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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
fast-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
I was interested in this book but never expected to find a new potential favorite hard sci fi author to put alongside Greg Egan and Peter Watts.
Talk about a masterclass in complex exposition. The author manages to introduce countless fascinating new ideas, mostly involving transhumanist societies (similar to the previously mentioned authors) but, unlike some, manages to make it flow so beautifully with the story that you barely notice.
I'll readily admit, as is normal for me in this genre, that I didn't follow every twist and turn in the story. The nature of the exposition almost encourages this, starting in the middle of the action, barely explaining any of the crazy neologisms (many based on valid science) that it uses. What a ride!
Talk about a masterclass in complex exposition. The author manages to introduce countless fascinating new ideas, mostly involving transhumanist societies (similar to the previously mentioned authors) but, unlike some, manages to make it flow so beautifully with the story that you barely notice.
I'll readily admit, as is normal for me in this genre, that I didn't follow every twist and turn in the story. The nature of the exposition almost encourages this, starting in the middle of the action, barely explaining any of the crazy neologisms (many based on valid science) that it uses. What a ride!
This book could've used some sections of info dump because, unfortunately, the exciting revelations were dimmed by the fact that I was never quite sure what anyone was talking about. Plenty of potentially cool world building and a mystery plot ruined by the fact that I never quite grasped the difference between X science magic and Y science magic or what their goals were or was the sun exploded? Was the Earth gone? Where did Jupiter go? What? Plus SPOILERS I effing knew the definition of the word Oubliette before we began so there went that big surprise. Anyway, the characters were oddly interesting so I stuck it out.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Many of the concepts are interesting, and the final twists are satisfying. However, what none of the reviews primed me for was the endless sexual objectification, even when unnecessary. I don't know if there is a single female character who this "gentleman thief" does not comment on their sexy appearance. The zoku colony - also, interesting conceptually! - but the way that they were described was infantilizing and mocking too often. Overall, a frustrating book, and a reminder of why I didn't read much science fiction before about a decade ago.
This book was highly rated on Goodreads, but I had a tough time getting into the book. The characters were pretty shallow and I never felt like I could root for any of them. I was very happy to get to the end so I didn’t have to read it any more.
I enjoyed this book a lot. The author has thought up lots of interesting concepts for his universe but at times they weren't communicated very clearly.
A lovely detective adventure set in a somewhat interesting scifi world. I've been reading a lot of hard scifi lately so this didn't scratch the same itch of novel intellectual exploration. It had some opportunities for interesting explorations of consciousness, but shied away from that in favor of more adventure-thriller narrative progression. C'est la vie.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
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
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:
Yes
2 chapters in and kinda sucks. Its a parade of made up words and concepts, and not enough of actual story and characters. I hate when science fiction introduces ‘magic’ to solve problems, and this feels like a fantasy novel masquerading as science fiction… read one more chapter, then had to give up.