Afbeelding auteur

Martin Hocke (1938–2005)

Auteur van The Ancient Solitary Reign

7 Werken 108 Leden 2 Besprekingen

Werken van Martin Hocke

Tagged

Algemene kennis

Leden

Besprekingen

Boy oh boy is this muddied up terribly. An utter slog of a book that seems to not understand its own identity. So first things first, this book rides Watership Down like so many xenofictions, but unlike it, this has been a big meme among people who like NHS/xenofictions. It's no One For Sorrow where it goes utterly useless and stupid to the point of genocide, but it still references genocide and other such content. So even though it doesn't actually go full OfS, it's still not a much better book.

But.

This book still features owls talking about The Final Solution. Aka Nazi Germany terms. Goodie.

It also features sexism, racism, and homophobia. And it loves to fixate upon that. It's a terrible exposition to dance around do we discuss female owls exist without power or rights or do we not discuss it?

One scene which stands out in my brain still is how the owls tease other owls for not having sex yet??? Okay. And not long later, we have our Romeo and Juliet owls and then an almost rape scene where he almost forces himself upon her and in semi-graphic detail daydreams about doing it, then peaces out. Um.

I don't understand the point.

But that's most of the book. It goes on weird paths. A good example: Almost rape scene, would-be rapist runs off, meets dying owl relative(?), the dying shot owl laments to him, then dies. He then goes back to the owl wife he almost raped???

Also, lust is worded as the urge. So they keep saying they have 'the urge' to do things to female owls. H e l p.

There's an owl called Humanoid who lusts for having sex with humans. A real-life phenomenon which is handled so damn badly I laughed the entire time reading about him. And also this is where we get homosexuality is a sickness comes in. Remember above when I said that? It's here. Humanoid is assumed sick with homosexuality.

There's so much wrong with this. But let's carry on.

Our main begins to tell Humanoid he can't feel the urge for anyone who isn't a female owl. Then begins to delight in telling MC lewd things. While also talking about how much he desires humans, and then MC begins to say it's the equivalent to having sex with a crow. So among various species of owl this is fine, even tiny ones, but even though not all can cross and make babies, having sex with a crow is frowned upon.

And then... We get a prostitute owl: Honeysuckle Rose. Prostitute. Owls. Exist. I can't even handle the fact we've gotten about five different scenes where owl sex is not just a casual discussion, but a focus. There's so much sex. Cheating. Rape.

And also he faces no consequences of his cheating because the female owls all die. Well, first MC can't control his sex addiction. Yes, and owl with a sex addiction. And his wife leaves him because he's so horny, gets shot, then dies. Okay.

Then he raises his eggs. Just. Kidding. The eggs hatch aaaaand- He dies too.

I'm perplexed by the number of positive ratings on Goodreads without comments or with basic comments. It almost feels like Martin did damage control or gave the book to friends. There's several great videos about how awful this book is, CloudCuckooCountry and Cardinal West. I have heard it mentioned on the worst list and I do not know why we cannot get a good bird xenofiction.

0.5 stars.
What even happened here? What was the point?
… (meer)
½
 
Gemarkeerd
Yolken | 1 andere bespreking | Jan 4, 2023 |
Na een flink aantal jaren heb ik dit boek herlezen, omdat het af en toe nog door mijn hoofd spookte. Het viel me niet tegen, al vind ik het inmiddels wel wat langdradig. De combinatie van uilen en maatschappij(kritiek) is leuk; de uilen worden vermenselijkt maar blijven toch uilen. Af en toe wel heftige bloedige scenes. Redelijke aanrader.
Dit boek wordt geschreven vanuit een kerkuil (Hunter). Er is ook een versie geschreven vanuit zijn vriend Yoller, een bosuil.
½
 
Gemarkeerd
elsmvst | 1 andere bespreking | Mar 16, 2011 |

Statistieken

Werken
7
Leden
108
Populariteit
#179,297
Waardering
½ 3.6
Besprekingen
2
ISBNs
16
Talen
4

Tabellen & Grafieken