June 2017 - Reader Pick - January Dancer

[Betsy]

For June 2017, our Reader Pick is The January Dancer by Michael Flynn.

"A triumph of the New Space Opera: 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."

Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

[Mary]

It starts with an interesting frame story. (view spoiler)[Which gets less frame-like and more central as things progress (hide spoiler)]

[Betsy]

I'm reading this but am having trouble getting into it. I'm about 20% done, but there don't seem to be any characters that I can identify with. It seems so fragmented.

[Mervi]

I finished it a couple of days ago. It had a lot of elements I liked, such as mysterious aliens and even the Celtic influences. But I didn't care for the characters and one of them I disliked. So unfortunately it didn't work for me.

[Richard]

It was at least 20% of the book before I got into it but finally everything fell into place and I ended up enjoying it. Thanks for the nomination. I'll definitely read more Michael Flynn (author not general).

[Mary]

There are three more books in this series -- all more or less standalones.

[Trike]

I read this when it came out but I don't remember anything about it.

Is this the one where the ship has a room with stained glass walls or something!