Book #3, The Universe Against Her
Uh-oh, I seem to have lost my momentum...since I didn't read a single word on my trip. (Oh wait, I think I read a little bit of Little Women on the plane there...but that was it.) But I'm getting back on the wagon!
This was one from my big box of sci fi books I got on eBay. (Remember those? Yep, I've still got a lot left.) This was the first book about Telzey Amberdon, a teenage genius who is ALSO a high-level telepath. Unfortunately nobody wants her to be as powerful as she is. Whoops! The stories about Telzey were originally short stories, so all the novels about her are actually a few stories published together that are not exactly one solid plot line.
First things first. Considering that this book is from 1964, Telzey is a fantastic heroine from a time of big-breasted bimbos who are usually just the hero's dumb love interest, or when they are the main character, they are either beautiful yet savage crazies or simpering idiots who flap their hands as things happen around them. Telzey is smart, sensible, subtle, yet has her own flaws, makes mistakes and works her butt off to fix them, and is one of the few female characters I've seen in a 60's book that acts like an actual person. I had a hard time believing it was from 1964, and that the author was male. It is very impressive in that regard.
That being said - the type of book isn't really my thing. I like science fiction, of course, but the "telepathy" angle is not really my favorite (just like "time travel" unless it is handled very carefully). Don't get me wrong, telepathy is a huge thing in sci fi and is present in a lot of my favorite books. The way it can change the course of a plot can be intriguing and awesome. But when it is The Point, I get kind of bored. Telzey doesn't use it for her own petty purposes or anything, but basically the stories included here are just your simple mind-reading tales. The entire last half of the book is about her foiling a plot against her best friend's life, which is nice, but it's just about her using mind-reading to solve it. There's not a lot about, say, the ethical considerations of mind-reading, especially considering that Telzey is powerful enough to alter people's mental states, opinions, or even personalities. That would have been an interesting bit. But mostly, it seems like the Telzey stories are your basic "mystery" tales, with her facing a problem and solving it. Okay for a book, but I don't know that I'll go out of my way to find more Telzey books.
Total book count: 3/75 - 4%
Total page count: 767/22500 - 3.4%
Up next: About halfway through both Little Women and Catching Fire. Also I just started Dancing in the Dark.
This was one from my big box of sci fi books I got on eBay. (Remember those? Yep, I've still got a lot left.) This was the first book about Telzey Amberdon, a teenage genius who is ALSO a high-level telepath. Unfortunately nobody wants her to be as powerful as she is. Whoops! The stories about Telzey were originally short stories, so all the novels about her are actually a few stories published together that are not exactly one solid plot line.
First things first. Considering that this book is from 1964, Telzey is a fantastic heroine from a time of big-breasted bimbos who are usually just the hero's dumb love interest, or when they are the main character, they are either beautiful yet savage crazies or simpering idiots who flap their hands as things happen around them. Telzey is smart, sensible, subtle, yet has her own flaws, makes mistakes and works her butt off to fix them, and is one of the few female characters I've seen in a 60's book that acts like an actual person. I had a hard time believing it was from 1964, and that the author was male. It is very impressive in that regard.
That being said - the type of book isn't really my thing. I like science fiction, of course, but the "telepathy" angle is not really my favorite (just like "time travel" unless it is handled very carefully). Don't get me wrong, telepathy is a huge thing in sci fi and is present in a lot of my favorite books. The way it can change the course of a plot can be intriguing and awesome. But when it is The Point, I get kind of bored. Telzey doesn't use it for her own petty purposes or anything, but basically the stories included here are just your simple mind-reading tales. The entire last half of the book is about her foiling a plot against her best friend's life, which is nice, but it's just about her using mind-reading to solve it. There's not a lot about, say, the ethical considerations of mind-reading, especially considering that Telzey is powerful enough to alter people's mental states, opinions, or even personalities. That would have been an interesting bit. But mostly, it seems like the Telzey stories are your basic "mystery" tales, with her facing a problem and solving it. Okay for a book, but I don't know that I'll go out of my way to find more Telzey books.
Total book count: 3/75 - 4%
Total page count: 767/22500 - 3.4%
Up next: About halfway through both Little Women and Catching Fire. Also I just started Dancing in the Dark.