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incrediblemelk's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow, what an amazing book! It was so rich in ideas, in the sweep of history but in the intimate connections between people.
It took me a while to read because I had it on my phone as an ebook, and would read it when I was out of the house, so I never really settled into bingeing it. But it's not really a bingeable book – it's too conceptually rich for that.
It's an alternate history novel inspired by the Buddhist Eightfold Path. I found it in some list of #AlternateHistory novels and I was intrigued by the premise: "what if the Black Death completely wiped out Europe, leaving the rest of the world to dominate?"
And it seems to me that Buddhism attempts to reconcile the 'cyclical' versus 'teleological' understanding of the past: that humankind desires the same things and makes the same mistakes over and over, yet it's also possible to learn from these mistakes and to move through history on a morally progressive trajectory
It took me a while to read because I had it on my phone as an ebook, and would read it when I was out of the house, so I never really settled into bingeing it. But it's not really a bingeable book – it's too conceptually rich for that.
It's an alternate history novel inspired by the Buddhist Eightfold Path. I found it in some list of #AlternateHistory novels and I was intrigued by the premise: "what if the Black Death completely wiped out Europe, leaving the rest of the world to dominate?"
And it seems to me that Buddhism attempts to reconcile the 'cyclical' versus 'teleological' understanding of the past: that humankind desires the same things and makes the same mistakes over and over, yet it's also possible to learn from these mistakes and to move through history on a morally progressive trajectory
(I have not read much about Buddhism; I'm just going on the way the novel characterises it)
The general shape of history as we know it was still visible – the discovery and conquest of the Americas; total world war; the splitting of the atom; the invention of electricity, steam travel, aviation, radiocarbon dating; the rise of communism in China – but spearheaded and named by different powers.
It was so satisfyingly detailed about the cultures, religions and daily lives of different times and places; it feels like a lot of research went into it. As I've posted here before, I found myself looking up things I read in the book in Wikipedia, and wishing I knew when in 'our' timeline particular events were taking place.
Walking down the street one night after reading this book over dinner, I was seized by the thought of how huge and marvellous the world is: so much to learn and understand about nature, all the peoples, their works. I felt very small as I realised I will never understand even a tiny bit of the world, much less become a future role model for anyone.
Walking down the street one night after reading this book over dinner, I was seized by the thought of how huge and marvellous the world is: so much to learn and understand about nature, all the peoples, their works. I felt very small as I realised I will never understand even a tiny bit of the world, much less become a future role model for anyone.
Now, having just finished, I have that overwhelmed feeling I get when I've just finished reading a really great book, or watching a really great movie or TV series: of being simultaneously moved in an emotional way, but also intellectually engaged and challenged. Feeling the expanse of time, and the valiant effort of human thought to answer the big questions of the world.
What a book! Five stars – I loved it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexism, War, Religious bigotry, Slavery, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Child death, Classism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Police brutality, Racism, and Colonisation
unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It took me more than a month to finish this book, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, it is ambitious and expansive and absolutely unique. On the other, reading it became a total chore. I wanted to finish it but I didn’t feel like the story gave me much reason to. The premise is so cool - what would happen if the Black Plague killed 99% of Europe instead 1/3? From there we get 700 years of alternate history where China, Dar al-Islam and India (known as Travancore) end up battling for world domination, and the dominant world religions become Buddhism and Islam.
This book is broken into 10 sub-books, each written in a different style and featuring reincarnations of the same souls, each time sharing the same first letters. The main characters are the K-, B-, and I- souls, each represented not only by their name but also a core personality. B- is a loving dreamer, an idealist who wants to bring positivity and gentleness to the world. K- is an iconoclast who is often in charge of things but never happy with the way things are. I- is an intellectual, sometimes an academic, others a scientist.
Some of the sub-books were propulsive and interesting, while others were painfully dry. To me, although the characters showed up repeatedly, they never seemed to change or improve. And even though A LOT HAPPENED, I was often bored. This was not at all what I expected for a plague novel and I can’t say that I would recommend it.
I listened to about half of this book on audio and the narration by Bronson Pinchot was absolutely excellent. He was able to make the characters much more realistic and exciting than me reading them to myself. If you do take this one on, please check the CW in the comments as it is graphic and includes basically all manner of human violence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, War, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts
commander_zander's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
More fast paced than its page count suggests. Fascinating. Semi-joking description: Cloud Atlas meets The Good Place.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Islamophobia
Moderate: Racism, Confinement, Slavery, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Drug use, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma
Also various types of harm appear in the context of historical eunuch communities
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