The Metagalactic Grand Prix is based on her fervent love of Europe’s Eurovision, something I had never heard of before I picked up this book (for North American readers, I believe it’s similar to American Idol or The Voice, but probably on a larger scale), and that love really comes through in her descriptions of what music in other universes might sound like. She sets out to create a particular mood in this story-boisterous, music-filled and nostalgic with an underlying tone of violence. Her words are magical, and I suspect she might be part alien herself, because normal human beings just don’t write like this. What Valente does really well is atmospheric world-building. Pitted against every known sentient species in the galaxy, the dead last loser of the competition faces the complete annihilation of their race. In fact, the plot can easily be summed up in just a couple of sentences:įormer rock star Decibel “Dess” Jones (formerly of Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros) is recruited by a race of aliens (visiting Earth for the first time) to participate in an intergalactic singing contest. There were so many elements that I loved about the story, but unfortunately it was missing one big thing that I just can’t forgive: a cohesive plot that made me want to keep reading. From Valente’s wordy, adjective-filled writing style to her outlandish ideas about alien life forms, Space Opera assaults the senses and breathes into existence several universes full of space oddities (and yes, that is a pertinent David Bowie reference!) I was both in awe of and frustrated by this book, which leaves me feeling torn about my rating. To say that this book is over-blown in more ways than one would not be an exaggeration. I experienced some of the same frustrations with both books, which I can now recognize is an issue I will probably always have with the author’s style. Yes, yes, they obliterated the natural biodiversity of any region they touched, but wherever their infection took hold, they opened a lot of delightful bistros and shops and start-up tech companies with whimsically casual workplace environments and fusion food trucks and artisanal blacksmithing co-ops and performance-art spaces.Ī few years ago I read and loved Valente’s Radiance, and my experience reading Space Opera felt like a flash-back in many ways. The nitty-gritty: Big on atmosphere but lean on plot, Space Opera is a colorful, musical, over-the-top love song to music and musicians everywhereĮxcept that the Voorpret turned out to be really rather good at the whole civilization thing.

This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Space opera catherynne m valente