Reviews

Lady of Mazes by Karl Schroeder

ammen99's review

adventurous reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

sirlancelot2021's review

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

lizthedragon's review

3.0

The world was interesting, but the characters felt shallow or one dimensional. The plot didn't really feel like the characters had agency but instead like they were just reacting.

The full implications of the world outside the home planet didn't seem to be realized--lots of interesting ideas, but sometimes it seemed like the reality wasn't thought through. For instance, if everyone is always in a virtual reality, why are they wearing clothing in the non-virtual? How is their basic hygiene handled? How do they eat? Why aren't they all fat lumps? How do they actually procreate? Where do the resources actually come from?

squirrelfish's review

5.0

Interesting - when we conquer scarcity, and the need for work, what will we be like? How will we define ourselves and reality?

firecat's review

4.0

Take the philosophical musings of The Matrix ("but what is really real?"), multiply their complexity by 1000, throw in Facebook and Second Life, and set it in a universe full of constructed ring- or saucer-shaped human habitations á la Ringworld, and you might have something kind of like Lady of Mazes.

msjenne's review

2.0

Well, Schroeder finally breaks the streak. This could have been really cool, with its ideas about virtual realities and government-through-emergent-behavior.
Unfortunately, the 3 main characters were all dull and whiny.

icecreamemperor's review

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Between this and Ventus, I don't understand why Karl Schroeder isn't a lot better known. His other books are also great, but if I was going to try to get someone to understand what makes his writing so compelling, it would be Ventus followed by Lady of Mazes. (Chronologically they are in the other order, but they both stand alone just fine and he wrote Ventus first.)
I don't read as much sci fi as I used to, but as far as I can tell Schroeder's ability to combine tightly-plotted, character-driven space opera/fantasy with seemingly rock-hard post-scarcity sci fi is a massive outlier in the field. And it's not nitty-gritty hard sci fi, it's wildly speculative, conceptual worldbuilding that seemingly works at every level of scope — to the point that you barely even notice how good it is, until you've finished the book and have a moment to reflect.

aphrael's review

3.0

lovely but jard to pin down story. well written though sometimes slightly too in love with its own philosophy lectures. still some interesting points made about the future of humanity and its relation to technology, and the nature of reality. I enjoyed the extreme forward leap in time and the way different societies and politics were framed.

kake's review

DNF: The ideas are good, but it’s not as well written as I’d like. It feels like the author has everything very clear in his head, but hasn’t quite managed to get it all down on paper in a coherent way.

elusivity's review

4.0

Fascinating premise. However, this is definitely more of a "big idea" kinda book. You should not be reading it for well-encapsulated relationships and characters...