The Diamond Deep

The Diamond Deep is the concluding book in a duology but, in most ways that matter, it reads quite well as a standalone. The generation star ship is now almost home after hundreds of years have passed. The revolution against the ship’s command structure has been successful but tensions remain among the crew. This does not give our heroine the best base from which to deal with the political problems when the ship finally docks with the massive space station in orbit around their home planet.

There are several serious problems with the book. First, the society they find is not sufficiently “alien”. Allowing for time dilation, the ship should have returned to a culture almost incomprehensible to them. Yet there’s little evidence of world-building. It’s all far too familiar. Second, the preface to the book announces the inspiration for the plot. This completely destroys any suspense since we all know what happened.

All we’re left with is an emotional story about a woman who tries to be everywhere and do everything to help her people reestablish themselves on their home planet. It’s not a great success.