Scan barcode
A review by wxrldwalker
The City Among the Stars by Francis Carsac
1.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for an ARC of this book! (comes out 21st May)
When I found out that this book was actually published ages ago and only now translated into English, my expectations plummeted. There is a lot of old sci-fi out there written to show women as feeble and stupid and I had an inkling this would venture into that territory. But the more I read, the more I began to realise that it was the characters thoughts itself that were poisoned. This book is basically low-budget Star Trek (the classical series), which as you might know is VERY sexist and misogyny is a running theme throughout each episode (which is why I stopped watching it).
The main character is 24-year-old Tankar Holroy, who was born to be a soldier on Earth (as you will see him mention this MULTIPLE times). While Earth is controlled by the Empire, there are ships floating in space with Stellarans (called the people of the stars) and another tribe of people called the Pilgrims. Both of these groups of people live in peace on the same ship but are separated. The Stellarans basically treat everyone equally, whereas the Pilgrims are described as monks. The Earth people like Tankar on the other hand, believe in a society where women are only for 'pleasure and breeding' (a literal quote from the book i shit you not), to which I give one giant middle finger to.
The story follows this insufferable character whose mission is to deliver a message to the 7th fleet to come and help Earth. But his ship is sabotaged, and he is floating in space, only to be rescued by the Stellarans. He then realises they actually want information on a tracer, which is a device that can track other ships that jump through hyperspace. The Stellarans basically want to use this device to follow the Mpfifis, who are alien-like creatures that are vile and terrible and want to find their home planet to destroy them. Tankar has this information but apparently doesn’t want to share, because he’s a stubborn nugget.
Now the MC is the most stubborn, annoying, sexist, insufferable, stupid, dumb character I have ever read about. He views women as fragile, and constantly shouts at all the female characters, thinking they all are in love with him. He’s someone who wants attention constantly and starts throwing a tantrum when he doesn’t get his way. I HAVE NEVER WANTED TO STRANGLE A CHARACTER WITH MY BARE HANDS AS I WANTED TO IN THIS BOOK. I wanted to throw this book across the room multiple times, but the plot drew me in. Orena is one strong female character in this that I really liked- she stands up for herself and doesn’t let Tankar the sexist man-baby walk all over her. I’m glad she threw away his friendship and ran off with Pei the painter.
The writing was a mess. I think this is a case of lost in translation, because whoever translated this basically entered all of this into Google Translate and printed it word to word. The sentences are disjointed and there is no flow. But it actually helped with the pacing, because I got through it quite quickly. The story had SOOOOOOOO much potential, but it was all wasted. Honestly the pacing and plot was the only thing keeping me going. The ending was such a mess lol. He basically blames himself for his wife’s death, but then this girl he says he isn’t in love with says she can’t live without him, and he decides to live for her ermmmm???
ANYWHO, I really don’t recommend this to anyone. I thought it would get better but nah x
When I found out that this book was actually published ages ago and only now translated into English, my expectations plummeted. There is a lot of old sci-fi out there written to show women as feeble and stupid and I had an inkling this would venture into that territory. But the more I read, the more I began to realise that it was the characters thoughts itself that were poisoned. This book is basically low-budget Star Trek (the classical series), which as you might know is VERY sexist and misogyny is a running theme throughout each episode (which is why I stopped watching it).
The main character is 24-year-old Tankar Holroy, who was born to be a soldier on Earth (as you will see him mention this MULTIPLE times). While Earth is controlled by the Empire, there are ships floating in space with Stellarans (called the people of the stars) and another tribe of people called the Pilgrims. Both of these groups of people live in peace on the same ship but are separated. The Stellarans basically treat everyone equally, whereas the Pilgrims are described as monks. The Earth people like Tankar on the other hand, believe in a society where women are only for 'pleasure and breeding' (a literal quote from the book i shit you not), to which I give one giant middle finger to.
The story follows this insufferable character whose mission is to deliver a message to the 7th fleet to come and help Earth. But his ship is sabotaged, and he is floating in space, only to be rescued by the Stellarans. He then realises they actually want information on a tracer, which is a device that can track other ships that jump through hyperspace. The Stellarans basically want to use this device to follow the Mpfifis, who are alien-like creatures that are vile and terrible and want to find their home planet to destroy them. Tankar has this information but apparently doesn’t want to share, because he’s a stubborn nugget.
Now the MC is the most stubborn, annoying, sexist, insufferable, stupid, dumb character I have ever read about. He views women as fragile, and constantly shouts at all the female characters, thinking they all are in love with him. He’s someone who wants attention constantly and starts throwing a tantrum when he doesn’t get his way. I HAVE NEVER WANTED TO STRANGLE A CHARACTER WITH MY BARE HANDS AS I WANTED TO IN THIS BOOK. I wanted to throw this book across the room multiple times, but the plot drew me in. Orena is one strong female character in this that I really liked- she stands up for herself and doesn’t let Tankar the sexist man-baby walk all over her. I’m glad she threw away his friendship and ran off with Pei the painter.
The writing was a mess. I think this is a case of lost in translation, because whoever translated this basically entered all of this into Google Translate and printed it word to word. The sentences are disjointed and there is no flow. But it actually helped with the pacing, because I got through it quite quickly. The story had SOOOOOOOO much potential, but it was all wasted. Honestly the pacing and plot was the only thing keeping me going. The ending was such a mess lol. He basically blames himself for his wife’s death, but then this girl he says he isn’t in love with says she can’t live without him, and he decides to live for her ermmmm???
ANYWHO, I really don’t recommend this to anyone. I thought it would get better but nah x