Post by rorschalk on Jan 31, 2023 22:35:02 GMT
Hey friendly VC, we've finally got a read on your cap...it's not the news you want to hear, but still could be something of a revelation, or at least a positive kick in the pants.
Posts: 213
8 hours ago Post by rockefeller
Had a few minutes to kill last week, so started reading this One Planet cap, found it interesting, well researched, and was looking forward to finishing it last night. It's a cool concept, an intelligent race/breed of long-lived octopi having evolved in the cold, pressurized depths of the ocean. Civilizations that actually endure for more than a few centuries. Star-faring beings, way ahead of we relatively new and unstable surface dwellers. It made me think of Cixin Liu's The Wandering Earth collection. However, once the entire 2 million year history of this "Octo-sapien" took over in an expository narrative that abandons (for almost 30 pages, i.e. half the story) Dr. Miguel, the human MC, as sci-fi imaginative as it was, I began to lose interest. It's a cool what-if, coulda-been scenario that Doris Lessing would've surely grokked to, but the academic (non-existent) POV felt wrong, made it too much work. Over repetition of "She-of-the-Two-Blinks-Blue" also distracted. So, it is with a heavy heart and considerable uncertainty that I place these pages gently, respectively, into the abyss that is TQR's Porthole (longer reads face higher bars).
Cixin Liu (perhaps my favorite sci-fi author along with Charlie Stoss) I'm pretty sure would've found a way for Dr Miguel to communicate with the octo-sapient female and maybe even her domesticized giant squid, and let her narrate the history of their species. It'd probably take very little tweaking, and allow for better development of both his and her characters. For me, that'd probably have been all it took to send this bad boy up with glowing recommendations. But, for now, it's a soft no.
Posts: 213
8 hours ago Post by rockefeller
Had a few minutes to kill last week, so started reading this One Planet cap, found it interesting, well researched, and was looking forward to finishing it last night. It's a cool concept, an intelligent race/breed of long-lived octopi having evolved in the cold, pressurized depths of the ocean. Civilizations that actually endure for more than a few centuries. Star-faring beings, way ahead of we relatively new and unstable surface dwellers. It made me think of Cixin Liu's The Wandering Earth collection. However, once the entire 2 million year history of this "Octo-sapien" took over in an expository narrative that abandons (for almost 30 pages, i.e. half the story) Dr. Miguel, the human MC, as sci-fi imaginative as it was, I began to lose interest. It's a cool what-if, coulda-been scenario that Doris Lessing would've surely grokked to, but the academic (non-existent) POV felt wrong, made it too much work. Over repetition of "She-of-the-Two-Blinks-Blue" also distracted. So, it is with a heavy heart and considerable uncertainty that I place these pages gently, respectively, into the abyss that is TQR's Porthole (longer reads face higher bars).
Cixin Liu (perhaps my favorite sci-fi author along with Charlie Stoss) I'm pretty sure would've found a way for Dr Miguel to communicate with the octo-sapient female and maybe even her domesticized giant squid, and let her narrate the history of their species. It'd probably take very little tweaking, and allow for better development of both his and her characters. For me, that'd probably have been all it took to send this bad boy up with glowing recommendations. But, for now, it's a soft no.
