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tani's review against another edition
4.0
This was a much harder read for me than Blindsight, and I'll admit that I didn't enjoy it nearly as much. Of course, I loved Blindsight, so that's a pretty high bar to set. And this book had enough to recommend it on its own terms. I do think that the biggest hindrance to me was character - I really loved Siri, the main character of Blindsight, pretty much upon meeting him. Bruks, the main character of Echopraxia, did not make nearly as favorable an impression. He grew on me, but it took a long time.
Another factor that I think affected my enjoyment was simple timing. This is a book that is extremely hard to read in small chunks. There's something about the writing and the world that I just needed a big chunk of time for. I had to sink into the world before I could really enjoy or comprehend it. Once I did that, it was great. But getting into it was often rough going.
There was still a lot to like about this book. It's a book built less of plot than of ideas, and I find those ideas fascinating. Every single time that the characters would get into a philosophical conversation, my interest would go way up. I love the ideas in this book and that the thoughts that they inspired in me. I find Watts's vision of this possible future absolutely fascinating, with its zombies and vampires and hive minds. That is a fantastic aspects of the book, and probably where I derived my strongest enjoyment.
I also love the element of horror that is woven into the books. I felt like it was less pronounced in Echopraxia than it was in Blindsight, but it still had some really good moments. The fear that Watts can inspire in me with just a simple idea, a single twist of a concept, is truly amazing. I can't really talk about that too deeply because it would too easily turn into spoilers, but it's not an experience that I get from very many books, so I'm impressed that Watts managed to instill that same fear into me in two consecutive books now.
I will say that there were times I almost wished Watts gave me less credit. If my attention wandered at all during this book, it would often be just in time to miss some critical point, resulting in some serious confusion until I picked back up on the thread of the plot. I could have used just a tad more redundancy to keep me centered in events. This was especially a problem if I hadn't read for a few days.
I recommend this if you're into hard scifi with a horror twist and a philosophical bent. Of course, if you'd asked me beforehand if I would into that kind of thing, I probably wouldn't have known. So let's just say that if you're looking for something both engrossing and different, you should give the Firefall series a try.
Another factor that I think affected my enjoyment was simple timing. This is a book that is extremely hard to read in small chunks. There's something about the writing and the world that I just needed a big chunk of time for. I had to sink into the world before I could really enjoy or comprehend it. Once I did that, it was great. But getting into it was often rough going.
There was still a lot to like about this book. It's a book built less of plot than of ideas, and I find those ideas fascinating. Every single time that the characters would get into a philosophical conversation, my interest would go way up. I love the ideas in this book and that the thoughts that they inspired in me. I find Watts's vision of this possible future absolutely fascinating, with its zombies and vampires and hive minds. That is a fantastic aspects of the book, and probably where I derived my strongest enjoyment.
I also love the element of horror that is woven into the books. I felt like it was less pronounced in Echopraxia than it was in Blindsight, but it still had some really good moments. The fear that Watts can inspire in me with just a simple idea, a single twist of a concept, is truly amazing. I can't really talk about that too deeply because it would too easily turn into spoilers, but it's not an experience that I get from very many books, so I'm impressed that Watts managed to instill that same fear into me in two consecutive books now.
I will say that there were times I almost wished Watts gave me less credit. If my attention wandered at all during this book, it would often be just in time to miss some critical point, resulting in some serious confusion until I picked back up on the thread of the plot. I could have used just a tad more redundancy to keep me centered in events. This was especially a problem if I hadn't read for a few days.
I recommend this if you're into hard scifi with a horror twist and a philosophical bent. Of course, if you'd asked me beforehand if I would into that kind of thing, I probably wouldn't have known. So let's just say that if you're looking for something both engrossing and different, you should give the Firefall series a try.
grafious's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
kit_fox's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
aleffert's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this book, but a lot of it was a rehash of Blindsight which is also a better book and available from the author for free. Seriously, read that, it's a hard gripping SF book about consciousness but also with a vampires. http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm
colepsmith42's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 Loved this book. The narrative is a little muddier than the first in the series, but the breadth of the ideas he's exploring is much wider, making it more poignant and obscure at the same time.
zimb0's review against another edition
4.0
What a strange, crazy read. A read filled with the reader wondering if they're missing something or if it is by the author's design. In the case of Echopraxia, the best comparison to Blindsight is found in the afterward pages. As Watts said in his Reddit AMA, this is more like a sidequel than a sequel. Same universe, linked characters but it is most certainly its own thing and attempts to pose its own questions to the reader; again, read the afterward to best understand the linkage here.
This wavers between a 4 and a 5 and in lieu of having half-stars, a 4 will do. This book is a masterwork in how the sciences are able to penetrate philosophy in today's day and age. Not mere armchair philosophy, but philosophy backed by theory and research in related fields. The characters are alive and breathing, all with their own tracks with each their own arch's, vendettas, and quests for knowledge. I highly recommend this novel to anyone missing the science fiction of days past, which concerned itself more with making the reader ponder a question. I'd even venture to say you need not have read Blindsight to delve into this, though, Watt's short-story "The Colonel" is a must, check it at Tor.com.
This wavers between a 4 and a 5 and in lieu of having half-stars, a 4 will do. This book is a masterwork in how the sciences are able to penetrate philosophy in today's day and age. Not mere armchair philosophy, but philosophy backed by theory and research in related fields. The characters are alive and breathing, all with their own tracks with each their own arch's, vendettas, and quests for knowledge. I highly recommend this novel to anyone missing the science fiction of days past, which concerned itself more with making the reader ponder a question. I'd even venture to say you need not have read Blindsight to delve into this, though, Watt's short-story "The Colonel" is a must, check it at Tor.com.
hagbard_celine's review against another edition
3.0
Man, i was not paying nearly enough attention to this book, but it was still fun. I think i've got ~75% of what happened down.
benlundns's review against another edition
3.0
Ummm, okay, that was a book. Interesting in parts, confusing in most of it. Scary in about half of it. The books leaves you with more questions than you start with, and I'm not sure I want to know the answers. The endnotes on the edition I had helped a little bit, but this is Hard science fiction, and there seems to be science behind it, but I guess I prefer my literature a little more escapist.
emnii's review against another edition
5.0
Echopraxia sounds like it's the start of a bad sci-fi TV series. What happens when you put hibernating monotheistic monks, an acolyte, a pilot, a military officer, a biologist, a vampire, and a small army of zombies on a space ship heading for the sun? Not wacky hijinks, as TV would tell us, but something much, much better.
Echopraxia follows Daniel Brüks, a so-called baseline human for being non-augmented in a time where everyone is augmented, in the role of the main character and the biologist in this crew. Daniel gets swept up in an attack on a Bicameral Order monastery and winds up on the Crown of Thorns, a Bicam ship headed for a platform close to the sun. How he ended up on the ship, what his role is, and what their mission was to begin with is all revealed in a more or less break-neck pace.
The story moves rather fast but not at the expense of approaching some topics of excellent discussion. The Bicameral Order practice science with faith. They're posthumans trying to find God. Heaven is also a place, and you can talk to people there. Brüks is a skeptic, and his discussions with the acolyte Lianna touch on the importance of faith and the role of God in a posthuman world. The pilot seemingly hates him, and the colonel takes him under his wing, but both of them are on the ship with their own motives.
And then there's Valerie. Valerie, the vampire. You see, science resurrected vampires, and they're even more lethal than most stories portray. They're so dangerous that they're normally kept contained and separate from each other because of the threat they pose to everyone else. She's got the classic vulnerability to crosses, but she's leaner, smarter, faster, and stronger than anyone else on the ship. She's rivaled only by her zombie bodyguards. They're not the shambling type, but the mindless, strong, hard to kill type. She's obviously the wild card of the crew and she's the most intriguing character among them.
The mystery of how the crew was assembled and what their mission is is the central conceit, and it's fantastic. Everyone has their own motives for being there, except Brüks, but even he has a purpose. The way Watts pulls the crew together and then jams wedges between them is excellent. There is a constant feeling of building tension as the crew learn more about each other, and it's extremely satisfying when everything pops.
If I have one complaint, and it's incredibly minor if you're a fan of hard sci-fi, it is that it is sprinkled with technical jargon. However, even if you don't grasp it all (I'm no biologist, so I didn't), it conveys enough to get the gist. It doesn't necessarily detract from the story, but it will give cause to slow down a it.
Slowing down, though, is hard. Echopraxia moves swiftly and doesn't let up once it gets started. It's very hard to put down because of the intricate relationships of the crew. Though it's the second part of a series, it doesn't suffer from "middle of a story" problems, but it did make me want to go back the first part. It's the kind of story that asks a lot of questions, answers most of them, but left me thinking about it long after I finished it. It's excellent.
Echopraxia follows Daniel Brüks, a so-called baseline human for being non-augmented in a time where everyone is augmented, in the role of the main character and the biologist in this crew. Daniel gets swept up in an attack on a Bicameral Order monastery and winds up on the Crown of Thorns, a Bicam ship headed for a platform close to the sun. How he ended up on the ship, what his role is, and what their mission was to begin with is all revealed in a more or less break-neck pace.
The story moves rather fast but not at the expense of approaching some topics of excellent discussion. The Bicameral Order practice science with faith. They're posthumans trying to find God. Heaven is also a place, and you can talk to people there. Brüks is a skeptic, and his discussions with the acolyte Lianna touch on the importance of faith and the role of God in a posthuman world. The pilot seemingly hates him, and the colonel takes him under his wing, but both of them are on the ship with their own motives.
And then there's Valerie. Valerie, the vampire. You see, science resurrected vampires, and they're even more lethal than most stories portray. They're so dangerous that they're normally kept contained and separate from each other because of the threat they pose to everyone else. She's got the classic vulnerability to crosses, but she's leaner, smarter, faster, and stronger than anyone else on the ship. She's rivaled only by her zombie bodyguards. They're not the shambling type, but the mindless, strong, hard to kill type. She's obviously the wild card of the crew and she's the most intriguing character among them.
The mystery of how the crew was assembled and what their mission is is the central conceit, and it's fantastic. Everyone has their own motives for being there, except Brüks, but even he has a purpose. The way Watts pulls the crew together and then jams wedges between them is excellent. There is a constant feeling of building tension as the crew learn more about each other, and it's extremely satisfying when everything pops.
If I have one complaint, and it's incredibly minor if you're a fan of hard sci-fi, it is that it is sprinkled with technical jargon. However, even if you don't grasp it all (I'm no biologist, so I didn't), it conveys enough to get the gist. It doesn't necessarily detract from the story, but it will give cause to slow down a it.
Slowing down, though, is hard. Echopraxia moves swiftly and doesn't let up once it gets started. It's very hard to put down because of the intricate relationships of the crew. Though it's the second part of a series, it doesn't suffer from "middle of a story" problems, but it did make me want to go back the first part. It's the kind of story that asks a lot of questions, answers most of them, but left me thinking about it long after I finished it. It's excellent.