Tom Paine Maru - L. Neil Smith Book Review

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Review Summaries

"YD-038 (yes, that's his name and serial number: he pronounces it Whitey O'Thraight)finds himself the sole noncom on an interstellar expedition launched by his rigidly millitaristic society. Poor planning leads to millitary disaster and marooning on a barbaric human colony planet, which only Whitey and his superior, Lieutenant Enson Sermander, survive. A cryptic group of strangers rescues them from prison. After rescue, Whitey finds that he must unlearn all his values to survive aboard the anarcho-capitalist expeditionary ship Tom Paine Maru as he juggles conflicting loyalties, his own social clumsiness, Sermander's dominance games, a most unlikely romance, and an expedition to save an alien planet from nuclear destruction."
Brian R. Hughes, Resident L. Neil Smith Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 30%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%

Tone of book - very upbeat
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - alternate history
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Plotlets: - stranded on alien planet, fighting aliens to survive
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - infantry soldier
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - infantry soldier
Eccentric: Yes - obsessed - deluded
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an above average amount
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
Terrain - Desert - Forests
Spaceship setting: - really, really giant spaceship/station
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a futuristic society - humans in a primitive/fantasy society - inhabited by friendly aliens - primitive aliens - very controlled society
Planet outside solar system? Yes
Takes place in spaceship? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - very explicit references to deaths and torture
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - descript of kissing - descript of touching personal anatomy - weird alien sex - actual description of sex - description of breasts - descript. of private male anat. - descript. of non-breast female anat.
How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog

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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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