This was as tasty as a strawberry treat for a sturdy, steady mount.I could nitpick and perhaps find technical flaws with this novel, or complain about some of the vagueness and abrupt changes to the personality of certain characters near the ending, but I simply enjoyed this utterly weird little gem of a story so much that it gets full marks.I see others also complain about our protagonist, that he is bland, unexciting and uninteresting to follow because he is largely oblivious to the world arou...

Its just kind of standard young adult sci fi

Such a funny little book. I bought the book partly because of the cover. I was expecting something more grim. Also, I'm labeling this one as YA, even though the publisher hasn't designated it that way. It would be excellent for someone learning English, or who struggles with reading. The story is told from the point-of-view of a pre-teen human "mount." And no, not "mount" in a pervvy way! Imagine humans as a cross between a horse and a slave, and little alien creatures are perfectly physiologica...

It doesn’t take much guess-work to figure out how this wound up on my TBR pile. It’s a rather obvious allegory for animal rights, although instead of apes enslaving people like in Planet of the Apes, it’s an alien species with cat-like ears and weak legs enslaving humans. The concept is a good one, but the execution fell short for me, which is sad, because I wanted to love it.The structure of the book is problematic. The first chapter is from the perspective of an entirely random Hoot who we nev...

At first, I hated this book, and even to the end I had to work to get past the premise. The book takes places on earth in a future where a small but highly intellegent race of alines (Hoots) have conquered and enslaved humanity. They use and treat humans exactly as we use horses -- the Hoots ride their Mounts by sitting on their shoulders, fitting the humans with bits, keeping them in stalls, feeding them apples and other fruit, and racing them for entertainment. This plays out as the least subt...

I read this book because it promised to play out a recurring daydream of mine. It was somewhat satisfying in that regard, but the same concept could have gotten a much more sophisticated treatment by a better writer, or maybe if written from a different perspective. The daydream/plot: What would happen if advanced aliens invaded or captured us and made us their beasts of burden and/or pets like we've done to horses, and there was nothing we could do about it because they were as much more advanc...

When I began reading this story of an alien race that has not just conquered us, but turned us into their personal mounts, I expected a heavy-handed metaphor about slavery and social dynamics. What I got instead was part allegory, but also a fully-realized SF world, complete with intricate mechanisms by which an alien invader managed to tame us as a species.The most surprising and pleasant part of The Mount is how thorough the author is with her explanation of how humans could become mounts to a...

Beautiful and strange, full of longing, heartache, and aliens, as all young adult fiction should be.

Hundreds of years ago, diminutive aliens, the Hoots, conquered Earth. Some humans are free, but most are slaves. Those treated the best are the ones chosen as mounts, constantly feeling a Hoot's weight on their shoulders, trained for races or exhibition, treated like pets and friends... but slaves nonetheless. Young Charley is one of these mounts, serving the Hoots' future leader, and when Charley's father, a leader of the human rebellion, frees him, he's not all that happy about it. Who, after

Emshwiller clearly likes conflating animals with people . . . one of her early works, "Carmen Dog" features a scenario where women turn into animal and vice versa and done properly that kind of thing can come across as a finely tuned metaphor (much like Ionesco's absurdist play "Rhinoceros") and done poorly will probably be like one of those low budget werewolf movies they tend to show at midnight cinemas. Here, she takes a situation where people become a certain kind of animal, and yet makes it...

When I finished this book, I picked up another to read, and just couldn't do it. The "message" in this book is really strong and it takes a bit to digest. Even better, I don't think there is a single message. This short book was written brilliantly, so you can see whatever you want in the relationships.This story takes place in some future or alternate timeline. Through whatever means, there are aliens living on earth. Emshwiller did a fantastic job describing, not so much what they look like (s...

This book is unique. It leaves some unanswered questions but it's a good and interesting read.

You know a book is not for you when every time to try to read it you fall asleep.I got to the end and am ready for book club.

An amazing book - the best sort of sci-fi fable that refuses to go where I kept thinking it had to. Must read for anyone who loves a riveting quick read that has the depth to keep you thinking long after you've blazed through it.

white people should not be allowed to write fantasy oppression stories ever again. "handmaid's tale", "planet of the apes", whatever the fuck was going on with "harry potter", enough. i'm tired of it, other poc are tired of it, jews are tired of it. enough. there aren't enough allegories in the world for me to make sense of whatever oppression fantasy this was supposed to be. little monkey people with big ass hands took over the entire human race? like...are you deadass? if the antagonists had a...

You weakling humans.Who are we to proclaim the rights of the oppressed, when we oppress others? Who are we to condemn slavery when we still allow slavery to occur? Who are we to demand liberty while we still remove the freedoms of others? Why can't we all just get along? This is the essence of the allegory that is "The Mount". A noble and thought provoking message all wrapped up inside a mild science fiction novella.Emshwiller starts off with an original and imaginative alien invasion story whi

Color me unimpressed.There were times it was good, but never very good, and the book's avant garde purpose remains unclear.The basic question that drove her, "What it would be like if a smart prey animal rode a predator?" isn't really answered. There are certainly some interesting problems in depicting the sociology and psychology of what an intelligent prey animal might be like, but there's no good reason for the choices she made. For example, are prey always "nice", as the Hoots are depicted?

A science fiction book like no other I’ve ever read. Emshwiller has a unique style. Loved it. Highly recommended

...The Mount is clearly a science fiction novel but the focus is very much on psychology. The alien invasion is not the center of the story, there are no epic space battles or explorations of strange alien cultures. Readers looking for that type of science fiction will be disappointed. The novel is something of an allegory for slavery or oppression and can be interpreted or applied to many different situations. Some reviewers have suggested it comments on the way we treat animals ourselves for i...

I read this for a Goodreads book club. I did not vote for it, but I’m so glad that it won. It’s a very, very fast read. I inhaled it over 2 days, and today, the day I finished it, is our last dry day for at least a week, but rather than enjoy the outdoors, I couldn’t tear myself away from this book.It’s published as an adult book but I think it would be perfect for high school classroom reading too; it reads very much like a young adult book and its main protagonist is a young person.This book m...