If you want Mills and Boon masquerading as space opera, enjoy. Otherwise, forget it.
Catch the Lightning is some of the worst scifi I’ve read in a fair old while. For starters the protagonists says, ad nauseum, “now I know that the [insert verb/noun here] meant [insert meaninglessness]“, which constantly reminds the reader that whatever conundrum the characters are facing will work out just fine in the end. Now that’s fine, we’re all used to stories that are about the journey, not the destination, but… FFS.
And this is a pity, because Asaro is a PhD in physics, and some interesting theorisation has obviously gone into the scifi universe. But this story is so unbelievably weak, and the characters so unbelievably soppy, you just want to slap them.
Avoid.
17 May, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Oh yes. She has a market, but Catherine Asaro is right at the intersection between science fiction and romance. You can tell by the cover art.
I have read the occasional quite good short story from her though. And I quite liked “The Last Hawk”, too… but I’ve not been able to finish any of the others.
17 May, 2009 at 9:37 pm
i’d recommend that people do not bother.
more jay lake is next out of the blocks! as well as a little light reading about the history of the american war of independence.