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sadhbhprice's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
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? Yes
4.0
grogu_djarin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Overall Thoughts:
In the afterward the author said he'd had ideas for two different books, one on a world without colonialism and the other on astral projection, and decided to merge the ideas into one book. I don't think he did himself any favors doing so as both ideas are under-developed in my opinion and the end result is a largely incoherent mess where not a lot happens until the final 20% or so.
First, with the world without colonialism I felt he achieved the exact opposite of what he intended. That world is dystopian, far more stratified, highly corporate with few liberties, and somehow substantially more advanced with the Ark (built in the early 1900's) being a 4 mile tall and 5 mile underground super-structure built over London where everyone sleeps in VR pods. Meanwhile, in real life, the Industrial Revolution largely happened due to the stolen wealth and labor exploited by colonial powers so is he arguing we'd have been more advanced without colonialism? Then, the few chapters that do explore the real life London arguably depict a life better for all the characters even though they struggle with the lingering effects of British colonialism and racism in society. It's unfortunate this was such a small part of the book because it was superbly written and I would have loved an entire book of this.
Second, the astral projection is really underutilized. There are only a few instances throughout the book of Markriss using it, but the majority is used to explore alternate Diniums. None of the cosmology behind it gets explained until the last pages either, and I feel it would have been better if some of it is mentioned earlier. For the book supposedly centering around the astral projection, a lot of times it feels like an afterthought.
Lastly, this was a really painful and slow read for a lot of reasons. I'm not one to DNF a book because I feel I can't judge it fairly until I've read the entire thing, but I don't think I've ever been so tempted to DNF a book every 2 pages. The book is needlessly vivid and over-detailed, to the point where every environment and person is described in excruciating detail and it really makes the story feel choppy. There are also a lot of passive voice and sentence fragments sprinkled throughout which exacerbates this.
In the afterward the author said he'd had ideas for two different books, one on a world without colonialism and the other on astral projection, and decided to merge the ideas into one book. I don't think he did himself any favors doing so as both ideas are under-developed in my opinion and the end result is a largely incoherent mess where not a lot happens until the final 20% or so.
First, with the world without colonialism I felt he achieved the exact opposite of what he intended. That world is dystopian, far more stratified, highly corporate with few liberties, and somehow substantially more advanced with the Ark (built in the early 1900's) being a 4 mile tall and 5 mile underground super-structure built over London where everyone sleeps in VR pods. Meanwhile, in real life, the Industrial Revolution largely happened due to the stolen wealth and labor exploited by colonial powers so is he arguing we'd have been more advanced without colonialism? Then, the few chapters that do explore the real life London arguably depict a life better for all the characters even though they struggle with the lingering effects of British colonialism and racism in society. It's unfortunate this was such a small part of the book because it was superbly written and I would have loved an entire book of this.
Second, the astral projection is really underutilized. There are only a few instances throughout the book of Markriss using it, but the majority is used to explore alternate Diniums. None of the cosmology behind it gets explained until the last pages either, and I feel it would have been better if some of it is mentioned earlier. For the book supposedly centering around the astral projection, a lot of times it feels like an afterthought.
Lastly, this was a really painful and slow read for a lot of reasons. I'm not one to DNF a book because I feel I can't judge it fairly until I've read the entire thing, but I don't think I've ever been so tempted to DNF a book every 2 pages. The book is needlessly vivid and over-detailed, to the point where every environment and person is described in excruciating detail and it really makes the story feel choppy. There are also a lot of passive voice and sentence fragments sprinkled throughout which exacerbates this.
Likes:
- The parts set in modern London were superb. The writing was compelling and there were powerful examples of how colonialism and racism have affected people. Unfortunately, this is such a small section of the book and the fact that all the characters were better off in modern London seems to make the argument that the London without colonialism (Dinium) is worse off.
Dislikes:
- The book was way too needlessly vivid and descriptive. It was a laborious read because something would happen and then several paragraphs were spent describing their surroundings in vivid detail, and if a new character shows up another paragraph or two describing their appearance, and then finally you have to scroll back a couple pages to remember what was going on in the scene before to continue reading. It's like this almost the entire book.
- There are a lot of passive voice and sentence fragments sprinkled throughout the book which makes it even more painful to read.
- I didn't like a majority of the world-building surrounding Dinium and if the purpose was depicting a world without colonialism it seemed to only argue that colonialism made a better world with how much worse that world was. In particular, Dinium seems simultaneously far more advanced yet substantially worse than modern London.
- I had a lot of nitpicky things about the world-building too. The Ark is powered by harvesting the kinetic energy from people in their sleep pods? He knows kinetic energy is the energy of motion, right? Spaghetti Bolognese exists? Interestingly, he said he received criticism from an editor about this that black people don't eat it (they do), but my issue is tomatoes came from the Americas via colonialism and in a world where English is a near extinct language, somehow Italian culture is preserved to an extent they have identical foods.
- The needed background on the cosmology of astral projection doesn't arrive until the last pages and it's too little, too late.
- There is a scene of people being executed by a machete and with the excessive vividness and detail the book has it ends up being a very uncomfortable and gory scene.
Other Notes:
- There is an E-Lul Corporation in the book which humorously means something derogatory in Dutch.
Would Recommend To:
- If you're interested in anti-colonial work, the chapters set in modern London are very powerful, but unfortunately you need to muck through hundreds of pages that seem to tell the opposite story of "look how bad the world is without colonialism".
Do Not Recommend To:
- I don't really recommend this to anyone. I think it had a lot of potential but it needed a few more drafts and to commit to one idea rather than trying to do too much (and accomplishing little of it). I have a feeling it made sense in the author's head, but unfortunately he didn't communicate that on paper.
markreadsbooks_sg's review against another edition
3.0
I got A River Called Time by Courttia Newland from Netgalley for a fair and honest review.
I decided to read this book because having enjoyed alternative history novels before, the thought of reading one based on the premise that the continent of Africa was never colonised by the European nations appealed to me.
When I started reading this book, I was all enthusiastic as I said before the premise for the story was something that interested me, however, the book failed to live up to this.
Firstly the alternative history, while I do not feel that this type of novel has to over show that it is set in an alternative timeline, but apart from a few paragraphs about the history in this timeline and occasionally people mentioning by Ra (an ancient Egyption god), there was very little for the reader to pick up on.
The writing style for the book reminded me a lot of a Charles Dickens' novel, being written in a very dense style. Which is fine but when the plot line is a slow burner it did make a book which takes a long time to read, seem to take even longer.
The book did have some good points, for example the lead characters job of being a Journalist, whose job it was to write stories to the advantage of the government even though they knew the stories were wrong.
Who should read A River Called Time? This is a novel that needs a lot of time for a reader to sit down and just read the book, as it is not one which you can enjoy by reading a couple of pages on public transport going to and from work.
So this book is for someone who can spare the time and concentration that this book needs, in other words it is the perfect book if you like immersing yourself in the writer's world if this is you then you should read, A River Called Time by Courttia Newland
I decided to read this book because having enjoyed alternative history novels before, the thought of reading one based on the premise that the continent of Africa was never colonised by the European nations appealed to me.
When I started reading this book, I was all enthusiastic as I said before the premise for the story was something that interested me, however, the book failed to live up to this.
Firstly the alternative history, while I do not feel that this type of novel has to over show that it is set in an alternative timeline, but apart from a few paragraphs about the history in this timeline and occasionally people mentioning by Ra (an ancient Egyption god), there was very little for the reader to pick up on.
The writing style for the book reminded me a lot of a Charles Dickens' novel, being written in a very dense style. Which is fine but when the plot line is a slow burner it did make a book which takes a long time to read, seem to take even longer.
The book did have some good points, for example the lead characters job of being a Journalist, whose job it was to write stories to the advantage of the government even though they knew the stories were wrong.
Who should read A River Called Time? This is a novel that needs a lot of time for a reader to sit down and just read the book, as it is not one which you can enjoy by reading a couple of pages on public transport going to and from work.
So this book is for someone who can spare the time and concentration that this book needs, in other words it is the perfect book if you like immersing yourself in the writer's world if this is you then you should read, A River Called Time by Courttia Newland
chyara's review against another edition
zo een raar verhaal kwam er niet doorheen.
rach_reads_books's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
daydreamerjade's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-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? Yes
2.0
coralena's review
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
3.0
I loved the idea of the book but it was quite hard to finish. English is my second language and maybe that plays into it.
sophia_tiwari's review against another edition
There is no plot. I have no clue what’s going on in the book. So much potential wasted…
chamblyman's review against another edition
4.0
The mysticism of astral realms and spirit beings mixes with a complex depiction of utopia/dystopia, technological power, and human survival amid shifting realities. Imagine Marlon James (Black Leopard Red Wolf) doing a Philip K. Dick type story set in an Afrocentric alternate-history London!