Dust Audiobook

" Elizabeth Bear is one imaginative writer. Many of the concepts in this book such as "ship-fish" and the nano-tech angels are new to me and I loved hearing about them. I only wish she wouldn't have explored the incestual relationships that occured. I understand that while being stuck on a space ship for 500 years means that you'd be hard pressed to find someone you weren't related to in some way, but really. That's not a place I care to be taken to; it's a little too open-minded for me. "

" Luscious prose, but the characters are vapid, unsympathetic, fickle, inconsistent, and often juvenile. The world-building is interesting but under-utilized. This read like a first draft: there's a spark of potential, but it needed much more cultivation and care to build to a steady flame. I was so uninvested in the characters that I actually stopped reading with a mere 20 pages to go. Just didn't care how it ended. In my mind, the ship exploded and everyone died. "

" Skillfully crafted and completely beautiful. Having said that: not entirely up my alley. But I appreciated it and will pick up the next two, if only to look around in wonder and go, "Whoa." "

" Utterly brilliant. "

" One of the better sci fi books I've read recently. Characters are compelling, and the strangeness of the situation they find themselves in is compelling. "

" One of the better Bear's that I've read, although her characters are still hard to connect with. Odd mix of feudalism and nanotech/astroscience. Too many angels. "

" Really good book, first one I read for the Women of Sci-Fi book club. "

" Definitely one of the better books I've read this year. And, it was encouraging to get to the end and discover that book #2 was scheduled for a 2009 release -- I just need to go looking for it. "

" I expected a lot more ... action, I guess. Was disappointed overall, so I doubt I'll pick up the next installment. "

" Not my favorite piece by Bear, but not bad. "

" This book was really good. Sometimes it was a little confusing and I had to look up some of the words but once you got past that the story was really good. "

" Really good book, first one I read for the Women of Sci-Fi book club. "

" Very entertaining. I'll be interested to see if the author sustains this in the sequels. "

" Pretty neat story. I might check out the sequel. It wasn't as memorable as some of the other books that I've read lately, though. "

" Superlative use of Arthurian mythology, generation ships tropes, and sprawling families. Yes, it all sounds a bit weird, but it meshes wonderfully well. "

" This book was really good. Sometimes it was a little confusing and I had to look up some of the words but once you got past that the story was really good. "

" I just could not get into this story. Bear's story of a generation ship and a dying star dumps you right into the action with very little explanation, and the characters are almost universally cold or two dimensional. Eh. I don't think Bear is for me. "

" Still not sure what I think about it. Got much better towards the end when explanations helped everything make more sense, but there's still a lot of really strange concepts going on. "

" 3.5 stars. I liked it . . . I think. I have a feeling that parts of it were completely over my head. "