Lloyd Biggle, Jr. had a doctorate in musicology and throughout all of his stories art, especially music, plays an important role. I would like to think that this book made me realize that not all science fiction stories are created equal. I never considered myself much of a techie person, even with all my technologically influenced jobs, and I just don’t have the mental processes for writing space opera, though I do love to read it. This story is a science fiction novel that focuses on art and music of the new race all the while trying to bring democracy to the populace. The main character of the story, Jef Forzon, does cultural surveys of planets and is sent on an undercover mission by the Interplanetary Relations Bureau (IRB) to the world to turn the planet to democracy without destroying the cultural identity. The mantra of the IRB is: “Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny” and everything revolves around that phrase. It almost makes me wonder what would happen if this were implemented in real life. This book is one of the Cultural Survey series but they are all stand alone novels, and this one is my favorite. This story doesn’t have an overabundance of plots or twists but it keeps up a good pace in the story telling. If you want to read a fun story about a people changed by the introduction of a single technology and the effects of art over the populace, I highly recommend this book even if you don’t like the more traditional science fiction novels out there.
That sounds really cool. I never thought about science fiction focusing in on the arts. BTW Check out my blog I awarded you the stylish blogger award.
ReplyDeleteThere are few people who know about this book, let alone Lloyd Biggle, Jr. What's really interesting about him is that one of his short stories influenced Orson Scott Card.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the award. I'm glad you like my blog.