Spoilers
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Andrea writes:
<< This wasn't working well for me either, until we saw the Spiders from
a human point of view -- the amiable, human-like characters we'd become
accustomed to, meeting in their large and spacious auditorium, became
creeping multi-legged *things* in a dark steep-walled hole in the ground. >>
As far as making things work go, Vinge does an adequate job with the Tines
and the SkodeRiders and a less than adequate job with the Spiders IMHO. But
the insectoids in charge of Relay (forgot their name, Ravna's boss) were just
like the Qeng Ho in their attitudes and motivations. I guess the point is
that all aliens are humans on a basic level, and come out that way regardless
of their sensory "hardware" and brain structure. That is, they all have
short-term memory, long term memory, emotions, biased attitudes, and
personalities just like homo sapiens have. Less so for the transcendants and
Powers who *are* inscrutable.
<<
The translation was *everything*, and I don't just think it's because
Vinge can't write good aliens; the Tines, and to a lesser extent the
Skroderiders, from _Fire_ show that he can. This was a major point.
It may not have *worked* for you, that's fair enough, but it was
certainly and obviously intended.
>>
Fair enough, and if this was intended then Vinge does a good job of making
the point. However, as I implied earlier, this isn't the only way to go with
depicting aliens.
