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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
Echopraxia is one of those novels that does not take you by the hand and lead you through it's ideas. It moves at a blinding pace, and expects you to keep up. Which, in my view, is a real shame.
The second part of Watts' Firefall series follows a little indirectly on from the first novel, Blindsight, which I thought was a pretty decent book. Set in the 2090s, the sequel follows Daniel Bruks, who apparently gets mixed up in the designs of hive-minded monks, a cunning vampire, and whatever the military is these days. From his desert camp to being stuck on The Crown of Thorns (for want of anything better to do), Bruks travels to a station orbiting the sun called Icarus, where the monks have reason to believe something other-worldly might have arrived.
What follows is a jagged, fast-paced romp that throws up questions of free will, transhumanism, and more than a bit of scientific jargon without a shred of explanation. My gut instinct was to see this as something good – a book that makes you work a little to fully appreciate it. But at the same time, I read it quickly, which is what the pace of the plot expects. This puts the reader in a tricky position: enjoy the story for what it is, or break the flow by trying to grapple with many complex and competing ideas.
Ultimately, the book fell very flat for me. Bruks is a puppet played by at least one of many 'unknowable' entities – the hive-minded monks, the super-intelligent vampires – which makes him essentially an agent-less protagonist. They're always a bit of a bore, once you scratch the surface. It also means that quite big decisions are made without much sense behind them (Bruks is told the thinking is well beyond him, which means it's also well beyond the reader). All of this left me deeply unsatisfied with the substance of the story. The fast pace was an effective gimmick, but once you stopped at thought about the whole thing it didn't seem to maintain its impact. I also just think the world that Watts is inviting us into here has so many interesting facets going on in the background and the stories he tells in these worlds aren't the most interesting ones he could have chosen.
The second part of Watts' Firefall series follows a little indirectly on from the first novel, Blindsight, which I thought was a pretty decent book. Set in the 2090s, the sequel follows Daniel Bruks, who apparently gets mixed up in the designs of hive-minded monks, a cunning vampire, and whatever the military is these days. From his desert camp to being stuck on The Crown of Thorns (for want of anything better to do), Bruks travels to a station orbiting the sun called Icarus, where the monks have reason to believe something other-worldly might have arrived.
What follows is a jagged, fast-paced romp that throws up questions of free will, transhumanism, and more than a bit of scientific jargon without a shred of explanation. My gut instinct was to see this as something good – a book that makes you work a little to fully appreciate it. But at the same time, I read it quickly, which is what the pace of the plot expects. This puts the reader in a tricky position: enjoy the story for what it is, or break the flow by trying to grapple with many complex and competing ideas.
Ultimately, the book fell very flat for me. Bruks is a puppet played by at least one of many 'unknowable' entities – the hive-minded monks, the super-intelligent vampires – which makes him essentially an agent-less protagonist. They're always a bit of a bore, once you scratch the surface. It also means that quite big decisions are made without much sense behind them (Bruks is told the thinking is well beyond him, which means it's also well beyond the reader). All of this left me deeply unsatisfied with the substance of the story. The fast pace was an effective gimmick, but once you stopped at thought about the whole thing it didn't seem to maintain its impact. I also just think the world that Watts is inviting us into here has so many interesting facets going on in the background and the stories he tells in these worlds aren't the most interesting ones he could have chosen.
Nowhere near as powerful as the first book, but well written and worthwhile.
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
An adventure about what it means to be human, if only by comparing baseline humanity with the all-but-definite opposite.
Puzzling at times, confusing at others, but eye opening at all times, this book will walk you though challenges and the tribulations of a small esoteric hivemind, it's companions, and one field biologist.
Puzzling at times, confusing at others, but eye opening at all times, this book will walk you though challenges and the tribulations of a small esoteric hivemind, it's companions, and one field biologist.
The exploration of transhumanism was very fun. The story was good, but not as riveting as Blindsight. I was a bit disappointed that the this book didn't continue where blindsight ended.
Very clever, but bit too wordy and preachy for me at times. One at times has to dig for the plot under the sleet of technojargon continually washing and washing over the prose
Two thirds of the book is boring filler; still has some good ideas/cool stuff in it, but you're paying full price for what basically is a short story.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not BAD…but not as disciplined or impactful (in terms of narrative & transmission of ideas) a book as Blindsight was. Still tarrying in some fascinating biological and technological possibilities, but it felt like—with all of Earth to contend with, rather than a story-universe primarily contained within a ship—Watts let the story get away from him.
This is not a mind-blowing novel, but a mind-big-bang one. Blindsight and Echopraxia are the best exploration of consciousness in the history of science-fiction literature.