books 2016: Raft, by Stephen Baxter

[supercheesegirl]

Read this for an informal book club with some friends. Haven't had our meeting yet but I'm getting the sense everyone hated it? I read a lot of sci fi so I got into it, though there are a lot of sciencey bits about gravitational fields through which I found it easier to just skim. The way that the hero sort of takes a guided tour through all the various parts of their nebula I found to be implausible, even for sci fi, and it was hard to get invested in the characters.

There were actually only two female characters, both of whom had jobs that ostensibly gave them power in the society, but they both felt wooden and like they were only there to be propped up as love interests for the hero. There were literally no other female characters other than the two women the hero thought about having sex with. I mean, come on. And the resolution of the supposed conflict there was a letdown, too (on the level of "oh, okay, she's just going over there now"). This is honestly my biggest gripe with the book, as each of these characters had potential to be interesting in her own right, so it really felt like a fail.

I'm sort of interested to see what happens in the next book and how humanity will survive, but I don't know that I'll ever prioritize picking up a copy.