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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I felt like the stories from the three times didn’t hold together particularly well. The ending with its revelation’s didn’t do much for me. I liked the first half much better than the second.
adventurous
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:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
If you like speculative fiction about late stage capitalism this book is for you.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I wish the book would’ve been expanded. I love the scope and the world-building, though.
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Once again, the first book of the year is a total wash—this is the third year this has happened, and honestly, at this point, it's beginning to feel like a curse. I love sweeping fiction and speculative science fiction, but The Immortal King Rao, the first novel from Vauhini Vara, falls short of its incredible ambition. Equal parts familial epic and dystopian techscape, the novel is divided into three parts where we see the rise and fall of a tech visionary exiled from his own creation. There's a wild amount of world building going on here; an entire ecosystem of shareholders and islander outcasts. Unfortunately, it all feels rushed. Had Vara taken more time to develop her world and the pacing within, this could've been a very different book at double the length. Add in a lot of timeline shifting and flashbacks, and you get a very uneven story. To the novel's credit, it's incredibly smart. Vara is able to write searing sentences that put forth a powerful philosophy on the intersections between humanity and technology. The scope either needed to be reined way in, or pushed outwards and expanded. Despite its ambitions, I feel very indifferent about this book. It had all the right ideas but ultimately got in its own way.
What I liked:
· The mix of historical/personal/speculative fiction
· The rich language, sentence by sentence, scene by scene
· The attempt to tie together the three timelines and the two worlds in the dystopian present
· Interesting questions of culpability and guilt and how those determine future actions
What didn’t work so well:
· In many ways I felt as if I always remained outside each of the characters, they didn’t truly come alive for me
· The King Rao of the three timelines didn’t actually knit together believably
· The two dystopian worlds (Corporation, Blanklands): each seemed intriguing but underdeveloped
Questions:
· If humans are heading for complete destruction (Hothouse Earth), what is the point of inserting ones’ memories into the consciousness of another person—it all will be lost anyway.
· Why is the Detention Center named after Margie Rao?
· What is going on in the last few paragraphs—much to discuss!
2.5 or 3. I listened to the audiobook and the reading of it may have lessened my enjoyment, just because of the way it was read. I also found it hard to connect with the characters and the story lines were interesting but also not as compelling as they could have been for me.
