Undertow By Elizabeth Bear Discussed August 2008 Buy Undertow from Amazon.com Buy Undertow from Lambda Rising

Questions

1. Do you like the book? Have you read other books by Elizabeth Bear? Will you read any other books by her?
2. Did Bear create a believable, complete future? Are the planet and the ranids believable and well rounded?
3. Do you feel that you know enough about the main characters motivations to make the action believable?
4. Who was the protagonist: Andre, Jean, or Cricket? Or was one of the ranids the protagonist?
5. Which ranids' mentality did you identify with most: Ourami's (accept the benefits the humans brought to the planet and ignore their silliness) or Cetai's (make the humans go away)?
6. Did you feel that Cricket, Moon Morrow, and the laws about clones make sense?
7. Does the ranids' sex/gender system make sense? Did Bear do a good job of explaining the system and using it to propel the story forward?
8. Did the dimension merging part of the story work? What did it add to the story? Take away?
9. Did the lack of romance/passion between any of the characters, for example Cricket and Andre, enhance or harm the story?
10. Did you feel the violence of the attack on the ranids and their revolution was consistent with the rest of the story?
11. Did you think the ending was rushed? Or that the tying up of the loose ends was too fast and coincidental?
12. Is the title, Undertow, appropriate?