Reviews

The Centauri Device by M. John Harrison

malenfant's review

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

jpowelld's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

bennought's review against another edition

3.0

Another odd book from Harrison, though this one has a bit more coherence, continuity, and sense to it than [b:Light|17735|Light|M. John Harrison|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312499143s/17735.jpg|295250]. It took me about 50 pages to really get into the story, but past that point I was fairly invested in the character and was curious where Harrison was going with the book. Even more so than in his more recent books, this one is in written in a style that, while prose, is fairly poetic--and chock full of philosophy and projections of historical phenomena and ideologies into the distant future. I would probably give this 3.5 stars, if that were an option.

johnayliff's review against another edition

5.0

John Truck feels like the archetype for every low-life space freighter captain to hang around seedy spaceport bars looking for the next semi-legal job to keep his head above water. He's a passive protagonist, stumbling from encounter to encounter as he is fought over by the setting's major factions, who value him only for his genetics as the last half-Centauran. While the Centauri Device itself is a classic sf macguffin, it is John Truck himself who is the macguffin for most of the book.

The world presented in the novel is bleak and depressing, and seeing the world through the eyes of a character like John Truck helps the world to come into focus in a way that the eyes of another character could not. The grimness of the human-dominated galaxy is enhanced by a few snatches of space-operatic wonder, such as the fantastic alien ships found abandoned by one of the factions, with the implication that the grim human world has destroyed a galaxy of alien beauty.

The prose style is not always easy to read but is rewarding.

torbein's review against another edition

1.0

Gave up, to many convulated sentences and implied meanings. Couldn't decipher it.

radiator_phillip's review

adventurous reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

prbowler's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

peapod_boston's review against another edition

3.0

One of Harrison's early science fiction works, you can see glimpses here of what he accomplishes in Light. Includes one of my top 10 favorite opening lines of all time:

"It was St. Crisipn's ve on Sad al Bari IV when Captain John Truck, impelled by something he was forced to describe to himself as 'sentiment,' decided to visit the Spacer's Rave, on the cornoer of Proton Alley and Circuit (that chilly junction where the higher class of port lady goes to find her customers)."

spikespiegel's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

hamja's review

adventurous challenging funny mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0