Reviews

OK, so I see Watts has some faults. Namely, I never got a clear picture of the spaceship, Crown of Thorns. There is a rarely a clear sense of place and it can get confusing.

That said this was still a great read. I felt the characters were more relatable in this than Blindsight (but the bad guys, including Valerie and Bicams, just as unknowable). The thought provocation was fantastic, this time with Watts tackling free will as opposed to consciousness. It didn't work quite so well as in Blindsight, but to see everyone played off against each other as puppets was great. I'm sure I missed some deep philosophy and science so I will have to re-read. The addition of zombies was cool, the split between military zombies with a 'switch' and plain old viral zombies (leading the to the title, echopraxia, look it up). I was a bit disappointed in the ending though, because I just didn't understnad it. Probably my fault for reading to quickly. After some thought and forum discussion it makes more sense, though there a few interpretations you could have. Which of course makes it a richer experience.

So overall a great read but 3 stars because it didn't feel as polished and because it felt a lot more dense (in a meandering sense) than Blindsight.

e_v_a__c's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

ash7898's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Idk, this book was too complex for me to rate it higher. It has some very interesting concepts and I'm sure reading the footnotes more thoroughly or even a re-read might make this much more enjoyable.

eubie's review against another edition

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5.0

Could not possibly summarize but the plot revolves around an arguably heroic vampire in outerspace and the demise of mankind on earth. This and its prequel, blindsight are just badass in the best possible way.

badtony7's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

squirrelallie's review against another edition

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5.0

Fun, visceral sci fi that does not hesitate to let it get weird. Weaponized zombies, genetically reconstructed vampires brought back from extinction to play the financial markets, and general consciousness as a viral quirk.

There are about 150 endnotes that link to scientific journal articles at the end of the book to show how such things could be possible and even logical. I almost did a spit-take laugh when I got to the last of these endnotes where he wrote along the lines of, "The general idea that free will does not exist has too much evidence to even start listing stuff here. It just doesn't exist. If you've gotten to this point in your life and still somehow believe it does then I just can't help you."

whojeemaflip's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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