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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
This is my second time through this book in just over a year, this time I am accompanied by others in a book club. I wanted others to come back and experience what I felt when I first read Too Like The Lightning. There is a breadth of Utopian fiction and narrative mixed with 19th-century philosophy that is constantly inventive and always challenging. New concepts and questions spring up often that make the reader question the efficacy of our societal structures and norms in the long term.
The book opens up in the 25th century with the promise of a vastly different world structure thanks to the advent of flying vehicles that can transport one around the world in under 4 hours. Nation barriers fall and the world splits into seven larger "hives" that divide people out ideologically and not geographically. Family units change into "bashes" that are not formed strictly out of blood relations but also include friends and co-workers. Gender norms are more fluid and are widely viewed in more gradient terms than where we are at now. Religion is forbidden to be practiced in groups larger than two due to a series of violent wars in the past that lead to reform against all forms of proselytizing, it is now seen as deeply personal truth. Now imagine an actual god-like figure being dropped into this world with the legitimate ability to perform miracles and all the implications that would accompany that revelation.
This backdrop is the setup for a political and theological thriller with a narrator that constantly interjects his feelings and thoughts into every paragraph. I described this to my friends as a far future, utopian Game of Thrones political thriller from my memory. Going back to it made me realize that that isn't an accurate representation. There is more philosophy and micromanaged plot interspersed with the political intrigue and maneuvering. Ada Palmer gives the reader a lot to think about and I think this is a perfect book to read as part of a book club. There is so much to unpack with every chapter beyond what is explicitly mentioned.
The book opens up in the 25th century with the promise of a vastly different world structure thanks to the advent of flying vehicles that can transport one around the world in under 4 hours. Nation barriers fall and the world splits into seven larger "hives" that divide people out ideologically and not geographically. Family units change into "bashes" that are not formed strictly out of blood relations but also include friends and co-workers. Gender norms are more fluid and are widely viewed in more gradient terms than where we are at now. Religion is forbidden to be practiced in groups larger than two due to a series of violent wars in the past that lead to reform against all forms of proselytizing, it is now seen as deeply personal truth. Now imagine an actual god-like figure being dropped into this world with the legitimate ability to perform miracles and all the implications that would accompany that revelation.
This backdrop is the setup for a political and theological thriller with a narrator that constantly interjects his feelings and thoughts into every paragraph. I described this to my friends as a far future, utopian Game of Thrones political thriller from my memory. Going back to it made me realize that that isn't an accurate representation. There is more philosophy and micromanaged plot interspersed with the political intrigue and maneuvering. Ada Palmer gives the reader a lot to think about and I think this is a perfect book to read as part of a book club. There is so much to unpack with every chapter beyond what is explicitly mentioned.
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There were times I had no idea what the heck was going on and yet I loved every minute of it?
challenging
dark
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
update june 2025: i do not even try to write reviews for books that have me by the throat as completely as this one
so. this might be one of the best books i've ever read. i have so much i could say about it, but i genuinely don't know if i could... express it coherently. for now: wow.
so. this might be one of the best books i've ever read. i have so much i could say about it, but i genuinely don't know if i could... express it coherently. for now: wow.
I would have appreciated this book more if it better constrained itself to its 18th century role models. Because 18th century books didn't have a tendency to such length, and the cliffhanger had hardly been heard of. (Why do authors waste so much space only to finish on a cliffhanger? I hate to tell them, but the number of words in a finished work is not by itself a virtue [and Too Like the Lightning is not a complete work, only the first part of one]). And when 19th century authors popularized the cliffhanger, it was because books were serialized in small chunks. Too Like the Lightning is already long enough to be worthy of a complete Dickens novels after it has been collected.
Before the end I thought this might be a three star review. I'm still not sure if it's one or two. Honestly, though the book presented lots of interesting ideas, so much was wasted, the plot was so slow. And, since it's a cliffhanger, there's so much unresolved that I'd hoped to get a handle on because there is no resolutions, only a reveal that is supposed to make you want to know what happens next. (The novel starts as a mystery about who has broken into two places. We don't learn whodunit, but we learned to varying degrees why each location was targeted).
The big issue I had: Mycroft Canner. I really don't believe the character. Maybe I would if I understood more about him. Why is he everyone's expert in everything 13 years after being the world's most famous serial killer? Okay, I can kind of understand his transition, but being expert council to heads of multiple states is, really, a tad much. Maybe there's an explanation on why he's so good eventually, but it's not in this book. And that's only one of many unresolved issues.
And then there's the view of society, and gender. (Why, honestly, do authors have to cast future worlds either as utopias or dystopias? Why can't they simply be as imperfect as our own? The world of Too Like the Lightning starts out as imperfect, at least to my eyes, though apparently it's supposed to come off as utopian, only to be revealed as dystopian. Okay, the utopian aspect is that they have gotten rid of all classes which can be majorities so majority-minority relations won't cause problems, in theory.)
I'll just pick one issue. Gender. The way the narrator (which is not the same as the author, and since there's no resolution in this book it does become a little hard to nail down what the author does want to say) assigns gender is alarming. Okay, he rebels against people having no gender and clearly other characters think gender roles have value, which if that's they're identity, fine. The narrator even dissociates physical sex from societal gender. Okay. But why should he be the arbiter of gender? Why does he have to assign everyone a gender based on his ideas about gender roles. While sex isn't a determiner, he still wants to assign everyone a gender based on stereotypes. (And giving a big screw you to anyone agender or otherwise outside male vs female). Of course, I'll repeat, with the lack of resolution, I have no clue how the author stands. I want to be annoyed at her, but I wouldn't know her point until the next book, at least (though there are some hints, maybe, in the last hundred pages).
Before the end I thought this might be a three star review. I'm still not sure if it's one or two. Honestly, though the book presented lots of interesting ideas, so much was wasted, the plot was so slow. And, since it's a cliffhanger, there's so much unresolved that I'd hoped to get a handle on because there is no resolutions, only a reveal that is supposed to make you want to know what happens next. (The novel starts as a mystery about who has broken into two places. We don't learn whodunit, but we learned to varying degrees why each location was targeted).
The big issue I had: Mycroft Canner. I really don't believe the character. Maybe I would if I understood more about him. Why is he everyone's expert in everything 13 years after being the world's most famous serial killer? Okay, I can kind of understand his transition, but being expert council to heads of multiple states is, really, a tad much. Maybe there's an explanation on why he's so good eventually, but it's not in this book. And that's only one of many unresolved issues.
And then there's the view of society, and gender. (Why, honestly, do authors have to cast future worlds either as utopias or dystopias? Why can't they simply be as imperfect as our own? The world of Too Like the Lightning starts out as imperfect, at least to my eyes, though apparently it's supposed to come off as utopian, only to be revealed as dystopian. Okay, the utopian aspect is that they have gotten rid of all classes which can be majorities so majority-minority relations won't cause problems, in theory.)
I'll just pick one issue. Gender. The way the narrator (which is not the same as the author, and since there's no resolution in this book it does become a little hard to nail down what the author does want to say) assigns gender is alarming. Okay, he rebels against people having no gender and clearly other characters think gender roles have value, which if that's they're identity, fine. The narrator even dissociates physical sex from societal gender. Okay. But why should he be the arbiter of gender? Why does he have to assign everyone a gender based on his ideas about gender roles. While sex isn't a determiner, he still wants to assign everyone a gender based on stereotypes. (And giving a big screw you to anyone agender or otherwise outside male vs female). Of course, I'll repeat, with the lack of resolution, I have no clue how the author stands. I want to be annoyed at her, but I wouldn't know her point until the next book, at least (though there are some hints, maybe, in the last hundred pages).
DNF
Je pense que je passe clairement à côté de la hype autour de cette oeuvre.
Une plume confusante, des métaphores et comparaisons alambiquées, un monde, des personnages et une intrigue incompréhensibles. Bref, je ne m'inflige pas plus d'heures de souffrance. Ce n'était pas pour moi.
Je pense que je passe clairement à côté de la hype autour de cette oeuvre.
Une plume confusante, des métaphores et comparaisons alambiquées, un monde, des personnages et une intrigue incompréhensibles. Bref, je ne m'inflige pas plus d'heures de souffrance. Ce n'était pas pour moi.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was really good, but at the same time, really pretentious and too philosophical for me to understand much. It left me feeling dumb for the most part, and I feel like I could never appreciate it the way I should.
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A Sci Fi that cares most about ideas and philosophy - moral dilemmas through the lenses of different personal and economic ideologies
Couldn’t stop thinking about all the hypotheticals
Couldn’t stop thinking about all the hypotheticals
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes