W. E. Cochrane

I first read this when it was serialized in Analog magazine back in the late '70s. I didn't remember most of the plot, but there were scenes and images that have stuck with me for 40 years. And the plot fit well with my current tree obsession, so I was thrilled to find a used copy available. I was a little less thrilled with the actual writing, though. My tastes and understanding of literature have definitely expanded since I was a teenager. Now I noticed how roughly the characters are rendered; how inconsistently they behave; how burdened the story is by the layers of climbing detail. So it satisfied a sense of nostalgia, but little else.… (mehr)