Soviet science fiction tends to be more intellectual than American science fiction. It also tends to be more realistic socially (not social realism), and to draw more on the social sciences than the hard sciences so beloved of authors such as Asimov and Niven. Definitely Maybe is no exception — if you like Borges and Lem you will like this, if you are a hard science fiction fan then you probably won't. Technology is only involved in the abstract, the characters have depth, and the plot is simple.

March 1992

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