Status
Available
Publication
Gallery / Saga Press (2018), Edition: Reprint, 304 pages
Description
"Mankind will not get to fight for its destiny. They must sing. A century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. In the aftermath, a curious tradition was invented by the remnants of civilization. Something to cheer up everyone who was left. Something to celebrate having escaped total annihilation by the skin of one's teeth, if indeed one has skin. Or teeth. Something to bring the shattered worlds together in the spirit of peace, unity, understanding, and the most powerful of all social bonds: excluding others. Once every cycle, the great galactic civilizations gather for Galactivision--part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part, a very large, but very subtle part, continuation of the wars of the past. Thus, a fragile peace has held. This year, a bizarre and unsightly species has looked up from its muddy planet-bound cradle and noticed the enormous universe blaring on around it: humanity. Where they expected to one day reach out into space and discover a grand drama of diplomacy, gunships, wormholes, and stoic councils of grave aliens, they have found glitter. And lipstick. And pyrotechnics. And electric guitars. A band of human musicians, dancers, and roadies have been chosen to represent their planet on the greatest stage in the galaxy. And the fate of Earth lies in their ability to rock"--… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member MillieHennessy
Full disclosure, I crapped out on page 196 of 294 – I just couldn’t take it anymore. That being said, I don’t hate this book and I wanted to talk about it, because I think many of you out there will find it a lot more enjoyable than I did!
I’ve never watched Eurovision (though I have a rough
While it didn’t excite me, it’s certainly unique. I understand the Hitchhiker’s reference in terms of the overall tone of the book and the whole, humans-discovering-the-larger-universe-while-their-home-planet-is-in-peril thing. That’s where Valente lost me, though I still find the concept interesting and I did laugh several times while reading.
In a nutshell, this book was too hard for me to follow. There is a lot going on in each sentence. The tone was frantic and hyperactive and each sentence is crammed with colorful adjectives. It felt like I was reading at high-speed or trying to follow a story told by a friend who digresses mid-sentence and then digresses from their digression, over and over.
Many of the paragraphs are roughly a page long and it felt like the literary equivalent of being unable to catch my breath. The sentences weave between past and present and in general it felt like an imagery overload. As a result, not only was the plot hard to follow, but I couldn’t picture much.
From what little I gathered, washed-up rock star, Decibel Jones, is called upon by the alien race (somewhat like a blue flamingo crossed with an angler fish, I guess) sponsoring Earth in the Grand Prix to sing for the human race. He needs to reunite the band and come up with an epic song in order to save humans from being wiped off the face of Earth and its resources parceled out to the other species. No pressure.
I felt like I learned more about Decibel’s fashion than I did his actual character, despite being given a pretty comprehensive run-down of his past. Perhaps if this book was tonally different, I could have retained more of the plot. There are several interludes that detail the previous Grand Prix’s, but by that point I was already checked out. When Decibel and company got to space, my brain was too tired to piece together any images and I just had to stop reading.
But, as I said, this book wasn’t without its funny moments. Here are a few highlights:
Rule 3 for the Grand Prix – “All species applying for recognition as intelligent, self-aware (not a huge barrel of dicks), and generally worth the time it takes to get to their shitty planet, wherever that may be, must compete.”
“He’d only said what he meant, which was, when you thought about it, a minor superpower, because so few people ever did.”
“I would just focus on defense. Humans have no special physical attributes whatsoever, it’s really quite remarkable.”
Even though Space Opera wasn’t for me, I still plan on reading more of Valente’s work. I think many of you will still enjoy this, if you can handle the style of writing. I’ve heard from some who enjoyed Hitchhiker’s that they’ve enjoyed this too – so it would seem the comparison is an accurate one (we all know books are often compared to others in blurbs and it turns out to be a letdown, but that’s a topic for another day.) If you’re interested in a crazy, adjective-filled journey through space and song, check out Space Opera!
Thank you to Saga Press and Wunderkind for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest review.
I’ve never watched Eurovision (though I have a rough
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idea of what it is) and I’m not a fan of Hitchhiker’s Guide (sorry!) and upon hearing that you’re probably wondering why I picked this up in the first place. Well, I have a couple of Valente’s books on my shelves that I haven’t managed to get around to. I’ve been on a sci-fi kick recently too, and despite the Hitchhiker’s reference I thought this one sounded exciting and unique.While it didn’t excite me, it’s certainly unique. I understand the Hitchhiker’s reference in terms of the overall tone of the book and the whole, humans-discovering-the-larger-universe-while-their-home-planet-is-in-peril thing. That’s where Valente lost me, though I still find the concept interesting and I did laugh several times while reading.
In a nutshell, this book was too hard for me to follow. There is a lot going on in each sentence. The tone was frantic and hyperactive and each sentence is crammed with colorful adjectives. It felt like I was reading at high-speed or trying to follow a story told by a friend who digresses mid-sentence and then digresses from their digression, over and over.
Many of the paragraphs are roughly a page long and it felt like the literary equivalent of being unable to catch my breath. The sentences weave between past and present and in general it felt like an imagery overload. As a result, not only was the plot hard to follow, but I couldn’t picture much.
From what little I gathered, washed-up rock star, Decibel Jones, is called upon by the alien race (somewhat like a blue flamingo crossed with an angler fish, I guess) sponsoring Earth in the Grand Prix to sing for the human race. He needs to reunite the band and come up with an epic song in order to save humans from being wiped off the face of Earth and its resources parceled out to the other species. No pressure.
I felt like I learned more about Decibel’s fashion than I did his actual character, despite being given a pretty comprehensive run-down of his past. Perhaps if this book was tonally different, I could have retained more of the plot. There are several interludes that detail the previous Grand Prix’s, but by that point I was already checked out. When Decibel and company got to space, my brain was too tired to piece together any images and I just had to stop reading.
But, as I said, this book wasn’t without its funny moments. Here are a few highlights:
Rule 3 for the Grand Prix – “All species applying for recognition as intelligent, self-aware (not a huge barrel of dicks), and generally worth the time it takes to get to their shitty planet, wherever that may be, must compete.”
“He’d only said what he meant, which was, when you thought about it, a minor superpower, because so few people ever did.”
“I would just focus on defense. Humans have no special physical attributes whatsoever, it’s really quite remarkable.”
Even though Space Opera wasn’t for me, I still plan on reading more of Valente’s work. I think many of you will still enjoy this, if you can handle the style of writing. I’ve heard from some who enjoyed Hitchhiker’s that they’ve enjoyed this too – so it would seem the comparison is an accurate one (we all know books are often compared to others in blurbs and it turns out to be a letdown, but that’s a topic for another day.) If you’re interested in a crazy, adjective-filled journey through space and song, check out Space Opera!
Thank you to Saga Press and Wunderkind for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest review.
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LibraryThing member beserene
The story of how this book got written is the stuff of Internet/SFF legend. In sum: Once Upon A Twitter Discussion... Valente confessed her love of the Eurovision song contest, someone tweeted a wouldn't-it-be-cool about Eurovision in space, Valente said she would totally write that book, Saga
For those who are already Valente fans, this is... really nothing like her other stuff. Not at all.
For those who come in expecting the Douglas-Adams-esque promised by the hype, this is... also not that.
It is, in fact, hard to characterize this book except as exactly what Eurovision-in-space probably would be like. The narrative starts at Mach 1 and doesn't slow down, tumbling and stream-of-consciousnessing through a litany of wonderfully imagined and oddly characterized alien species at roughly twice the speed of sound -- or approximately the same pace as my particular brain when I'm really, really awake -- all while hodgepodging together something like a story about the last ditch efforts of a has-been pop band to maybe save the entire human race through song. There is no real way to keep track of plot or character -- this is the kind of book you have to let carry you off, give up on trying to control, and just enjoy the ride.
Even recognizing the narration as similar to my own thought-ramblings, I still had to go back and reread passages just to keep track of all the aliens. And, as an only-sometimes watcher of Eurovision, I didn't laugh out loud quite as much as I probably would have if I'd gotten every single little inside-joke. But I'm still glad I read this. As silly as it is -- and as silly as Eurovision is -- it still presents a small bubble of science fictional hope that prompts the reader to remember both the beauty and the ugliness of humanity, a little push to appreciate each other as we face our place in the universe. Life is beautiful and life is stupid, the book says... and that's what the book is. Silly, stumbling, whackadoo, and well worth reading.
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Press editor Navah Wolfe tweeted that she would totally publish that book, and BOOM here it is.For those who are already Valente fans, this is... really nothing like her other stuff. Not at all.
For those who come in expecting the Douglas-Adams-esque promised by the hype, this is... also not that.
It is, in fact, hard to characterize this book except as exactly what Eurovision-in-space probably would be like. The narrative starts at Mach 1 and doesn't slow down, tumbling and stream-of-consciousnessing through a litany of wonderfully imagined and oddly characterized alien species at roughly twice the speed of sound -- or approximately the same pace as my particular brain when I'm really, really awake -- all while hodgepodging together something like a story about the last ditch efforts of a has-been pop band to maybe save the entire human race through song. There is no real way to keep track of plot or character -- this is the kind of book you have to let carry you off, give up on trying to control, and just enjoy the ride.
Even recognizing the narration as similar to my own thought-ramblings, I still had to go back and reread passages just to keep track of all the aliens. And, as an only-sometimes watcher of Eurovision, I didn't laugh out loud quite as much as I probably would have if I'd gotten every single little inside-joke. But I'm still glad I read this. As silly as it is -- and as silly as Eurovision is -- it still presents a small bubble of science fictional hope that prompts the reader to remember both the beauty and the ugliness of humanity, a little push to appreciate each other as we face our place in the universe. Life is beautiful and life is stupid, the book says... and that's what the book is. Silly, stumbling, whackadoo, and well worth reading.
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LibraryThing member RedQueen
Kurt Vonnegut meets Monty Python at Studio 54. All the avatars of David Bowie combine for one last message. My brain is completely infected by the desire to create metaphors.
Buy this book now. You will get some of the references, miss some & feel like you're on the inside either way. This book will
It’s the Arockalypse Now bare your soul. —“Hard Rock Hallelujah,” Lordi
Buy this book now. You will get some of the references, miss some & feel like you're on the inside either way. This book will
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either be a tremendous hit or a cult favorite - don't you want to be in on it at the beginning? It's science fiction, it's coming of age for Earth as a whole, it's very very funny & it's always rock'n'roll. It’s the Arockalypse Now bare your soul. —“Hard Rock Hallelujah,” Lordi
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LibraryThing member TobinElliott
So, Stephen Hawking, Simon Cowell, and Douglas Adams walk into a bar (okay, well, Hawking rolls in), drink too many Pangalactic Gargleblasters, and decide to write a story...
This novel would be the result.
Gotta say, while the story itself is ridiculously simple, it's the side-trips that make it
I will say this...if you enjoyed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, there's a solid chance you'll enjoy this too. If you've read this, but not HHG2G, then go look up some Douglas Adams.
This novel would be the result.
Gotta say, while the story itself is ridiculously simple, it's the side-trips that make it
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worth the journey. I was constantly laughing out loud (which gets you some stares when you're listening while walking the dog, let me tell you) at the ridiculously inventive stuff the author just kept flinging at the reader.I will say this...if you enjoyed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, there's a solid chance you'll enjoy this too. If you've read this, but not HHG2G, then go look up some Douglas Adams.
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LibraryThing member GeoffHabiger
I had high hopes for Space Opera. The early part of the book was a wonderful smash-up of Hitchhiker's Guide and Eurovision or American Idol. Decibel Jones sounded like the perfect character to interact with the new aliens and try to save the Earth. And really, I enjoyed many parts of the book. The
Overall Space Opera was enjoyable, and has enough good bits, humor, and satire to make it worth while to pick up and read, but don't expect a lot of character growth.
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first encounter Earth has with an alien is wonderfully done, and I really enjoyed how "The Roadrunner" (as Decibel Jones calls the strange alien) handled the interactions and inevitable questions from the ordinary to the powerful. That was one of the highlights of the story. And the strange and quiet "alien" aliens are all wonderfully done and break many a Hollywood mold for what an alien is thought to be. But in the end a couple of things brought down my enjoyment. While Catherynne Valente has some wonderful word-play and can spin off humorous metaphors and some good satire, some of her metaphors and similes just went on longer than they should have. I also did not enjoy the ending. I mean, it ends as one might expect when a band from Earth must fight in an inter-galactic singing competition, but the action of how this was accomplished was too Deus Ex Machina for my liking. Catherynne had painted our hero into a corner, and the way they were freed was a cheat. (I mean, even the characters in the story knew it was a cheat - and maybe that's the point Catherynne was going for?) But I am not a fan of the fictional equivalent of a "Get Out of Jail Free" card when it comes to story resolution. I want to see the main character grow, overcome a challenge, or do something witty to win the day. Overall Space Opera was enjoyable, and has enough good bits, humor, and satire to make it worth while to pick up and read, but don't expect a lot of character growth.
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LibraryThing member grandpahobo
The concept of this book is good. I was hoping for something similar to Hitchhiker's Galaxy, and initially it seemed that hope would be fulfilled. However, the story soon became bogged down by the effort to be weird and irreverent. It seemed like the author kept trying to see is she could set a new
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record for combining disparate concepts into a single phrase on each page. Unfortunately, she pretty much succeeded to the point where the story itself was lost, at least until the last 30 pages or so. Show Less
LibraryThing member dukedom_enough
Catherynne M. Valente's latest novel puts on stage an example of that rare genre, the funny science-fiction novel. A few decades hence, every person on Earth, all at once, is suddenly conversing with something like a seven-foot-tall cross between a flamingo and an anglerfish, ultramarine in color,
The stellar contest is very reminiscent of the Earthly Eurovision contest; this novel is Valente's homage to Eurovision.
The aliens present a list of the human acts they'll consider inviting. But, due to a bit of confusion about Time and the Earthly music biz, the only band on the list with still-living members is Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros, a glitterpunk/glamrock outfit whose fifteen minutes ended decades earlier. Two of its members still live: frontman/lead singer Decibel Jones himself, born Danesh Jalo, a Briton of Pakistani-Nigerian-Welsh-Swedish ancestry, and instrumentalist Oort St. Ultraviolet. Long dead is the band's muse, drummer Mira Wonderful Star, who checked out via one of the standard rockstar exits, a car accident. Can this washed-up twosome compete with the best artistic talent of numerous advanced, and by the way extremely weird, planets?
I've said before that Valente has a China Mieville-class imagination, and that's on display here, as she spins out a fantasmagorical, seemingly limitless list of the alien physiologies, cultures, planets, histories, musics, stardrives, and sexual practices that Decibel and Oort must contend with before the contest even begins. The structure here feels sort of fractal, with the too-muchness of the entire story echoed in shorter flights of prose. For example (Pallulle is a planet here, Lagom its star):
Pallulle is snugly encased in Old Ruutu's Bindle: a cross-hatched topiary of translucent solar rods designed by the classical poet-engineer Old Ruutu to catch Lagom's emotionally unavailable light, beef it up a bit, and direct it usefully to the most inhabited parts of the surface. The glaciated surface of Pallulle was suddenly polka-dotted with pools of Ruutu-blessed artificial alpine climate full of silver ferns, blue-gray orchards heavy with gin-fruit, and liquid oceans in which the neon-blooded suflet shark swims free. The name of Old Ruutu is, among the Smaragdi, spoken with an awe equivalent to Jesus Christ and Nikola Tesla borrowing Bhudda's tandem bicycle for a quick Sunday ride through Shakespeare's back garden. On Activation Day, every city on Pallulle scrambled to rename itself after him, which caused a great deal of confusion, upset feelings, cancelled family reunions, Ruutu absolutely forbidding anyone to do any such stupid thing as it was no big deal, I was up there anyway, might as well do a spot of DIY while I've still got my health, you know if you have someone in they'll only rip you off, and besides, you'd all do the same for me, anyway it's a bit rubbish, I was in a rush, two regional wars, and a small but feisty economic crisis until it was decided that everyone was pretty, they all loved the old man equally, and there was quite enough Ruutu to go around and the mapmakers would just have to seek out anxiety medication. Hence, on Pallulle, you will find no London, Paris, Vlimeux, or Alun, but only Blue Ruutu, White Ruutu, Little Ruutu, New Ruutu, Ruutu-by-the-Sea, Dirty Ruutu, Broke-down Ruutu, Backwoods Ruutu, and so on and so forth.
Everything including the kitchen sink, and the sink has a wormhole drain, so to speak. In an afterword, Valente thanks the late Douglas Adams for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Valente's from the US, but plainly, the principal (Earthly) characters and the narrative voice had to be British to salute Adams.
OK, did I laugh? I don't usually laugh aloud at humorous pieces - I did a few times here, e.g. on learning of the Entity Known as Monad. But I certainly enjoyed every sparkling bit of a novel I finished, unusually for me, less than a week after it was published.
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who explains that the galaxy is full of spacefaring creatures, and Earth is invited - more, required - to join the crowd. First, though, we must prove that we are sentient. This test involves the participation of selected human musicians in a periodic, musical-artistic contest among all species. If homo sapiens manages to stay out of last place: yay!, we'll be officially sentient and part of the interstellar community. If not, we'll be exterminated. Can't be too careful with a new, warlike planet.The stellar contest is very reminiscent of the Earthly Eurovision contest; this novel is Valente's homage to Eurovision.
The aliens present a list of the human acts they'll consider inviting. But, due to a bit of confusion about Time and the Earthly music biz, the only band on the list with still-living members is Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros, a glitterpunk/glamrock outfit whose fifteen minutes ended decades earlier. Two of its members still live: frontman/lead singer Decibel Jones himself, born Danesh Jalo, a Briton of Pakistani-Nigerian-Welsh-Swedish ancestry, and instrumentalist Oort St. Ultraviolet. Long dead is the band's muse, drummer Mira Wonderful Star, who checked out via one of the standard rockstar exits, a car accident. Can this washed-up twosome compete with the best artistic talent of numerous advanced, and by the way extremely weird, planets?
I've said before that Valente has a China Mieville-class imagination, and that's on display here, as she spins out a fantasmagorical, seemingly limitless list of the alien physiologies, cultures, planets, histories, musics, stardrives, and sexual practices that Decibel and Oort must contend with before the contest even begins. The structure here feels sort of fractal, with the too-muchness of the entire story echoed in shorter flights of prose. For example (Pallulle is a planet here, Lagom its star):
Pallulle is snugly encased in Old Ruutu's Bindle: a cross-hatched topiary of translucent solar rods designed by the classical poet-engineer Old Ruutu to catch Lagom's emotionally unavailable light, beef it up a bit, and direct it usefully to the most inhabited parts of the surface. The glaciated surface of Pallulle was suddenly polka-dotted with pools of Ruutu-blessed artificial alpine climate full of silver ferns, blue-gray orchards heavy with gin-fruit, and liquid oceans in which the neon-blooded suflet shark swims free. The name of Old Ruutu is, among the Smaragdi, spoken with an awe equivalent to Jesus Christ and Nikola Tesla borrowing Bhudda's tandem bicycle for a quick Sunday ride through Shakespeare's back garden. On Activation Day, every city on Pallulle scrambled to rename itself after him, which caused a great deal of confusion, upset feelings, cancelled family reunions, Ruutu absolutely forbidding anyone to do any such stupid thing as it was no big deal, I was up there anyway, might as well do a spot of DIY while I've still got my health, you know if you have someone in they'll only rip you off, and besides, you'd all do the same for me, anyway it's a bit rubbish, I was in a rush, two regional wars, and a small but feisty economic crisis until it was decided that everyone was pretty, they all loved the old man equally, and there was quite enough Ruutu to go around and the mapmakers would just have to seek out anxiety medication. Hence, on Pallulle, you will find no London, Paris, Vlimeux, or Alun, but only Blue Ruutu, White Ruutu, Little Ruutu, New Ruutu, Ruutu-by-the-Sea, Dirty Ruutu, Broke-down Ruutu, Backwoods Ruutu, and so on and so forth.
Everything including the kitchen sink, and the sink has a wormhole drain, so to speak. In an afterword, Valente thanks the late Douglas Adams for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Valente's from the US, but plainly, the principal (Earthly) characters and the narrative voice had to be British to salute Adams.
OK, did I laugh? I don't usually laugh aloud at humorous pieces - I did a few times here, e.g. on learning of the Entity Known as Monad. But I certainly enjoyed every sparkling bit of a novel I finished, unusually for me, less than a week after it was published.
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LibraryThing member murderbydeath
I hemmed and hawed over whether to give this 4 or 4.5 stars. While generally, 4 stars is sort of my default for 'this was good', in this case, several pertinent facts should be kept in mind:
- I don't like space related books.
- I don't like fantasy books that involve names I can't pronounce
- I am not a fan of Eurovision.
Given all this, my 4 stars is a downright declaration of adoration.
(For the record, I didn't go with 4.5 stars because the story sagged a bit mid-way and I thought the deus ex machina at the end was both predictable and disappointing because she went there.)
Valente wrote a truly exceptional book. I loved the writing, though the run-on sentences took a while to get used to; MT got his fair share of dark looks whenever he spoke to me while I was reading this, as it often meant I had to go back to the beginning of the paragraph/sentence and start over again. But her biting satire, her anger tinged humor and her way of calling humanity out while holding it up was almost miraculous for the balancing act involved.
I'd recommend this to almost anybody, though some might find Valente's refreshing honesty and brutal truth confronting.
Speaking of brutal truths, I'll leave you with Goguenar Gorecannon's 11th General Unkillable Fact (you were right BT, it is sadly too long to put on a t-shirt):
You can't stop people being assholes. They do love it so. The best you can hope for is that some people, sometimes, will turn out to be somewhat less than the absolute worst. When they manage to trip and fall over that incredibly low bar, they'll make you want to end it all. But when they leap over it, they'll make you believe this whole mess really was created for a reason...
- I don't like space related books.
- I don't like fantasy books that involve names I can't pronounce
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without physically hurting myself.- I am not a fan of Eurovision.
Given all this, my 4 stars is a downright declaration of adoration.
(For the record, I didn't go with 4.5 stars because the story sagged a bit mid-way and I thought the deus ex machina at the end was both predictable and disappointing because she went there.)
Valente wrote a truly exceptional book. I loved the writing, though the run-on sentences took a while to get used to; MT got his fair share of dark looks whenever he spoke to me while I was reading this, as it often meant I had to go back to the beginning of the paragraph/sentence and start over again. But her biting satire, her anger tinged humor and her way of calling humanity out while holding it up was almost miraculous for the balancing act involved.
I'd recommend this to almost anybody, though some might find Valente's refreshing honesty and brutal truth confronting.
Speaking of brutal truths, I'll leave you with Goguenar Gorecannon's 11th General Unkillable Fact (you were right BT, it is sadly too long to put on a t-shirt):
You can't stop people being assholes. They do love it so. The best you can hope for is that some people, sometimes, will turn out to be somewhat less than the absolute worst. When they manage to trip and fall over that incredibly low bar, they'll make you want to end it all. But when they leap over it, they'll make you believe this whole mess really was created for a reason...
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LibraryThing member greeniezona
I totally fell prey to twitter hype -- but in a spectacularly wonderful way. I mean, I have loved Valente so hard ever since The Orphan's Tales, but given my current cash situation, I should probably have either stalked this at the library or waited for the paperback -- instead of venturing into
I was instantly in love with this book. From the very first paragraph you can't help but be reminded of Douglas Adams -- with its dry, intergalactic side-eye at all of humanity and its so-called accomplishments. Reading on -- even though there are dozens of observations that wouldn't feel out of place in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- the differences are just as obvious. Adams tended rather to the cynical -- with depressed robots and ridiculous bureaucracies and crushing nihilism. But Valente is throwing a party -- with disco balls and fucking adorable sentient red panda aliens and glitter everywhere. That's not to say there's no room in this story for regret, self-doubt, and depressing hotel lobbies, because those are there, too. But still, somehow the book leaves you with a feeling that for all that the universe may be random and ambivalent -- it's still full of miracles and wonder.
Life is beautiful, and life is stupid.
This book is a chaotic and hilarious reminder of both.
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the quicksand of a local bookstore on release day (and accidentally buying two other books) -- but the more you fight the more you sink.I was instantly in love with this book. From the very first paragraph you can't help but be reminded of Douglas Adams -- with its dry, intergalactic side-eye at all of humanity and its so-called accomplishments. Reading on -- even though there are dozens of observations that wouldn't feel out of place in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- the differences are just as obvious. Adams tended rather to the cynical -- with depressed robots and ridiculous bureaucracies and crushing nihilism. But Valente is throwing a party -- with disco balls and fucking adorable sentient red panda aliens and glitter everywhere. That's not to say there's no room in this story for regret, self-doubt, and depressing hotel lobbies, because those are there, too. But still, somehow the book leaves you with a feeling that for all that the universe may be random and ambivalent -- it's still full of miracles and wonder.
Life is beautiful, and life is stupid.
This book is a chaotic and hilarious reminder of both.
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LibraryThing member iansales
This was nominated for the Hugo Award in 2019. Its genesis is simple, and explained by the author in an afterword. A US genre author discovered the Eurovision Song Contest and was much taken with it. A fellow author persuaded them to use it in a science fiction novel. There are many reasons why
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this is a bad idea. The US does not compete in Eurovision. People in the US have no idea what Eurovision means… and it means different things to different countries. In the UK, it is considered somewhat risible, with a side-order of resentment. In Sweden, there is a month-long televised Melodifest merely to pick the song to represent the country. Valente decided to appropriate Eurovision for a US audience and base it all on The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. She failed. Not only are the references a weird mishmash of UK and US that make no sense, embedding UK cultural elements in US cultural movements, but the whole thing is a litany of megaviolence and genocide from start to finish… While Eurovision was indeed created to help rebuild links between the war-torn nations of Europe after WWII, it does not celebrate the death and destruction which occurred between 1939 and 1945. Nor does it boast of the weaponry, tactics or bodycounts of the various competing nations. Valente also chose to model her prose on The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I am not, I admit, a great fan of Adams’s novels, although I’ve read them and, when I was young, enjoyed them. But Adam’s books at least contained ideas and riffed off them. Valente’s does not. Adams’s jokes were carefully set up, and then left quickly behind, to crop up again when least expected. Valente belabours her jokes, sometimes with almost Fanthorpe levels of repetition. You end up skipping pages, trying to find the narrative. To be fair, I tried reading a Valente novel once before, Palimpsest, and ended up throwing it against the wall because it was so overwritten. And I admire Lawrence Durrell’s prose! I managed to finish Space Opera, but it was a slog. I can only recommend people avoid it. Especially if they’re fans of Eurovision. Show Less
LibraryThing member lavaturtle
This is a fun, weird story in the tradition of [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]. I liked the over-the-top worldbuilding and characters, and the gradual reveal of what had happened to the band. The writing style took some getting used to, with the early pages featuring page-long sentences, but
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it stopped being distracting by midway through. Show Less
LibraryThing member quondame
This is like having your extremely witty, quite bitter friend brainstorming about aliens in your lap by way of [Robert Adams], [Terry Pratchett], and 20th century popular music. Every snappy comeback, stored up bon mot, and staircase wit gets its exercise. Entertaining but exhausting, I would
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recommend spacing reading it over a few days, but for myself would have lost track of what was going on if I did so. The last minute save is not my favorite form of redemption, but whatever depths this book was meant to address, it did so with rather stock'y', if interestingly clever, characters. Why, for instance, couldn't it have been a woman regretting the untimely death of a man if you must fridge someone for regrets. Show Less
LibraryThing member shabacus
I find it difficult to praise this book highly enough. Should I begin by talking about the story, which wraps a highly philosophical discussion of what it means to be human within the comedic trappings of intergalactic Eurovision? Or the language, which elevates the most mundane events and invented
In short, there's no way that I can get across just how good this book is, so just go and read it yourself.
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history lessons into laugh-out-loud, serpentine journeys through literary achievement?In short, there's no way that I can get across just how good this book is, so just go and read it yourself.
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LibraryThing member LisCarey
Eurovision in space.
No, really.
This is humorous sf, strongly influenced by Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. Not everyone will love it. Some people will find it hopelessly over the top, especially if that's how they felt about Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy.
I loved it.
Earth has discovered that
The system is a totally over-the-top musical competition. It's an interstellar, inter-species Eurovision, and performance on stage matters at least as much as the song itself. New species competing for the first time don't have to win; they do have to not lose. Established species who finish dead last are confined to their own planet for a long time to contemplate their mistakes. New species competing for the first time, if they finish dead last, are eliminated permanently, their species exterminated, with as little damage to their planet as reasonably possible so that the biosphere can try again to produce a sentient species.
The aliens have been monitoring Earth's transmissions since the beginning of radio, and they have a list of possible representatives to compete on Earth's behalf in the Galactivision competition. Unfortunately, most of them are dead.
The trio Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes are chosen, not quite by default.
Unfortunately, only two of the three, Decibel himself and Oort (I listened to the audiobook and didn't, alas, get his last name well enough to reproduce it here), are left, Mira Wonder Star having died in a car crash. Neither of them thinks they can really do it without Mira, but since the alternative is that Earth finishes dead last by default and everyone dies, they are shortly on their way to the contest site, 7,000 lightyears away. They're accompanied by a couple of friendly aliens, one of whom is apparently a big, blue flamingo. Oh, and Oort's children's cat, Kaypro, is with them, and newly endowed with the ability to talk.
This is a completely madcap, insane rollercoaster ride, so far over the top you can't even see the top anymore, and it's a lot of fun. It's also sharp and insightful and warm and decent. The characters learn and grow and are well worth spending the time with, especially, but not exclusively, Decibel and Oort. Valente uses the language beautifully, and it was a lot of fun to listen to Heath Miller reading it.
Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
No, really.
This is humorous sf, strongly influenced by Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. Not everyone will love it. Some people will find it hopelessly over the top, especially if that's how they felt about Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy.
I loved it.
Earth has discovered that
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we are not alone in the big, beautiful universe, or even in the galaxy. There's a galactic confederation that, since the Sentience Wars a hundred years ago, have worked at system to decide who gets to join the sentience club, and who gets eliminated permanently, with their planet getting a chance to try again when another species has evolved far enough to be contemplating space travel.The system is a totally over-the-top musical competition. It's an interstellar, inter-species Eurovision, and performance on stage matters at least as much as the song itself. New species competing for the first time don't have to win; they do have to not lose. Established species who finish dead last are confined to their own planet for a long time to contemplate their mistakes. New species competing for the first time, if they finish dead last, are eliminated permanently, their species exterminated, with as little damage to their planet as reasonably possible so that the biosphere can try again to produce a sentient species.
The aliens have been monitoring Earth's transmissions since the beginning of radio, and they have a list of possible representatives to compete on Earth's behalf in the Galactivision competition. Unfortunately, most of them are dead.
The trio Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes are chosen, not quite by default.
Unfortunately, only two of the three, Decibel himself and Oort (I listened to the audiobook and didn't, alas, get his last name well enough to reproduce it here), are left, Mira Wonder Star having died in a car crash. Neither of them thinks they can really do it without Mira, but since the alternative is that Earth finishes dead last by default and everyone dies, they are shortly on their way to the contest site, 7,000 lightyears away. They're accompanied by a couple of friendly aliens, one of whom is apparently a big, blue flamingo. Oh, and Oort's children's cat, Kaypro, is with them, and newly endowed with the ability to talk.
This is a completely madcap, insane rollercoaster ride, so far over the top you can't even see the top anymore, and it's a lot of fun. It's also sharp and insightful and warm and decent. The characters learn and grow and are well worth spending the time with, especially, but not exclusively, Decibel and Oort. Valente uses the language beautifully, and it was a lot of fun to listen to Heath Miller reading it.
Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
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LibraryThing member TinaTome
Well... that was... interesting. I liked it. I'm glad I read it. But... it's A LOT of narration. I wanted to love it. It tickled my brain enough to make me push forward, but it never made me laugh out loud... or even giggle. I feel like it would be a great audio book, and I'd probably watch it if
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it were a show/movie. It's just a lot to read in a relatively short book. Show Less
LibraryThing member renbedell
A fantastic and funny science fiction book about alien species proving their sentience with music. It is a fun take on science fiction that reminds me of Douglas Adams. I really enjoyed this book.
LibraryThing member livingtech
It was hard to get through this. Complex sentence structures and metaphors that stretched on for paragraphs abound.
LibraryThing member fred_mouse
That was a wild ride. Starting with a very Douglas Adams style introduction to aliens, and then roaming over rather a lot of space and time as ever more far-fetched aliens (and their music) were introduced to the reader, there was not a dull moment. Thoroughly enjoyable
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
So exactly what it says, the Eurovision in Space only the first time you enter you have to not place last so your species survives. It's a bit twisted and idea driven but very interesting.
It's not a bad read but I'm not sure it's a Hugo worthy read. It's trying very hard to be Douglas Adams and
Part of the Hugo read, received free as part of the ballot. I now have read half of the nominees. Two require I read others first and are part of the series nominees and the other is The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal.
It's not a bad read but I'm not sure it's a Hugo worthy read. It's trying very hard to be Douglas Adams and
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sometimes what's going on gets lost under the wheee.Part of the Hugo read, received free as part of the ballot. I now have read half of the nominees. Two require I read others first and are part of the series nominees and the other is The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal.
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LibraryThing member tronella
Some fun parts, but the style is definitely more Robert Rankin than Douglas Adams and not really to my taste.
LibraryThing member Stewart_Hoffman
I think comparisons to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy are dangerous at best. It brings with it an expectation that to date I’ve never seen fulfilled. Douglas Adams’s seminal work was a lightning in a bottle moment and not likely to be duplicated, emulated, or rivalled.
Space Opera, however,
While I was reading about the first alien contact with Earth, and the recruitment and adventures of Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes, I was engaged and loving it. When it pivoted to educate me on Catherynne M. Valente’s version of the universe (while very creative to be sure) I started to tune out. Adam’s went off on tangents similar to this, but they were nearly always anchored to his main character, Arthur Dent. A very relatable everyman. Space Opera doesn’t operate on this level and suffers as a result.
I would recommend this book, and I will read it again. I picked this up after buying into all the Hitchhikers hype. Maybe after some time away, I can look upon it again with fresh eyes and get more out of it.
Space Opera, however,
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goes there “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets the joy and glamour of Eurovision” says the blurb on Amazon. Truly a bold statement. Does it pull it off? Almost (and that’s pretty amazing). It’s a solid idea and I did have to stop reading several times due to laughing fits. It also at times, unfortunately, reads like a series of vignettes as the story jumps between the heroes’ journey and the history of the Metagalactic Grand Prix.While I was reading about the first alien contact with Earth, and the recruitment and adventures of Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes, I was engaged and loving it. When it pivoted to educate me on Catherynne M. Valente’s version of the universe (while very creative to be sure) I started to tune out. Adam’s went off on tangents similar to this, but they were nearly always anchored to his main character, Arthur Dent. A very relatable everyman. Space Opera doesn’t operate on this level and suffers as a result.
I would recommend this book, and I will read it again. I picked this up after buying into all the Hitchhikers hype. Maybe after some time away, I can look upon it again with fresh eyes and get more out of it.
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LibraryThing member breic
This novel really fell apart toward the middle, almost becoming a one-star DNF.
The good: Humorous and inventive prose, full of long metaphors.
A museum becomes "a palace of knowledge as large as Hungary, as well organized as a retirement home for executive assistants, and as well guarded as the
The bad: The style is hit-or-miss at best, and steadily loses steam. The long-winded prose means that the characters and the story can't go anywhere. It is hard to have any conversations when each line of dialog is separated by a page of similes. Valente seems to realize this about a third of the way through, and cuts down on the style to move the plot forward. But this just exposes how shallow the whole storyline is. Then you get to the alien-human sex scenes, which are as bad as you'd imagine. Everything falls apart. For the final resolution, the early, long-winded flashbacks turn out to be crucial.
The good: Humorous and inventive prose, full of long metaphors.
A museum becomes "a palace of knowledge as large as Hungary, as well organized as a retirement home for executive assistants, and as well guarded as the
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meaning of life." Or space ships: "And, like overbearing parents pressuring their introverted, artistically inclined children into becoming rich doctors who jump the karaoke queue, the Esca managed, with a little positive reinforcement and an orgy of gene-splicing, to railroad their local bioluminescent moon-jellies into inhaling stellar radiation through their translucent bells and exhaling a healthful oxygen-nitrogen mix, their version of sea cucumbers into ejaculating explosive saltwater plasma at any nearby enemies, their brand of furry brine shrimp into eating space debris and vomiting defensive shields, their six-eyed mussels into filtering solar energy and converting it to usable propulsion, schools of something very like overemotional clown fish into flushing bright green in the presence of foreign long-range radio waves or working FTL drives, and, perhaps most impressively for an aquatic creature lacking anything like the proper glandular setup, their freshwater starfish into sweating gravity." The bad: The style is hit-or-miss at best, and steadily loses steam. The long-winded prose means that the characters and the story can't go anywhere. It is hard to have any conversations when each line of dialog is separated by a page of similes. Valente seems to realize this about a third of the way through, and cuts down on the style to move the plot forward. But this just exposes how shallow the whole storyline is. Then you get to the alien-human sex scenes, which are as bad as you'd imagine. Everything falls apart. For the final resolution, the early, long-winded flashbacks turn out to be crucial.
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LibraryThing member being_b
Subtitle: How Brexit Nearly Led to the Destruction of the Human Race
LibraryThing member Shrike58
What to add that hasn't been said? The aesthetic is downright psychedelic, the satire is pointed, and the regret is (mostly) justly earned. That said there is, possibly inevitably, a bit of the shaggy dog around the climax and if this story had gone on one page longer it would have been too long.
LibraryThing member raschneid
Valente calls this book a "weird little rocketship" in the afterword, and that's about right.
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 2019)
Locus Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 2019)
John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (Finalist — 2019)
NPR: Books We Love (2018)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Fiction — 2018)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2018-04-10
Physical description
304 p.; 8.25 inches
ISBN
1481497502 / 9781481497503