This is not a regular novel, it is fantasy. I didn't realize this when I started the book, so when the super powers started it felt like a bait-and-switch; I was not pleased

But the super powers part isn't what made me put this book down, it's the writing. The author does a lot of telling and very little showing, it's like reading a Wikipedia article. Super disappointing, pass.

Joy's review: Beautiful language, vivid descriptions, and a very inventive plot. The coincidences abound, but for some reason, I didn't mind this at all; maybe because despite the very realistic descriptions, it felt like a dream. The plot's rather hard to describe, so I won't even try. Christopher needs to do better research when describing particular places and events; he gets quite a bit wrong (and he has way too many female characters whose name starts with a 'D'. But if you can let that go, this is a thought-provoking book. ( )

I really wanted to love this book. At first I was enchanted by all the star and spider references, the magical realism, the underlying theme of the search for lost things…. but after a couple of hundred pages it just seemed to fizzle out. I think it was the overly detailed descriptions of the inhabitants of The Hotel Canopus. I couldn’t keep straight the convoluted relationships of 3 generations of women, all of whom had names which started with the letter “D”. I just kept wondering why I should care about these minor characters, and the hundreds of pages spent on them made very little difference in the plot. And Mala’s temporary career as a clairvoyant was just bizarre and unnecessary. I gritted my teeth and finished, but I’m kind of sorry I did.

Update: while I was dissatisfied overall with this book, I am haunted by some of the images of Vietnam and the Cook Islands and every time I hear a lot of classic rock songs from this era I picture the stars over the South Pacific. ( )

Christopher's work is always hypnotic, but in this case, the work is nothing short of intoxicating. Woven of a labyrinthine hotel, exotic jungles, and ordinary passions, it moves forward with a sort of supernatural momentum that has the potential for leaving readers breathless and out of touch with their own realities, lost in the novel's passages and grace.

Beginning with the separation of two unique characters, A Trip to the Stars works as a web of personalities and subplots, all as frighteningly believable as they are fascinating. The novel's unique tandem of science and fantasy is entrancing, a masterful journey of passion and hope in every guise imaginable. While Christopher's writing is poetic and clever, the story here is, in itself, worth falling into over and over again.

This isn't a book so much as a journey, and it is wonderful. ( )

coming of age, orphans, Vietnam war, hippie drugs, vampires, ancient history, casinos in Las Vegas, love, hate.. this book ahs it all. it is seems to be all over the place but while you are reading it, it makes sense. good writing style. keeps you engaged. ( )