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CV #2
The Observers
An alien intelligence has infected the residents of Sea Venture with a personality change that gives them the ability to see the flaws in civilization and the evil power to affect changes to evolve to true intelligence
- GenresScience FictionFiction
282 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
33 people want to read
About the author
Damon Knight
581 books97 followersDamon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, and critic.
Knight's first professional sale was a cartoon drawing to a science-fiction magazine, Amazing Stories. His first story, "Resilience", was published in 1941. He is best known as the author of "To Serve Man", which was adapted for The Twilight Zone. He was a recipient of the Hugo Award, founder of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), cofounder of the National Fantasy Fan Federation, cofounder of the Milford Writer's Workshop, and cofounder of the Clarion Writers Workshop. Knight lived in Eugene, Oregon, with his wife Kate Wilhelm.
Knight's first professional sale was a cartoon drawing to a science-fiction magazine, Amazing Stories. His first story, "Resilience", was published in 1941. He is best known as the author of "To Serve Man", which was adapted for The Twilight Zone. He was a recipient of the Hugo Award, founder of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), cofounder of the National Fantasy Fan Federation, cofounder of the Milford Writer's Workshop, and cofounder of the Clarion Writers Workshop. Knight lived in Eugene, Oregon, with his wife Kate Wilhelm.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 28, 2022
This book may be very interesting to talk about, which means I might get a little rambly... don't say I didn't warn you.
Three years ago I read CV by Damon Knight. I remember it as being a three star work but three-years-younger-me deemed it worthy of four stars. After reading this book, I'll trust his judgement. I came across this TOR MMP for two bucks in a Nashville used bookstore. I quite like this era of TOR paperbacks so I may have bought it without reading the original book. Thank God I did.
That being said... this book does a really good job of recapping CV. When it comes to books I remember plots and settings a lot better than characters, so props to Knight for getting me up to speed with these characters and this alternate past/future in no time. Not that it takes a lot of work to reacquaint someone with cardboard, but nonetheless, he did an admirable job. Knight's writing style feels kind of old-fashioned in a very fast-paced way. I don't think it's choppy until the end, but it does speed by a lot of things and really gives you the bare-bones of what's going on. I enjoyed it, but not everyone will.
The plot is... hard to rate. It's kind of this novel's biggest strength and biggest flaw. It picks up after CV's cliffhanger and deals with the alien parasite masquerading as McNulty's Disease infecting the world. I like the alien parasite and the changes from the first book, but all of the events that happen around containing the parasite seem a little lackluster. A bit anticlimactic, not all all the fast-paced response you'd think you'd get with a virus like this. Also, the effects of the alien parasite are not as pronounced as in the first book. I think Knight is edging toward a utopian theme here, but... it all kind of gets lost in the last third of the book. The action climaxes well (before the sadly abrupt ending, that is) but Knight kind of wrote the tension away by the end of it. How are these parasites helping? It's not so clear as in the first novel, and I don't think that helps Knight's case...
Neither do the antagonists of the story. Stereotypical conservative/religious white men standing against... whatever ideals the author (in this case Knight) cherishes. Flatter than the rest of the characters and mostly big ol' disappointments that made me roll my eyes.
So why am I giving this book three instead of two stars? Let's... figure this out together. Well, for the first half of the book, I really did enjoy it. I was thinking of a four star (pretty good) rating. Alas, dreams of a seven or seven-point-five eventually fell from grace with the poor ending. This story still does have some good writing that, while some may feel is lifted from a 1970s/80s Star Trek novel, really kept me in the narrative for some reason. It wasn't just that it was accessible. I've been in a reading slump for four, six months now, and just enjoying the act of reading this book proves to me that 1) the slump is gone and 2) there's something to this book. And I actually had a favorite character, something I don't usually think of: Stevens, assassin turned no-BS family man after hosting a wisp of McNulty's Disease. Aside from some weird Caribbean rendezvous... really fun (if a bit one-dimensional) character.
Do you know what I think about this book now? I hope so, because I just spent twenty minutes telling you, but if you don't... I understand. I have very mixed thoughts about this book, but I do think it warrants around a six out of ten. A lower three-star, but I can't argue with the strong start and pleasant writing. I will probably buy the final book in the trilogy, A Reasonable World, online, but I don't have very high hopes for it. Still, I'll look out for Knight's short stories - what he's really known for - in the future.
Three years ago I read CV by Damon Knight. I remember it as being a three star work but three-years-younger-me deemed it worthy of four stars. After reading this book, I'll trust his judgement. I came across this TOR MMP for two bucks in a Nashville used bookstore. I quite like this era of TOR paperbacks so I may have bought it without reading the original book. Thank God I did.
That being said... this book does a really good job of recapping CV. When it comes to books I remember plots and settings a lot better than characters, so props to Knight for getting me up to speed with these characters and this alternate past/future in no time. Not that it takes a lot of work to reacquaint someone with cardboard, but nonetheless, he did an admirable job. Knight's writing style feels kind of old-fashioned in a very fast-paced way. I don't think it's choppy until the end, but it does speed by a lot of things and really gives you the bare-bones of what's going on. I enjoyed it, but not everyone will.
The plot is... hard to rate. It's kind of this novel's biggest strength and biggest flaw. It picks up after CV's cliffhanger and deals with the alien parasite masquerading as McNulty's Disease infecting the world. I like the alien parasite and the changes from the first book, but all of the events that happen around containing the parasite seem a little lackluster. A bit anticlimactic, not all all the fast-paced response you'd think you'd get with a virus like this. Also, the effects of the alien parasite are not as pronounced as in the first book. I think Knight is edging toward a utopian theme here, but... it all kind of gets lost in the last third of the book. The action climaxes well (before the sadly abrupt ending, that is) but Knight kind of wrote the tension away by the end of it. How are these parasites helping? It's not so clear as in the first novel, and I don't think that helps Knight's case...
Neither do the antagonists of the story. Stereotypical conservative/religious white men standing against... whatever ideals the author (in this case Knight) cherishes. Flatter than the rest of the characters and mostly big ol' disappointments that made me roll my eyes.
So why am I giving this book three instead of two stars? Let's... figure this out together. Well, for the first half of the book, I really did enjoy it. I was thinking of a four star (pretty good) rating. Alas, dreams of a seven or seven-point-five eventually fell from grace with the poor ending. This story still does have some good writing that, while some may feel is lifted from a 1970s/80s Star Trek novel, really kept me in the narrative for some reason. It wasn't just that it was accessible. I've been in a reading slump for four, six months now, and just enjoying the act of reading this book proves to me that 1) the slump is gone and 2) there's something to this book. And I actually had a favorite character, something I don't usually think of: Stevens, assassin turned no-BS family man after hosting a wisp of McNulty's Disease. Aside from some weird Caribbean rendezvous... really fun (if a bit one-dimensional) character.
Do you know what I think about this book now? I hope so, because I just spent twenty minutes telling you, but if you don't... I understand. I have very mixed thoughts about this book, but I do think it warrants around a six out of ten. A lower three-star, but I can't argue with the strong start and pleasant writing. I will probably buy the final book in the trilogy, A Reasonable World, online, but I don't have very high hopes for it. Still, I'll look out for Knight's short stories - what he's really known for - in the future.
January 28, 2022
Knight, Damon. The Observers. CV No. 2. Tor, 1988.
In The Observers, the second volume of his CV trilogy, Damon Knight continues his wry commentary on the human condition. The great ship Sea Venture, CV for short, has been turned into a moored internment camp for victims of the McNulty Plague, named after the unfortunate ship’s doctor who discovered it. As readers know, the plague is not really a disease, but the effect of an alien mind visitor. The original visitor has been dispatched to the briny deep in a metal box, but its many children and grandchildren are reproducing rapidly, and the comas induced by their sudden departure from a host are becoming less severe. The aliens are not wantonly destructive, but they have their own agendas. As usual, Knight combines clever hard science ideas with a good deal of commentary on human foolishness. Still rocks after all these years. 4 stars.
In The Observers, the second volume of his CV trilogy, Damon Knight continues his wry commentary on the human condition. The great ship Sea Venture, CV for short, has been turned into a moored internment camp for victims of the McNulty Plague, named after the unfortunate ship’s doctor who discovered it. As readers know, the plague is not really a disease, but the effect of an alien mind visitor. The original visitor has been dispatched to the briny deep in a metal box, but its many children and grandchildren are reproducing rapidly, and the comas induced by their sudden departure from a host are becoming less severe. The aliens are not wantonly destructive, but they have their own agendas. As usual, Knight combines clever hard science ideas with a good deal of commentary on human foolishness. Still rocks after all these years. 4 stars.
July 24, 2020
Una buona idea, originale ma sviluppata male.
February 3, 2014
Definire la Sea Venture una nave sarebbe un eufemismo: ma questa gigantesca, perfettissima isola galleggiante ha grossi guai. A bordo si è diffusa un'epidemia sconosciuta, e anche se la malattia uccide solo una piccola parte delle sue vittime, nessuno sa quali possano essere gli effetti a lunga scadenza sugli altri contagiati. Per questo il governo degli Stati Uniti ha trasformato l'immensa unità in un campo d'internamento per malati in quarantena, e per questo chiunque si trovi a bordo è destinato a rimanervi a tempo indeterminato. Ma il marito di Julia Roberts, una delle internate, non ha intenzione di aspettare in eterno: per questo sfida tutte le difese e la burocrazia del governo per far luce sul mistero. Che cosa è successo, realmente, a bordo della Sea Venture? Solo un uomo disperato, un uomo con un passato da killer prezzolato, può infrangere la barriera di silenzio e arrivare finalmente alla verità. Il nuovo romanzo di Damon Knight è un appuntamento da non perdere per tutti i lettori di fantascienza.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews