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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Well written, interesting book. More of a slow burn than a fast paced thriller. One extra star for the quality of the translation from German. I deal with a lot of Germanglish at work, but this book never felt stilted or awkward syntactically.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Slavery, Religious bigotry
Moderate: Child death, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, War
Minor: Sexual harassment
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A story about the pursuit of power and, by extension, purpose itself.
Riveting from start to finish and left me awestruck by the end. I loved every word of it! Sci-fi at its finest.
Riveting from start to finish and left me awestruck by the end. I loved every word of it! Sci-fi at its finest.
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Few science-fiction works have the concentrated power to move as Andreas Eschbach’s The Carpet Makers. Few books in general do, for that matter. While The Carpet Makers is technically science fiction, it is a novel that addresses the wide variants of human nature, of the best and worst people can be capable of. It speaks to the depths of the meanings of religion and faith and truth, and to the danger and terror of absolute power. It is a novel whose messages and story will haunt after it is finished. It is an outstanding achievement, and one deserving of more attention internationally than it has gotten to this point. Eschbach is a truly gifted writer and student of human nature.
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/carpet-makers-clean-fiction-book-review/
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/carpet-makers-clean-fiction-book-review/
Very interesting book, a definite change of pace from the standard novels I tend to read. I truly enjoyed the "cut out" form of the book. Each chapter stood alone to some extent and was connected, loosely at best to the rest. Wrapped up well in the last chapter although I could have done without the epilogue.
I really enjoyed the progression from primitive world to massively advanced space faring setting, the characters and threads seemed true to their individual chapters and to the overall book.
, I also yearned for a bit more cohesiveness in the plot. I was drawn in and was always looking around the corner for the next tidbit of information but I never really cared about any of it. Happy that I read it but not entirely sure who I would recommend it to.
I really enjoyed the progression from primitive world to massively advanced space faring setting, the characters and threads seemed true to their individual chapters and to the overall book.
Spoiler
I didn't like every single chapter except the last ending on a negative note
This book has a weird premise, which is why I bought it to begin with. On a planet, there is an entire system set up around one produced good: Carpets. Carpet-Makers are the most honored members of society. They spend their entire lives making a carpet out of human hair. They use the hair of their wives and daughters. They’re the only people in society allowed to have multiple wives - so they can have multiple colors from those wives as well as producing more colors/hair through their daughters. They are allowed one son, to continue the carpet making tradition. They toil away at this task day and night, every day; the work is so intricate that it takes their entire lives to produce one carpet. When the carpet is completed, it is sold, and the price of that hair carpet sets up the next generation (no really, it’s enough money for the family to live off on their entire lives), with the son of the carpet maker marrying and starting his carpet, to toil at until his son is ready to marry and begin the cycle all over again. That is their entire lives. And the economy and society of the entire planet revolves around these precious hair carpets. This is how it has been for untold generations.
They make these carpets to honor their God-Emperor, or at least that’s what they believe/know to be true. These carpets are supposedly shipped off world to adorn the palace of this immortal emperor who has all power and has ruled for however-many millenia.
And then it all changes. And the mystery of the hair carpets is discovered.
This book was interesting - not just in the actual story, but the way it is told. It has amazing writing - each chapter is a short story (so the book is basically a series of short stories) with a one or two (or whatever) character/thread link carrying you from one to the next. It’s usually a pretty tenuous link, but the book is about the story, about human nature - not the characters themselves.
But even without the book being about the characters, most of the chapters encompass something about the main character from the story that is so strong and shocking that at the end of the chapter, I’m left with a “WTF/Whoa/OMG” moment. Some of these chapters just break my heart.
Actually, this whole book pretty much kills me. Eschbach gets more said, more done, more story told, and more emotions out of my gut in 10-15 pages than most authors can get in whole trilogies. It’s a very short book, and it covers a story that takes place over 80,000 years and it’s absolutely amazing.
They make these carpets to honor their God-Emperor, or at least that’s what they believe/know to be true. These carpets are supposedly shipped off world to adorn the palace of this immortal emperor who has all power and has ruled for however-many millenia.
And then it all changes. And the mystery of the hair carpets is discovered.
This book was interesting - not just in the actual story, but the way it is told. It has amazing writing - each chapter is a short story (so the book is basically a series of short stories) with a one or two (or whatever) character/thread link carrying you from one to the next. It’s usually a pretty tenuous link, but the book is about the story, about human nature - not the characters themselves.
But even without the book being about the characters, most of the chapters encompass something about the main character from the story that is so strong and shocking that at the end of the chapter, I’m left with a “WTF/Whoa/OMG” moment. Some of these chapters just break my heart.
Actually, this whole book pretty much kills me. Eschbach gets more said, more done, more story told, and more emotions out of my gut in 10-15 pages than most authors can get in whole trilogies. It’s a very short book, and it covers a story that takes place over 80,000 years and it’s absolutely amazing.