The Best of All Possible Worlds in The Alternative Worlds

Dec 11, 2012 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: sf, first-reads

This was a lovely, subtle piece of science fiction, of a sort I don't see enough of. It's reminiscent of The Left Hand of Darkness and Ammonite: anthropological and travelogue-ish in the best senses. Lord develops characters slowly, letting the reader discover them through their actions as they are placed in new and strange situations. The story begins with a large-scale tragedy, but starts the action some time later, so that the book is about long-term personal coping rather than the immediate ...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Nicky rated it liked it

Shelves: speculative-fiction, romance

The Best of All Possible Worlds is not a perfect book. I can sympathise with various of the lower-star reviews out there. It's a quiet book, contemplative, and ultimately despite the backdrop it's basically a romance against a sci-fi, post-disaster backdrop. It's not quite Ursula Le Guin, but I quite liked the slow progression. It had the feel of something unfolding, rather than a roller-coaster ride, and that's just fine by me.

I think some potentially problematic things are brought up by the pl ...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Kara Babcock rated it liked it

Shelves: own, romance, 2016-read, science-fiction

The real meaning of the title The Best of All Possible Worlds doesn’t become apparent until the end of the book. Nevertheless, Karen Lord makes a strong case from the beginning that Leibniz’s pronouncement is correct, although whether it’s because of Caretakers, angels, or simply the strong anthropic principle might ultimately be left up to you. Science fiction likes to tantalize with the prospect of alternative realities—and it is a great idea, to be sure. Yet when we get down to it, no matter ...more

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Oct 14, 2013 Tamara added it

Shelves: sf, travel, romance, female-protagonist, author-female, distant-planet, culture-clash, what-is-this-fanfic-of, mildsauce

What? For the most part a slice-of-life type story about the remnants of a destroyed planet settling on another one and trying to find local brides to pass on their genes with, with obvious romancey overtones. It's quick, straightforward and yet unhurried, and some reasonably deft, quiet characterization makes it seem like it's all going to add up to something interesting. Instead, it adds up to a truly groanworthy, wincing collection of cliches, drawn seemingly not so much even from bad romance ...more

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Mar 11, 2013 Ryandake rated it liked it

Shelves: 2013-challenge

this review refers to the audiobook version.

this book has a lot going for it: a distinct protagonist's voice, an interesting setup, a terrible and heartstring-tugging backstory. unlike a lot of sf, it very much concentrates on the emotions of the characters and the societal setup rather than gizmos and physics. but it lacks coherence and devolves rather too much into a "this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened" narrative rather than a unified whole.

the backstory: one horrid this review refers to the audiobook version.

this book has a lot going for it: a distinct protagonist's voice, an interesting setup, a terrible and heartstring-tugging backstory. unlike a lot of sf, it very much concentrates on the emotions of the characters and the societal setup rather than gizmos and physics. but it lacks coherence and devolves rather too much into a "this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened" narrative rather than a unified whole.

the backstory: one horrid day, an the Sadiri homeworld gets destroyed. the few survivors of that catastrophe are out in space when it happened, or on other worlds, and are of course shattered. as a result, there is a definite excess of Sadiri males and a tiny Sadiri population, so the logical thing to do is find all those guys genetically compatible wives and rebuild both the society and the population.

which brings us to the protag, Grace. she's working as a guvmint functionary when the Sadiri come to her world, looking to settle some empty lands and make some babies.

of course Sadiri society is very different from Grace's own--the Sadiri tend toward the Vulcan, unlike the original settlers of their new home. Grace gets assigned to helping the Sadiri settle in. she meets Dllenahkh, the Sadiri boss man, and they work together to make all this happen.

the backbone of the story is really a romance, which i think is a fine departure from a lot of sf. over the course of the book we watch Grace and Dllenahkh dance toward and away from each other, and for the most part this romancey stuff is actually quite well done.

so too are the descriptions of the various subcultures of this patched-together planet. Lord invents some quite interesting cultures, all of which are internally coherent in all their particulars.

however... the narrative itself is rather patchy as well. events happen, then we move on to the next, and rarely revisit anything, either in consequence or in emotional effect (except as relates to Our Heroes). it's rather like episodic tv--an episode can be lovely in itself, but next week we're moving on, and you'll never hear about the lovely events again. works fine for tv, works fine for interrelated short stories, not so fine for a novel. a novel has to tie together at least most of its events and themes into one perfect package--take some of it away, it wouldn't work; add more, it's unnecessary. this book does not tie together in that way.

but still it was an enjoyable listen, and i will certainly buy Lord's next work in the hope that it will have made that leap. ...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Jaylia3 rated it it was amazing

Though a planet is destroyed, this is not a fast paced, high tension apocalypse story. It’s more like an off-world vacation, with a fascinating on the ground exploration of a wide spectrum of alien but human cultures and personalities, further brightened by a possible slow building, mixed background romance.

When the homeworld of the venerable Sadira civilization is poisoned and most of its inhabitants killed, the remnants of the population must rely on distantly related humanoids living on othe ...more

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Mar 11, 2013 Daniel Roy rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf, abandoned

Ugh. I'm not in the mood for this.

I'm sure there's an audience for this book, but I'm not it. It's not that I mind romance in my SF; I ate up Cordelia's Honor, for one thing. But this romance is telegraphed from the get-go, and I could never get over the "stuffy, intellectual, but emotionally crippled alien" trope. You can call them Sadiri, but I'm still seeing the Spock ears.

If you're in for a SF romance featuring thinly-veiled Vulcans semi-flirting with a bubbly and irritating first person nar ...more

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Feb 08, 2013 Brooke rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, 2015

This was an interesting book. I liked it quite a bit, though it didn't quite tip over into the "loving it" category. It meanders from adventure to adventure with no real overall driving plot. A lot of things pop out of nowhere, and some foreshadowing would have made it all feel a bit more cohesive (such as mentioning her beloved nephew at any point before she goes to visit him). ...more

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Dec 25, 2013 Michelle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, worst_covers, ebook, romance, lendable-ebook, women-in-genre-challenge

a relaxed, leisurely story about traveling across a planet in search of compatible genetic traits, 'the best of all possible worlds' is the sort of sci-fi where mature, intelligent people think their way through problems that need to be solved, instead of laser-blasting their way through bad guys. it's most definitely a pleasant way to pass an afternoon, with huge bonus points for a slowly developed love story based on mutual admiration rather than swoony teenage hormones. unfortunately, the sci ...more

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Mar 01, 2013 andrea rated it really liked it

Shelves: wwe2013challenge

Please ignore the cover of this absolutely engaging, smart, thoughtful, and surprising book. I loved the way Lord describes and creates relationships - they are adult, nuanced, and funny. What a relief of a book! This is exactly the kind of science fiction I was looking for. I do enjoy reading about big issues or giant epic outer-space battles etc etc but too often it is hard to find *this* kind of science fiction. Science fiction that talks, intelligently, about how people relate in the future, ...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Carolyn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: strong-female-lead-character, science-fiction, science-fiction_first-contact, 2013-read

I love this kind of science fiction, wish I could find more of it! Highly recommend!

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May 25, 2021 Richard rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, ebook, sffbc, sffbc-challenge-8

After the wrench of the prelude it feels light, fun and charming with occasional patches of darkness. But step back slightly and the wider picture is vast, thoughtful and about as deep as you want to make it. The longer I dwell on it the more I liked it.

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