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obviousthings's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
This book is very well-executed on a technical level, but it's... very weird. I don't read a lot of hard sci-fi, though, and this is not the kind of book I tend to go for (the central themes mostly have to do with religion vs atheism, intelligent design vs evolution, biology vs individuality, stuff like that. Not my thing). Ultimately I found it interesting, but disturbing. Much of the book is permeated with a sense of unseen danger (if I could select "tense" from the list of moods twice, I would) & I would not recommend it to anyone else with anxiety problems.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Medical content
doorisajar's review against another edition
4.0
A sluggish start, but it builds up into something quite interesting, and less weird than Quarantine or Distress -- although still weird, in the way that only Egan is. The end is abrupt, but does wrap things up. Needlessly heavy-handed in its uniformly scathing treatment of the religious and the intellectuals of the arts community, but that's really my only criticism. Otherwise, a solid entry in Egan's impressive opus. I'd still start with Incandescence, but Teranesia is easily up there with Distress.
Like Egan in general, this is about as hard as hard SF gets. I like that a great deal, but others might not.
Like Egan in general, this is about as hard as hard SF gets. I like that a great deal, but others might not.
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