Paolo Bacigalupi
Auteur van The Windup Girl
Over de Auteur
Paolo Bacigalupi won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Compton Crook, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards for his debut novel, The Windup Girl, which was published in 2009. His short story collection Pump Six and Other Stories was a 2008 Locus Award winner for Best Collection and his young adult novel Ship toon meer Breaker won the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature and was finalist for the National Book Award. His work has also appeared in High Country News, Salon.com, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. (Bowker Author Biography) toon minder
Reeksen
Werken van Paolo Bacigalupi
Yellow Card Man (novelette) 25 exemplaren
The Tamarisk Hunter 11 exemplaren
Small Offerings 11 exemplaren
Pop Squad 6 exemplaren
Pocketful of Dharma (novelette) 4 exemplaren
Mika Model [short story] 4 exemplaren
The Pasho (novelette) 3 exemplaren
The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi (2015-05-28) 2 exemplaren
Softer 2 exemplaren
Shooting the Apocalypse 1 exemplaar
Gerelateerde werken
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-First Annual Collection (2004) — Medewerker — 537 exemplaren
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection (2005) — Medewerker — 533 exemplaren
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection (2006) — Medewerker — 531 exemplaren
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection (2007) — Medewerker — 435 exemplaren
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection (2009) — Medewerker — 392 exemplaren
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventeenth Annual Collection (2004) — Medewerker — 234 exemplaren
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Second Annual Collection (2015) — Medewerker — 171 exemplaren
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Third Annual Collection (2016) — Medewerker — 159 exemplaren
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fourth Annual Collection (2017) — Medewerker — 127 exemplaren
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction September/October 2019, Vol. 137, Nos. 3 & 4 (1991) — Medewerker — 15 exemplaren
Everything Change: An Anthology of Climate Fiction — Interview with — 10 exemplaren
Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Geboortedatum
- 1972-08-06
- Geslacht
- male
- Nationaliteit
- USA
- Geboorteplaats
- Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
- Woonplaatsen
- Western Colorado, USA
- Beroepen
- science fiction writer
fantasy writer - Organisaties
- Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Leden
Discussies
GROUP READ -- THE WINDUP GIRL by Paolo Bacigalupi in The 12 in 12 Category Challenge (augustus 2012)
THE WINDUP GIRL - Discussion Thread ***Possible SPOILERS*** in The 12 in 12 Category Challenge (maart 2012)
Besprekingen
Lijsten
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Nebula Award (1)
Ghosts (1)
Absolute Power (1)
5 Best 5 Years (1)
Science Fiction (1)
Asia (1)
Boy Protagonists (1)
Best Cyberpunk (1)
io9 Book Club (1)
Science Fiction (2)
Strange Cities (2)
Favourite Books (1)
Urban Fiction (2)
First Novels (1)
Climate Change (1)
Unread books (1)
Reading 2016 (1)
Prijzen
Misschien vindt je deze ook leuk
Gerelateerde auteurs
Statistieken
- Werken
- 38
- Ook door
- 47
- Leden
- 15,529
- Populariteit
- #1,463
- Waardering
- 3.8
- Besprekingen
- 852
- ISBNs
- 213
- Talen
- 14
- Favoriet
- 28
This was not the reaction I was expecting when starting this book. I enjoyed Ship Breaker, and then NetGalley had a fantasy novel by the same author, so here I am.
We are in a kind of Renaissance Italy, a Venetian republic/Florentine republic of sorts, with hints of magic. There are nobles and merchant/banking houses that embrace the mafia lifestyle. Backstabbing is a feature, not a bug. Sounds like fun, right? I liked the very first pages, and how Davico (a very unwilling heir to the most powerful mafia family, sorry, it was banking house) talked about his father.
“He liked to say that he traded in goods, but more in promises, and he never failed to collect.”
After that, the further I read, the more annoyed I became:
😡 There is a lot of fake Italian/Latin/whatever. I had no trouble understanding the stuff, but it felt grating, annoying, pretentious. This sort of thing went on and on: “He sought to play in politics, where the art of faccioscuro is both sword and shield, and he held neither. He imagined he could sit parlobanco with your father.” Me: please stop already.
😡 There are many irritating editing errors, the most I’ve ever had in an ARC. I had to reread certain sentences several times before they made sense.
😡 (They drink a lot of tea. Is it a nod to all the tea-drinking in modern sci-fi? Anyway, why are we drinking so much tea in fake Renaissance Italy? And why are their cheeses always described as “bitter”? This is a crime against cheese, that’s what it is!!!)
😡 Davico, I am sorry, you lack depth, which means that you are not well-written. (This goes for all the other characters as well.) You are also annoying. The constant self-doubt, a naïveté that is almost aggressive, the “I don’t want this destiny, poor little meeeeee”, and being very juvenile in general… I got tired of them all after almost 600 pages. Davico grows a bit of spine ca 80% into the book – too little, too late.
😡 Infodumps! We are bombarded with endless descriptions and exposition: the ancient philosophers of this world; pages and pages of their mythology; a lot about their herbs and mushrooms (because Davico likes them). Last but not least: immediately after a Red Wedding wannabe event we are treated to several pages of the history and workings of this world’s banking system. But why?
😡 So the narrative stutters, loses momentum, gets lost, doesn’t go anywhere. It’s a bad sign when the reader asks “is anything at all supposed to happen in this book?” about 30-40% through.
😡 Sex, sex, sex. Sex? Sex, sex, sex! I’m no prude, but the whole society seems to be obsessed. Davico is a horny teenager, but when everyone behaves and talks like teenagers, it gets annoying. The one steamy sex scene makes a dirty voyeur out of the reader, it feels like pornography. I did not feel the characters’ passion. I wanted to go wash my eyes. How was this done? I am mystified.
😡 As the plot finally (finally!) thickens a bit towards the end, there is a lot of blood, gore, torture, humiliation, as well as blood, gore, torture, humiliation. The book gets as obsessed with those as with sex. Ouch.
😡 I wondered why so many Checkov’s guns failed to fire in this book. Then I came to the end, and it was written in a very clear “let’s have a sequel, maybe?” way. Where is my closure?
My reasons for that extra star:
👌The dialogues were very well-written, I enjoyed them.
👌Celia was interesting. We should have followed her instead.
👌The magic stuff was cool. When it did appear, I felt that I was reading a different (better) book.
👌When Davico goes to a neighbouring kingdom to negotiate, his hosts decide to cruelly test him. The test involved a vicious war horse. That was a good scene.
Judging by other reviews, I seem to be an outlier. You might want to check if you agree or not ;)
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-book!… (meer)