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hopkindc's review against another edition
1.0
Awful. I rarely review books online. I am only doing so here in the hopes it will keep someone from wasting their valuable time. The Alienist was pure genius. This was pure garbage.
jayraams's review against another edition
2.0
I don't know if I like or dislike this story, it reminds me of Jules Verne and H.G Wells works. It has a decent message but it's a little mard by the underline racism, it's off-putting for shore. Also, the only female character is a kick as assassin genius, which is cool, till you realise that she is only there for the main character to fuck. Really it is painfully self-righteous, guess I decided I diss like this book, don't read this one.
machadofam8's review against another edition
2.0
Did not like this. Had to struggle to finish; was curious to see how it ended but really not very good. His other books were great so I was very disappointed with this. It didn't help that it is very outdated (from 2000) and the things he "predicted" would occur haven't so it was weird.
carlylottsofbookz's review against another edition
3.0
This is the first Carr novel that has been set in the future--the previous books I've read by him were all set in the past, and Carr worked hard to ensure the voice matched the period. So this book was obviously different.
Another key difference is not writing in the historical fiction genre bit rather the dystopia genre instead. After recently reading Space Merchants, I was very aware of some of the similarities of the two books (since both have themes I am interested in, it worked out for me). I was also keenly interested in a future world where the US was at war with Afghanistan... Especially when the book was written in 1999-was the possibility of our going to war so obvious even then?
Definitely a good read. Plus it has super awesome technology, fights, and even love.
Another key difference is not writing in the historical fiction genre bit rather the dystopia genre instead. After recently reading Space Merchants, I was very aware of some of the similarities of the two books (since both have themes I am interested in, it worked out for me). I was also keenly interested in a future world where the US was at war with Afghanistan... Especially when the book was written in 1999-was the possibility of our going to war so obvious even then?
Definitely a good read. Plus it has super awesome technology, fights, and even love.
bookmage's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
maggie73's review against another edition
1.0
Absolute rubbish. Very disappointed as I loved The Alienist. Avoid.
lyrrael's review against another edition
3.0
written in a (u/dys)topian literary style, which includes a typical banging of the ideologue drum. surprisingly perceptive, given that it was published in 2000, is talking about many of the things we deal with today - misinformation and dissemination of the "official story", privacy, corporate influences in politics, genetic engineering, pollution & climate change, water scarcity, even unmanned/ drone warfare. reads surprisingly quickly. nowhere near as shallow as reviews would have you believe. far from perfect, yet worth the read. full review coming later. deeply flawed in the way most literary dystopias are in that the tour of the conceived world takes precedence over plot.
book_lvr's review against another edition
2.0
The only thing I liked about this book was that the premise and ideas were intriguing. The writing was bad, the characters were undeveloped, and the plot was barely put together and full of holes. Sad, I've really enjoyed his other books.