Spin the Sky by Katy Stauber

Spin the Sky Reviews

• 
  Hilary "Fox"

  Oh, dear lord, this book!
  
  I won this book through first-reads, and from the very mention of Firefly on its cover knew it had a lot to live up to. Comparing a book to Firefly? Having to review something compared to Firefly when I consider myself a pretty devoted Browncoat? Well. I opened the book with a dose of skepticism, pretending that I hadn't just texted my sci-fi (and fellow Browncoat) loving boyfriend that I just got that ARC I'd been telling him about. I hyped it up sufficiently in my mind.
  
  This book delivered beyond my wildest of expectations.
  
  The book was fast paced with a healthy underlining of wry humor. This is one of the few books that has made me laugh out loud on more than occasion... Every character is lovingly crafted, they each have their quirks and their tongue-in-cheek moments - it's incredible that it never comes off as false or heavyhanded.
  Katy Stauber has faultlessly delivered on a nearly impossible task: she's given us a novel that draws upon the cult classic of Firefly without being mere fanfiction - in fact, she's created something lovingly unique.
  
  That this is a scifi adaptation of
  The Odyssey is also apparent, as if the cover doesn't give it away. She's morphed the tale into something that encompasses Rasta Nation colonies (marijuana bombs!), entirely creepy genetic splicing experiments, rogue orbitals, and everything else under (and on level with) the sun. She's made
  The Odyssey freshfaced and deadpan, and Cesar Vaquero is a much, much more lovable protagonist than the cunning Ulysses.
  
  I can't praise this book enough, nor how many people I want to throw my copy at so I can chat with them about it. I can't wait to pass this book on, and only hope that it will get the recognition and acclaim it well deserves.
  
  Keep writing
  Katy Stauber! I'll be reading your every word for certain. You've found a great fan in me!
• 
  Rachel

  I enjoyed Katy Stauber's second book almost as much as her first. The setting is a future culture of many orbitals and a not-so-important Earth. The twist is, this is tales of brave Ulysses. It has past stories of Cesar Vaquero (Ulysses) mixed in with a storyline of his ongoing adventures and those of his wife Penelope and son Trevor (Telemachus). Cesar has returned from his adventures and landed at home, older and unrecognizable, and doesn't know how to tell Penelope and Trevor who he is. I was both tickled and annoyed that I had to get out a mythology book and refer to it a bunch of times to find out how close the tales were to the originals. It looks like the similarities are far from exact, sometimes mostly the existence of a character. And who knew that Scylla and Charybdis were finally destructible? Actually, that was a nice twist. The other annoying thing, as with the author's first book, was substandard copy editing, including typos and bad tenses (maybe the present tense parts were first written in past tense and a few verbs didn't get corrected?). I would think that maybe I'm too picky, but one of the previous readers of this library copy had seen fit to pencil in corrections to typos and notes about some of the more jarring oddities (as, plutonium ore--really?). Still, the characters were engaging and the action was nonstop. Overall, the book was an enjoyable read, and I hope that Stauber writes many more novels.
• 
  Patrice Sarath

  In this updated retelling of the Odyssey, the adventure takes place across several manmade orbital spheres in our solar system. All of the familiar adventures are here -- the Cyclops, Calypso, the Sirens, etc., but with a science fiction twist. Cesar Vaquero is our Ulysses and Penelope is his long-suffering wife, but he's a complex rogue with a humble and insecure streak, and she's a strong character in her own right in this retelling.
  
  Stauber does a fantastic job, and the best bits are not the retelling but how she reimagines the famous odyssey and hero's return, creating new characters from the old archetypes. Possibly my favorite episode is the Calypso segment-- very imaginative and compelling.
  
  I read this in almost one sitting and laughed out loud several times. It's not just a funny story, though -- there's heart and romance and unexpected depths, and warmth. This is Penny's story as much as Ulysses too, and it works just right.
  
  I had the same response to Revolution World, Stauber's first book. She's funny and inventive and knows how to pace the hell out of a novel. Highly recommended for all science fiction fans.
• 
  Abhinav

  You can find the full review over at The Founding Fields:
  
  
  http://thefoundingfields.com/2012/11/...
  
  Shadowhawk reviews Katy Stauber’s latest novel, a space opera reimagining of one of the most classical tales in human history.
  
  “Stunningly smart and deceptively unique, Spin The Sky is a new classic for modern times.” ~The Founding Fields
  
  I have always been fascinated with Greek mythology, whether it had to do with the demi-god heroes like Hercules or Achilles, or the gods themselves like Dionysus and Apollo. More than any other, Greek mythology is the most fascinating subject I’ve ever delved into. This is why I loved the Kevin Sorbo-starrer show Hercules, the Lucy Lawless-starrer Xena, and various other inspirations of that source material such as the original Clash of the Titans and Percy Jackson. Of course, the new Clash of Titans and Immortals are just plain terrible, revoltingly so. Hence why a GOOD adaptation of the Greek myths is something I’m always on the lookout for.
  
  Katy Stauber takes one of the oldest myths, the epic poem The Odyssey, and brings it forward into the near future as a space opera. The inspiration isn’t so clear at first, but once you read that the main protagonist’s wife is named Penelope who is being courted by several prominent spacers, that he is returning from a great war after more than a decade, and that he has adventures involving Charybdis and Scylla, it is all readily apparent. Spin The Sky is not a straight adaptation of that source material however, and Stauber weaves a narrative that gets deliciously complex as it progresses.
  
  The hero of Stauber’s reimagining isn’t Odysseus, but Cesar Vaquero, the man who ended the great Spacer War by wiping most of Mexico off the map. He is the kind of hero that even his allies are wary of him, some of them even desiring his death for “stealing the limelight” from them. Cesar Vaquero is the kind of character with whom you can spend a casual relaxed evening having drinks and trading war stories. He is a disarmingly straight-forward conversationalist, a former ranch hand who joined the great war to protect his family, and has become notorious for his actions. He inspires fierce loyalty in his friends and the people under his command, in a way that most heroes do: its instinctual, inherent in their character, something that cannot really be put into any words. In the first few pages of the novel, Cesar is shown as a capable ship captain who cares about his shipmates and will go to any lengths to protect them. That quickly transforms to show us a more personal side of him, when he returns to his home orbital colony, Ithaca, intending to reunite with his family.
  
  The novel is not laid out in the traditional sense, that is, it is not a straightforward third person or first person narrative. Cesar’s son Trevor has set out to gather stories about his father, who has been absent all his life. He wants to know who his father is, what his friends, his men, and others think of him. As such, a majority of the chapters are told from the the view points of these people. This alternates with chapters from the perspectives of both Cesar and Penelope, giving the whole concept a very comprehensive and cohesive feel. This approach allows Stauber to really explore her characters, to give them a depth that otherwise would not have been so readily apparent.
  
  For me, it turned Cesar into a character I got to be friends with. Yes, Cesar is a mass murderer, but so is any soldier in a war. Him dropping a tactical nuke on Mexico was a pre-emptive strike against the military might of the nations of Earth, to put them off the offensive and keep his home orbital safe, to keep his family safe. Cesar is unrepentant about his actions as well, he doesn’t get all angsty and self-loathing about what he did, what he had to do in those times. For him, it was a question of kill or be killed, the rest of the system be damned. That added more of a dimension to him. I did not have to worry about a protagonist who wallowed in self-pity. Stauber gives him dialogue that is witty and charming, adding more to his personality and the “myths” about him. His adventures since the end of the war bear that out all the time.
• 
  Buka

  I knew that I simply had to read this book as soon as I saw the summary. I mean, Oddysey in space! Not Space Oddysey but a genuine reimagining of Homer's Oddysey in sci-fi setting.
  
  So, after 15 years of waging war, tinkering, trading and traveling through space Cesar Vaquero finally returns home to Ithaca orbital colony. But no one in his household, including his own wife, Penelope, recongizes him. Moreover, Penelope is swarmed by suitors, eyeing her beauty and a huge dowry that comes with it. So Cesar calls himself Jonas Ulixes and settles in as a guest, working up the courage to come out to his wife and son and helping them with their problems.
  Throughout the novel we are treated to a lot of flashbacks of Cesar's recognisable adventures - staying with Calipso, meeting giants, going between Scylla and Charybdis and so on. The novel is not a straight retelling, though - some parts of the story are entirely its own and not picked up from Homer.
  There are also lots of awesome things that make your inner geek squee in delight – like traveling through space inside a giant genetically-engineered and vacuum-adapted goldfish.
  
  So why only two stars then? Well, it turns out, "Spin the Sky" has a great premise but the execution fails to live up to it. It felt like Katy Stauber had this really great outline and awesome little ideas here and there but in the end she couldn't connect the dots seamlessly. As a result, there are plot holes, logical inconsistencies, "as you know" infodumps, clichés and one too many lucky coincidences.
  
  The writing itself is a big issue. All flashbacks are told in past tense while for the current events Katy Stauber uses present tense that feels really awkward and is a cheap trick, if you ask me. I was around the middle of a novel when I finally started to get used to it.
  And it didn't do any favors to a really bland language. Often she just skimmed over some difficult pieces of writing, like truly moving speeches, action sequences, deep conversations or emotional struggling. The prologue was especially hard to swallow since it had the same level of depth and emotion as a B-movie blockbuster but without tasty action.
  
  Most of the novel is an endless description of actions, not thoughts or motivations. At one point two characters are talking and gossiping, then they mention love and suddenly, completely out of the blue, just start making out. No heart-stopping gazing into each other's eyes, accidental body contact or provoking words beforehand. No nothing.
  And despite these 'action flick' signs, the pacing of the novel feels slow because every time it started to get interesting, it was interrupted by yet another flashback of recent or not so recent events. It gets better in the middle but then drops again closer to the end.
  
  Still, I finished the book and I want to read Oddysey now, so if you like Greek myths or value ideas well over their execution, then, by any means, you can give "Spin the Sky" a try.
• 
  Burgoo

  In Spin the Sky, Stauber transforms the bones of the Odyssey into near space opera. Cesar Vaquero leaves home to fight in the Spacer War, only to spend 15 years wandering before returning home. His wife Penelope is running the family ranch and fending off suitors as best she can. Homer’s islands are now orbitals, each one stranger and potentially more deadly than the last.
  
  A couple of things really stand out. First, the character development is excellent. While this book has a fairly large cast of characters, they feel fleshed out and developed. Minor characters feel more enigmatic than underdeveloped. There’s a sense of mystery with them (Asia, for example) where you’d love to see more of their own stories. Secondly, the universe of Spin the Sky is a fascinating place. The orbitals are diverse and wondrous places. Again, there’s a sense that other fantastic tales of this universe could be told.
  
  
  ***minor spoilers***
  My major gripe is that a couple of plot points seemed forced, rather than to come naturally from the characters. Why exactly did Cesar have to travel for 15 years before he could return home? Why did the black hats need the Vaqueros’ cattle?
  
  
  I’m no classics scholar, but I had a lot of fun making the connections between Cesar’s misadventures and those of brave Ulysses.
  
• 
  Jacqie

  I was intrigued by the idea of retelling the Odyssey, only in space. However, the book didn't live up to my hopes.
  
  The writing of characters felt simplistic. Our main character, Cesar Vaquero ( King Cowboy? really?) comes home after his 15 year absence a la the Odyssey, and his family doesn't recognize him because his hair is white instead of red and he now has a beard- even after living with him for weeks. His wife even sleeps with him again, and even though she wonders if all guys are alike in bed, she doesn't suspect that he's actually her husband. Nor does she notice his defining thigh scar. Couldn't believe it. The characters were written about so breezily that they felt one-dimensional. Lupe, the old cook at the ranch, is all about feeding people soup and judging women for wearing pants instead of skirts. That's the kind of characterization we get.
  
  The worldbuilding didn't make much sense to me either. Orbital habitats have huge amounts of space, so much that you can have a working cattle ranch in orbit and barely be able to make out the ceiling because it's so high. This is a big contradiction to most other space-settlement fiction I've read, where space and resources are at a premium, and while I skimmed, I never found a logical explanation.
  
  So, the book did not live up to the concept.
• 
  Molly

  This book had me on the edge of my seat. I didn't want to put it down. I loved that even with the sexual tension there were no graphic sex scenes. For her background, she didn't keep people in the dark with how things worked she explained it quickly and moved on with the story. I didn't get confused with the terminology that was used. This is a very well written book! I won this book on Goodreads First reads
• 
  Jo (Mixed Book Bag)

  The story uses flashbacks in the form of stories that Trevor has collected about his father mixed in the with story of Cesar's return home after a 15 year absence. Yes, this is a take on a old familiar classic. I loved the story. It is fun Science Fiction mixed with romance.
• 
  Chris

  I really loved this book. It had just the right mix of action, comedy, drama, and romance. The author was great at drawing me into the world and attaching me to the characters without tedious exposition, yet both world and characters were richly developed.
• 
  Andrew Liptak

  Fun concept, but very poor execution. Review redacted to SF Signal.
• 
  Writer In A Hat

  Really enjoyed this. Fun & awesome.
  
  Cesar Vaquero has returned home after 15 years to a wife and son who don't recognise him, and poses as a drifter to investigate some strange events happening around his wife's ranch. This is literal cowboys in space, with a stubborn, but cool captain as the lead. As well as the main story, there are intermittent accounts told from the POV of minor characters, who have each had an encounter with the captain, some good, some bad, some ugly, that really help paint the picture of this man's journey through the universe.
  
  This book will work for you if you buy into the Secret Identity trope, as as someone who has read one too many SuperBat fanfics with this exact premise, I was more than onboard. I do feel the book has a little too much exposition at times, and I wish more time was spent developing the antagonist, who was pretty flat, weak, and disposed of quickly. Despite that, I definitely recommend.
• 
  Abby Goldsmith

  Fun, light-hearted space adventure, with brilliant characterization. I love larger-than-life characters and witty dialogue, and this book has it in spades. There's a very nice "Firefly" vibe going on with the frontier culture of isolated space habitats, each with their own weirdnesses. Since this is sort of the Odyssey in space, it works perfectly.
  
  The villain isn't very threatening, so there's not much danger tension.
• 
  Tom Loock

  Enjoyed it, not as much as the outstanding
  Revolution World, but it was not an easy task to translate Homer's Odyssey into space in the future. Glad Telemachus became Trevor, not really sure about Odysseus becoming 'King Cowboy' [Cesar Vasques] though ...
  
  PS: The name is Odysseus (Ulysses is just the Latin version/translation), but when it comes to books, 'Ulysses' is the novel by Irishman James Joyce, whilst Homer's classic is called 'Odysseus'.
• 
  Dr susan

  I knew this book had earned a place on my favorites shelf and my 'books to read when I feel bad' shelf by page 46...."They've got attack chinchillas too, but Mom won't let me get one." She wrinkles her nose,"They give me the creeps. They've got those huge yellow eyes and teeth the size of my hand."
  Spin the Sky is at times hysterically funny and tragically grim. The funny outweighs the grim in this story of a spacer afraid to go home at the end of a war between Earth and the orbiting colonies around her. The grim is appropriate in a world where the void of space awaits the slightest misstep, and colonists cut off from necessary supply ships did whatever it took to survive. When Cesar went to war, his wife told him not to bother coming back, and his method of ending the war was so horrendous that he believes he does not deserve to go home. Penelope's part of the narrative made me laugh the hardest, and I will read those chapters whenever I need cheered up. The stories his son collects are fascinating, funny, and sometimes horrific, but they painted a picture of a man who deserved a happily ever after. I am very glad I found Spin the Sky on the shelf at my library.
• 
  Tyrannosaurus regina

  I liked this book okay. Certainly there was nothing that made me want to put it down (well, maybe the ending, but by that point I was already finished). But I also have the disappointed feeling that it was only half realised. There are so many interesting ideas and people and places, but they feel unfinished or unexplored, and as much head hopping as we do (too much, for me, which might be an unfortunate side effect of the premise) we never seem to be following the right people or the most interesting stories. The Odyssey in Space seems like the best idea ever to me (and the reason I picked this up) but it's never quite what I want it to be. Now give me a book about Calypso and Spider House, and I'll be all over that.
• 
  Michael Rawdon

  Adventure, romance, tragedy, and humor. I enjoyed the heck out of this book. It uses The Odyssey as it's basic structure: a man coming back from war 15 years (and many adventures, some of which we read about) later, but knowing that is not necessary to enjoy it. The characters are genuine and well-realized. The background (orbitals and ships in Earth vicinity in the near future) is not tremendously novel, but the author works to make the various communities the hero visits seem authentic. Recommended to anyone looking for a fun read.
• 
  Carrie Ives

  Really enjoyed this one too. As the second book by this author, you can see that her writing is becoming a bit more finished. This was an enjoyable romp through space in the future. I enjoyed recognizing bits of the Odyssey and need to go back and re-read it to fill in the parts I had forgotten. I like the collection of strong characters.
• 
  Julie

  DNF'd part way in. I'm familiar with the Odyssey, which this is a riff on, but this just didn't hold my interest.
• 
  Roslyn

  Ripsnorting good space opera, full of LaGrange point goodness. Jonas Ulixes (yes, like that other Ulysses) finds even more adventures as he returns home after a 15-year trip.