Uncharted Territory: A Novel

A funny yarn that doesn't seem to go anywhere--until it does. And leaves you with a satisfying tale of two explorers, man and woman, chosen by the bureaucrats for their "gender balance" but whose relationship matures into something closer to love. While their indigenous scout has romantic notions of his (her?) own. Meanwhile, it's a wickedly funny satire on political correctness, sensitivity training, and multiculturalism. All SF authors seem to delight in sending up bureaucracies, but Willis does it better than most.

You can always count on Connie Willis to have a fresh story that makes you think. I had a hard time putting it down. Great little read for the beach.

I tend to reach for this book if I'm feeling down, and it always cheers me up. Ms. Willis likes to make her readers work, which I love--so the story starts in medias res. This will lead the unwary into making assumptions which get blasted away one by one until what's really going on on Boohte is revealed. Read it, then go back to the start and read it again. I promise you'll enjoy it even more the second time. Oh, and "Where did you put the binoculars?" has entered my family's lexicon as a way of saying "I love you."

Another light but excellently told SF tale by Willis. A couple of crusty surveyors and a native are working to map a new planet. Things are not all as they seem, however. The native is constantly fining the off- worlders for the degradation to the planet. The off-world survey might harbor an ulterior interest for the government.Willis' comedy here is, like a lot of her stories, true screwball. That means a battle of the sexes, with misunderstandings and misrepresentations. I'm told that this type of humor is an acquired taste, which may explain some of the comments I've heard from people who say Willis' stories don't do anything for them. Personally, I can't get enough of them, and have to find other authors to fulfill that need during the months it takes Connie to write another.

This book wasn't like most of Connie's other books I have read... but I really enjoyed it. I want to see a few more books about this realm and the characters...(!!)It was extremely short, which I originaly thought would help me... considering my busy schedule... though keeping track of "what was what" was a challenge some times (it all ways is hard for me to keep up, in novels that speak of other realms... where things are named differntly than I would be used to -- but that's just the price to pay for some thing realy differnt -- and I don't mind it, I pretty much love it).It took me longer to read/follow this story than Doomsday Book (and Doomsday Book was hugely longer than Uncharted Territory). I read Doomsday Book in one week end. It took me around 3 weeks to get through Uncharted Territory... but it was well worth it to me.It is a book about "Uncharted Territory"... an expidition of sorts... and there are things happening beneath the surface that maybe some people don't pick up on -- it was very intersting to me, and I was not disapointed at all... but I see it has not gotten real good reviews from other people. I thought it was great and it ranks pretty way up there with me.I'm sorry some of you folks didn't enjoy it, I hate when that happens... you pick up a book thinking this is going to be the greatest, and then get let down... but I honestly don't feel let down about this one. Maybe it just appeals to a certain type of person (insane ones may be, like me?? ::grin::)Sincerely, swann