Reviews

Alexandria by Paul Kingsnorth

annarella's review against another edition

3.0

I discovered this is part of a trilogy so I assume that some of issues could be caused by not having read the other books.
I thinks it's well written but I could warm up to the story and it fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

litlnemo's review against another edition

5.0

I... am not really sure what I think about this. It was worth the journey, but I will need to mull it over for some time. But this is true of all the books in the trilogy, I think. I kind of think I need to reread [b:The Wake|26074583|The Wake|Paul Kingsnorth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1562371099l/26074583._SY75_.jpg|27232308] and [b:Beast|31450660|Beast|Paul Kingsnorth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1476809983l/31450660._SX50_.jpg|47858054] to pull this together even more in my head.

It's probably not for everyone, but I think if you are someone who enjoyed The Wake you will enjoy this. Linguistically, it's less of a challenge, though it is still a bit challenging in places. Actually, I expected future English in the book to be much more challenging, and part of me is disappointed it wasn't. :D But that isn't what the book is about.

Five stars because, like The Wake, this one will stick with me for a while. Haunting and lyrical.

americas_best_boy's review

3.5

While dealing with more archetypal, transcendent content that is far more interesting than that of most other contemporary novels (future-primitive culture vs. demonic AI > young person who fucks everyone, is miserable, and therefore continues to fuck everyone and become even more miserable), the reveals and conceits and Big Ideas often fall flat in dialogue because the requisite plot, setting, or character development just isn’t there. This is probably in part caused by the form and style, which are constructed to support the voice of this future-primitive culture, as the story is told in first person, futuristic-patois-heavy fragments that don’t allow for much of anything except restating events that have already happened from a new perspective. The layout makes the reading of this thing fly as there is so much white space, and though obviously meant to highlight the primitive nature of the culture, this white space ends up accounting for what seems like more than half the text space in these 400 pages. I can see Kingsnorth having this conversation with himself: “Do I make this thing 800 pages to maintain the voice and create more satisfying plot points, or do I keep it as is and hope the style and form carry the story?” If he did, I think he made the wrong call. That being said, it really just is so much more interesting that so much of what gets promoted and published, and I look forward to his future works in which he can embed these ideas into robust conflicts that demand compelling scenes. 

mattburris's review against another edition

5.0

This takes all of Kingsnorth’s themes and brings them together in a way I wouldn’t have expected but is just right. Probably not for everyone just like the Wake wasn’t but I liked it.

theladyreads's review against another edition

3.0

I am not sure I’m going to manage to adequately summarise this book or sum up my feelings about it, but I shall give it a go! Alexandria is a work of eco-fiction, set about a millennium in the future, well after the height of the human civilisation. At this peak (now), the human impact on the earth had taken a massive toll, but humans had also become capable of understanding AI to such a degree that they could create a mind capable of building a virtual city, Alexandria, to house ascended humans so that they could live forever without bodies. Most humans escaped from the hunger and rapidly worsening climate into Alexandria, and the rest of them who don’t believe in Alexandria as a choice now live in tribes, following The Way, trying to live in harmony with nature and animals, revering birds as messengers of The Lady. Language has devolved, so it’s similar to reading the furthest future in Cloud Atlas - some words are written in a new phonetic spelling, or some come from old Anglo-Saxon (and Britain is Albion; we are Atlanteans). It’s not always easy to understand but the story is intriguing and the people of the tribe have a deep and immense understanding of nature which they pass down which is in its way immensely more wise than those who believe in the AI. The tribe are dwindling in number because of the Stalker, who comes to tempt them to join the ascended minds in Alexandria, but the remaining members of the tribe are trying to keep faith in an ancient prophecy, that when swans return, Alexandria will fall. I enjoyed reading this and it’s one I am sure I will keep thinking about, as at its heart this is asking deep questions about the way we live now and how we can live better, or if we are even capable of it.

My thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher Faber and Faber, for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.