Space Furry Slavery; The Surprise Space-Operas Provide
I was willing to give this a shot based on my open policy for books-- space furries? Alright, I can see where that goes, I'm willing to give it a shot. Also, I guess the bunnies are also slaves, which is a weird allegory for racism but go off I guess.
Space opera can be pretty much as wild and creative as possible, and I was hopeful I'd be leaning into something weird, definitely, but enjoyable. And overall, I wasn't entirely put off by aspects of it and genuinely enjoyed some of the things it explored, particularly the science and technical aspects of the story! But there was a lot I couldn't get away from when reading, as I'm sure others who read it would agree.
First off, the geneticaly modified bunny-people-thing, in general, had me absolutely boggled. Are these bunnies in the mild sense, where they're sort of people with ears, big feet, and a fluffy tail? Or are we talking Peter Cottontail levels of hyper-realistic human-sized bunnies? I found myself catching on lines that focused on David's expressions or mannerisms, simply because they were so specifically tied to his appearance. I struggled to get into the story a LOT simply since my brain was occupied thinking through how the face of a bunny-person could visually evoke grief after his bunny-father dies. And then towards the end there was the whole bit about David and James being much, much younger than I would have guessed; maybe middle-school would have worked, but two abnormally smart 6th graders was a bit of a stretch for me.
But I'm not one to dwell entirely on negatives; I still really enjoyed a lot of the little world-building tidbits and information about the setting in the story! I really thought It'd be fun to explore more about the hereditary military title that's often purchased through family lines, simply because it seems an interesting position to weave into a comprehensive space opera with other more conventional and expected ranks! To see how someone who's family bought their would interact with people clearly qualified and trained for other usual ranks, and how their character could transform. A lot of the descriptions about the actual technology, things like the Field suits and medical bubbles, were also really interesting to me! The scene at the end with David's non-powdered fur conducting a current through the suit, and then deploying the medical foam and insulating him after felt really grounded in some semblance of scientific reality for me.
I would have loved to see more exploring world-building things than the microagressions David met with along his journey... but still. I wouldn't say it was a bad read, necessarily. Might not be my cup of tea, but a lot of other people seem to seriously enjoy the series, and I won't knock them for that! I think sci-fi is often taken way to seriously, and It's nice to have a departure from that in this little curious space-opera.
Space opera can be pretty much as wild and creative as possible, and I was hopeful I'd be leaning into something weird, definitely, but enjoyable. And overall, I wasn't entirely put off by aspects of it and genuinely enjoyed some of the things it explored, particularly the science and technical aspects of the story! But there was a lot I couldn't get away from when reading, as I'm sure others who read it would agree.
First off, the geneticaly modified bunny-people-thing, in general, had me absolutely boggled. Are these bunnies in the mild sense, where they're sort of people with ears, big feet, and a fluffy tail? Or are we talking Peter Cottontail levels of hyper-realistic human-sized bunnies? I found myself catching on lines that focused on David's expressions or mannerisms, simply because they were so specifically tied to his appearance. I struggled to get into the story a LOT simply since my brain was occupied thinking through how the face of a bunny-person could visually evoke grief after his bunny-father dies. And then towards the end there was the whole bit about David and James being much, much younger than I would have guessed; maybe middle-school would have worked, but two abnormally smart 6th graders was a bit of a stretch for me.
But I'm not one to dwell entirely on negatives; I still really enjoyed a lot of the little world-building tidbits and information about the setting in the story! I really thought It'd be fun to explore more about the hereditary military title that's often purchased through family lines, simply because it seems an interesting position to weave into a comprehensive space opera with other more conventional and expected ranks! To see how someone who's family bought their would interact with people clearly qualified and trained for other usual ranks, and how their character could transform. A lot of the descriptions about the actual technology, things like the Field suits and medical bubbles, were also really interesting to me! The scene at the end with David's non-powdered fur conducting a current through the suit, and then deploying the medical foam and insulating him after felt really grounded in some semblance of scientific reality for me.
I would have loved to see more exploring world-building things than the microagressions David met with along his journey... but still. I wouldn't say it was a bad read, necessarily. Might not be my cup of tea, but a lot of other people seem to seriously enjoy the series, and I won't knock them for that! I think sci-fi is often taken way to seriously, and It's nice to have a departure from that in this little curious space-opera.
Really enjoyed your blog post! I haven't read the book so I'm not sure there's much that I can add other than I also thoroughly enjoyed the science aspects of the space opera story I read. I also think it's interesting that what I read, The Martian, fits into the same genre. It really did focus on the science of surviving off earth. It was also thoroughly entertaining and emotional and it sounds like your story was too (I can't imagine the pain of losing father bunny). But what I'm trying to get at is that you're right. The genre is so diverse and allows for so much creativity and exploration. Some of Arthur C. Carke's short stories use the genre as an interesting outlet to explore deeply philosophical and religious ideas. I love the variety of ways authors approach the genre.
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