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mercerhanau's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: War
Minor: Classism, Confinement, Violence, Cannibalism, Fatphobia, Grief, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Blood, Suicide, and Torture
steveatwaywords's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Surprisingly fast-paced novel on language and how it shapes our thinking!
Delany is at once a sharp-skilled writer on topics abstract and challenging (how a brain functions, social-psychological insights, what it means to be 'discorporate') and sometimes challenging on topics which might be sharply-defined (action sequences with unspoken narrative leaps, dialogue with subtext too subtle to follow). Nevertheless, what I thought first upon reading this book (and after it was over) was that I wanted more.
His characters, major and minor, are rich in backstory without needless exposition; the world is massive in variation and function with little space given for its history. From the first pages, readers are set deeply into it and left to founder, but we are never lose ourselves from the tautly-told story offered. At once a novel of espionage and murder, its answer is cleanly resolved in the premise: how might a language's structure alter who and what we are?
A reader today may have quibbles with the book: its worlds lean a bit heavily on the 1960s psychedelic scenes from when it was written. And, my personal trouble at times, the narrative dives into the languages themselves are fairly experimental and at times stream-of-consciousness, in keeping with the nature of those languages. However, these pages (not mere paragraphs) can become truly disorienting: but don't skip over them, because much of Delany's answers and vision lie in this very experimental text! (And to be sure, when I say that I wanted the novel to be longer, it was not to ask for more of this writing!)
What we are left with is a novel that pokes hard at a concept other writers have done far less successfully (Ayn Rand and Larry Niven each come to mind), but with stakes and consequences so high that we leave less worried for the future vision and more anxious for ourselves.
Delany is at once a sharp-skilled writer on topics abstract and challenging (how a brain functions, social-psychological insights, what it means to be 'discorporate') and sometimes challenging on topics which might be sharply-defined (action sequences with unspoken narrative leaps, dialogue with subtext too subtle to follow). Nevertheless, what I thought first upon reading this book (and after it was over) was that I wanted more.
His characters, major and minor, are rich in backstory without needless exposition; the world is massive in variation and function with little space given for its history. From the first pages, readers are set deeply into it and left to founder, but we are never lose ourselves from the tautly-told story offered. At once a novel of espionage and murder, its answer is cleanly resolved in the premise: how might a language's structure alter who and what we are?
A reader today may have quibbles with the book: its worlds lean a bit heavily on the 1960s psychedelic scenes from when it was written. And, my personal trouble at times, the narrative dives into the languages themselves are fairly experimental and at times stream-of-consciousness, in keeping with the nature of those languages. However, these pages (not mere paragraphs) can become truly disorienting: but don't skip over them, because much of Delany's answers and vision lie in this very experimental text! (And to be sure, when I say that I wanted the novel to be longer, it was not to ask for more of this writing!)
What we are left with is a novel that pokes hard at a concept other writers have done far less successfully (Ayn Rand and Larry Niven each come to mind), but with stakes and consequences so high that we leave less worried for the future vision and more anxious for ourselves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content and Drug use
The violence and war are high space action rather than realistic history.thessie_rby's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Murder
Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Medical trauma, and War
Minor: Sexual content
retrofuturism's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, War, and Fatphobia
twitcherpated's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: War
Minor: Cannibalism, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Racial slurs, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
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