Delos

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Idea, but a Disappointing Excecution
Review: Delos is a generation starship that has been traveling for centuries to a new home among the stars. Its crew has finally reached the planet they were meant to colonize, but can a people who only know life aboard a ship adjust to life planet bound? The concept is an intriguing one that in the right hands could yield a powerful story of how a planet would look to those who had never experienced anything but space and stars. However, as my star rating and title suggest, this is not the story it could have been.

The opening is dramatic enough-the main characters frantically struggling to deal with gravity and the strain it puts on their bodies. And some of the observations and reactions of the Delos crew to things like rain, insects and sunlight are nicely done. But this opening and observations remain the best parts of the story. I found the writing to be awkward and confusing, muddling the text and making it difficult to discern what characters were saying. Sentence construction was unwieldy enough that I would not recommend this to the young reader age group it was created for.

Likewise, the story just couldn't hold together for me. The author just never seems to decide exactly what the main arc of this tale is-whether it is the sudden rebellion between the crew members of Delos with some wanting to embrace the new world and others wanting to leave, or the challenge of uncovering the world itself and finding a way to live upon it. The main "surprise" of the story's end is not much of a surprise at all, and readers are never given a clear explanation of the true purpose of Delos, and why it originally left the home world. By the end, this was the only reason I was still reading. There's not enough action, suspense or drama to really pull this story off, which was disappointing, because the idea is an excellent one.

If you are interested in young reader/young adult science fiction, this may be one to skip. I'd recommend finding THE CITY OF EMBER by Jeanne DuPrau, or THIS TIME OF DARKNESS by H. M. Hoover to name just two tales where the young protagonists are on a voyage of discovery of the unknown.

Happy Reading! ^_^shanshad

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Idea, but a Disappointing Excecution
Review: Delos is a generation starship that has been traveling for centuries to a new home among the stars. Its crew has finally reached the planet they were meant to colonize, but can a people who only know life aboard a ship adjust to life planet bound? The concept is an intriguing one that in the right hands could yield a powerful story of how a planet would look to those who had never experienced anything but space and stars. However, as my star rating and title suggest, this is not the story it could have been.

The opening is dramatic enough-the main characters frantically struggling to deal with gravity and the strain it puts on their bodies. And some of the observations and reactions of the Delos crew to things like rain, insects and sunlight are nicely done. But this opening and observations remain the best parts of the story. I found the writing to be awkward and confusing, muddling the text and making it difficult to discern what characters were saying. Sentence construction was unwieldy enough that I would not recommend this to the young reader age group it was created for.

Likewise, the story just couldn't hold together for me. The author just never seems to decide exactly what the main arc of this tale is-whether it is the sudden rebellion between the crew members of Delos with some wanting to embrace the new world and others wanting to leave, or the challenge of uncovering the world itself and finding a way to live upon it. The main "surprise" of the story's end is not much of a surprise at all, and readers are never given a clear explanation of the true purpose of Delos, and why it originally left the home world. By the end, this was the only reason I was still reading. There's not enough action, suspense or drama to really pull this story off, which was disappointing, because the idea is an excellent one.

If you are interested in young reader/young adult science fiction, this may be one to skip. I'd recommend finding THE CITY OF EMBER by Jeanne DuPrau, or THIS TIME OF DARKNESS by H. M. Hoover to name just two tales where the young protagonists are on a voyage of discovery of the unknown.

Happy Reading! ^_^shanshad