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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
If Philip K. Dick had written The Man In The High Castle in Haiku, many people would have admired it but fewer people would have enjoyed it.
A better example of this type of creative attempt (writing style from an earlier era) is The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron.
The Author can be forgiven with context of the cross-discipline culture at the University of Chicago. The editors, less so.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
First, I wish I had known that this was the first of at the very least a duology. It was wonderful, with many threads , all fascinating. A book of ideas about ideas with a crime at its center. There are many threads left hanging so I'm avidly awaiting book 2.
see also: http://boingboing.net/2016/05/10/too-like-the-lightning-intric.html
I recently reread this one, and it is just as spectacular the second time. One of my all time favorites! I found the miracles in the beginning off-putting (particularly as after reading the third book I was convinced that Mycroft was just making these miracles up), but I think a lot of the uncomfortable questions it makes us ask is applicable to future ethical dilemmas (i.e. when humanity has technology to make these 'miracles' happen), and is a great plot device to discuss religious censorship. The discomfort pays off quickly, I found the rest of the story delightful.
While I highly recommend this book- I have to give the warning that it is challenging. I listened to the audiobook (by the fantastic Jefferson Mays) and ended up starting the book over again halfway through- and was glad I did. Everything made more sense. There is innovative world building, complex political intrigue, many mysteries and lots of philosophy all wrapped up by a unreliable narrator which I did find confusing at first.
The philosophy is the strongest part of the story- making it one of the most interesting books I have ever read. The author is a historian specializing in how people in how people thought differently in the past- and she uses this to build a world that is both marvelous and very strange to our own. One of the coolest parts is that the characters are obsessed with 18th century enlightenment philosophy- but care about very different parts of that movement than we currently do.
This book reminded me a lot of Anathem with the innovation and philosophy- but with more sex and violence (which is important to the plot and gendered very differently than anything else I have read). This is a great book for people who like their fiction to make them think.
While I highly recommend this book- I have to give the warning that it is challenging. I listened to the audiobook (by the fantastic Jefferson Mays) and ended up starting the book over again halfway through- and was glad I did. Everything made more sense. There is innovative world building, complex political intrigue, many mysteries and lots of philosophy all wrapped up by a unreliable narrator which I did find confusing at first.
The philosophy is the strongest part of the story- making it one of the most interesting books I have ever read. The author is a historian specializing in how people in how people thought differently in the past- and she uses this to build a world that is both marvelous and very strange to our own. One of the coolest parts is that the characters are obsessed with 18th century enlightenment philosophy- but care about very different parts of that movement than we currently do.
This book reminded me a lot of Anathem with the innovation and philosophy- but with more sex and violence (which is important to the plot and gendered very differently than anything else I have read). This is a great book for people who like their fiction to make them think.
Be aware that this book does NOT finish the story, not even a part of it. You'll be reading the 2nd book to finish it.
That said, this is an ambitious story with some pretty interesting takes on mid-future society (25th century). It has a lot of characters that are hard to decide whether I like them or not. I will be reading part 2 when it comes out.
That said, this is an ambitious story with some pretty interesting takes on mid-future society (25th century). It has a lot of characters that are hard to decide whether I like them or not. I will be reading part 2 when it comes out.
This book is DENSE. The first half is a slog to get through (I would recommend looking characters up to keep them straight and there’s a good section on Reddit to help with this) but the reward is great. There’s definitely some CWs for extremely unsettling violence, cannibalism, rape, etc (but that part is fairly brief)
I appreciate the book’s approach to gender and the lurking violence of human nature. It’s good. I really enjoyed the book.
I appreciate the book’s approach to gender and the lurking violence of human nature. It’s good. I really enjoyed the book.
I wanted to love this book. It is filled with interesting ideas of what humanity could look like centuries from now, but written in such a way that it’s both pretentious and inaccessible. The constant shifting of gender and names for each character makes it even harder to keep track of who is who than just the terminology would have. I can understand why some people love it, but this is not the series for me. I almost DNF’d it 50 pages in. Only pure stubbornness got me through.
I wanted to like this, but it fell short for me. I picked it up because of its Hugo nomination.
First of all, I don't think much got tied off at the end. I know it's the first in a series (duology? I can't remember), so I was expecting that there would be some measure of resolution in a later book. But reaching the end of this book felt like stepping off a cliff. I really dislike that.
I also had issues with some of the fourth-wall-breaking. In general I don't mind when a character breaks the fourth wall, but in this instance the narrator actually has arguments with his "reader" about whether he is allowed to call another character a witch. Multiple times. It gets old, and I just didn't see the point.
There were brief descriptions of rape, torture, and even cannibalism, which took me by surprise. I didn't read that in any of the reviews I came across, until after I had reached this point in the book (around 60% of the way through). It nearly caused me to set the book down permanently.
And then there's the idea that a stolen list of people that a news editor thinks are influential on the world stage could spark another world war... well, it strains credulity. This is only one of perhaps 7 or 8 versions of the same list published by competing news agencies. It seemed to me to be analogous those Time magazine special editions, which I generally only glance at in the checkout aisle - so I couldn't understand why it was set up to be such a plot driver. In fact, all of the related descriptions of the politics of this world were pretty boring to me. The people on the list actually did become quite interesting, but it took the entire book for them to become so.
That said, this is an interesting book. I've seen other reviewers refer to it as a conversation, and in that respect it really succeeds. I was especially captivated by the idea that discussing faith and metaphysics without a priest/"sensayer" present was illegal. 3 or more people and you have a "church," in a world where churches have been outlawed because they caused a world war. The idea that your nation could be a "Hive" that you opt into, instead of being geographically bound (because there are flying cars that allow you to live and work on separate continents) was also fascinating.
I will probably read the sequel if my book club does, and/or if the sequel is likewise nominated for awards. But I'm not going to prioritize it. And I won't be voting for this book as the Hugo winner.
First of all, I don't think much got tied off at the end. I know it's the first in a series (duology? I can't remember), so I was expecting that there would be some measure of resolution in a later book. But reaching the end of this book felt like stepping off a cliff. I really dislike that.
I also had issues with some of the fourth-wall-breaking. In general I don't mind when a character breaks the fourth wall, but in this instance the narrator actually has arguments with his "reader" about whether he is allowed to call another character a witch. Multiple times. It gets old, and I just didn't see the point.
There were brief descriptions of rape, torture, and even cannibalism, which took me by surprise. I didn't read that in any of the reviews I came across, until after I had reached this point in the book (around 60% of the way through). It nearly caused me to set the book down permanently.
And then there's the idea that a stolen list of people that a news editor thinks are influential on the world stage could spark another world war... well, it strains credulity. This is only one of perhaps 7 or 8 versions of the same list published by competing news agencies. It seemed to me to be analogous those Time magazine special editions, which I generally only glance at in the checkout aisle - so I couldn't understand why it was set up to be such a plot driver. In fact, all of the related descriptions of the politics of this world were pretty boring to me. The people on the list actually did become quite interesting, but it took the entire book for them to become so.
That said, this is an interesting book. I've seen other reviewers refer to it as a conversation, and in that respect it really succeeds. I was especially captivated by the idea that discussing faith and metaphysics without a priest/"sensayer" present was illegal. 3 or more people and you have a "church," in a world where churches have been outlawed because they caused a world war. The idea that your nation could be a "Hive" that you opt into, instead of being geographically bound (because there are flying cars that allow you to live and work on separate continents) was also fascinating.
I will probably read the sequel if my book club does, and/or if the sequel is likewise nominated for awards. But I'm not going to prioritize it. And I won't be voting for this book as the Hugo winner.