Ken MacLeod: Learning the World (Paperback, 2006, Tor Science Fiction)
mass market paperback, 384 pages
English language
Published Oct. 3, 2006 by Tor Science Fiction.
I used to read more SciFi but dropped several recently after only a few pages, but I finished this one. Raises issues of colonialism and slavery which threaten to split a human society and unify an alien one.
But not all that deep, mostly an entertaining read.
This was beautiful. The two perspectives from the humans and the aliens are equally engrossing to read.
Interesting first-contact novel which explores the story from both sides, as after all both humans and 'aliens' are making first contact - and which is which after all? There is much to admire and otherwise in both sides. The speculation towards the end of the book is interesting but doesn't detract from the rest of it even if it does possibly answer the unanswered questions about the origins of the Earth expedition.
The 'scientific romance' subtitle is possibly more deserved from the viewpoint of the 'aliens' whose level of technological development is similar to that of the 'developed' world in the late 19th century.
Interesting first-contact novel which explores the story from both sides, as after all both humans and 'aliens' are making first contact - and which is which after all? There is much to admire and otherwise in both sides. The speculation towards the end of the book is interesting but doesn't detract from the rest of it even if it does possibly answer the unanswered questions about the origins of the Earth expedition.
The 'scientific romance' subtitle is possibly more deserved from the viewpoint of the 'aliens' whose level of technological development is similar to that of the 'developed' world in the late 19th century.
