Event Factory
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15
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Average rating3
A "linguist-traveler" arrives by plane to Ravicka, a city of yellow air in which an undefined crisis is causing the inhabitants to flee. Although fluent in the native language, she quickly finds herself on the outside of every experience. Things happen to her, events transpire, but it is as if the city itself, the performance of life there, eludes her.
Series
4 primary booksRavicka is a 4-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2010 with contributions by Renee Gladman.
Reviews with the most likes.
I tried reading this one a while back and couldn't get into it, but something told me I should keep it around and try again. This time, before I read it, I read the acknowledgments in the back, and I'm glad I did, because the author thanks Samuel Delany for Dhalgren, and that turned out to be the key to enjoying the book this time around.
I had the same start-and-stop experience with Dhalgren, though I had to try more than once before I finished (and enjoyed!) it. This is kind of challenging fiction for me, the structure of it, and I guess that's why it was worth going back to. With Dhalgren, I had the knowledge that Delany was worth reading (from enjoying his shorter, older sci-fi stories); with this, I only had the faith that, hey, anybody who loves Dhalgren enough to attempt anything even within the fringes of that style is worth some effort to read.
And it was. I love the conceit of the book, that Ravicka is a place where communication is...complicated. And not just communication, but reality. I'm going to read the other Ravickian books, though perhaps not right away.
