Books 2011: missed a spot....

[hawkwing_lb]

Books 2011: 146


146. Anne Osterlund, Academy 7.

tanaise recommended this to me as an example of YA space opera. And it is space opera, albeit of the sort when the space opera setting is rather sketchily-framed stage dressing for a story of friendship and hinted romance.

Academy 7 is the most famous and exclusive school in Alliance space. Entrance is restricted to fifty students and permitted solely on the basis of test scores. Aerin Renning is a fugitive; Dane Madousin is the son of privilege. They both have dangerous secrets.

You can already guess where this is headed, can't you? It's a decent story about two young people learning to trust, and I've always had a soft spot for school stories. Come to think of it, why aren't there more SFnal school stories?

(No one mention Ender's Game. I'm not joking. I managed to read the first thirty pages once, and hated them.)

Comments

[fadeaccompli]

I envy you for being able to ditch Ender's Game on account of not liking it. I had people convince me that all intelligent people loved that book on account of how much it spoke to their experience of growing up as an intelligent child, and thus read it and one sequel, trying desperately to feel that sense of connection, to validate my belief that I was smart.

So not worth it.

[hawkwing_lb]

At this point, I can't even remember why I hated it. Just that I did. It was forgettably hateable.

(I feel the same way about a lot of Ray Bradbury's stuff, and Silverberg, so it's not unique to Ender's Game, at least.)

[fadeaccompli]

I have read far too many books out of a sense that "all sff fans love this book!" than I really should have. But I'm getting better about not doing so!

In any case, you dodged a bullet.

[hawkwing_lb]

Always good to dodge one of those. Me, I've read a bunch of books that never thrilled me - once I get started, I rarely stop - enough to be almost glad when I find a book that's so put-downable.

[nojay.livejournal.com]

There's "Space Cadet" by Heinlein, also "Tunnel in the Sky" which are set in schools, sort of. The Telzey Amberdon stories by James H. Schmitz often involve her school chums but the plot usually revolves around Telzey sneaking out to go and have exciting adventures. As I recall Trigger Argee also had to sneak out of school at least once.

Lots of SFnal stories in Japanese anime and manga set in schools -- "High School of the Dead" for example is a high school zombie apocalypse drama with some of the most fanservicey bullet-time animation ever created.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

I'll have to consider checking out the Japanese, then.