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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
4.5 stars: a true classic work of speculative fiction and an evocative allegorical tale of the price of human hubris
Eh, disappointing. This book is a collection of short stories. The stories take place in chronological order in the same universe/multiverse. They are connected by a narrator. The narrator is interesting-a member of a species of intelligent Dogs, descended from our dogs. The Dog is an academic studying legends from ancient history. He discusses things like whether "Man" actually existed.
So, the book starts out conceptually interesting. The problem is that not much actually happens. The book mostly consists of a discussion of what the world is like. Whether the discussion is inner or outer dialogue.
So, the book starts out conceptually interesting. The problem is that not much actually happens. The book mostly consists of a discussion of what the world is like. Whether the discussion is inner or outer dialogue.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
So sci-fi it ends up feeling like a fantasy - in a good way. The Italian title, "Years without end", works as well as the original "City", especially since it references one of my favourite paragraphs, on the nature of time and parallel universes.
The framing as a collection of fables commented by a society of dogs is very clever, and definitely adds to the charm of the book. It's interesting how many societal ills Simak foresees in this novel align with what Asimov predicted in his Robot cycle - and how different the proposed solutions are.
All in all, a very good read, and a staple in sci-fi literature.
The framing as a collection of fables commented by a society of dogs is very clever, and definitely adds to the charm of the book. It's interesting how many societal ills Simak foresees in this novel align with what Asimov predicted in his Robot cycle - and how different the proposed solutions are.
All in all, a very good read, and a staple in sci-fi literature.
3.5 stars. There was a lot to swallow here – this was nearly as much fantasy as SF. The two genres are rarely mixed this way. Once I suspended my disbelief (mostly: there were still some things that didn’t make sense or were underexplained and a fair bit of unfortunate handwavium), I enjoyed each story individually, and the work as a whole. The commentary was just the right length, and there was a sense of wonder in the way the dogs were uplifted and in how much time passed.