I don’t remember where I saw the book Fluency recommended. I took a look at it though and it met all my book purchasing criteria. That is to say it had a spaceship on the cover (extra points if that spaceship is the Millenium Falcon). So I bought it and I was actually really digging it. A massive alien spaceship floating in space. A team of astronauts sent to investigate it. A strange alien presence. I was even okay with two of the astronauts falling in love. Then all of a sudden “She pulled ineffectually at the filmy tunic that was keeping his skin from her.”
I don’t read books like this. I don’t consider myself a prude I just honestly don’t find this erotic shit very interesting in my books. I'm not a writer so I don't always know when writing is bad. Tycho will often tell me that something I am reading is bad but I usually can't tell. In this case, even I could tell this wasn't great. I read bits of Fluency to Kara and she laughed out loud. I read some of it to Tycho and he removed his glasses then closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. It seemed like the words were physically hurting him.
“His caress was gentle, insistent and, precisely targeted for maximum impact. Leave it to the engineer to know how things worked.”
I think that line actually took five years of Tycho’s life.
I thought maybe it would be over quickly but it just kept going. I really wanted to get back to aliens and this strange ship but they just kept fucking. Pretty soon “His fingers slipped into her slippery wetness, his tongue rasping over a nipple.” This is a rasp:
Either this guy has a tongue like a cat or I am doing something wrong. Anyway, I kept going thinking it had to be over soon. I wasn’t ready to give up yet. Then “She arched, crying out, heedless to who might hear, as she shuddered with potent, chaotic spasms.”
And that’s it, I’m out.
My Kindle tells me this scene takes place approximately 70% though the book. So I’m going to miss out on the last 30% which I can only assume consists of them fucking in various rooms of this abandoned alien space ship. Maybe they fuck in microgravity at some point?
If you’re looking for a great book about strange alien spaceships and the astronauts sent to investigate them I would recommend avoiding Fluency and check out Troika by Alastair Reynolds instead. It’s the book I read just before Fluency and at no point did anyone “rock to meet each thrust.”
-Gabe out
