Titan (Gaea) by John Varley Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Titan (Gaea)
Book Review: Interesing and slightly unique, yet a little choppy....
Summary: 3 Stars
Titan is an older story of astronauts caught into another alien world while exploring space. They are put into a world that has many earth-like similarities, yet are still alien. There is some emphasis on homosexuality, yet a lot of interesting scientific and technical references that will keep any sci-fi geek (like me) happy. While the book had a unique and interesting plot, Varley seemed to have dropped the ball on a couple of areas. First off the book starts off with a whole section dedicated to the captain and her promiscuous ways. It was an immediate turn off. I didn't see why we needed to read who "got it on" with who, when we were just beginning to get to know the characters. It was almost like listening to neighborhood gossip. Also the man can not write dialogue for women. His female characters seemed almost unreal and they had no true distinction between them. We knew one was the brave, untouchable captain, while one was the weepy, dependent one. The other two women that were sisters were like androids. Frankly the character development was lacking and awkward. I didn't care about the characters because there was not much given about them. Sort of like a sci-fi channel movie or straight to dvd flick.
Putting that aside, I would still recommend the book based on the whole idea of Gaea and the interesting alien world. I really enjoyed the concept of exploring in an alien world and relying on the surroundings for survival. Also the feministic undertones gave a nice perspective on the changing times of the 70's and 80's. Some new and old ideas are presented in the book. It is a quick and easy read that could enlighten anyone.
Book Review: It's Huge
Summary: 5 Stars
I picked up Titan in a used book pile at the swap meet for a quarter! I had never heard of Varley and didn't expect much. However, after reading it I was amazed, and could not contain my excitement. I thoroughly enjoyed discovering the world known as "Titan." But I wanted more, and what would you know, it was the first book of a trilogy. Yes! I took my own sweet time reading second book Wizard, just so that I could savor every paragraph and soak up all that was said. Wizard was just as good if not better than Titan. I can't wait to read Demon.Book Review: Just great
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this trilogy many year ago.saw the trail of James Cameron Avatar,and remember this trilogy.One of the best read ever.A must read!If you love SF you'r will love this.Book Review: Make up your mind, Varley!
Summary: 2 Stars
Titan is one of John Varley's most highly acclaimed books, Tom Clancy calling him "the best writer in America." Having read Varley's most recent work, "Mammoth", I would have given that sentiment some credence. That is why I chose to pick up "Titan". However, by chapter 3 this author had me so confused, I felt that I couldn't continue reading.
The book begins with the crew of the Ringmaster(spaceship)coming into orbit around Saturn, on a exploratory mission near one of its moons. Varley tells us there are seven people on the ship; 4 females and 3 males. Their names are : Cirocco, Gaby, April and August, then Gene, Bill, and Calvin. Easy to follow enough right? But then he keeps talking about a C. Jones on the ship, who may or may not be the captain. So I'm thinking is Calvin the captain? But he has already told us that Calvin is the Doctor, and he keeps implying one of the females is the captain. The dialogue often goes on without emphasis on who's speaking, making it more confusing. Then he talks about "Rocky" which must be a nickname for somebody on the crew, but it is not clear who it is.
If the characters were the only confusing part of the text, then I could just go on reading and hope to figure it out later in the book. But then the crew spots a satellite that has been as of yet unknown, and decide to call it Themis. Okay, no sweat. He describes the satellite
pg. 3 Cirocco: "Just how big is it?"
August: " I should say about two or three kilometers."
pg. 11 Someone "I bounced radar signals off it. They came back
telling me Themis is over 1300 km in diameter
Someone "That makes it Saturn's third largest moon
pg. 18 Cirocco She had to keep reminding herself of the size of the
thing. 1300 meters in diameter, 4000 around the outer
rim.
pg. 24 Author Themis was 1300 kilometers across and 250 kilometers
wide.
I kept having to go back and see if I had read wrong. There is another part where he is describing what the ship looked like. He went through this long description, then finally just says, "It looked like the ship in the movie "2001: a space Odyssey"". Look, just draw a picture next time, and come up with your own ship.
This book just kept disappointing me. It's not often I stop reading a book before I'm finished, but too much inconsistencies just really turned me off to it.
Book Review: My favorite Science Fiction Series
Summary: 5 Stars
This book begins my all time favorite Science Fiction series: the Gaea Trilogy. I first discovered it by accident in my high school library. I was intrigued by the illustrations and decided to check it out. I quickly was captivated and amazed the High School would stock such a sexually explicit book! But the characters and their discovery of Gaea are what makes the book so compelling, even haunting. Cirocco Jones is one of the greatest female sci-fi heroes of all time and Gaby is no slouch either. Please if you love adventures that push characters to their limits and force them to question who they really are, then by all means give this book a chance.