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timinbc's review
2.0
Ugh. I trow this is more like The Unfinished Book. It lacketh a stern round of editing and rewriting.
Full it is and rich with ideas, but methinks they are not all good.
Thou hast thy Crafters and Eaters and Travelers and drakes and bunters and bone-wives and ghostly children, and Humphrey with his flail. Only a few of which are explained, and most of those late.
Thou hast a schlimazel lead character who drifts through life, mostly saying "My name is Reynard" and following whoever's nearby. He's obviously Important but Bear goeth out of his way to make sure WE don't find out why.
There's a map at the front, never a good sign because too often it signalleth a Quest that stoppeth at all points in between, and gadzooks, this one doth just that.
Spanish soldiers on a wooden ship put us in the Middle Ages, on an island that Prospero probably just abandoned. Everyone hath magic, and thpeaketh cod-Elizabethan English - and yes, it getteth just as annoying in the book as it hath here.
We blunder past all sorts of magical stuff, unexplained. Particularly in the sense of what is this magic FOR?
Three hundred yawny pages later, we're still on our way to meet The Big Lady, who appears for about three pages to say "It's all screwed, run!" They do. At this point I skipped 100 pages or so.
I return to find them walking a maze, through an opening, and apparently that was the Big Kaboom we plowed through all those pages for. We're told the world has changed. Our schlimazel gets a boat to England (where? how did he pay for it?)
We learn at the end that the Crafters - so that he could travel the island for 300 pages and walk through an opening. Ptui.
And what was the result of The Big Change that possibly wiped out everything we just spent all those pages with? Well, schlimazel boy gets to go through Realworld handing out something good, and it wouldn't be fair to Bear's memory to spill what it was. I'll just say it's an audacious idea, but not the least bit plausible.
Summary: Bear seems to have been as bad at fantasy as he was good at SF.
I'm going to get one of his past award-winners and re-read it to wash out the memory of this stinker.
Full it is and rich with ideas, but methinks they are not all good.
Thou hast thy Crafters and Eaters and Travelers and drakes and bunters and bone-wives and ghostly children, and Humphrey with his flail. Only a few of which are explained, and most of those late.
Thou hast a schlimazel lead character who drifts through life, mostly saying "My name is Reynard" and following whoever's nearby. He's obviously Important but Bear goeth out of his way to make sure WE don't find out why.
There's a map at the front, never a good sign because too often it signalleth a Quest that stoppeth at all points in between, and gadzooks, this one doth just that.
Spanish soldiers on a wooden ship put us in the Middle Ages, on an island that Prospero probably just abandoned. Everyone hath magic, and thpeaketh cod-Elizabethan English - and yes, it getteth just as annoying in the book as it hath here.
We blunder past all sorts of magical stuff, unexplained. Particularly in the sense of what is this magic FOR?
Three hundred yawny pages later, we're still on our way to meet The Big Lady, who appears for about three pages to say "It's all screwed, run!" They do. At this point I skipped 100 pages or so.
I return to find them walking a maze, through an opening, and apparently that was the Big Kaboom we plowed through all those pages for. We're told the world has changed. Our schlimazel gets a boat to England (where? how did he pay for it?)
We learn at the end that the Crafters
Spoiler
made our "hero" appear out of thin air because he was neededAnd what was the result of The Big Change that possibly wiped out everything we just spent all those pages with? Well, schlimazel boy gets to go through Realworld handing out something good, and it wouldn't be fair to Bear's memory to spill what it was. I'll just say it's an audacious idea, but not the least bit plausible.
Summary: Bear seems to have been as bad at fantasy as he was good at SF.
I'm going to get one of his past award-winners and re-read it to wash out the memory of this stinker.
emilio_breastevez's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
kris47's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
seang81's review
3.0
The synopsis for this novel sounded like something I would really enjoy - strange encounters, battles between man and gods all wrapped up in an interesting way. However, what I didn't realise was the amount of olde world Englsh used - nothing wrong with thy and thou etc but, for me, I found it brought me out of the story a little. The worldbuilding was well done, with intriguing set pieces and so, whilst the novel wasn't for me, I will admit it was well written. For fans of olde world fantasy this is something you may enjoy!
deethereader's review
3.0
This is the first Greg Bear book that I have read so did not go in with any expectations which is probably why I was not as disappointed as some other reviewers. In saying that it was not a book that I overly enjoyed reading as I found it confusing at times and lacking in clear storyline. I found that I was not connecting with the characters or even being able to imagine the island setting. In all it was an okay book but not one I would recommend to fantasy lovers.
annieb123's review
4.0
Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
The Unfinished Land is a standalone historical science fiction with shadings of epic fantasy (and a dash of light horror) by Greg Bear. Released 16th Feb 2021 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, it's 384 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats.
This entire substantial book has a misty surreal quality. The prose is masterful - evocative and beautiful... but undeniably dreamlike and meandering. The plotting is slow and deliberate, the narrative arc positively creeps and in some places has a very odd feeling of inevitability. I was impressed that the author managed to write passages which gave me the same feeling one has while dreaming of being chased and running without moving forward.
The background and world building are a pastiche of several different pantheons and cultures (Norse, Celtic, Romani, and others) with a sprinkling of the author's own unique imagination. The dialogue is split between modern vernacular and oddly "period" turns of phrase. The book is ostensibly set in the middle ages but most of the action occurs beside and outside of time, so the dichotomy of anachronistic vernacular is jarring adjacent to the occasionally archaic dialogue.
The author is incredibly imaginative and the book is very very well written. It's also very trippy and weird. It invites contemplation on a much deeper level. There's a lot happening under the surface and this isn't a book which can be read and enjoyed with a superficial read. I would recommend it to fans of the author as well as fans of surreal/magical realism (Catherynne Valente, John Crowley, etc). Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
The Unfinished Land is a standalone historical science fiction with shadings of epic fantasy (and a dash of light horror) by Greg Bear. Released 16th Feb 2021 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, it's 384 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats.
This entire substantial book has a misty surreal quality. The prose is masterful - evocative and beautiful... but undeniably dreamlike and meandering. The plotting is slow and deliberate, the narrative arc positively creeps and in some places has a very odd feeling of inevitability. I was impressed that the author managed to write passages which gave me the same feeling one has while dreaming of being chased and running without moving forward.
The background and world building are a pastiche of several different pantheons and cultures (Norse, Celtic, Romani, and others) with a sprinkling of the author's own unique imagination. The dialogue is split between modern vernacular and oddly "period" turns of phrase. The book is ostensibly set in the middle ages but most of the action occurs beside and outside of time, so the dichotomy of anachronistic vernacular is jarring adjacent to the occasionally archaic dialogue.
The author is incredibly imaginative and the book is very very well written. It's also very trippy and weird. It invites contemplation on a much deeper level. There's a lot happening under the surface and this isn't a book which can be read and enjoyed with a superficial read. I would recommend it to fans of the author as well as fans of surreal/magical realism (Catherynne Valente, John Crowley, etc). Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
ishymuu's review
It seems like a good story enough, but unfortunately it was one of those stories where it is not meant for me. I couldn't keep interest long enough and the best way I can describe it is that it felt like a "grungy" read. I also expected a very different kind of story when reading the description, but the book reads fairly slow in my opinion. Not slow in the sense of there isn't anything going on, but more of slow as in there are a lot of puzzle pieces that you are given but slow to peice together what they are and how they tie into the story, which gives a feeling of constant hook but no relief. I do want to emphasize that the book has potential and probably would be best suited for someone who really likes puzzling stories with slow intrigue, it is just not something compatible with my own reading interests.
ns4's review
The world building had potential, but the plot and characters were so boring I couldn’t continue. I really tried.
didsomeonesayviolin's review
Don't forget to check out my blog!
[I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book I was kindly given by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
DNF at 15% - 60 pages.
I always try to write something positive in my review, but I cannot find anything positive about the 60 pages I read.
The pacing was extremely slow (in 60 pages, basically all that happened is the main character being rescued from a sinking ship and then reaching a mysterious island), the writing was overly complicated and flowery, it made the book extremely hard to read.
There was this one whole chapter from a perspective of a different character that was one big info-dump which things made twice as confusing as before.
Another thing that didn't sit well with me was the dialogue - in English, Bear used Old English (all the "he doth know thee" and "thy shalt find thy destiny") and there were also full sentences in Spanish which weren't translated at all. All we got were a few comments about how the MC was starting to pick up on the language and understand most of it and I mean, good for him, but it doesn't change the fact that I've never taken a Spanish lesson in my life and didn't understand a single word.
All in all, this was very disappointing, and I do not recommend it. Life is too short to read mediocre books.
→1 star
[I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book I was kindly given by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
DNF at 15% - 60 pages.
I always try to write something positive in my review, but I cannot find anything positive about the 60 pages I read.
The pacing was extremely slow (in 60 pages, basically all that happened is the main character being rescued from a sinking ship and then reaching a mysterious island), the writing was overly complicated and flowery, it made the book extremely hard to read.
There was this one whole chapter from a perspective of a different character that was one big info-dump which things made twice as confusing as before.
Another thing that didn't sit well with me was the dialogue - in English, Bear used Old English (all the "he doth know thee" and "thy shalt find thy destiny") and there were also full sentences in Spanish which weren't translated at all. All we got were a few comments about how the MC was starting to pick up on the language and understand most of it and I mean, good for him, but it doesn't change the fact that I've never taken a Spanish lesson in my life and didn't understand a single word.
All in all, this was very disappointing, and I do not recommend it. Life is too short to read mediocre books.
→1 star