Babel-17

I read Samuel Daleny's Babel-17 this week and, well, I didn't particularly enjoy it. I had a lot of trouble getting into the story. The premise was interesting, but the way it was written had lots of ups and downs - sometimes I'd be into it, and sometimes I'd find myself quickly skimming. I found some parts to be rather confusing written and many parts felt strangely abrupt. There were quite a few parts where I felt they were just written to get from A to B to C, which needless to say, didn't make them enjoyable, convincing, or engaging to read.

Many of the characters I felt were rather...bland. Or I should say, your typical sci-fi heroes. Your leader with a skill she doesn't quite understand and she's a genius, the tight-knit/family crew situation, the rambunctious loudmouths...they all felt very familiar. Even Butcher, who of the crew was the one I liked the most, was kind of the typical dark crew mate with an unknown past. I supposed I liked Ryda's doctor too; he was alright, though like the others, not really remarkable in any memorable way.

Actually, the character I liked the most was Danil D. Appleby. Yes. The customs officer who gets referred to by his name a whole four times in the book. You would think after his being inspired by Ryda and her crew he'd be referenced to by name more frequently to give him more of his new identity...but no. He still remains as 'the customs officer'. I was kind of bummed reading the beginning scenes with him simply because I knew he was not important and would soon go away to be not seen again. I figured this based on his lack of a name identity and that he didn't have the same sci-fi hero personalities as the others. He was a quieter, shier character, which I think is what made him more interesting to me - there don't seem to be many of them in the sci-fi I've seen, at least not as main characters. And I think when they get thrown into dangerous situations, they can be just as interesting, so its a shame.

Ryda's telepathic moments of extremely long paragraphs were sudden and confusing, the end was not that surprising or interesting...so overall, I wasn't impressed. But I admit bias as I'm not a fan of most sci-fi.