Scan barcode
c3rr's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
mschlat's review against another edition
3.0
When I read Peter Watts's books, I feel like I'm engaged in graduate level science fiction. There's the appendix at the end with academic citations explaining the science. There's the philosophical implications of being transhuman and acknowledging that free will is an illusion. There's the elliptical nature of his dialogue, both in the prose style and in the intentions of the characters (who are very good at talking past each other).
That's all good, but Echopraxia did not hold together for me like [b:Blindsight|48484|Blindsight (Firefall, #1)|Peter Watts|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386924412s/48484.jpg|47428]. Unlike the first contact setup of Blindsight, Echopraxia is (intentionally) difficult to describe. We follow Daniel Brüks, a field biologist living in academic disgrace in the Oregon desert, as he stumbles into (or is drawn into) increasingly complicated confrontations between transhumans. What starts as a war story turns into a space story turns into an apocalypse story turns into ... well, that's hard to say. I looked at the reddit page where folks tried to explain the ending and was pleased to see they were about as confused as I was.
If you liked Blindsight, I do think you should read Echopraxia --- you get a wider view of the Blindsight universe and lots of interesting discussions on the nature of consciousness. Just don't expect to find any significant closure.
That's all good, but Echopraxia did not hold together for me like [b:Blindsight|48484|Blindsight (Firefall, #1)|Peter Watts|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386924412s/48484.jpg|47428]. Unlike the first contact setup of Blindsight, Echopraxia is (intentionally) difficult to describe. We follow Daniel Brüks, a field biologist living in academic disgrace in the Oregon desert, as he stumbles into (or is drawn into) increasingly complicated confrontations between transhumans. What starts as a war story turns into a space story turns into an apocalypse story turns into ... well, that's hard to say. I looked at the reddit page where folks tried to explain the ending and was pleased to see they were about as confused as I was.
If you liked Blindsight, I do think you should read Echopraxia --- you get a wider view of the Blindsight universe and lots of interesting discussions on the nature of consciousness. Just don't expect to find any significant closure.
dakkster's review against another edition
2.0
This is more like technobabble verbal masturbation than a proper story with proper characters. There simply needs to be a more engaging plot with characters you actually care about. This had neither, rather going into INCREDIBLY detailed technical descriptions about philosophical musings or gadgets and doodads. There is no emotional connection here. The precursor Blindsight had emotion. It was really weird with a lot of technobabble too, but you cared about it in that one because of the emotional connection to the characters and the story you could actually follow. This book is lost in the dark. Meh.
aardrian's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
godzillaismycopilot's review against another edition
2.0
Meh, the main character is a bit of a whiner, and I found myself not caring whether he survived. If he had been a teammate in a video game, I would have kicked him off the ship or "accidentally" let him die.
Life is too short to read Meh books.
Life is too short to read Meh books.
kblincoln's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars, actually.
This is the follow up to Blindsight, which blew my mind when I read it with its speculation about different kinds of human consciousness and very, very technical, science-heavy spaceflight descriptions. It had a plot I could follow, however.
Echopraxia was just...confusing. Like all the time. Oh, I can tell you the plot very easily: a biologist goes to Earth's spaceshift reactor with a vampire and some hivemind humans to encounter an alien lifeform.
Yep, that's it. That's the part that's easy to follow. However, as we see through the very human biologist's mind/eyes in this book, and everything about the science, the plots, and the motivations of the folks around him are complicated and layered, its super confusing.
It doesn't help that the author often uses quite poetic and lovely language to describe simple things like "the hatch opened" that requires re-reading to figure out. Nor that most of the dialogue are either metaphysical or science-heavy lectures about the incredible, detailed, amazing, hypothetical future of humanity and its relationship to a dying world, chance at immortality through various technical or medical processes, and theories about consciousness.
I got so lost in these expository bits that I couldn't retain what was actually happening. Even at the end, I only half-guessed what was going on and had to go to Reddit to figure out what I had read. As in Blindsight, Watts likes to set up a diverse cast of cool characters-- and then kill them off. This is a dark book in the end (and throughout, who am I kidding) but in the end it is worth reading despite all the confusion, despite the overly-laden scientific metaphor language, because the kind of futuristic postulations about the shapes humanity may take conversely shed light on what our society today assumes about consciousness, religion, science.
Folks who have read Blindsight will appreciate this look at what was happening on Earth during that book's timeline, as well as a possible explanation for how the vampires kind of took over. If you are not an astrophysicist or mechanical engineer or astronaut, I do recommend that you possibly risk spoilage and read about the book before plunging in, especially if you only half-remember the characters from Blindsight.
This is the follow up to Blindsight, which blew my mind when I read it with its speculation about different kinds of human consciousness and very, very technical, science-heavy spaceflight descriptions. It had a plot I could follow, however.
Echopraxia was just...confusing. Like all the time. Oh, I can tell you the plot very easily: a biologist goes to Earth's spaceshift reactor with a vampire and some hivemind humans to encounter an alien lifeform.
Yep, that's it. That's the part that's easy to follow. However, as we see through the very human biologist's mind/eyes in this book, and everything about the science, the plots, and the motivations of the folks around him are complicated and layered, its super confusing.
It doesn't help that the author often uses quite poetic and lovely language to describe simple things like "the hatch opened" that requires re-reading to figure out. Nor that most of the dialogue are either metaphysical or science-heavy lectures about the incredible, detailed, amazing, hypothetical future of humanity and its relationship to a dying world, chance at immortality through various technical or medical processes, and theories about consciousness.
I got so lost in these expository bits that I couldn't retain what was actually happening. Even at the end, I only half-guessed what was going on and had to go to Reddit to figure out what I had read. As in Blindsight, Watts likes to set up a diverse cast of cool characters-- and then kill them off. This is a dark book in the end (and throughout, who am I kidding) but in the end it is worth reading despite all the confusion, despite the overly-laden scientific metaphor language, because the kind of futuristic postulations about the shapes humanity may take conversely shed light on what our society today assumes about consciousness, religion, science.
Folks who have read Blindsight will appreciate this look at what was happening on Earth during that book's timeline, as well as a possible explanation for how the vampires kind of took over. If you are not an astrophysicist or mechanical engineer or astronaut, I do recommend that you possibly risk spoilage and read about the book before plunging in, especially if you only half-remember the characters from Blindsight.
mihnea_cateanu's review against another edition
3.0
Masterpiece or intellectual wanking? Somewhere in between actually. Definitely nowhere near as good as Echopraxia though.
alfredocavatelli's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
toddbert's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5