Right on track, another novel. Lagrange Five is another late-1970s sf novel, covering the brave new world of an Earth in decay, an ascendant cadre of elite space-seeking explorers, with criminal and energy cartel villains, and colonists in near Earth space.
It is, more or less, a detective story with a veneer of social commentary and an optimistic view of how things should have progressed by this point. Which is sort of depressing, to contemplate from this point in time how far we've fallen short of these ideals.
What I liked about this novel
- space idealism
- lovable loser detective protagonist
- plausible rebuttal of a lurking suspicion that this setting was meant to be a utopia
What I didn't like about this novel
- villains were first and second order stereotypes
- elitism derived from standardized tests was portrayed as virtuous
This novel is probably only of interest to die-hard space colonization optimists and idealists who can suspend their disbelief long enough to enjoy a fluffy future of humans in space. It will probably grate on modern sensibilities and not appeal outside of the people already on board with the goal of living in space. But a fast read, so if you're needing something to fill in a gap, like a short plane flight, this would do it.
posted at 12:29 PST (-0800) (comments disabled) permanent link
