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Book and Author of the Month
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October 2020 THEMED Nominations: Alien POV
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I made a comment bout Hyperion in the Reader nominations thread. I know nothing about this book; just that it is sci-fi (but no idea if it’s space opera or if it has an alien pov or not, and also no idea whether it has already been discussed in Space Opera Fans or not). I’ve read The Terror and loved the author’s writing, so would like to read some of his sci-fi. If this book is appropriate for either category, please count it as my nomination :-) If it isn’t, no worries at all.
Mod
I nominate
A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber. We read this in 2015 but that’s more than two years ago and so fair game for a Themed nomination.This book gives the story of the first treecat noticed by humans - specifically by young Stephanie Harrington. If you have read any of the Honorverse books odds are there was a treecat in it, but likely presented as an animal. In this book we see that treecats are intelligent tool users and some of the scenes are told from the point of view of a treecat. The book takes place long before On Basilisk Station.
It’s more planetary romance than space opera. The spaceships are off stage (going by memory there). Stephanie’s family arrives on one, and there are other mentions of them that would be spoilers. What I’ve mentioned here I don’t consider to be spoilers because it takes place early in the book.
I tend to reread this every couple of years, sometimes binging the trilogy, sometimes just reading the first book.
Mod
A Beautiful Friendship seems interesting, my only doubt is if that book isn't a spin off of the Honor Harrington series with spoiler to that series? If that's the case, I still would like to read the first Honor series to try it. If there aren't spoilers then I second it.
Mod
It's set pretty long before the Honor series, so very likely no spoilers. Important to know: the Honor series is for adults and focused on war, whereas this is a YA coming-of-age tale, so they're very different from each other. So far I've only read the Honor series. I might try this one, but can't guarantee it.
I nominate A Case of Conscience. It is set both on a newly-discovered planet, including some Alien POV. The remaining 2/3 or so takes place on Earth, with an emigrated alien and much of the story explores the alien's thoughts, purposes, and behavior. Although there is Space Travel, I'm not sure if the alien planet, Lithia, would be considered "technologically" advanced, though their Society and culture is quite "advanced."
Teresa wrote: "Gaines wrote: "Sounds good!" Is that a second or just a comment?"Sorry, just a comment, and a reply to your pointing out that Hyperion doesn't have an alien pov character. Apologies for any confusion I've caused.
Mod
A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber. Nominated by Teresa. Seconded by Leticia.
A Case of Conscience by James Blish. Nominated by Reading Reindeer. Awaiting seconds.
The In Her Name series by Michael Hicks involves humans being attacked by and alien race and our complete inability to understand their motivations and responses. While it's 3 series of 3 books, with back and forth between the 2 alien cultures (we are just as unfathomable to the Kreelans), Redemption #1 tells the story of a human boy kidnapped and raised in this alien culture as one of them. Overall the series is set in space among numerous planets, ships, technology, and prophecy. I nominate Empire Empire.
A case of Conscience sounds pretty interesting, but I'm wondering if I need to read the previous books of the series, if not, I second it.
Mod
The description of the series says it can be read standalone:
This is a set of thematically linked novels which Blish himself referred to as "trilogy".
However, except for Black Easter and its sequel The Day After Judgement (which have also been published together as The Devil's Day, hence Blish's notion of a trilogy), they stand alone and can be read independently from each other.
Mod
A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber. Nominated by Teresa. Seconded by Leticia.
A Case of Conscience by James Blish. Nominated by Reading Reindeer. Seconded by Chronos and Trike.
Empire by Michael R. Hicks. Nominated by Lizzie. Awaiting seconds.
Mod
A Beautiful Friendship: 1
A Case of Conscience: 2
Rolling random numbers now
Mod
For those interested in the other book, you can nominate it for November, or just start a thread to discuss it unofficially.
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Space Opera Fans
Books mentioned in this topic
The Terror (other topics)On Basilisk Station (other topics)
Hyperion (other topics)
A Case of Conscience (other topics)
Empire (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
David Weber (other topics)James Blish (other topics)
Michael R. Hicks (other topics)
THEMED books need to be currently in print on at least one platform, and fit the theme for the month. If there is no spaceship involved, then it must take place on another planet with a technological society. If it is part of a series, it needs to be suitable to being read without having read other books in the series. Frequently books in this category will be those from major publishers that are no longer in print as paperback (or haven't yet made it to paperback), but Kindle Exclusive books are allowed too. It is perfectly fine to nominate a book here that would qualify for one of our other categories.
CURRENT THEME: Alien POV. At least one scene in the book must have an alien as the point of view character.
RULES:
* you may nominate one book on this thread.
* you may second as many nominations as you like on this thread.
* it is okay to nominate the same book on more than one nomination thread, as long as it meets the criteria
* don't nominate a book we already read RECENTLY (more than two years ago is fair game for Themed)
* If a book you nominate or second is selected, you are expected to post at least one comment about it on the thread about the book.
* In about two weeks I will draw a book randomly, with each second being one raffle ticket for the book. That is, a book with three seconds (so four of us want it) will get three chances in the pool.
It is likely helpful if you know something about a book that has been nominated if you mention it in this thread, whether it is for or against the book.