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jasonfurman's review against another edition
5.0
Best book of 2016, so far. Septimania is erudite but also smoothly written, intricately plotted but not complicated, and a complete pleasure from the first page to the last. While it has much of the character of a time/continent/genre hopping novel by the likes of David Mitchell, it is also a linear narrative with historical interludes that tells the story of a Trinity College Cambridge grad student who is failing out of the physics program who meets his soulmate of a woman and spends a brief moment with her in Cambridge before she is whisked away. He sees here again, briefly in Rome, seven months later when she is about to give birth to their child and he is about to become the King of Septimania, a secret Kingdom, a role that makes him heir to both King David and Charlamagne. He spends the rest of the book following up on his obsession with Isaac Newton, looking for the woman and colliding with 9/11 in New York. The novel has a small number of characters with an intimate feel but also an epic that spans decades--and even centuries--while telling a secret understory to the world we live in, but one that is not fantasy or even really historical fiction. And all of this is interspersed with discussions of physics, math, music, and more--none of which are digressive or showy.
sheeprustler's review
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
dmendels's review
4.0
Wow. Amazingly ambitious. Music, Math, Physics, love, the Kind of the Jews, the 1001 Arabian Knights, Dante, Rome, Cambridge, 9/11 woven into a unified quest. Felt my own inadequacy to comprehend some of his many angles, but appreciated the journey nonetheless. Great book.
borisfeldman's review
4.0
It would have been a 5 had I understood what was going on....
An important, engaging book on the history of the Jewish state of Septimania in the South of France, around 700. This really happened. http://www.jewishmag.com/175mag/septimania_jewish_kingdom/septimania_jewish_kingdom.htm
This novel is worth reading but requires some effort to follow.
An important, engaging book on the history of the Jewish state of Septimania in the South of France, around 700. This really happened. http://www.jewishmag.com/175mag/septimania_jewish_kingdom/septimania_jewish_kingdom.htm
This novel is worth reading but requires some effort to follow.
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