My latest novel is Stone Unturned: A Legend of Ethshar. The fact that he doesn't know who Janet Kagan was. >But knowing nothing about the book except James' review, it's quite worthless. >John, your opinion might actually mean something if you had read the book. > she would need to overcome in order to write books worth reading. > Even if she appears to be a talented writer in other respects, this is a flaw

> have even _more_ opportunity to take this mistake to even greater lengths. > rather than stories based on Star Trek, it would seem to me that she would > In that case, were the author to write stories set in her own universe, > that would drive conflict and plot developments, with the result that the > an 'idiot plot' that is, the author tried too hard to set up a situation > From your description, it sounds like the book is a textbook example of > On Tuesday, Decemat 7:26:15 AM UTC-7, James Nicoll wrote: Many,many people think this particular book is 'worth reading'. List of 330 Star Trek books has it ranked 2. Listed as one of the top Star Trek books. _Uhura's Song_ was shared by so many other folks. Surprised several years ago when I realized my high opinion of Getting characters 'right' is a pretty subjective notion, andĬonsidering it important is pretty subjective also. Now that I think about it, that is what that Star Trek character would She's able to provide fullĬharacterization in more subtle ways based on actions. More minor characters, in this book often female) and saves the day.ĭespite this, _Uhura's Song_ is one of two Star Trek books on myįavorites bookcase (along with _The Final Reflection_). Points, but the crew of the Enterprise splits up (allowing emphasis on It has the standard holes, some good points, some bad James is correct: the plot of _Uhura's Song_ is a pretty standard Star Unless a book is about one of hisĮmphasized themes, the plot is all important - a book that isĬharacter-driven or otherwise theme-driven often receives shorter James is a fine reviewer, but like all reviewers he has his areas ofĮmphasis. John, your opinion might actually mean something if you had read the book.īut knowing nothing about the book except James' review, it's quite worthless.

Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan