The Star Surgeon's Apprentice - Alastair Reynolds
Novelette
Number of words : 10500
Percent of complex words : 7.5
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 9.7
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 6.9
Flesch : 76.5
Flesch-Kincaid : 4.5
PEOPLE
Peter Vandry
A boy who needs to get offworld in a hurry.
Master Khorog
Shipmaster and pirate.
Mister Zeal
The ship's surgeon.
Happy Jack
He and his gang are after Peter on Mokmer.
Lobot girl
An Iron Lady drive engineer.
Baby
A young Flux Swimmer.
PLACES
Juntura Spaceport
Where Peter wants to get a ride anywhere but here.
Mokmer
The planet he wants to leave.
Bafq Gap and Belterra Sphere
Places he doesn't want to go.
Frovolo
A planet he wants to get to, in the Frovolo Hub.
The Napier Belt
Before Frovolo.
Jelgava
Has a good antique weapons market.
Crab Pulsar
Has a strong magnetic field.
ORGANISATIONS
Kalarash Empire
An old civilisation.
WEAPONS
Bone gun
A sonic disruptor weapon.
Tranquilizer gun
Small, non-lethal weapon that looks like a soldering iron.
VEHICLES
Iron Lady
A pirate ship that is really the Devilfish.
TECHNOLOGY
Freezer
Ship cryogenics.
Ramscoop
Ship drive.
CONCEPTS
Lobots
Humans with brain surgery modifications to make them dumb and docile.
Wethead
An unmodified human.
St. Elmo's Fire
An electrical weather phenomenon.
RACES
Flux Swimmers
Creatures that live among stars and create magnetic fields. Can be used as a weapon as a result.
PLOT
Peter needs to get offplanet as some thugs are after him. He gains passage on the Iron Lady in trade and in labour, where he is to work as the apprentice surgeon for a crew of cyborgs.
The ship is really a pirate ship and also uses lobotomised human cyborgs as labour.
When the ship gets in a conflict he learns that they are actually the infamous crew of the pirate ship Devilfish, and that their advantage is a captive pair of Flux Swimmers, who have magnetic abilities that can be used to disable other ships.
Peter is horrified by this information given to him by a slightly less dumbed down lobot girl who tends them, and he decides to help her do something about bumping off the cyborg crew. That is, metal powers, cyborgs = bad combination for them if the Baby Flux Swimmer can be given enough food to make it strong enough to use its nascent abilities at this range.
The problem with this plan is the girl also has metal in her head, and it will kill her if Peter can't convince her to let him operate first, very, very fast.
4.5 out of 5
Number of words : 10500
Percent of complex words : 7.5
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 9.7
READABILITY INDICES
Fog : 6.9
Flesch : 76.5
Flesch-Kincaid : 4.5
PEOPLE
Peter Vandry
A boy who needs to get offworld in a hurry.
Master Khorog
Shipmaster and pirate.
Mister Zeal
The ship's surgeon.
Happy Jack
He and his gang are after Peter on Mokmer.
Lobot girl
An Iron Lady drive engineer.
Baby
A young Flux Swimmer.
PLACES
Juntura Spaceport
Where Peter wants to get a ride anywhere but here.
Mokmer
The planet he wants to leave.
Bafq Gap and Belterra Sphere
Places he doesn't want to go.
Frovolo
A planet he wants to get to, in the Frovolo Hub.
The Napier Belt
Before Frovolo.
Jelgava
Has a good antique weapons market.
Crab Pulsar
Has a strong magnetic field.
ORGANISATIONS
Kalarash Empire
An old civilisation.
WEAPONS
Bone gun
A sonic disruptor weapon.
Tranquilizer gun
Small, non-lethal weapon that looks like a soldering iron.
VEHICLES
Iron Lady
A pirate ship that is really the Devilfish.
TECHNOLOGY
Freezer
Ship cryogenics.
Ramscoop
Ship drive.
CONCEPTS
Lobots
Humans with brain surgery modifications to make them dumb and docile.
Wethead
An unmodified human.
St. Elmo's Fire
An electrical weather phenomenon.
RACES
Flux Swimmers
Creatures that live among stars and create magnetic fields. Can be used as a weapon as a result.
PLOT
Peter needs to get offplanet as some thugs are after him. He gains passage on the Iron Lady in trade and in labour, where he is to work as the apprentice surgeon for a crew of cyborgs.
The ship is really a pirate ship and also uses lobotomised human cyborgs as labour.
When the ship gets in a conflict he learns that they are actually the infamous crew of the pirate ship Devilfish, and that their advantage is a captive pair of Flux Swimmers, who have magnetic abilities that can be used to disable other ships.
Peter is horrified by this information given to him by a slightly less dumbed down lobot girl who tends them, and he decides to help her do something about bumping off the cyborg crew. That is, metal powers, cyborgs = bad combination for them if the Baby Flux Swimmer can be given enough food to make it strong enough to use its nascent abilities at this range.
The problem with this plan is the girl also has metal in her head, and it will kill her if Peter can't convince her to let him operate first, very, very fast.
4.5 out of 5