Dragons & Jetpacks discussion

Thread for discussing the Oct 2021 sci-fi BotM.

I started this in October but put it down for other reads. I plan to read it before the end of the year.

This book reminds me why I love scifi. Such a beautiful cautionary tale of the risks in exploration and pursuits of knowledge. I dog-eared so many pages to reread her poetic explanations of different scenes. I was engrossed, I smiled and celebrated with them on their discoveries, stressed in their troubles and deeply reflected with them on the moral implications of their situations.

Kara, your thoughts on the book are motivating me to get to it before the end of the year! :) That's how I felt about her other books.

The concept here was cool, and it was explored with beautiful prose. It practically screamed for illustrations and diagrams of the fauna described. The flashbacks and philosophical tangents were awkward and often boring. The conclusion was insufficiently explored and unsatisfying.

I rather enjoyed the message of the ending. It tied directly in with the "philosophical tangents". What were you hoping was explored more?

You might imagine that for someone who didn't enjoy the philosophical tangents the ending fell flat as well. I wanted it to go farther - I wanted to know the ultimate fate of the astronauts, and what was going on on Earth. It may have required an epilogue not written in the first person, and/or a large jump in time, but it's something I would have liked. I recognize the ending as a real one, but I wanted more.