Oct 10, 2012: Short Version: I’m really not sure what to make of Kudzu. It’s well written and characterised but exceedingly odd. I’m going to be reading on, so 4 stars.
Setup: A crippled spaceship crewed by humans and specially bred talking raccoons (yes, really) limps back to Earth decades after it left and with most of its crew having been left of Triton. When it arrives it finds that Earth is choked with the invasive vine Kudzu and that a huge, moon size mass of Kudzu in orbit . . .
The Good: The whole story is exceedingly well written and characterised – I’m not sure I could have got past the raccoon astronauts and the kudzu moon if it weren’t. The evocation of the emotions of the characters is excellent and, at times, heart rending. There’s also some beautiful art attached to some of the chapters.
The Bad: The worst thing I can say about Kudzu is that I’m not sure what’s going on. The navigation is a bit awkward at first but after a few chapters next and previous links appear.
The Weird: Yes, Kudzu merits it’s own special sub-block labelled the weird. These things aren’t actually bad but they do bear mentioning.
Space Raccoons? What? At first I thought raccoon must be some sort of in story slang and then I saw the art. They really are talking raccoons. I’m sure there’s a reason but I’m not sure what yet. Hopefully it will be covered later.
The entire premise is a bit mind-boggling. Kudzu in space? I mean I know it’s invasive but . . . Again I’m sure it’ll all be explained at some point but what the hell.
Suddenly time travel! Once the ship arrives back at Earth some of the action takes place on Earth with a different set of characters who are living with the Kudzu infestation and one of them is a time traveller.
Will I be reading more? Yes, it’s quite well written and I want to know what the heck is going on. I’m giving this 4 stars because 3.5 seems a little low.
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