Hellspark
Ratings3
Average rating4.7
15
Ratings3
Average rating4.7
Murder, mystery, and interstellar intrigue! Lassti, a newly discovered planet, is the center of political intrigue. Recently the planet survey team’s physicist was found dead. Was he killed? If so, by who? One of his fellow surveyors? Or by one of the birdlike natives of Lassti? This is, if they are intelligent at all, which is proving hard to tell. Into this mix arrives Tocohl, a Hellspark trader who just wanted to have a vacation. After being attacked, rescuing a young woman, and going before a judge, Tocohl has learned all she ever wanted to know about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now she is seeking answers to mysteries that could save a world. Hellspark, in particular, is one of our very favorite novels in any genre. All of Janet’s excellencies are apparent as she explores the interfaces of culture, language, intelligence, and what it means to be human. If you have not read Hellspark, you must do so immediately. It's that good.”—Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, coauthors of the best-selling Liaden Universe® series “An absolute delight.”—Mike Resnick At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
Reviews with the most likes.
Murderous zealots
shocking lessons to be learned
bitey feathered friends.
Really interesting exploration of language and culture, with good queer representation. I'm looking forward to reading it again.
I enjoyed this incredible ride of a story. Set in a future world and space, with most of the time spent on an alien planet with different biology and social animals, the story was about how we communicate.
The strongest theme and storyline is about how language divides us and bridges gaps between us. This aspect of the book is fascinating to me.
This has one of the most impressive heroines in fiction. Her preferred approach to hostility is to prevent a fight with words and cultural knowledge. That is what I'm talking about. I believe the most powerful weapon humans have is language, this author wrote about that idea.
We live the story with the characters. There is a naive narrator, who contributes to us learning through her questions.
One of my favorite reads of all time. If you like hard science fiction and like to think during your reads, this is a book for you.
