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A review by heliopteryx
The Crystal Ship: Three Original Novellas of Science Fiction by Marta Randall, Vonda N. McIntyre, Robert Silverberg, Joan D. Vinge
adventurous
4.0
These were all pretty good stories of far future humans living on alien planets. Screwtop has aged the best of the three, but they're all fanciful stories about big ideas and people and aliens doing good and bad things.
The Crystal Ship by Joan D. Vinge The depiction of drug usage and colonies as a way of solving overpopulation are how this story shows its age. Still, the ideas of cultural hegemony, cultural exchange, and the issues around colonialism are still relevant today.
Megan's World by Marta Randall I found this story hard to get into because the "bad guy" human character is written so comically annoying and incompetent, it's hard to stand him. But the more I read, the more I got drawn into the local alien politics that humans intruded into, and Megan herself. I very much liked the ending.
Screwtop by Vonda N. McIntyre Of the three, this one's characters felt the most real. It takes place in a prison labor camp, and we gradually learn snippets of who each character was before being sent here, and what sort of place this planet is. The ending surprised me, but in a good way.
The Crystal Ship by Joan D. Vinge The depiction of drug usage and colonies as a way of solving overpopulation are how this story shows its age. Still, the ideas of cultural hegemony, cultural exchange, and the issues around colonialism are still relevant today.
Megan's World by Marta Randall I found this story hard to get into because the "bad guy" human character is written so comically annoying and incompetent, it's hard to stand him. But the more I read, the more I got drawn into the local alien politics that humans intruded into, and Megan herself. I very much liked the ending.
Screwtop by Vonda N. McIntyre Of the three, this one's characters felt the most real. It takes place in a prison labor camp, and we gradually learn snippets of who each character was before being sent here, and what sort of place this planet is. The ending surprised me, but in a good way.