Reviews - Blindflug | The StoryGraph

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1.88k reviews for:

Blindflug

Peter Watts

3.94 AVERAGE

moremonsters's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

One of the most thought provoking science fiction novels I have recently read. Questions of sentience (and it's utility or not) have dominated my late night conversations. Watts brilliantly navigates writing scenarios which are by their very nature impossible to understand. I appreciate his author's note that the novel is a thought experiment, and not his main belief system, for that would be a grim imagining of the universe.

Also vampires!!

lynkslinks's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Hard to understand initially and I had started it a year before I actually finished it. Really bizarre book.

e_sean_s's review against another edition

4.0

This was a very intentionally confusing book that really throws you into the deep end right off the bat. In some parts, that just got to be too much for me, but in other places I did enjoy piecing things together. I think this is a really good book to go into not knowing anything, and the summary does a really good job of conveying a sense of tone and what to expect without actually giving too much away. Blindsight is all about the difference between consciousness and intelligence, and it really got me to think about those concepts as separate things. It’s also a transhumanist future, and a relatively nihilistic one at that. All the main characters, and the world at large, have used technology to change themselves in a way that disconnects them from “humanity”, and that just adds to the murkiness about different ways of knowing something and of knowing yourself, much less knowing something alien.

The writing definitely did feel pretentious at times, especially when there was so clearly a more straightforward way to say something. I also really disliked the main character, and I’m still not entirely sure if he was meant to be unlikable or not. But towards the end, the plot and concepts all came together in a way that really worked for me. Part of this book reminded me of The Southern Reach by Jeff VanderMeer, since there is a similar set up with a crew of people defined by their specialities, and a blend of sci fi and horror. The tones and focuses of each are very different though. Also, I have to say I loved that vampires were in this book, and the vampire was in space. I thought the Crucifix Glitch was super interesting lore, and it was just fun and cool.

eliask_87's review against another edition

4.5

challenging mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

rhiza's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

One of the most conceptually challenging books I’ve ever read. There was a number of times that I put this down to digest some of the ideas posed. Not only is this an incredible sci-fi book, but a great speculative philosophy on sentience, and what it means to be human (maybe).

Vampires, existentialism, aliens, what’s not to love.

bopptimist's review against another edition

5.0

Already looking forward to reading this again.

thraeg's review against another edition

4.0

As an exploration of speculative ideas in biology, philosophy, and neuroscience, it's top-notch, utterly fascinating. As a piece of fiction, judged on its characters and narrative, it's merely adequate.