Deebster

Tchaikovsky is not the kind of author to give you an alien that's just a human in green makeup - he's great at presenting you with minds that think fundamentally differently, and that come from an unfamiliar yet internally consistent worldview. This book continues this, although (mild spoilers ahead) we also meet a bunch of old-school ark ship humans.

This book is a little strange: I was enjoying this a lot, then I was confused (by design), then I was unhappy by how I thought the story would be resolved, but the actual ending was satisfying to me.

It was a lot more philosophical than I was expecting, even for him; this has left a lot of people feeling cold, judging by reviews I've read. We spend a lot of time investigating the nature of intelligence and sentience, and the cast of species we have from the previous books plus the newly introduced are so ideal for this that I wonder if he's planned this instalment from the start.

I found this book frustrating at times, but definitely rewarding to finish.

The two halves were clearly different authors. The first half I quite enjoyed; the stories were short and ridiculous and the deeds boasted of were witty and entertaining.

The second half was quite tedious, both in its sesquipedalian writing style and its content, and the boasting was more about how everyone loved him and endless references to other works.

I'd definitely recommend reading just the first half and ignoring the fan faction second half.

A big mix of stories, with no fear of starting another story within another (Inception, eat our heart out!). Of the stories, some are great, some not so much; some original, some derivative (just a remix of previous plot elements); some long and winding, some finish in little over a page. The pacing can be odd, with several pages devoted to descriptions of new-found wealth whereas major plot elements are crammed into a brief exposition.

All in all an enjoyable read, with interesting peeps into a different culture.