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hamspamdamere's review against another edition
4.0
A twisting dance as six stories entwine in the heart of near future Istanbul. The old world and the ultra new, the ancient and the nascent future whirl together around the old Dervish House in Adem Dede Square.
Heat struck Istanbul, at once archaic and enigmatic then industrial and grimy, but also thrusting and modern, the palpitating heart of new European future Turkey, the crossroads of East and West, makes a fascinating and atmospheric setting as the stories spiral ever faster around each other and around the Dervish House.
The young Turk financier an Ultralord of the Universe, his wife the purveyor of antique and holy art. The old Greek economist, the grandson he never had a fragile but inquisitive and brilliant boy in a cloistered world. A sociopath rescued by his Islamist brother and his sect of street judges. The family girl from the countryside pushing her way ahead in the frenetic business world of the city with her extended family and their bleeding edge nano tech brainchild. All their stories interweave twist and sway together, touching each other holding on then whirling off again, spinning to individual climax and a collective crescendo that leaves the dancers breathless as the heatwave breaks and the sun sets over the Bosphorous and peace descends over the Queen of Cities.
This is a wonderful mix of story and atmosphere, characters and ideas, relationships and politics, history and the future, the big and the small, but never losing the human scale of love, loss and desire. This is Science Fiction because of the future politics and yet to be born technology, but it is beautiful storytelling whatever the genre.
Heat struck Istanbul, at once archaic and enigmatic then industrial and grimy, but also thrusting and modern, the palpitating heart of new European future Turkey, the crossroads of East and West, makes a fascinating and atmospheric setting as the stories spiral ever faster around each other and around the Dervish House.
The young Turk financier an Ultralord of the Universe, his wife the purveyor of antique and holy art. The old Greek economist, the grandson he never had a fragile but inquisitive and brilliant boy in a cloistered world. A sociopath rescued by his Islamist brother and his sect of street judges. The family girl from the countryside pushing her way ahead in the frenetic business world of the city with her extended family and their bleeding edge nano tech brainchild. All their stories interweave twist and sway together, touching each other holding on then whirling off again, spinning to individual climax and a collective crescendo that leaves the dancers breathless as the heatwave breaks and the sun sets over the Bosphorous and peace descends over the Queen of Cities.
This is a wonderful mix of story and atmosphere, characters and ideas, relationships and politics, history and the future, the big and the small, but never losing the human scale of love, loss and desire. This is Science Fiction because of the future politics and yet to be born technology, but it is beautiful storytelling whatever the genre.
wordsfromvictoria's review against another edition
4.0
My favourite genre meets one of my favourite cities: Istanbul. Imagine a future where Turkey has finally acceded to the European Union and everyone is snorting performance-enhancing nanobots before they cut a deal. A gallery owner is given an Indiana Jones style mission to recover a legendary artifact, the Mellified Man: a corpse preserved in honey. Four "masters of the universe" plan a killing on the commodities market. Two brothers squat in an old dervish tekkes and implement their own brand of sharia law. A school boy with over-protective parents lives his life vicariously through his pet shape-shifting nano-bot.
It's always a pleasure to read something set where you've been and encounter familiar places and the author's research is evident. Some readers seem to have criticised the novel for being over long but I was enjoying the rich setting and background detail too much to notice.
Recommended for lovers of the Orient and science fiction.
It's always a pleasure to read something set where you've been and encounter familiar places and the author's research is evident. Some readers seem to have criticised the novel for being over long but I was enjoying the rich setting and background detail too much to notice.
Recommended for lovers of the Orient and science fiction.
whami's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Yet another Ian McDonald book is a 5-star read for me, even though it is something I normally wouldn't enjoy.
McDonald has a knack for writing books that are everything I normally hate (slow uneven pacing, not much happening, way too much time spent describing the background and scenery, etc.) but I end up loving. This wasn't quite as good as Hopeland, but still an excellent read.
McDonald has a knack for writing books that are everything I normally hate (slow uneven pacing, not much happening, way too much time spent describing the background and scenery, etc.) but I end up loving. This wasn't quite as good as Hopeland, but still an excellent read.
ted_funsten's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed the characters, particularly Ayse Erkoc, Georgios Ferentinou and Can Durukan, and the atmosphere. The book gave a convincing picture of Istanbul, portraying a deep history, location between Europe and Asia, role as a melting pot for Turkey and the region. There are Muslim and Christian characters, and all seem well described.
The only thing that bothered me about the book were some of the elements of the plot that seemed makeshift. To examine them is to get into spoilers.
But the characters don't refer to, or even acknowledge, the question of how that information could be accessed quickly enough to be useful. A tiny, molecule-scale machine navigating over strands of DNA, does not sound like part of a storage device that could have anything close to the speed of a hard drive. There are other questions. How would the machines know where they could write the data without damaging DNA data the cells need. Where would information on location of data be stored. How would the information between cells. RAM and processor work.
There might be solutions - multiple nanomachines, the equivalent of RAM, systems that would figure out what data to fetch in advance, but there's no mention of any of that. I don't know details of comparative speed between a hard drive and nanomachines, if anf when ... But the whole thing seemed like an imaginary technology that wasn't credible.
One other element that wasn't credible. Ayse Erkoc is eventually arrested and the charges seem ridiculously excessive. In the U.S., the arrest would clearly be the result of entrapment. Sure, Turkish law would be different, but I still found it hard to believe the charges against her would have gone anywhere.
I listened to the audio version of the book read by Jonathan Davis, and enjoyed the reading. Davis conveyed a beauty in the sound and rhythm of the Turkish names. The different tones of voice he used for different characters was very effective.
The only thing that bothered me about the book were some of the elements of the plot that seemed makeshift. To examine them is to get into spoilers.
Spoiler
A key technological factor in one important subplot is a nanotech advance that suggests tiny machines capable of rewriting unused segments of DNA within individual cells of a body to store data. The characters suggest there would be enough room to store things like all the published books in the world in only a small part of the body, and to record all of a person's experiences, an entire life. From there, characters suggest you could have all the information needed for a profession, techniques, data like all the case law a lawyer could ever need, available in a usable form. So you could suddenly have the training to pursue a profession, or access the case law while working on a legal project.But the characters don't refer to, or even acknowledge, the question of how that information could be accessed quickly enough to be useful. A tiny, molecule-scale machine navigating over strands of DNA, does not sound like part of a storage device that could have anything close to the speed of a hard drive. There are other questions. How would the machines know where they could write the data without damaging DNA data the cells need. Where would information on location of data be stored. How would the information between cells. RAM and processor work.
There might be solutions - multiple nanomachines, the equivalent of RAM, systems that would figure out what data to fetch in advance, but there's no mention of any of that. I don't know details of comparative speed between a hard drive and nanomachines, if anf when ... But the whole thing seemed like an imaginary technology that wasn't credible.
One other element that wasn't credible. Ayse Erkoc is eventually arrested and the charges seem ridiculously excessive. In the U.S., the arrest would clearly be the result of entrapment. Sure, Turkish law would be different, but I still found it hard to believe the charges against her would have gone anywhere.
I listened to the audio version of the book read by Jonathan Davis, and enjoyed the reading. Davis conveyed a beauty in the sound and rhythm of the Turkish names. The different tones of voice he used for different characters was very effective.
kleonard's review against another edition
3.0
Cool cross-cultural stories including some mysteries, some spying, some romance, and some history all come together in modern-day Turkey.
drknightingale's review against another edition
3.0
The really impressive thing about this book is the description of the setting. William Gibson once said that all science fiction is really about place, and with that in mind The Dervish House is incredibly well described. There is a flavor to the city that makes you want to explore it on your own...preferably armed. But what didn't hold my attention was most of the characters. I enjoyed the exploits of the young functionally deaf detective with his nano-bot toys, and the retired psychological economist trying to prove to the world that he is still useful, and the young woman searching for a mellified man, but there are other main characters in this book that I just found distracting and annoying. It all came together well in the end, and it was well written, but I found myself bored through a lot of it mainly because I just couldn't get myself to care about many of the major plot twists and characters.
placentajuan's review against another edition
Bored, not in the mood for its complexity
sgerner's review against another edition
5.0
The "The Da Vinci Code" meets Turkey, the near-future, a better plot, better writing, and far better character development. Excellent read!
erkefiende's review against another edition
4.0
Quite captivating. The first of his I've read, and a wonderful surprise. Beautiful portrait of Istanbul.