Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Exordia by Seth Dickinson

3 reviews

horchata's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book had some incredible highs and a low low or two. I was riveted for more than a week and was totally uninterested in listening to anything else. Such an intriguing premise, and the alien eating turtles in the pond in Central Park was striking from the start. I loved the idea of a universe organized by narrative rules. There’s so much there to explore.

A few other reviewers mentioned the math of it all, and they weren’t wrong! But Dickinson’s forays through said math were entirely followable; well-explained or otherwise handwaving the reader through anything more esoteric. What I could have used some more guidance on as a civilian?
The positions of everybody in those atmospheric nuclear firefights. I mean, I get that this is combat that breaks the rules of physics and then giggles as it pours salt on the slugs of all the minds trying to parse what’s going on, but man my little mind slug was innocent, and also not trained to understand callsigns and tactical shit. Mercy, sir. Also! For me, the ending felt like watching someone set up a big domino run and it getting almost to the end and then the soft and satisfying clicky noises stop as one of those dominoes falls out of line. So she was Evil evil all along?? We don’t get a narratively satisfying ending despite the entire cosmology of this book built around seven essentially divine narratives? I have to say I was really ready for some “humanity tells these kinds of stories, asshole!” moments near the end, and everyone failing was deeply unsatisfying rather than a delicious twist of despair. Oof.
 

I’d recommend this book to people whose brains go brrr at the idea of exploring existential doom through the frantic, stubborn brilliance of humans racing the clock to stop it. Mind those content warnings. But just gorgeous imagery (when coherent) and fun games with language and the scientific existence of souls and meta-narratives will grab me every time. Another one of those books, though, where I’d have loved to get the syllabus in advance to check which philosophers, scientists, military campaigns, mathematicians, and other novels from The Sci-Fi Canon with which I should familiarize myself in order to really enjoy its intelligent references all the more. Thank goodness I at least got all the memes.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sersi's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.25

This was a Book™️. A long book where I felt almost every bit of that length and a mix of things I love (morally murky characters! Homoerotic tension!) and things I don't (math). I loved a lot about the book (Clayton and Erik's entire insane toxic war criminal Steve/Tony vibes, the clarity of the numerous different pov character's voices, the world building), but I also felt like Anna, the ostensible sort of main character, sometimes got lost in the shuffle amidst all the other pov characters and, as a math hater, my eyes definitely started to glaze over during some of the many paragraphs about Math™️.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

aileron's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...