a painter or a songwriter or any other artist, Flynn needs to learn to leave well enough alone. Nothing will ever be perfect, but some works can be darned near so, and that extra step in the strive for perfection can take one backwards. The interruptions in The January Dancer were the extra brushstroke that ruins a beautiful picture. They weren’t needed to advance the story, as the story itself was powerful and interesting enough to advance itself, and what little information they contained could have been revealed through the main story, instead of outside of it. If Flynn really felt the secondary story was necessary, he could have done a prologue and an epilogue, with maybe one brief interregnum in the middle; I found myself dreading the constant interruptions before every (relatively) short chapter.
But enough of my complaints. As I’ve indicated, the main storyline is something to behold. The characters themselves are not the deepest I’ve seen (not like the priest in Eifelheim, for example), but they’re deep enough; the main four or five are far from two-dimensional. The story itself has enough twists and turns and slippery slopes to prevent you from ever quite grasping it (a little double-meaning for those of you who’ve read it) until all the pieces are revealed. The pacing is expert, picking up where it needs to pick up and slowing where you need a rest (not counted the aforementioned unwanted hiccups), and the worlds across which the story dances are more than just hopscotch squares, with cultures and histories of their own.
If I had it to do over again (and I know there can only ever be one first time with a book, just like there’s only one first kiss with a lover) I’d simply ignore the interruptions and let the story of The Dancer carry me away.
And in both books Flynn feels the need to interrupt those gorgeous main stories multiple times with secondary plotlines. It seems apparent that the secondary plots are intended to tease more meaning from the main stories, even to help drive the main stories along their intended paths. But the effect on me of the secondary plotlines, in both instances, was nothing more than a series of unwanted interruptions. Think commercial advertisements interrupting your favorite TV drama (before the days of the DVR, of course).
Now, admittedly, I’ve only read a small sample size of Michael Flynn’s work (just two out of ten novels). So it’s not like I can make a generalized statement about his tendencies as an author. But I’ve read two of his more loved books, and in two out of two cases he made the same mistake, namely, not trusting his own storytelling ability. Flynn can weave a damned fine yarn, there’s no doubt about that, and then it seems he wants to take that one extra step to perfect his novel ... and it’s a step both unnecessary and counterproductive. Like a painter or a songwriter or any other artist, Flynn needs to learn to leave well enough alone. Nothing will ever be perfect, but some works can be darned near so, and that extra step in the strive for perfection can take one backwards. The interruptions in The January Dancer were the extra brushstroke that ruins a beautiful picture. They weren’t needed to advance the story, as the story itself was powerful and interesting enough to advance itself, and what little information they contained could have been revealed through the main story, instead of outside of it. If Flynn really felt the secondary story was necessary, he could have done a prologue and an epilogue, with maybe one brief interregnum in the middle; I found myself dreading the constant interruptions before every (relatively) short chapter.
But enough of my complaints. As I’ve indicated, the main storyline is something to behold. The characters themselves are not the deepest I’ve seen (not like the priest in Eifelheim, for example), but they’re deep enough; the main four or five are far from two-dimensional. The story itself has enough twists and turns and slippery slopes to prevent you from ever quite grasping it (a little double-meaning for those of you who’ve read it) until all the pieces are revealed. The pacing is expert, picking up where it needs to pick up and slowing where you need a rest (not counted the aforementioned unwanted hiccups), and the worlds across which the story dances are more than just hopscotch squares, with cultures and histories of their own.
If I had it to do over again (and I know there can only ever be one first time with a book, just like there’s only one first kiss with a lover) I’d simply ignore the interruptions and let the story of The Dancer carry me away.
November 17, 2008
4.5 to 5.0 stars. A superb and original space opera that is incredibly well written. The world-building is excellent, the characters are dynamic and very well drawn and the plot is intelligent, complex and terrific. If you are looking for smart, original space opera than you have found it. Highly Recommended!!!
February 27, 2017
I feel like there are very few moments when it is not a mistake to have a character or the narrator declaim about the intrinsic difference between men and women, particularly when it's used lazily to limit women's emotional range. When it's off the cuff, that's annoying. When it then goes on to shape the women characters in the book because apparently that's really what the author thinks about women, then the irritation grows.
Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
January 11, 2021
Notes:
Yay for libraries!
I'd recommend reading this one vs listening. I love that Stefan Rudinicki is one of the main narrators for a lot of the SF/F novels. He's a great narrator. However, this story did not transfer well to audio. Not enough visuals and active scenes to make the story engaging by ear. Great characters & the potential for a well developed setting.
Yay for libraries!
I'd recommend reading this one vs listening. I love that Stefan Rudinicki is one of the main narrators for a lot of the SF/F novels. He's a great narrator. However, this story did not transfer well to audio. Not enough visuals and active scenes to make the story engaging by ear. Great characters & the potential for a well developed setting.
March 23, 2016
3 Stars
The January Dancer by Michael Flynn is a high style literary science fiction. I wish that I could have gotten into it more than I did. I know that I missed a great deal. The writing is the center point of the whole story. It is quite flowery in an old literary school fashion. I wanted to love it but...
I should have loved this one but didn't. Maybe another day.
The January Dancer by Michael Flynn is a high style literary science fiction. I wish that I could have gotten into it more than I did. I know that I missed a great deal. The writing is the center point of the whole story. It is quite flowery in an old literary school fashion. I wanted to love it but...
I should have loved this one but didn't. Maybe another day.
March 27, 2009
I'm not going to attribute my enjoyment of this novel to a definite craving for good space opera science fiction, because aside from that fact, it's simply an excellent piece of story-telling set in an intriguing and original far-future universe that could host many more good novels in the future. I hope Flynn will decide to write them.
The novel's framing story is mostly set in an inn. A mysterious harper has tracked down a man for a story. As he tells the story about the Dancer, an alien artifact accidentally discovered by a starfreighter captain, we learn more about the history and ways of the United League of the Periphery, an interstellar society connected by faster-than-light highways. Between the chapters, the harper and the story-teller bicker, eat and drink, and talk --- all the while adding to the over-all picture. The author is amazingly deft at telling a fascinating story - at its most basic level a very complicated chase after the Dancer - while slowly making the reader get a more accurate view of the Periphery's history.
One odd but charming aspect of the novel is that, while it's undeniably science fiction, so many of its features resemble fantasy: not just the cliche of strangers meeting in an inn to listen to a harper and hear stories, but also the artifact's magical-seeming nature and the names of the space-highways (the Palisades, the Silk Road) and the police force (Hounds are almost super-human-seeming agents with military, detective and spy-like aspects).
Aside from the entertaining story line and the well-drawn characters, I really enjoyed the way Flynn described the Terran parts of society --- Terrans are a lower class in the Periphery, with their own ghettos on every planet, secret councils of leaders, and even their own lingo (a barely understandable jumble of several languages).
This is an excellent piece of SF, and as mentioned before, I really hope Flynn will write more stories in this universe. Four stars!
NOTE: I just found the author's LJ, and it appears that there is another novel set in this universe in the works. Yay.
The novel's framing story is mostly set in an inn. A mysterious harper has tracked down a man for a story. As he tells the story about the Dancer, an alien artifact accidentally discovered by a starfreighter captain, we learn more about the history and ways of the United League of the Periphery, an interstellar society connected by faster-than-light highways. Between the chapters, the harper and the story-teller bicker, eat and drink, and talk --- all the while adding to the over-all picture. The author is amazingly deft at telling a fascinating story - at its most basic level a very complicated chase after the Dancer - while slowly making the reader get a more accurate view of the Periphery's history.
One odd but charming aspect of the novel is that, while it's undeniably science fiction, so many of its features resemble fantasy: not just the cliche of strangers meeting in an inn to listen to a harper and hear stories, but also the artifact's magical-seeming nature and the names of the space-highways (the Palisades, the Silk Road) and the police force (Hounds are almost super-human-seeming agents with military, detective and spy-like aspects).
Aside from the entertaining story line and the well-drawn characters, I really enjoyed the way Flynn described the Terran parts of society --- Terrans are a lower class in the Periphery, with their own ghettos on every planet, secret councils of leaders, and even their own lingo (a barely understandable jumble of several languages).
This is an excellent piece of SF, and as mentioned before, I really hope Flynn will write more stories in this universe. Four stars!
NOTE: I just found the author's LJ, and it appears that there is another novel set in this universe in the works. Yay.
August 6, 2017
A space opera tale of intrigue, mystery, adventure, and romance, all revolving about the Dancer, or the Twisting Rock, a prehuman artifact of strange abilities, and spanning wondrously detailed star systems, with a detailed back story.
It opens with a harper coming into a bar -- the only bar on the planet Jehovah -- and seeking out the scarred man there for the story, so that she can make songs of it. Or so she says.
So he weaves her the tale, with no less than three beginnings: a tramp spaceship that found the Dancer in a pre-human ruin filled with things that could not be moved; a civil war on New Eireann; and a Hound keeping watch on the Rift for the danger of the Confederacy, when pirates came through.
The Dancer complicates it all. The harper and the scarred man discuss the tale as it goes on, whether it ends well or poorly, who is the tragic hero of one portion, what are the powers of the Dancer, and an ontological mystery arising from its existence as the tale winds on through the slow formation of a group: a Terran conman and low-life, an exile from the civil war, and two Hounds searching for a contact for a Confederate agent, and information about the pirates -- and more. Mysterious disappearances of ships. A route though the stars that is not publically known. (The FTL travel in this work is particularly lushly detailed.) A corporation that owns a different pre-human artifiact, the Ouroboros Circuit. . . .
Not to mention that the discoveries that the harper and the scarred man make about each other during the course of the telling.
This book benefits from being read slowly because it is densely packed with all sorts of stuff. Fascinating, detailed worlds; vivid characters, intriguing plot twists, more allusions you can shake a stick at.
It opens with a harper coming into a bar -- the only bar on the planet Jehovah -- and seeking out the scarred man there for the story, so that she can make songs of it. Or so she says.
So he weaves her the tale, with no less than three beginnings: a tramp spaceship that found the Dancer in a pre-human ruin filled with things that could not be moved; a civil war on New Eireann; and a Hound keeping watch on the Rift for the danger of the Confederacy, when pirates came through.
The Dancer complicates it all. The harper and the scarred man discuss the tale as it goes on, whether it ends well or poorly, who is the tragic hero of one portion, what are the powers of the Dancer, and an ontological mystery arising from its existence as the tale winds on through the slow formation of a group: a Terran conman and low-life, an exile from the civil war, and two Hounds searching for a contact for a Confederate agent, and information about the pirates -- and more. Mysterious disappearances of ships. A route though the stars that is not publically known. (The FTL travel in this work is particularly lushly detailed.) A corporation that owns a different pre-human artifiact, the Ouroboros Circuit. . . .
Not to mention that the discoveries that the harper and the scarred man make about each other during the course of the telling.
This book benefits from being read slowly because it is densely packed with all sorts of stuff. Fascinating, detailed worlds; vivid characters, intriguing plot twists, more allusions you can shake a stick at.
February 12, 2010
Michael Flynn's Eifelheim is one of my favorite science fiction novels. It takes SF in a direction I'd never seen SF go before. So, when I heard about The January Dancer, I was very anxious to read it and delighted when I found it on the shelves at my library. I thought The January Dancer was a beautifully written, very creative story. I really enjoyed the way Flynn created a future that involved humans from different planets talking in different dialects. I like how he brought the different planets and their citizens to life. I liked how he framed the novel as a man telling a harpist the story of the pursuit of a pre-human artifact so she can create a piece of music about it.
As much as I liked Flynn's creation though, I couldn't give it more than three stars because I just didn't know what the heck was going on most of the time. I lost track of the narrative threads more times than I can count and the characters all had so many names that I couldn't keep them straight.
Because of the extensive use of dialect and made-up slang, I think I might have enjoyed (and understood) this book far better in audio than in print. That's saying something because I am a much better reader than listener.
As much as I liked Flynn's creation though, I couldn't give it more than three stars because I just didn't know what the heck was going on most of the time. I lost track of the narrative threads more times than I can count and the characters all had so many names that I couldn't keep them straight.
Because of the extensive use of dialect and made-up slang, I think I might have enjoyed (and understood) this book far better in audio than in print. That's saying something because I am a much better reader than listener.
May 1, 2010
I'm a fan of Michael Flynn. I've enjoyed six of his novels and I expect to read many more. This particular book is well-written, and I wouldn't discourage other science fiction fans from giving it a try, but it didn't suit me at all. My one-star rating means "I didn't like it", not "It's a terrible book."
I'll forgive a lot if the writing is good, but with this book there seemed to be more style than substance. At the halfway point I realized that I didn't care about any of the characters, I didn't find the universe interesting, and I wasn't in the least intrigued with the plot. So I abandoned it (you can't really skim a Flynn novel - you either concentrate and read every word, or put the book down) in spite of truly gorgeous writing in places. From the first page:
Everything in the universe is older than it seems. Blame Einstein for that. We see what a thing was when the light left it, and that was long ago. Nothing in the night sky is contemporary, not to us, not to one another. Ancient stars exploded into ruin before their sparkle ever caught our eyes; those glimpsed in glowing "nurseries" were cronies before we witnessed their birth. Everything we marvel at is already gone.
Yet, light rays go out forever, so that everything grown old and decayed retains somewhere the appearance of its youth. The universe is full of ghosts.
But images are light, and light is energy, and energy is matter; and matter is real. So image and reality are the same thing, after all. Blame Einstein for that, as well.
I'll forgive a lot if the writing is good, but with this book there seemed to be more style than substance. At the halfway point I realized that I didn't care about any of the characters, I didn't find the universe interesting, and I wasn't in the least intrigued with the plot. So I abandoned it (you can't really skim a Flynn novel - you either concentrate and read every word, or put the book down) in spite of truly gorgeous writing in places. From the first page:
Everything in the universe is older than it seems. Blame Einstein for that. We see what a thing was when the light left it, and that was long ago. Nothing in the night sky is contemporary, not to us, not to one another. Ancient stars exploded into ruin before their sparkle ever caught our eyes; those glimpsed in glowing "nurseries" were cronies before we witnessed their birth. Everything we marvel at is already gone.
Yet, light rays go out forever, so that everything grown old and decayed retains somewhere the appearance of its youth. The universe is full of ghosts.
But images are light, and light is energy, and energy is matter; and matter is real. So image and reality are the same thing, after all. Blame Einstein for that, as well.
January 11, 2012
A fable set in mythical Ireland in the far future, only it's a spy story. I can't make that sound any less ridiculous, but it's played perfectly straight and it works great. Humanity's first interstellar civilization was forcibly diaspora'd; a millennium later, the fragments have rebuilt an uneasy cluster of stellar nations while clinging to their mish-mash of half-remembered Terran history. Result: people with names like Ringbao della Costa think it's perfectly natural to write "Little Hugh O'Carroll" on the office door when they go to work for the government of New Eireann -- it's not deception, it's just good manners.
The point is, the galaxy ("Gaelaxy", by god) is a centuries-old RenFaire gone to seed -- except it's not a joke; they have extremely real national concerns and prejudices and fears, notably of the Confederacy lurking on the other side of the Rift who threw them off Earth in the first place. And into *that* mix falls the alien MacGuffin, and pow, heaven's own chain reaction of agents, pirates, soldiers, and spies, all merrily chasing each other's tails for 400 pages. Recounted in frame by a harper and a mysterious tale-teller in a pub, *of course*. I can't say it *never* gets twee, but the author only winks when the characters aren't looking, and the characters are dead serious. So it works.
The point is, the galaxy ("Gaelaxy", by god) is a centuries-old RenFaire gone to seed -- except it's not a joke; they have extremely real national concerns and prejudices and fears, notably of the Confederacy lurking on the other side of the Rift who threw them off Earth in the first place. And into *that* mix falls the alien MacGuffin, and pow, heaven's own chain reaction of agents, pirates, soldiers, and spies, all merrily chasing each other's tails for 400 pages. Recounted in frame by a harper and a mysterious tale-teller in a pub, *of course*. I can't say it *never* gets twee, but the author only winks when the characters aren't looking, and the characters are dead serious. So it works.
July 31, 2013
As I said about Joe Abercrombie after reading THE HEROES not to long ago, "where has THIS guy been all this time? I want more!" With that encouraging start, The January Dancer (henceforth TJD) is the first story in a Space Opera series called "The Spiral Arm". I've seen reference to Michael Flynn in relation to what is being called "the New Space Opera", which, I suppose lumps him in with the late great Iain Banks and other writers. There was not that much "new" about this Space Opera, it was a classic MacGuffin story with twists, betrayals, galactic empires, agents, space cops and space pirates. What's not to love?
TJD relates the story of the discovery of an enigmatic pre-human artifact called "The Twisting Stone" or "The January Dancer" or just 'the Dancer' in the story. The artifact is discovered on a backwater planet where a tramp freighter captained by Amos January laid in to repair a malfunction. The crew discovers a room full of fascinating and potentially enriching artifacts, only one of which (The Dancer) can they actually leave with, and that by the skin of their teeth, almost. It is revealed (gradually) that the stone has the psychic power of commanding almost instant obedience to the person who wields it. The artifact attracts the attention of some powerful players and changes hands several times throughout the story; In the end, it is revealed just how much the artifact itself exuded a subtle influence on galactic affairs. I like Flynn's prose style, which is chatty, subtle and observational. All his characters, save perhaps for "the Hudir", lapse into first person narrative from time, so their story is consistent with what we know in the setting Flynn provides. I really like Flynn's culture and setting. Somewhere, somehow, the Irish and Scots have become power players in this universe, as everyone seems to be speaking with a Gaelic accent. The story unwinds until it arrives at a very satisfactory (low key, but surprising) conclusion. Flynn buries the artifact story inside a meta-layer of narrative where the story is being told by an ancient (never named) man and a young Harper with secrets of her own. I didn't' care for this part that much; I found it distracts from the greater artifact story and almost derails it a few times. With that said, I loved the setting and the place names. January Dancer read through very quickly (4 days, not hurrying) and is an easy read to get into. I'll definitely be looking into the work of Mr. Flynn in the near future. A great discovery.
TJD relates the story of the discovery of an enigmatic pre-human artifact called "The Twisting Stone" or "The January Dancer" or just 'the Dancer' in the story. The artifact is discovered on a backwater planet where a tramp freighter captained by Amos January laid in to repair a malfunction. The crew discovers a room full of fascinating and potentially enriching artifacts, only one of which (The Dancer) can they actually leave with, and that by the skin of their teeth, almost. It is revealed (gradually) that the stone has the psychic power of commanding almost instant obedience to the person who wields it. The artifact attracts the attention of some powerful players and changes hands several times throughout the story; In the end, it is revealed just how much the artifact itself exuded a subtle influence on galactic affairs. I like Flynn's prose style, which is chatty, subtle and observational. All his characters, save perhaps for "the Hudir", lapse into first person narrative from time, so their story is consistent with what we know in the setting Flynn provides. I really like Flynn's culture and setting. Somewhere, somehow, the Irish and Scots have become power players in this universe, as everyone seems to be speaking with a Gaelic accent. The story unwinds until it arrives at a very satisfactory (low key, but surprising) conclusion. Flynn buries the artifact story inside a meta-layer of narrative where the story is being told by an ancient (never named) man and a young Harper with secrets of her own. I didn't' care for this part that much; I found it distracts from the greater artifact story and almost derails it a few times. With that said, I loved the setting and the place names. January Dancer read through very quickly (4 days, not hurrying) and is an easy read to get into. I'll definitely be looking into the work of Mr. Flynn in the near future. A great discovery.
January 8, 2013
Finished? Well, not quite.
Giving up because no matter how hard I try, I can't get into this thing. Although it is billed as a "space opera," it's more like hard-as-diamonds SF with an abundance of purple prose. (Bailed at 48%.)
I confess, I bought it because it passed the first page test:
"Everything in the universe is older than it seems. Blame Einstein for that. We see what a thing was when the light left it, and that was long ago. Nothing in the night sky is contemporary, not to us, not to one another. Ancient stars explode into ruin before their sparkle ever caught our eyes; those glimpsed in glowing "nurseries" were crones before we witnessed their birth. Everything we marvel at is already gone."
The voice in the above has a nice sparkle to it, easy to engage with, and ringing with the kind of truth that makes this reader, nod and go, "Yeah, that's so true."
The beginning also holds tremendous promise. In a scene vaguely reminiscent of something from Firefly/Serenity, the crew of a spaceship barely escape from a dangerous planet, once the home to a long gone, but powerful elder race.
Unfortunately, it's not representative of the rest of the novel. To be blunt, the author seems a little to enamored with clever turns of phrase to the point where eloquent moves into a garish shade of purple. Individually, many of the sentences in the narrative are pretty, but put together, there is no flow. It's awkward and difficult to read. Clunky.
Worse yet, there is an absolute dearth of characterization. Every character has at least two aliases, names that are used willy-nilly. I suppose this is intended to give the impression that no one is who they seem to be. Bleck! Buried in fluffy prose and with no particularly distinguishing features, everyone blurs into the incomprehensible background tapestry of techno-science-babble.
The plot, meanwhile, what I can discern of it, meanders between a wandering minstrel who is interviewing a key figure in the story (I think he's key), and various parties in the story, at various points in time. If it were interesting, it would be dizzying. Alas, it's more mind numbing than a truckload of sedatives.
Probably just the ticket for the hard SF fan who loves world building run amuck and blather about various theoretical interstellar highways. If you'd like some story and characterization with your SF, move along, nothing to see here.
Giving up because no matter how hard I try, I can't get into this thing. Although it is billed as a "space opera," it's more like hard-as-diamonds SF with an abundance of purple prose. (Bailed at 48%.)
I confess, I bought it because it passed the first page test:
"Everything in the universe is older than it seems. Blame Einstein for that. We see what a thing was when the light left it, and that was long ago. Nothing in the night sky is contemporary, not to us, not to one another. Ancient stars explode into ruin before their sparkle ever caught our eyes; those glimpsed in glowing "nurseries" were crones before we witnessed their birth. Everything we marvel at is already gone."
The voice in the above has a nice sparkle to it, easy to engage with, and ringing with the kind of truth that makes this reader, nod and go, "Yeah, that's so true."
The beginning also holds tremendous promise. In a scene vaguely reminiscent of something from Firefly/Serenity, the crew of a spaceship barely escape from a dangerous planet, once the home to a long gone, but powerful elder race.
Unfortunately, it's not representative of the rest of the novel. To be blunt, the author seems a little to enamored with clever turns of phrase to the point where eloquent moves into a garish shade of purple. Individually, many of the sentences in the narrative are pretty, but put together, there is no flow. It's awkward and difficult to read. Clunky.
Worse yet, there is an absolute dearth of characterization. Every character has at least two aliases, names that are used willy-nilly. I suppose this is intended to give the impression that no one is who they seem to be. Bleck! Buried in fluffy prose and with no particularly distinguishing features, everyone blurs into the incomprehensible background tapestry of techno-science-babble.
The plot, meanwhile, what I can discern of it, meanders between a wandering minstrel who is interviewing a key figure in the story (I think he's key), and various parties in the story, at various points in time. If it were interesting, it would be dizzying. Alas, it's more mind numbing than a truckload of sedatives.
Probably just the ticket for the hard SF fan who loves world building run amuck and blather about various theoretical interstellar highways. If you'd like some story and characterization with your SF, move along, nothing to see here.
May 18, 2015
I don't think I ever labelled a book "pretentious" before, so this will be a first. But that is precisely what this story is: pretentious. It is filled with self-righteous characters strutting about and emoting about their own importance (imagined or otherwise) quite a bit, but when all was said and done, I felt that this was a story filled with sound and fury that signified nothing. Now, it was NOT a tale told by an idiot: the basic story is a good one: an alien artifact that can bend the will of others is discovered on a planet (by a Captain January, hence the title), something that results in a wild chase by various galactic powers attempting to control it. Unfortunately, this interesting premise is constantly sidetracked by the book's various characters (comprised of rather boastful but forgettable individuals such as the femme fatale secret agent, the manly secret agent, the charismatic Irishman who is always on the run for some reason, an Earthling who speaks in broken English, that other guy...see my point?) whom often seem interested in everything BUT the alien artifact, something that results in a lot of tangential events that serve to bring the central story to an almost complete halt at times. Sadly, the story's resolution ultimately arrives as almost an afterthought rather than a satisfying payoff.
Clearly, the author was attempting to write an epic science fiction tale on par with something Homer might had written eons ago (this suggestion is practically shouted at us by the story's narrator, a character I found more annoying than interesting - which also describes the rest of characters), but what was ultimately put to paper was a lot about very little. I doubt I will continue with this series.
Clearly, the author was attempting to write an epic science fiction tale on par with something Homer might had written eons ago (this suggestion is practically shouted at us by the story's narrator, a character I found more annoying than interesting - which also describes the rest of characters), but what was ultimately put to paper was a lot about very little. I doubt I will continue with this series.
March 30, 2018
I am not going to go on and on about this book except to say that it was entirely absorbing. Flynn is a master of world building or rather galaxy building. I just love the discovery process of learning how this galaxy works, it history, social mores, politics, Flynn doesn't spoon feed you he makes you work hard for your understanding.
July 6, 2008
In the tradition of MJ Harrison Light and told with the detached ironical tone of the author's The Wreck of the River of Stars this is a superb literary space opera novel.
Written in a Celtic-laden language which gives it an archaic feel that complements its far future, space opera setting, The January Dancer tells the story of "how the Universe went insane" once an obscure crew member of a down-on-luck tramp freighter stopping on a nameless world for repairs, shifts a backhoe and touches a stone lying around...
Superb characters and intricate story-telling that requires constant attention not to miss a subtle but essential point give this novel a mainstream like literary quality, without sacrificing the sf-nal sense of wonder.
God willing - given Mr. Flynn recent heart-attack though he seems to have recovered nicely as detailed on his blog -The January Dancer will be followed next year by Up Jim River and hopefully more novels in this wonderful universe.
It's tricky to predict awards in advance, but for my money I would put The January Dancer in contention for all major sf awards for 2008.
The January Dancer is self contained with a fitting ending but I definitely want more tales about its characters.
Written in a Celtic-laden language which gives it an archaic feel that complements its far future, space opera setting, The January Dancer tells the story of "how the Universe went insane" once an obscure crew member of a down-on-luck tramp freighter stopping on a nameless world for repairs, shifts a backhoe and touches a stone lying around...
Superb characters and intricate story-telling that requires constant attention not to miss a subtle but essential point give this novel a mainstream like literary quality, without sacrificing the sf-nal sense of wonder.
God willing - given Mr. Flynn recent heart-attack though he seems to have recovered nicely as detailed on his blog -The January Dancer will be followed next year by Up Jim River and hopefully more novels in this wonderful universe.
It's tricky to predict awards in advance, but for my money I would put The January Dancer in contention for all major sf awards for 2008.
The January Dancer is self contained with a fitting ending but I definitely want more tales about its characters.
March 11, 2012
This is my second book by Michael Flynn and he does not disappoint. I have come to appreciate his style of writting. It is true that he takes longer to tell a story than neccesary, but I enjoy the process.
There are several characters to keep up with, but they are well developed enjoyable to read. He builds a universe that is vast and complex. This makes it a little hard to follow the geography, but he has a map in the front of the book.
The plot is interesting and he even suprized me a little in the end. This is good space opra but not so traditional. It does read a little like fanasty, but it's science fiction, make no mistake about that.
There are several characters to keep up with, but they are well developed enjoyable to read. He builds a universe that is vast and complex. This makes it a little hard to follow the geography, but he has a map in the front of the book.
The plot is interesting and he even suprized me a little in the end. This is good space opra but not so traditional. It does read a little like fanasty, but it's science fiction, make no mistake about that.
February 11, 2013
Almost five stars.
A well-told story of galactic proportions. Interesting main characters, though almost clichés. A junior partner's crush on a senior rings false. Science as a near myth--worse a "religion"-- losing out to technology (go figure) is a nice touch. Historic figures as gods to far-distant future was well-played. Earth itself as an almost forgotten myth is good. Loved the Anycloth with embedded technology.
The framing story was a good way to maintain interest and introduce uncertainty. Yeah, it's been done, but it worked. I figured out who the scarred man was before the Harper did.
A very good read.
A well-told story of galactic proportions. Interesting main characters, though almost clichés. A junior partner's crush on a senior rings false. Science as a near myth--worse a "religion"-- losing out to technology (go figure) is a nice touch. Historic figures as gods to far-distant future was well-played. Earth itself as an almost forgotten myth is good. Loved the Anycloth with embedded technology.
The framing story was a good way to maintain interest and introduce uncertainty. Yeah, it's been done, but it worked. I figured out who the scarred man was before the Harper did.
A very good read.
June 10, 2020
First book I’ve read by this author. A great sci-fi with lots of adventure and action. It’s hard to find a relatively clean sci-fi now. There were brief encounters some bad language, but for most part easily skimmed over. I would recommend for 15-16 years and up.
Was very good read but so slow. Lots of details to keep track of and so many subplots. I would have given it a higher rating if a little easier to follow. E-book would have been a definite plus for me. I read hardback from the library and the print was so small.
There were hints of more stories to come. So I see this is first of 4. Since I haven’t read the rest don’t know if that is an ending point. If you like Sci- Fi I think you won’t be disappointed.
Was very good read but so slow. Lots of details to keep track of and so many subplots. I would have given it a higher rating if a little easier to follow. E-book would have been a definite plus for me. I read hardback from the library and the print was so small.
There were hints of more stories to come. So I see this is first of 4. Since I haven’t read the rest don’t know if that is an ending point. If you like Sci- Fi I think you won’t be disappointed.
April 18, 2023
3.5 stars
An enormous cast of characters in a complicated far future chase an omnipotent ancient relic for a hundred different reasons while a whole universe’s operations are explained in intricate detail, ultimately addressing a portion of the plot in finale, but leaving much dangling for future sequels.
An enormous cast of characters in a complicated far future chase an omnipotent ancient relic for a hundred different reasons while a whole universe’s operations are explained in intricate detail, ultimately addressing a portion of the plot in finale, but leaving much dangling for future sequels.
August 24, 2017
Gave up after the first few paragraphs; couldn't get past the precious, cliche-ridden prose used to just set the scene at a bar. Gah.
July 13, 2020
There are so many SF-novels out there, old and new, that I haven't read that I don't often go back for seconds. On the other hand: my book cases are stuffed to the rim and overflowing, as I read faster than I can acquire new books - and sometimes it's fun to go back to old favorites and see if you still think highly of them. Some books turn out to be endlessley rereadable (Terry Pratchett or William Horwood), others not so much (I tried to read John C. Wright again, but had to stop a third of the way in). This falls in the middle. Re-reading after more than eight years I did nog experience the same visceral transportation that I remember from the first time reading it - the joy of reading myth, of being totally absorbed in the story. But I did find that even without the sensation of the 'new' and knowing broadly how the story would go, I still enjoyed the story. Maybe more on an intellectual level, seeing how Flynn weaves his narrative threads (this book has quite a complicated structure) and how he builds his world (with influences from countless cultures, and new inventions only hinted at). Flynn is an accomplished storyteller, here drawing from old storytelling traditions. After all, the framing device is a harper searching for inspiration for a song in an old bar, finding a scarred man with a tale or two to tell ... But both he and she have ulterior motivations. The galaxy in this series is a fun place to hang out in. As another reviewer on here noted: 'the galaxy ("Gaelaxy", by god) is a centuries-old RenFaire gone to seed -- except it's not a joke.' The several planets visited are described will and the mystery of the titular 'dancer' is interesting - even if it has a whiff of a macguffin about it. As another reviewer suggested this volume feels as only getting the players on the board and building up to the 'real meat' of the story. I do think that maybe the convoluted structure gets in the way of experiencing emotional connection with the main characters a bit. And (as another reviewer observed as well) the female characters particularily are a bit stereotypical and not in a good way. Using the 'seductress archetype' is not a good look for an author in my view. But those are small criticisms. The book is original, well written and bursting at the seams with imagination, and I look forward to re-reading the next books in the series!
March 17, 2012
3.5 stars, if I could give it that.
I experienced this as an audiobook and my mind wandered a bit, though it's no fault of the novel. I was just in a distracted state early on and missed some key points. I tended to lose track of the characters and the story -- however I kept listening in spite of this because of the language and the ambiance. In many ways that is why we read space opera, is it not?
This work is chock full of everything one could want in a space opera. It seems to be paying a loving homage to the writing style itself, especially that of the Golden Age writers and those I grew up reading from the late 50's through the 60's, especially the style Jack Williamson and Poul Anderson. The language is an over the top nostalgic mix of ancient legend and cowboy philosophy. "Love is never intentional, else why speak of falling into it?" Wonderful stuff. This is what kept me listening in spite of losing track of the plot somewhat.
Other reviewers have complained of the plot jumping back and forth between the "actual" story and a bar scene where the story is being told, but I found this technique thoroughly enjoyable, essential in fact, and this also helps the work pay homage to its predecessors by giving it that obligatory legendary atmosphere.
If I had been more focused, this would likely be 4 stars. I look forward to the rest of this series, but I may re-read this one first with my eyes instead of my ears so I can get a better grasp of the universe and future history it explores.
I experienced this as an audiobook and my mind wandered a bit, though it's no fault of the novel. I was just in a distracted state early on and missed some key points. I tended to lose track of the characters and the story -- however I kept listening in spite of this because of the language and the ambiance. In many ways that is why we read space opera, is it not?
This work is chock full of everything one could want in a space opera. It seems to be paying a loving homage to the writing style itself, especially that of the Golden Age writers and those I grew up reading from the late 50's through the 60's, especially the style Jack Williamson and Poul Anderson. The language is an over the top nostalgic mix of ancient legend and cowboy philosophy. "Love is never intentional, else why speak of falling into it?" Wonderful stuff. This is what kept me listening in spite of losing track of the plot somewhat.
Other reviewers have complained of the plot jumping back and forth between the "actual" story and a bar scene where the story is being told, but I found this technique thoroughly enjoyable, essential in fact, and this also helps the work pay homage to its predecessors by giving it that obligatory legendary atmosphere.
If I had been more focused, this would likely be 4 stars. I look forward to the rest of this series, but I may re-read this one first with my eyes instead of my ears so I can get a better grasp of the universe and future history it explores.
July 11, 2011
I'm thinking this is one for the science fiction book club to discuss. The January Dancer is a pre-human artifact that moves slowly and constantly, without being seen to move. It is the Mcguffin that bring all the characters in this sprawling novel together, eventually. The first scene, where the Dancer is found, is a great peek into an alien culture. The idea of Immovable Objects vs. Irresistable Force was eerie and horrifying.
The novel contains several points of view, although it is really a story within a story. The framing story is told by an old man to a bard in a bar. It's obvious that the old man is a character in the story he's telling, but which character? The interior story is an enthralling space opera, with pirates, spies, and con men. Reminded me a bit of Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks. I'm not sure how well some of the old Celtic phrasing works in this story (it feels a bit anachronistic), but hey, it's the author's universe, he can have that kind of old-fashioned phrasing if he wants. The concept of the agent/Hound is a great one, and one that I'm looking forward to reading more about in the sequel to this book, Up Jim River. I do hope that the bard character becomes more interesting in the sequel; I was bored by her in this book.
Loved the story- the pacing, the reveals, the concepts.
The novel contains several points of view, although it is really a story within a story. The framing story is told by an old man to a bard in a bar. It's obvious that the old man is a character in the story he's telling, but which character? The interior story is an enthralling space opera, with pirates, spies, and con men. Reminded me a bit of Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks. I'm not sure how well some of the old Celtic phrasing works in this story (it feels a bit anachronistic), but hey, it's the author's universe, he can have that kind of old-fashioned phrasing if he wants. The concept of the agent/Hound is a great one, and one that I'm looking forward to reading more about in the sequel to this book, Up Jim River. I do hope that the bard character becomes more interesting in the sequel; I was bored by her in this book.
Loved the story- the pacing, the reveals, the concepts.
January 4, 2014
Although there are flashes of greatness, there were several barriers to complete immersion into the story: there are dialects, argots and slang riddling the story - add to that the fact that each character seems to use several names and it becomes a muddle to pick the thread of the tale out of the mire. There is a listing of characters, which helps, but inexplicably the map of space is missing places in the story. Finally, the story is told by a man with scars sitting in a bar. This person was somehow involved, and keeps promising that the story will be difficult to hear, may not be true, and will rock the listener's world. Well, my world was not rocked, and the loose ends are "stories for another day" (i.e. Sequel) - so i finished the book a little confused, and a bit pissed that the earth-shaking conclusion involves buying another book - but then again maybe none of it is real anyway and . . . Oh hell, the whole thing felt like too much work, I'm sorry to say.
November 20, 2015
This was hard for me to get in to--largely because, like Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles, it's framed as a flashback story with frequent interludes that return to the storyteller's present and are developed enough to become an auxiliary plotline. In this case, though, the secondary story was too sketchy to be more than a distraction. The main tale, about the (re)discovery of a purported alien artifact that compels obedience to anyone who holds it and the subsequent wild scramble by several parties to claim it, did eventually become absorbing because there's action aplenty, the characters and the dialogue are alike intelligent, there are several entertainingly spun worlds/cultures/languages and the whole idea of a galaxy spanning network of interstellar highways built by who-knows-who is cleverly and clearly imagined. I might go on to the sequels, not sure yet.
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