Aurelia

by R.A. Lafferty

Aurelia was a fifteen-year-old girl. From a very advanced world. She'd passed Starship building easily enough. But she'd slept through most of celestial navigation. That was how she ended up on a little back-water dump like Earth. Where her advanced powers seemed like miracles. Some thought she was the Messiah. Some thought she was the Devil. No one was prepared for the truth.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy

183 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1982

About the author

Raphael Aloysius Lafferty, published under the name R.A. Lafferty, was an American science fiction and fantasy writer known for his original use of language, metaphor, and narrative structure, as well as for his etymological wit. He also wrote a set of four autobiographical novels, a history book, and a number of novels that could be loosely called historical fiction.

Reviews

[Kieran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting book but plotwise it's thin. Aurelia drifts about and gets carried from place to place which puts her in a series of what I can most closely describe as "interviews" where she'll get into talking about a particular topic with another character. The author talks a little about pleroma, economics, manufacturing a movement, shadow / unconciousness, it's fairly eclectic.
The interviews aren't bad really. The plot is a bit of an afterthought compared to them though. It's like a series of essays put into fiction. I came into it expecting a story so I didn't really get what I wanted from it.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

So after he somewhat went off the deep end towards philosophy that was very esoteric and interesting yet got more shallow where why not go back to where your career started? That is what this book feels like and with that new shades of Lafferty emerge, although the rant like nature of ‘Not to mention camels’ is still here though far less intrusive.