Tuesday, February 02, 2010

More Expendable

I recently posted about the short film Expendable. I forgot to mention that it reminded me of the (unrelated) science fiction novel Expendable, which I enjoyed. I just found a review of the novel, though, that brought up some interesting issues.

The novel's premise is that future Earth has gone to the stars and developed the technology to give most folks lives of ease and near-perfect bodies. But some few folks can't benefit from the body fixing, for whatever reason, and they are looked down upon...and become the only folks given the dangerous job of Explorer, because they are considered expendable. Our hero is a woman Explorer.

The book is fun and funny and has some good ideas. The review here talks about some of the issues, and some flaws with the book, as well as making a flattering comparison to Joan Slonczewski's Shora books. I still recommend the book.

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