THE UNGODLY LIST

SHANE'S BACKLOG. 

 

AKA - HE'S NEVER GOING TO GET THROUGH IT

 

AKA, AKA - HE'LL PROBABLY BEAT FOUR MORE GAMES THIS YEAR

Ugh, LOOK at this mess. How'd I get myself into this craziness?

    Last night, I decided it was finally time to write down, and count exactly how many games I had in my backlog. I knew it was a lot. I was guessing 50. Hell, maybe even 60. But, if you can read the above number, or if you read my previous post (you probably didn't, and it's okay. Really), you'll know the number is a staggering 94. Oi fucking vey, amiright? I cannot believe I have this many games just sitting, not being played. It did make me realize I must have at least 200 games in my collection. I know it isn't a huge amount compared to some people, but for little ol' me? That's pretty good. I'm also in the (very slow) process of cataloging all my games, so I can get an official count.
    I also realized that, even though getting games comes few and far between for me, I can cool it for a little bit. There's still hundreds of games I'd like to eventually own, but first I should probably knock off some on this list. I will say, there may be a few I take off just because I don't like them. I'll try to play everything to completion, but if I don't like a game, well, I don't like a game. This may have already happened with Phantom 2040 for the SNES. I have put in maybe three hours here and there, and I just can't get pulled in. I'm never thinking, "oh boy, I can't wait to pop in Phantom 2040 again!" It's always more like, "ugh, I really just don't want to play Phantom 2040. But I will." It becomes a chore. And chores are just no fun.
    I haven't figured out exactly how I want to tackle this list, or how I should maintain it on my blog here. For now, I'm just going to list the games in my backlog, and do a simple cross-out and a date completed when I beat one. So this page will serve as a master list, and will hopefully be updated as absolutely promptly as possible. After I beat some games, I'll probably make some separate posts dedicated to them, with pictures, my thoughts, and other general musings.
    Well, without further adieu, here is the mastodonic (is that a word? Blogger says no!) list. They are in no order, but I will list oldest systems first (basically). Thanks for looking y'all!

UPDATE HISTORY:

 

-1/18/15: Beat 6 Golden Coins (GB)

-1/10/15: Beat Splatterhouse (original) and started Super Mario World 2: 6 Golden Coins (GB)

-1/1/15: Added Suikoden II, Legend of Dragoon, and Wild Arms ("PS1", via PS3 digital)

-12/28/14: Added Vagrant Story, Threads of Fate, and Suikoden ("PS1", via PS3 digital)

-12/20/14: Added Dragon Quest IX (DS) and Tales of the Abyss (3DS). Also, started Splatterhouse (original arcade, via PS3 version)

-12/18/14: Added Child of Light (PS3) and Pier Solar ("Sega MegaDrive", via PS3 digital)

-12/11/14: Beat Brain Lord (SNES)

-12/8/14: Started Final Fantasy IV Advance (GBA)

-11/15/14: Started Splatterhouse (PS3)

-11/13/14: Started Brain Lord (SNES)

-11/9/14: Beat Super Castlevania IV (SNES)

-11/6/14: Added Brain Lord (SNES)

-11/3/14: Added Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Uncharted: Among Thieves, also added Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection and Splatterhouse (all PS3)

-10/31/14: Added Dragon Age: Origins, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Fallout 3 (all PS3) and Obscure: The Aftermath (Wii). Also started Super Castlevania IV (SNES)

-10/30/14: Beat MMPR (SNES)

-10/28/14: Started Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (SNES)

-10/8/14: Started Link's Awakening (GB)

-10/7/14: Beat Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)

-9/26/14: Added Link's Awakening (GB)

-9/21/14: Beat Batman: Arkham Origins (PS3)

-9/13/14: Added Champions: Call to Arms (PS2)

-8/25/14: Added Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Xbox) and Clock Tower 3 (PS2)

-8/23/14: Added Blue Dragon and Condemned: Criminal Origins for 360

-8/18/14: Took all of the N64 games off this list (getting rid of my tiny N64 collection)

-8/11/14:  Started RE: Revelations (3DS)

-7/22/14: Added Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS), and am putting Star Ocean (PSP) on hiatus for now, to (hopefully) get continued later on down the line

-7/18/14: Finished Grim Adventures (GBA)

-7/14/14: Added The Grim Adventures Of Billy and Mandy (GBA)

-7/14/14: Finished Aliens: Infestation (DS)

-7/7/14: Finished Silent Hill Downpour (PS3)

-6/30/14: Started Aliens: Infestation (DS)

-6/27/14: Added Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare to PS3

- 6/16/14: Added Kingdoms of Amular: Reckoning to PS3 (I forgot it, because I own it digitally on my PS3. No hard copy)

- 6/14/14: Crossed out Phantom 2040 for SNES, added start date to Silent Hill Downpour (PS3)

NES:

• Swords & Serpents
• Dragon Warrior
• Ultima: Exodus
• Faxanadu
• Ninja Gaiden 
• A note about this one: I know it's hard as hell, and I am not 100% confident I will actually be able to beat it fully! Only time will tell, eh? 
• Astyanax
• I've played this game a bit, and I really enjoy it. I feel it's kind of an under appreciated gem on the NES
• Star Tropics
• ST II: Zoda's Revenge
• I'm very excited to play both these games
• Duck Tales
• Final Fantasy
• You will notice I have a fucking huge amount of Final Fantasy games in my backlog
•  Battle Of Olympus
•  Super Mario Bros. 2
• I know, I know. I've beaten 1 & 3, but never got around to completing this oddity
• The Legend Of Zelda
• Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link

SNES:

• Final Fight
• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (started on 10/28/14, beat on 10/30/14)
• Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
• Phantom 2040
• Again, this one may be stricken from the list. I haven't vastly enjoyed my time with the game thus far                 6/23/2014. Don't like it enough to finish.
• Super Star Wars
• Super Empire Strikes Back
• I typically despise Star Wars with a fiery, unholy passion. This trilogy of games for the Super Nintendo is probably the only Star Wars things I like. 
• Super Castlevania IV      -started on 10/31/14, beat on 11/9/14
• Magic Sword
• Brain Lord (started 11/13/14, finished 12/11/14)
• Ys III: Wanderer From Ys
• Jurassic Park
• I actually enjoy this game!
• Ultima: False Prophet
• Drakkhen
• Wolfchild
• Eye Of The Beholder

SEGA MEGADRIVE:

•  Pier Solar and the Great Architects 
• This is technically a "Megadrive" game, but it was released in 2010, and I downloaded it from the Playstation Network on my PS3. I'll include it here instead of under the "PS3" section

GAMEBOY:

• Pokemon Red
• The first Pokemon I ever played was the newest version, Y. It was extraordinarily fun. 
• Final Fantasy Legend III
• The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
• Great little story behind my acquisition of this one: I'm training a new guy Max at work, and it turns out he's HUGE into retro games (and gaming in general). He says something like, "I'm pretty sure I have Link's Awakening in my car". And sure as shit, he does! And he just let's me have it, because he has a digital copy on his 3DS. It's the original black-and-white Gameboy version, not the Gameboy Color DX version, and this is more than okay with me. VERY excited to start it, and it's basically second on my "handheld priority" list, right after I finish RE: Revelations (started 10/8/14)

N64:

EXPLANATION: I recently decided N64 is just not a console I have interest in, at all. I'm getting rid of the few games I have. I plan on getting the OOT release on 3DS, and I'm just crossing my fingers Majora's Mask gets a 3DS release also. (8/18/14)

• Super Mario 64
• Perfect Dark
• The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
• I feel I might need to defend myself on this one a bit. I've been a Zelda fan since at least Link To The Past (although I have distinct memories of playing the first two on NES at a young age), but as a family, when it was a choice between PS1 and N64, we chose PS1 (a choice I would make 1000/1000 times, by the way). I never got to play any of the flagship N64 games. My greatest regret from wanting a PS1 was never getting to play either OOT or Majora's Mask.

PLAYSTATION:

• Final Fantasy Anthology (5&6)
• I've debated long and hard about playing both FF5 and FF6 on this compilation. Obviously this is one of the easiest ways to play 5, but I'd really like to play 6 on the SNES (known as Final Fantasy III, of course). But I also know the price of a damn FFIII cart, and it just seems like it makes way more sense for me to play it on this disc, seeing as how I already have it.
• Final Fantasy Origins (2)
• Now with this one, I'm only going to play Final Fantasy II. I have the original on NES, and I'd like to play it on that machine.
• King's Field
• Suikoden
• I've been getting more and more excited to play this as I've been talking about it with a friend at work. PS3 digital download
• Threads of Fate
• PS3 digital download
• Vagrant Story
• I rented this game once or twice as a kid. I liked it, but never played much. I know it's pretty highly regarded, so I'd love to play through it fully. PS3 digital download
• Mega Man X4
• Mega Man X6
• Mega Man 8
• I don't find the Playstation era Mega Man games to be as fun or endearing as their 8/16 bit counterparts. 
• Deathtrap Dungeon
• This isn't a great game, and I debated putting it on the list because I only have it for nostalgic purposes. But I will play through and (hopefully) beat it
• Final Fantasy VIII
• Final Fantasy IX
• Granstream Saga
• Tomb Raider
• Overblood
•  Another game I know hasn't stood up to the test of time, but I have such great memories of my dad and I playing this game. I have never beaten it myself (I know he did back in the day), so I'd like to change that. Going through will be a great nostalgic trip too
• Nightmare Creatures
• Same deal as Overblood above. 
• Galerians
• Syphon Filter 2
• Treasures Of The Deep
• Chrono Cross
•  I wish I had Chrono Trigger...

GBA:

• Golden Sun: The Lost Age
• I played through, and LOVED, the first game. I started this one directly after finishing the first (this was some time last year), and since it's so similar to the first, I was just kind of burned out from this game. I'm probably a little less than a quarter of the way through.
• Final Fantasy IV Advance
• Again, same deal with FF6 up there. I'd like to play this on the SNES as Final Fantasy II, but chances are I won't have that cart for a while. It's not as pricey as III, but I still don't have the cash for it.   (started on 12/8/14)
• The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
• Started this on 7/15/14         -finished 7/18/14

PS2:

• Castlevania: Lament Of Innocence
• Final Fantasy X
• Final Fantasy XII
• Dark Cloud
• Clock Tower 3
• Very excited to play this. Love getting more survival horror
• Twisted Metal Black
• Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny
• Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time
• Dragon Quest VIII: Journey Of The Cursed King
• Mega Man X7
• Eternal Ring
• Champions: Return to Arms
• Very excited to play this. LOVED the original Champions of Norrath when it first came out. Haven't had a chance to play this one yet
• Phantasy Star Universe
• Red Dead Revolver
• LOVE Red Dead Redemption. Interested to see what they kept from this first game
• Resident Evil 4
• A classic that I haven't gotten around to playing. Hey, that's the reason for this list!
• Resident Evil: Code Veronica X
• A not-so classic (though still good) that I haven't gotten around to beating. This game is hard as hell. Love the graphics 
• Unlimited Saga
• I hear this game really sucks, but I'm still willing to give it a fair shot.
• Kingdom Hearts II
• Another game I started long ago, but never beat. I must have gotten at least half way through, and I can't remember why I stopped. I LOVED the first one.
• Max Payne 2
• I started this long ago, and stopped after probably less than an hour. Not sure why, because I loved the first, and I recently played through the third, which was also fantastic. Anyway, this is low priority.
• Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
• I played and beat the second game, and while I remember it was pretty difficult, it was also way more fun than I had anticipated. Hopefully the first is good also.    

XBOX:

• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
• This isn't too high on the priority list just yet (because of the HUGE TIME-SINK it is), but I can't wait to lose potentially 100+ hours to this game, which I hear is better than Oblivion and Skyrim

GAMECUBE:

•  Resident Evil
• This is the only Gamecube we have (it wasn't even mine! It was my then-girlfriend's). I'm very interested to see what it's like compared to the flawed, but awesome, PS1 original.

DS:

• Aliens: Infestation
• While this isn't the only DS game I have, it's the only one I need to play and beat. Bought it cheap at Target without knowing anything about it. From what I've heard from people on Instagram, it's a great game! Wooh! (started 6/30/14)     - finished this 7/14/14

• Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
• Just grabbed this for pretty cheap over the weekend. I probably wont' start it for a while, but I'd like to have it finished by the end of 2015

PSP:

• Star Ocean: First Departure
• I've been playing this game, on and off, for about two months now. It's okay, but it's been tough for me to really get sucked into it. It's not as fun as I was hoping it would be. I'll get into this more in its own post, but my two annoyances are: the fighting (it's basically button-mashing dressed up to look like something more strategic) and the world-map-traversal (so far, 12+ hours in, I still have to walk over the world map. It takes FOREVER to get from one destination to another).  
• *NOTE: I'm putting my playthrough on hiatus for now. I wanna play other PSP/handheld games. I should still pick this back up later on*
• Star Ocean: Second Evolution
• I'm probably going to wait a long while to start this, once I beat part one. This is definitely currently very low on the priority list
• Dungeon Maker II: The Hidden War
• Final Fantasy Tactics: The War Of The Lions

WII:

• Donkey Kong Country Returns
• I'm pretty close to beating this. I just gotta sit down and do it.  
• Super Mario Galaxy
• I started this game, long ago, on my first girlfriend's Wii. I got pretty damn far, and of course, we broke up. I haven't had the energy to fully restart this again, even though it's one of the best Mario game I've played 

• Obscure: The Aftermath
• Haven't played the first, but this was $2.50 at Gamestop, so I decided, why the hell not. Tough to turn down a very cheap survival horror game. 

XBOX 360:

• Fable II
• Fable III
• Condemned: Criminal Origins
• Blue Dragon
• Very excited about this one, and I'd like to move up closer to the top of my "queue"
• Alan Wake
• I'm at least halfway through this game. One of the driving reasons I wanted a 360
• Halo: Reach
• I started this game also, but I'll most likely restart it once I pick it up to continue playing. 
• Gears Of War
• Gears Of War 2

3DS:

•  Resident Evil: Revelations (started 8/11/14)    - finished 10/7/14
•  Tales of the Abyss
• I plan on starting this once I finish Final Fantasy IV Advance

PS3:

• Bulletstorm
• Final Fantasy XIII-2
• Child of Light
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• Fallout 3
•  Had this before, but got rid of it. Gotta give it another chance
• Dragon Age: Origins
• See above!
• Mass Effect 3
• LOVED the second one. Can't wait to play this.
• Resident Evil 6
• My wife and I played through, and loved, 5, for all its faults. We started this one, and she just wasn't feeling it at all. So I'm going solo. I will say, the insistence on those fucking timed-button press parts are infuriating. Can't wait for the Evil Within
•  Two Worlds II
• Another game I know gets bad-to-middling reviews, but I'm eager to try it.
• Saints Row IV
• Batman: Arkham Origins   -finished this 9/21/14
  
• Condemned 2: Bloodshot
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• Splatterhouse (started PS3 game 11/15/14)
• As with the Sonic Collection, I mainly got this game because you can unlock the three original Splatterhouse games, and I'd love to play those. So if I have to slog through a mediocre God of War clone (with extreme gore at least), I'm fine with that. This sublist will be the three Splatterhouse games from this collection:
• Splatterhouse
• Splatterhouse II
• Splatterhouse III
• Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection
• Very excited about this one. Just realized very recently that probably every Genesis game I've ever wanted to play is on this collection. I generally dislike Genesis greatly, but there are some (hopefully) great games on here. This sublist will list all the games on this collection I'd like to play through and beat:
• Alien Storm
• Altered Beast
• Golden Axe
• Golden Axe II
• Golden Axe III
• Phantasy Star
• Phantasy Star II
• Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
• Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
• Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention
• Shining Force II
• Shining in the Darkness
• Streets of Rage
• Streets of Rage 2
• Streets of Rage 3
• Alien Syndrome    
• Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch
• Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (DLC)
• I decided to include this as well. Not a full game, but as far as DLC, it's decently long. It's also the absolute BEST zombie-related DLC that's probably ever been released. 
• Kingdoms Of Amular: Reckoning
• Silent Hill: Downpour
• I'm a huge SH fan, and this, Origins, and Shattered Memories are the only ones I haven't played. Very much looking forward to playing Downpour (started this on 6/14/2014).        -finished this 7/6/14

    Well, there you have it folks! Check back here periodically, I'll strike these through when I finish them. Wish me luck. 

 

Evolution! v. 2.0

Because genius constantly evolves

  

 NOTE (8/15/14): I'M ABANDONING THE MUSIC IDEA. I'M JUST STICKING TO BOOKS/BOSSES/DARK SOULS II/BACKLOG. THAT'S ENOUGH. I'LL KEEP THIS UP FOR POSTERITY'S SAKE (I say that a lot)

    Okay folks, I wanna make a quick note here. This blog has evolved a LOT in the last 3+ months. Originally, it was going to be used to document boss battles. Then, it was going to just be a blog about my endeavors with all the games I had yet to beat (pay attention to this, it pertains to today). Then, it turned into that plus my thoughts/ramblings on the books I was reading. If a blog about video games and books wasn't random enough, I've decided I wanna bring music into the fold. As with my book thoughts, I'd like to make short posts about the music I listen to. I listen to a decently large variety of music, but it always comes back to metal music. I'm a metal-head at heart, even though I can listen to most music (and indeed, I'll hope to showcase that here). I have 500+ CDs (yup, I'm a chump that still buys physical Compact Discs), and my big idea is to showcase every one. I actually started doing this on Instagram (follow me, I'm @kalameet), and got a good 100+ CDs in, before I just gave up. If I do it here on this blog, I can expand my thoughts a bit, and hopefully I'll keep up with it. I know it's a huge undertaking, but each post won't be huge, so I should, in theory, be able to put up a few a week, at least.
    Now, on to the matter at hand for today. Last night, I went through and wrote down every game that I own that is in my "backlog" as it were. For the layman, basically any game I own but haven't beaten yet. I was shocked (shocked!, actually) to find I have a whopping 94 (that's NINETY-FOUR) games, across thirteen consoles, to play through. I honestly thought I only had maybe 50. Talk about eye opening. So, I'm going to compile that list on a blog post, and I'm going to update with my progress/thoughts/opinions of the games I'm playing. I'll include as many shitty pictures as I see fit. And, to tie the whole thing together, I will be putting special emphasis on games with good boss battles.
    So, that's that then. Thank you for sticking with me throughout this schizophrenic time. Enjoy reading about books/music/and video games.

BOOKS: Dolphin Island

Dolphins Really Are Super Smart

Dolphin Island, Arthur C. Clarke

    This was a book I was weary of reading, or even purchasing for that matter. Firstly, I LOVE Arthur C. Clarke. I've only read a handful of his books (half dozen, I think), but two, Rendezvous With Rama, and Childhood's End, were two of the best books I read in their respective years . His big claim to fame I would say is writing the book 2001: A Space Odyssey (he wrote the book as the movie was being made, which is interesting). That was a good book that I definitely need to re-read at some point. Anyway, the point is, he's known as a a heavy hitter in the sci-fi game. He's part of the "big three" of the sci-fi guys (the other two being Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov). Back to my introductory sentence, why was I weary of reading this? It's a short adventure book about...dolphins? That's the impression I got from reading the back. Doesn't sound too "sci-fi" to me, and frankly, I was thinking it was just a throwaway book amidst Clarke's fantastic bibliography. How wrong I was.
    I enjoyed this book immensely. Much more than I ever thought I might. Why did I enjoy it? Well, mostly for the reasons I said above. It's quick. It's interesting. It's not too-heavy in social commentary (I didn't think so anyway). It's fun. And this book, more so than maybe any book I've ever read, made me really wish I could visit the main location. It's a beautifully detailed island community. It made me want to swim in the ocean and explore coral reefs. I really don't like the water much, and I can't swim, so in general, I stay away from the ocean. The fact that this book made me want to immediately just drive to the beach, well, that says a whole lot.
 

    I'm very glad Clarke wrote this book. I know he is deeply invested in dolphins/the sea, and his knowledge shows. He expresses in the back of the book that some of his writing about dolphins here (mostly about their high intelligence) is fantasy. He says that while dolphins are very smart, they probably aren't as smart as he depicts them in the book. Despite that bit of truth-stretching, reading this book gave me a new appreciation of dolphins in general. It also does bring up some questions of morals, such as dolphins and their general freedom (it's said in the book that dolphins are free-er than humans, because they have the whole ocean, but later in the book humans start training the dolphins to find ship wrecks, coral fish for fishermen, etc., and it's brought into question if we are indeed lessening their freedom by doing this). It's interesting to think about freedom as a whole, and are you still free if you are essentially being controlled, even just slightly?
    One very interesting bit of the story that gets little time spent on it (which, in the end, is probably for the best) is during the middle, and at the very end, of the book, there is a small mention of an alien spacecraft that crashed eons ago. It is implied that there are dolphin storytellers that have heard the tale (or is it really truth?) from older storytellers, who in turn have heard it from even older storytellers, and so forth. I enjoyed chewing on this bit of randomness, and it almost seems, judging by the very end of the book, that Clarke could write a second dolphin book that centers more on the search for this spacecraft.
    This book didn't have the bloody fighting and moral/religious quandaries of Orphans Of The Sky, and it didn't have the bizarre alien presence and mystery of Solaris, but I think this book was my favorite of the three. It's short, and for someone with time, it could be read in one sitting. It's well-written, and concise, and, as I mentioned, man did it have some great descriptions of the reefs and diving.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun adventure book. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two about dolphins!

BOOKS: Orphans Of The Sky

By Jordan! What the huff is going on here?

Orphans Of The Sky, by Robert A. Heinlein

 

    I'd like to get something out of the way now, before I continue with my thoughts of this (generally) good book. I did a little reading on Goodreads about this book. It's average rating is 3.78 (out of 5), so almost 4 out of 5. Pretty good. I saw some people complaining about the misogynistic tones of this (and other Heinlein/50's-era sci-fi work) book, however. I went into this book, not judging, necessarily, but with a keener eye to try to pick up on this. I've enjoyed a few Heinlein novels that I read years ago (Starship Troopers, Door Into Summer, The Man Who Sold The Moon, The Unpleasant Profession Of Jonathan Hoag, and Citizen Of the Galaxy, but I really didn't care for that one), so I'm not new to him. I honestly cannot possible recall any sort of anti-woman things in those. That doesn't mean they aren't there, I just haven't read those books in a long time. I'm sure they do exist in those books, but I was a dumb teenager and didn't notice them. Now I'm a dumb adult. Unfortunately, there is some misogynistic garbage in here.
    The book is short (my copy was 128 pages), and basically the first 100 pages are fine. There is a passing mention of woman at the beginning, and then nothing until the end. Perhaps the fact that there are no female characters in the book, by and large, can be seen as misogynistic, but that didn't bother me too much. I mean, half the characters in the book are mutants anyway. However, the finale of the book has several cringe-worthy passages. The main character, Hugh, has two wives. Apparently, in this universe, it's the husband's job to name his wife (I guess?). He doesn't even give his second wife a name, and is so gracious as to allow his first wife to keep her old name. What a guy! It must be stated, Hugh has both these wives simultaneously. Other than this, the general tone of how the wives are treated is pretty bad. They are basically just less-than-human (maybe even less than the mutants? The mutants get much more respect from Hugh, and the two other main "good guys", Alan and Bill Ertz) pieces of properties of the men. It's a shame that this comes up, and it adds to the underwhelming ending of the book.
    Let's discuss some good. Overall, this was an enjoyable book, and it had an interesting idea. It's kind of a slam on organized religion (which I'm always down for), and shows how easy it is to manipulate people into believing whatever you tell them. The gist of it is that there's a gigantic spaceship floating through space, and it's inhabitants were all born on the ship, and they all think the ship is their entire universe. Nothing exists outside of the ship. I mean, how can something exist outside of the entire universe? Let's just say, all it takes to convince the main characters is a look at the stars beyond their ship, in the recesses of space.
    There is a whole religion and a set of rules based upon the idea that The Ship (as it is referred to throughout) is the universe. Learning about how the people on the ship live is interesting. It's an existence similar-yet-bafflingly-different than ours. I will say, the mutants (oft-referred to as "muties", which I assume is a derogatory term, although the mutants themselves use it too) were my favorite part of the book. They are basically just humans that were born deformed (due to space radiation, I wanna say), and ostracized from society. The humans fear them, and want them dead. The strongest of them is a two-headed man named Joe-Jim (not a hillbilly, actually. One head is named Jim, one is named Joe). They can be brutally violent (especially barely-brained Bobo. He constantly looks for opportunities for violence and to just eat people), but they don't yearn for it.
    This was an easy read, and I faced none of the confusion I did with Solaris, although I still preferred that book. The ending of this book (despite a nice, bloody final battle) was just a bit too deus-ex-machina for me. In describing how the main characters escape certain death, Heinlein uses the word "luck" (or any of its derivatives) at least half a dozen times. They were lucky enough to be able to use the space pod. They were lucky that it was easy to pilot, despite none of them knowing really how to operate it. They were lucky to be close enough to land on a moon. And hey, they were sure as hell lucky that the moon they landed on was inhabitable.
    Besides the final ten-or-so pages (with all the awful treatment of women, and all that damn luck), this is a good, fast read. It's interesting, has some good action, some diverse mutant characters, and some religious/social commentary. I'm sure you could do far worse.

I'd suggest this book. If you are super-sensitive about characters (and most likely the author) subscribing to the ancient bullshit of women not being equal, perhaps you should pass.