Space Opera - BookWyrm

qboq reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

A mixed bag

3 stars

As other reviews stated, this book is in the style of Douglas Adams. The main idea was what convinced me to read this book, but the story was a bit light. The chapters switched between story and background and the background chapters felt like they were written to be as wordy as possible for the sake to be as wordy as possible, a bit like this sentence. Also, the end was a bit too much Deus Ex Machina, which as a bit meh compared to the buildup.

I did enjoy the story for all its imperfections, but would not be quick to recommend it to others.

Andy P. reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

I love this crazy story

5 stars

I’ve read it twice now, but it’s definitely one of those books you’ll love or hate. And I don’t even like Eurovision.

tgt reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Space Opera' on 'Storygraph'

2 stars

An exhausting, hyperactive attempt to capture the magic of Douglas Adams, one of my favourite authors, that utterly fails for me. I was confident after a couple of pages that I wouldn't enjoy it, but persevered since it was such an easy read. I regret giving it my time. Half an extra star for being inventive and very occasionally amusing or slightly moving.

Owen McK reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Space Opera' on 'Storygraph'

No rating

The constant inventiveness of the prose is exhausting!

Gossamerchild reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Space Opera' on 'Storygraph'

2 stars

Disappointing. Too much description, not enough plot. Boring, really.

Enno reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Space Opera' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

This book wasn't very good, and I would have quit about 30 minutes into it if I had had the foresight to bring more than one audio book on my Christmas vacation.As it was, I actually hate-listened all the way to the end.

It appears that the author tried to approximate the style of Douglas Adams, but forgot that there as more to the Hitchhiker's Guide than the endless footnotes of unnecessary exposition, and that the exposition needs to be there for a reason, and picked up on at a later point. And you can't have an entire book with characters modeled after Zaphod - you need an Arthur Dent as your straight man. What little story there is, is wilfully absurd, without ever reaching genuinely funny, there's not a single quotable paragraph, and in the end, everything resolves in a puff of deus ex machina.

If only I remembered …

This book wasn't very good, and I would have quit about 30 minutes into it if I had had the foresight to bring more than one audio book on my Christmas vacation.As it was, I actually hate-listened all the way to the end.

It appears that the author tried to approximate the style of Douglas Adams, but forgot that there as more to the Hitchhiker's Guide than the endless footnotes of unnecessary exposition, and that the exposition needs to be there for a reason, and picked up on at a later point. And you can't have an entire book with characters modeled after Zaphod - you need an Arthur Dent as your straight man. What little story there is, is wilfully absurd, without ever reaching genuinely funny, there's not a single quotable paragraph, and in the end, everything resolves in a puff of deus ex machina.

If only I remembered who recommended this to me, so I could stop listening to them in the future.

Adem reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Space Opera' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Strong Douglas Adams vibes...

Avarla reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Space Opera' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

The story itself is quote easy to follow: a washed up, broken up band is asked to participate in the Metagalactic Grand Prix, the Universe version of the Eurovision Song Contest. The catch? If they lose, their whole species is incinerated.

Space Opera is written extremely dense. The back and forth between the plot and the past contests, the other participants, and the history of the whole arrangement makes it a rich world with a lot of different species and places to keep in mind. You definitely need to focus, or you'll miss all the little details.

Having only just started reading Valente's works, I'm once more surprised by her flexibility in style. This reads different than anything I have previously read of hers.

Alex Keane reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Space Opera' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book was fantastic and funny and brilliant.

Basically, it's Aliens make themselves known to humanity and in order to not die in a horrific blaze of non-sentience, humanity must place better than last in Eurovision IN SPACE. Oh, and most everyone from the list of recommended representatives is dead so it's down to Decibel Jones, or as I liked to call him while reading it "Freddie-Bowie-acci" a glam-rock singer who was the big thing for all of 15 minutes years ago. And hasn't spoken to one of his band mates in years. And the other band mate is dead. So yeah, off to a great start.

The book owes a lot of inspiration to Douglas Adams in terms of off the wall world building and absurdism in science fiction. If you like Hitchhiker's, you'll probably enjoy this.

Jack Baty reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Space Opera' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I imagine Catherynne Valente thought to herself...

I think I'll write something sort of like Douglas Adams, but with MORE!

If you throw a lot of words at me, all trying to be super funny, a few of them will land. But when you do it in every single sentence with no guidance at all from an actual plot or characters, it becomes exhausting. So exhausting, in fact, that I stopped reading about 2/3rds of the way through.

I imagine Catherynne Valente thought to herself...

I think I'll write something sort of like Douglas Adams, but with MORE!

If you throw a lot of words at me, all trying to be super funny, a few of them will land. But when you do it in every single sentence with no guidance at all from an actual plot or characters, it becomes exhausting. So exhausting, in fact, that I stopped reading about 2/3rds of the way through.

Unruly Stacks reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Space Opera' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Absolutely wonderful.

Bodo reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Space Opera' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

It is really hard to follow a story if every sentence as another in joke or pun in it. I would be okay with it if at least 20% would be funny, but sadly it was not my kind of humor.

Laura Lemay reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Space Opera' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

The first chapter of this book is perfect. Absolutely perfect. I finished the first chapter and then I went back to page 1 and read it again. The rest of the book is...not as perfect, but it is still a huge amount of fun. It is SPARKLY AND CHEERFUL, and I would like more of that please.

cargide reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Space Opera' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Sobre el papel, un libro sobre "universovisión", juntando Eurovisión y La guía del autoestopista galáctico en un solo libro, es bastante interesante. Lo que me he encontrado es un libro mitad worldbuilding extremo mitad historia entretenida de perdedores, pero que no destaca demasiado en ninguna de las dos partes.

Como cosas buenas, la mejor es la cantidad distinta de razas que aparecen, aunque sean solo mencionadas, y que van desde ramos de flores sentientes, a inteligencias artificiales pasando por pandas rojos hiperactivos que viajan en el tiempo.

Lo peor para mi del libro espero que tenga que ver con el idioma, y es que las descripciones se me han hecho particularmente difíciles de seguir, con muchísimo adjetivo y poca capacidad para mantener mi atención. Espero que sea solo cosa mía, y que en la traducción sea más soportable.

En resumen, el libro está bien, pero no es tan espectacular como …

Sobre el papel, un libro sobre "universovisión", juntando Eurovisión y La guía del autoestopista galáctico en un solo libro, es bastante interesante. Lo que me he encontrado es un libro mitad worldbuilding extremo mitad historia entretenida de perdedores, pero que no destaca demasiado en ninguna de las dos partes.

Como cosas buenas, la mejor es la cantidad distinta de razas que aparecen, aunque sean solo mencionadas, y que van desde ramos de flores sentientes, a inteligencias artificiales pasando por pandas rojos hiperactivos que viajan en el tiempo.

Lo peor para mi del libro espero que tenga que ver con el idioma, y es que las descripciones se me han hecho particularmente difíciles de seguir, con muchísimo adjetivo y poca capacidad para mantener mi atención. Espero que sea solo cosa mía, y que en la traducción sea más soportable.

En resumen, el libro está bien, pero no es tan espectacular como esperaba (no se por qué lo esperaba así).

the_lirazel reviewed Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Space Opera' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

3.5 stars

It's the lovechild of Eurovision and Douglas Adams raised by David Bowie. It's Valente drunk on glam and words and camp and more words and her own imagination. It's love and disco and aliens and Looney Tunes and cats (well, one cat). It's really fun.