Druuna: Carnivora
Another part of the Druuna saga, a story cycle that runs in place, never really going anywhere because time and place have no meaning in the Druunaverse. We’re told that Druuna’s boyfriend Shastar has become pure energy and his mind integrated with the ship’s computer, within which he is joined with the ship’s captain, Lewis. But they can both still make themselves manifest either through dreams or virtual reality. Meanwhile the monsters are proliferating and creating “replicants” of the crew members: exact doubles who don’t even seem to know that they are replicants. Well, some of the time they do, but most of the time they don’t. So Druuna doesn’t even know if she’s a replicant. In her human form she’s something special, not quite a sub- or ur-human “prolet,” but also something different from the more civilized crew members. More civilized, I think, mainly because they wear more clothes. Druuna doesn’t like wearing clothes. Or maybe she does but just often finds herself without any.
There’s sex. And violence. And sexual violence. And various attempts, all futile, to explain what’s going on. I love how Shastar actually tries to draw a diagram to show Druuna what’s happening . . . and it’s of no use at all. As near as I can figure it, there are two dimensions, one good the other evil, and the ship has come up to the boundary between them and the monsters are spilling over from the evil dimension and contaminating our own. At the end the character of Doc figures out some way to go back in time and avoid all this. Or maybe he doesn’t and it’s a dream and they’re all replicants now. I couldn’t tell you.
You just have to learn to let go with Druuna. It’s not meant to make sense. Judged against the other books in the series I’d probably rate Carnivora near the bottom because there’s more talk and less coherence than usual. Even the minimal structure of the hero’s journey is dropped, as it’s not clear if Druuna is actually on her way anywhere or has any particular mission. I barked out a laugh when, after talking to Shastar (or his avatar) she says she has to return to the ship’s crew to pass on the message that they’re in danger. As if they hadn’t figured that out! Most of them have already been killed and eaten! But if you’re a fan then none of this really matters. Nor, I would argue, is the sex all that important. You’re just here for the crazy.
Postscript: My hardcover edition of this book is basically in mint condition. When I last checked there was only one for sale, used, on Amazon for $545. If I just hold on to mine for another thirty years I’ll be rich.
Alex Good 
In 30 years, only nft’s of this book will be valuable. Skynet has no use for paper 😉
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Drats! Another get-rich-quick scheme foiled. Back to lottery tickets I guess.
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Well, no one has won the Powerball here in the States, so it’s up to 1.7billion. That should be enough for you, right?
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That’s insane. The LottoMax here is our largest lottery and it’s capped at $80 million, which is what it’s at now.
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Even if you take the cash payout, it is about 800 million. Then 40% taxes, so still, around 500million.
I don’t think I could handle that much money.
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Yeah, no taxes on lottery winnings up here, so you’d get to keep the full $80 million. But I agree in that I doubt that kind of money is actually good for anybody. Not saying it’s a problem I wouldn’t want to have.
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yep, if i “had” to have one big problem, I sure would like to try winning the lottery on for size 😀
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💰💰💰💰😀
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first thing I’d do is buy out every single owner in our condo association and kick everyone out. Then I’d tear down all the buildings and build my own little McMansion.
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wouldn’t it be less hassle just to buy a plot of land somewhere nice and build your McMansion there, less expensive too!
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It might. But the point of doing it my way is all about power.
See, that is one concrete example of how money changes people 😀
Like I said, I don’t think I could handle that much money…
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So what your sayin’is you’re only a good person because you don’t have enough money to be bad? 🤣🤣
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Kind of? More like that that much money corrupts.
much like the verse from the book of Proverbs, which goes:
“Give me neither poverty nor riches; give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may be too poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God”
Don’t get me wrong, there are people who can handle that kind of money and money itself isn’t evil. But they are few and far between.
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I think I’d be brilliant at it! 👸😁
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Hahahahahaa! Well, if you wire me all your money, I can buy you a bunch of tickets. They’re only $2 a ticket 😉
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Hmm, you know we have the same thing here- National Lottery. I forget to buy a ticket mostly 🙄
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Do you folks have an upper limit like Alex does in Canada?
I only buy 1 ticket when our lottery reaches 1billion, then one more ticket at each 0.5billion bump up. So I’ve bought 1 ticket when it hit one billion and I’ll probably buy one more for this one.
the biggest it has ever gotten was 2.2 billion and at that point, rich people with serious money get involved by buying thousands+ of tickets.
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There is no upper limit, but there is a maximum of 5 roll-overs, so if no-one wins the main prize that week it adds to next weeks prize x 5. I no one wins on the 5th the entire jackpot prize fund is shared among winners in the next prize category where there is at least one winner e.g people who got 5 numbers right instead of the 6. Hope that makes sense.
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That does make sense. And it seems like a nice system. That way somebody is always winning every month or two, instead of like here where it has gone for many months with no winner.
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That’s mad, so just one person ends up with billions? Sounds good until you realise the amount of hassle that much would cause you.
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Yep. There’s a reason most lottery winners end up poor again within a decade.
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This is sort of like what happens with ours. After it hits $80 million they just offer more $1 million prizes for the same draw.
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It’s fairer that way I think.
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Also that’s annoying about the rich people buying up thousands of tickets, if they’re that rich why do they need to??
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Like I said earlier, most people can’t handle money. And at some point, having more of the stuff becomes the point 😦
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I can see you’ve put a lot of thought into this, Booky. That preparedness will be handy when you come into your indecent wealth. Just don’t forget all us little people.
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Well, since I know I’ll never win, I can at least enjoy the process of pretending 😀
And I do know how I’d actually handle things. Lawyer up and get a Trust going so nobody can steal it from us, not even us.
Then about 90% would go to annual charities and we’d just live off the interest. There’d be no boats or condo smashings, no matter how fun it might sound, hahahaha 😀
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Yeah I definitely wouldn’t buy a boat. Or even a car. Probably just spend it on more books . . .
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