nicanical
A third of Orbital is good, following astronauts over the shoulder, working, relaxing, and dealing with the hostile realities of life in space. These parts are stuffed with details, transporting readers into orbit. Like Orbit 10 where Roman describes his sleeping bag billowing in microgravity.
The other two thirds is soporific: tracking the typhoon and Earth's geography, and the philosophical and sentimental musings, and all the flowery writing. For example:
Its light is an ensemble of a trillion things which rally and unify for a few short moments before falling back into the rin-tin-tin and jumbled tumbling of static galactic woodwind rainforest trance of a wild and lilting world.
In these parts, Samantha Harvey's astronauts come off like dumbfounded tourists, not consummate professionals.
Harvey's exclusive use of indirect quotes is a good choice. It maintains narrative distance giving Orbital a diorama effect, like peering into a tilt-shifted world.
A third of Orbital is good, following astronauts over the shoulder, working, relaxing, and dealing with the hostile realities of life in space. These parts are stuffed with details, transporting readers into orbit. Like Orbit 10 where Roman describes his sleeping bag billowing in microgravity.
The other two thirds is soporific: tracking the typhoon and Earth's geography, and the philosophical and sentimental musings, and all the flowery writing. For example:
Its light is an ensemble of a trillion things which rally and unify for a few short moments before falling back into the rin-tin-tin and jumbled tumbling of static galactic woodwind rainforest trance of a wild and lilting world.
In these parts, Samantha Harvey's astronauts come off like dumbfounded tourists, not consummate professionals.
Harvey's exclusive use of indirect quotes is a good choice. It maintains narrative distance giving Orbital a diorama effect, like peering into a tilt-shifted world.