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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A bleak and challenging outlook on humanity. To say this was a difficult read is an understatement, I think I understood Dune more. Still, I am glad I finally got around to reading this book.
It's definitely not for everyone as there is a much bigger focus on the narrative and science than the characters. Aside from Ye Wenjie and Da Shi, everyone else comes off as stale and cold with very little growth, if any. The author has gone on to say the characters were never meant to be the focus of this story, but the matter stands.
The book also spends way much time on the VR video game aspect. I understand the point of the game, but I'm personally not a fan of the 'getting sucked into a video game, and everything about it feels so real in more ways than one!' concept, so it felt like a massive chore reading through these sections. To make things worse, the game takes up so much of the story that by the time its over, you're past the half-way point. As a result, the book's third act goes by at lightning speed with little build-up to everything .
Finally, everything comes to a screeching halt to explain history, mechanics, and how physics work 90% of the time. While it was all interesting to read about at first, and to be fair some of it was needed to understand what is going on, it got tedious and detracted from the story real quick.
Despite all these issues, it is easy to see why this first book in the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy is held in such high regard. The ideas are fascinating, the imagination is mind-blowing, the themes have you asking difficult questions, and despite the book's mystery being revealed right there in the synopsis, the build-up to it was mostly well done. And despite the looming dread, horrors, depressing truths, and seemingly hopeless outcomes, there is a tiny glimmer of hope at the very end.
It's definitely not for everyone as there is a much bigger focus on the narrative and science than the characters. Aside from Ye Wenjie and Da Shi, everyone else comes off as stale and cold with very little growth, if any. The author has gone on to say the characters were never meant to be the focus of this story, but the matter stands.
The book also spends way much time on the VR video game aspect. I understand the point of the game, but I'm personally not a fan of the 'getting sucked into a video game, and everything about it feels so real in more ways than one!' concept, so it felt like a massive chore reading through these sections. To make things worse, the game takes up so much of the story that by the time its over, you're past the half-way point. As a result, the book's third act goes by at lightning speed with little build-up to everything .
Finally, everything comes to a screeching halt to explain history, mechanics, and how physics work 90% of the time. While it was all interesting to read about at first, and to be fair some of it was needed to understand what is going on, it got tedious and detracted from the story real quick.
Despite all these issues, it is easy to see why this first book in the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy is held in such high regard. The ideas are fascinating, the imagination is mind-blowing, the themes have you asking difficult questions, and despite the book's mystery being revealed right there in the synopsis, the build-up to it was mostly well done. And despite the looming dread, horrors, depressing truths, and seemingly hopeless outcomes, there is a tiny glimmer of hope at the very end.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The parts about the cultural revolution ended up interesting me the most, as the science-fiction was often quite slow and hand-holdy.
I read this ahead of the new TV show. I enjoyed it but when the science gets heavy then it's really heavy so some of it was a slog.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No