Cheap Beggars in Spain (Beggars Trilogy (Paperback)) (Book) (Nancy Kress) Price

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Customer Reviews of Beggars in Spain (Beggars Trilogy (Paperback))

I thought it was clever how the hatred for the super-talented sleepless is first seen in the fact that their competition is seen as unfair. I like very much the way that Kress developed the question of whether people who can contribute to such a high degree are obliged to help the 'beggars', the sleepers who can never be as productive to the society. I even like the way that she turns the question of being a beggar on its head later with the super-sleepless (although I can imagine that people who were following along with the political thread were a little disappointed at the easy way in which art becomes the redemptive factor.)

Smart, very readable, and makes me want to read the next book in the series.

Great plot, characters , writing
After I read this book I immediately bought the others in the series. What an idea!!! With all the reports popping up every day about the widespread lack of sleep in our society, this may be an idea whose time has arrived.

The author specializes in dialogue and thoughts and the tales of SMART (vs smarmy/hateful/creepy/sassy/whining) kids and their trials and tribulations was superbly written. It is difficult to imagine ordinary folks becoming agents of hate and revenge, but what lurks right under the veneer of civilization? All in all, this was the superior of the series as is most often the case. That does not mean that you should skip the others, and the author continually introduces new ideas and curve balls to keep the action flowing and suspense suspenseful. The author also attempts what few sci-fi writers dare - a scientific explanation of the sci-fi within the book. Grab the series for a long vacation read at the beach.

Worth reading, but not rereading
A good friend sent me Beggars in Spain about a year ago, and I enjoyed it, but not enough for a reread.

Kress is an entertaining writer, but she does not always give her characters the depth that they ask for, and I found her science to be less than believable at times. She falls to the trap of many science fiction writers and treats science more like magic in a fantasy book than like real science. It just happens. There aren't any magic wands, but there might as well be for the ease with which the characters tinker with genetics. A certain amount of suspension of belief is definitely required, but even then my logical side nagged at me as I read the book.

Perhaps my quibble with the science of the book would not be so large if the characters and plot had been more engaging. Amusing, yes, interesting, yes, a good way to occupy a few hours, yes. But at the end of it all, I was left with that telltale feeling of disappointment and longing, as if the author could have done a lot more with her plot and characters. I cannot help but compare the book to Octavia Butler's excellent "Wind Seed," for their basic plots, if not their settings, are very similar. In "Wild Seed," the characters are so engaging and fascinating that whatever faulty logic may have existed was made nonexistant in the face of the conflict between two superhuman beings. "Beggars in Spain" tried, but failed, to do the same.

If you read voraciously as I do, this is a good way to occupy a couple of hours. However, if you read less often I'd suggest you go for something with better quality than this, something that is great, not just okay.