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A review by ltg61
Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard by Lawrence M. Schoen
2.0
I think the only word to aptly describe this book is "deflated."
Let me explain - Barsk is, by all means, not an absolute trash heap; theres a lot of really neat ideas in here that just somehow fail to reach full, fleshed-out potential.
The sentient animals inhabiting a range of planets, with a fantastic origin story is really attractive. Unfortunately, the sentient animal theme is just gimmicky when it has little to no bearing on the characters. You could have replaced the elephants and pandas with sock puppets or lightbulbs with smiley faces drawn on and glued to coffee cans and the reader would be none the wiser.
The biggest issue, however, is just how middle-of-the-road this feels overall. Its a little to intellectual to have that fun, schlocky, pulp feel to it, but its also not quite ambitious, provocative or philosophical enough to reach the depth and grandeur of something like Dune (despite there being a few nods to Herbert.) Instead, what we have is a story that commits to neither appeal, and just sort of meandres down a tame, forgettable middle-path.
Not terrible, but short of it falling out of the sky into my lap, I have no motivation to read the follow-up.
Let me explain - Barsk is, by all means, not an absolute trash heap; theres a lot of really neat ideas in here that just somehow fail to reach full, fleshed-out potential.
The sentient animals inhabiting a range of planets, with a fantastic origin story is really attractive. Unfortunately, the sentient animal theme is just gimmicky when it has little to no bearing on the characters. You could have replaced the elephants and pandas with sock puppets or lightbulbs with smiley faces drawn on and glued to coffee cans and the reader would be none the wiser.
The biggest issue, however, is just how middle-of-the-road this feels overall. Its a little to intellectual to have that fun, schlocky, pulp feel to it, but its also not quite ambitious, provocative or philosophical enough to reach the depth and grandeur of something like Dune (despite there being a few nods to Herbert.) Instead, what we have is a story that commits to neither appeal, and just sort of meandres down a tame, forgettable middle-path.
Not terrible, but short of it falling out of the sky into my lap, I have no motivation to read the follow-up.