Reviews

I honestly think I would have loved this book if I had read it back in high school. I may have still been really positive about it in college. Now though it just seemed somewhere between overly simplistic and openly naive.

The story's take on historical materialism is so deeply entwined with the message and its vailidity unquestioned that I had a hard time taking it seriously. Its not that examining its clash with the "reality" of a feudal society is a bad thing (in fact, it sounds absolutely great in theory) but in this case we have to accept that communism is the ultimate and inevitable evolution of human society that will literally turn humans into gods. Add to that the element of wish fulfillment where our young communist hero is exceptionally intelligent, morally superior, unrivaled in any martial or physical contest and overwhelmingly charismatic to boost. It's just too much.

I almost feel like there is some critical aspect of the book I missed. Was there subtle criticism of the idea that the ideal future communists are akin to gods? I didn't catch anything like that because they were indeed portrayed as superior. Was the idea that while these perfect people can have a perfect society, the "real" people of the feudal society were not and would never be capable of attaining that? Again, I didn't see that in the book because it very explicitly stated that they will eventually reach this communist utopia, it will just take a long time.

I also found the writing style atrocious and that really baffles me. It made it downright hard to figure out what was even happening at certain points. I wondered whether it was an issue with the translation at first but plenty of friends have read the same translation and seem to have found no issue with it so it must be some pet peeve of mine.

coldrex20's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

xramos's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective fast-paced

4.0

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