Story: 8 / 10
Characters: 10
Setting: 10
Prose: 7

Star Maker is the most ambitious book I have read. Unlike what the description suggests, it is a profound and fictional, anthropological history of the universe. The unexpected religious ending is endearing. The only weak points are the unnatural and loose direction of the plot, as well as the contradictory epilogue. Nevertheless, the story structures works. It starts a bit slow, as you would expect from a book that mirrors scientific texts.
Recommended for everyone, but scifi fans should endure. ( )

I managed to get 31% into this and then just had to give up trying.   I really couldn't manage any more of it.

Imagine that William's favourite book is Gulliver's Travels and he decides to have a go at writing a sci-fi version of it having read Brave New World just before starting.   I think that pretty much sums up the first 31%.

The problem is that while Gulliver's Travels and Brave New World are both very good books, and both are very well written and keep the reader's attention, Star Maker is tedious, dull and plodding: at least that's how i found it to be.   I can imagine for its time it was very exciting, but sadly some books just don't age well and i think this is one of them.

I don't feel that it's bad enough to warrant a place on "The Deleted" page, so it will get a reprieve and stay in my Amazon lists for now and i may give it another go at some future date when i'm feeling a lot better about life and stuff. ( )

Wild ride through the imagination of Stapledon. I like his writing style and see the appeal of this book. I just was not in the mood for fun, plotless survey of his imagination. Maybe another time. ( )

http://bactra.org/weblog/algae-2022-12.html#stapledon ( )

The consciousness of a man from 1937 England wanders off into space and he explores the universe.

You have to admire Stapledon's imagination and ideas but don't expect anything like a plot or characterisation. Most of the book is descriptions of life-forms. The descriptions get more and more abstract as we move up the cosmological evolutionary scale and the book became more and more of a struggle to get through but I'm glad I persevered. ( )