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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
DNF, barely even started. I picked this up on a recommendation without knowing anything about it. I read three pages. Nope, nope, nope, I am not in the least interested in reading pseudo-intellectual garbage set in 2454 but written with the language and ideas of the 18th century Enlightenment.
I tried so hard to like this!! The world and plot were both really interesting. The style was weird and w like pretentious, but easy enough to ignore. The frequent, uncomfortable sidebars where the narrator talks about sex/gender/everyone's genitalia were so awful and pulled me out of the narrative every time. DNF at ~35%
I should have given up reading this book early on.
Very ambivalent about this. There are some really interesting ideas, but there's so much going on it kinda trips over its own feet. It combines a complex and richly detailed far-future society with a convoluted political drama, and they get in the way of each other. There's lots of exposition and world-building, and many further hints at unexplored complexities; it's unclear what is just texture and what might be critical to the plot. There's complex political intrigue, but the world is foreign enough that it's not clear what everyone is fighting over or what they stand to gain. There are dozens of characters from overlapping factions and sub-factions, and many of them are referred to by different names or titles in different contexts. You should probably take notes if you want to have any hope of following it all.
And then there's this magical boy. In this first book at least he's just a MacGuffin—what everyone is chasing or trying to hide—rather than an actual force shaping the plot. But still, in a lot of ways it feels like this book is trying to show a plausible future, but having a magical (or divine?) element undermines that.
There's a lot of Enlightenment-era erudition on display, which is kinda fun but also gets in the way. Do I need to read up on my 18th C philosophers to understand the plot, or is it window-dressing?
This is just the first book of four, so the payoff may be worth the effort if you really like spending time in this world and you're willing to commit to reading the whole series, but I'm not sure if I am.
And then there's this magical boy. In this first book at least he's just a MacGuffin—what everyone is chasing or trying to hide—rather than an actual force shaping the plot. But still, in a lot of ways it feels like this book is trying to show a plausible future, but having a magical (or divine?) element undermines that.
There's a lot of Enlightenment-era erudition on display, which is kinda fun but also gets in the way. Do I need to read up on my 18th C philosophers to understand the plot, or is it window-dressing?
This is just the first book of four, so the payoff may be worth the effort if you really like spending time in this world and you're willing to commit to reading the whole series, but I'm not sure if I am.
very long windup for a pretty paltry payoff. Palmer is too clever - a bit pretentious, and doesn't give the audience near enough explication for the completely new and complex world she builds. not sure it would be worth reading the others in the series.
I made it 1/4 of the way through. The interesting plot line about Bridger seems to be a subplot, rather than the main one. The world is supposed to have everyone referred to as "they," but the narrator character purposefully doesn't do that. Instead, the narrator picks gender pronouns for characters based on gender roles and appearance, with no thought given to the preference of the other character.
I'm completly baffled by this book and the first thing I did after reading the last page is went on goodreads to check the publication date of the second book of the duology. Certainly one of the most original and challenging novels I've read this year. Even when I grew impatient with it, I couldn't put it down. After a technological breakthrough and a period of political unrest Earth is now a utopia with no war, no borders, no religions... but something is rotten in the state of Denmark, a narrator that shows you the world and its leaders has his own agenda and in hiding lives a child that in this age of reason can perform miracles.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really liked the worldbuilding in this, but found the writing style very frustrating and the plot hard to follow at times between the large cast and extremely biased and obfuscating narrator. On the whole, these things balanced out enough for me that I do want to continue the series.
I had to savor this book in small bites. It was so rich with ideas and concepts that I had to allow my mind time to savor each bite. And at the end I was left wanting more. Luckily, I did not have to wait for the next book to come out...I just had to go to the library to pick up a copy because none of my local bookstores had it in stock.