The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 by Doris Lessing
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fascinating and depressing. Depressing even though we knew what was coming, but almost exactly in the same tone of the doomed naval expedition to the South Pole.

I bring that up specifically BECAUSE Lessing made a very strong point of it in her afterward of the novel. And fairly so.

As for the SF novel she wrote, I am, as I said, fascinated and horrified to see a wonderful people take a long, cold, horrible time to die. Slowly dying with their planet as it is overwhelmed with ice.

But there is hope. It is a Canopus novel, after all, despite the almost overwhelming oppression of reality. But HOW and WHY that hope even exists is probably the biggest mystery and concern throughout ALL of these novels.

I wholeheartedly enjoy these. They're nothing like a standard novels in any sense of the word, but written entirely out of the author's needs. In this case, the focus on dying well, of continuing on despite the knowledge of what will come, is of utmost importance.


Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews is be interested in reading my SF (Very hard SF, mind you), I'm open to requests.

Just direct message me in goodreads or email me on my site. I'd love to get some eyes on my novels.

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