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ericbuscemi's review
1.0
This book started out interesting, and I enjoyed about the first half of it. Then it got really bizarre and lost me somewhere around the three-quarter mark. I didn't even wind up finishing it, and there are not a lot of books I can say that about.
thinde's review
4.0
I read this as a young man and was very impressed with the complexity and originality of the world. I suspect I'd not be so impressed now that I'm older, particularly as the genre has evolved since then.
uninherent's review
2.0
An extremely imaginative world, but without much philosophical or social substance to it. Couldn't make it all the way through the audiobook, as I became sort of lost given the constant change of setting and characters that this book entails. Thus, it was neither entertaining nor instructive, ultimately, although it had a few key moments of interest.
arthurbdd's review
1.0
At its best, Radix is like a hip cyberpunk take on Frank Herbert; at its worst, it's a deeply pretentious novel which thinks it's being deep and meaningful when in fact it's being trite and pulpy. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/reading-canary-the-radix-tetrad/
hansemrbean's review
2.0
Reading this felt like ages - more than once I thought to just abandon it, but I usually do read books through - just in case it will surprise me. Well, I definitly won't read the other three books.
There are some good ideas, and the setting is epic, with an interesting world-building. That the hero is an anti-hero is also ok - provided there is some development. That is the first problem I had with this book - in the beginning, the hero is just a quite unsympathetic guy, who kills "bad" people, but later he kind of evolves - by being dragged into different situations, where he is improving a lot physically - and mentally, too, at least in the sense that he is mastering his mind. But there is no real character evolution here - with rare exceptions, he is always being dragged by someone more or less willingly (a lot of destiny involved). Basically, he is evolving into a kind of a superhuman (it is often enough stressed that he is superior genetically, he's got a "white card" proving that, which, at least for me, has some quite unpleasent associations).
The other thing that is somehow related is the abundance of pseudo-philosophical gibberish (YMMV, of course) that may have been en vogue at the time this was written (you may like this, if you are into new age stuff). For me, it was just plain boring, and the try to put a pseudo-scientific base there made it only worse for me.
Also, the narrative feels a bit random - maybe the book would be quite good if it were condensed to a third of the current size. As it is, there are long chapters where the story just drags on and on. I couldn't decide on a rating until now, but well - after mentally going over the storyline again - a 2 it will be.
There are some good ideas, and the setting is epic, with an interesting world-building. That the hero is an anti-hero is also ok - provided there is some development. That is the first problem I had with this book - in the beginning, the hero is just a quite unsympathetic guy, who kills "bad" people, but later he kind of evolves - by being dragged into different situations, where he is improving a lot physically - and mentally, too, at least in the sense that he is mastering his mind. But there is no real character evolution here - with rare exceptions, he is always being dragged by someone more or less willingly (a lot of destiny involved). Basically, he is evolving into a kind of a superhuman (it is often enough stressed that he is superior genetically, he's got a "white card" proving that, which, at least for me, has some quite unpleasent associations).
The other thing that is somehow related is the abundance of pseudo-philosophical gibberish (YMMV, of course) that may have been en vogue at the time this was written (you may like this, if you are into new age stuff). For me, it was just plain boring, and the try to put a pseudo-scientific base there made it only worse for me.
Also, the narrative feels a bit random - maybe the book would be quite good if it were condensed to a third of the current size. As it is, there are long chapters where the story just drags on and on. I couldn't decide on a rating until now, but well - after mentally going over the storyline again - a 2 it will be.
hedgewriter's review
1.0
Rambling and confusing at best, almost unreadable at worst. I thought the plot had potential and the characters were interesting, but the existential imaginings and made up words were too much for me.
riduidel's review
2.0
L’histoire
Summer Kagan est un habitant d’une terre futuriste qui, au début du bouquin, n’a vraiment rien pour plaire à qui que ce soit : obèse, limite asocial, il ne se complaît que dans la destruction. Mais de nombreuses épreuves vont lui permettre de se révéler à lui-même, et de devenir plus qu’il n’a jamais rêvé être. Bien sûr, il affrontera l’adversité et sauvera le monde, mais il sortira de ces épreuves transformé d’une manière difficilement envisageable…
Mon avis
J’avais entendu parler plusieurs fois de ce livre dans des termes assez flatteurs, et la quatrième de couverture ne dérogeait pas à la règle en nous présentant cette oeuvre comme un récit initiatique. Pourtant, j’en garde une impression assez diffuse. Si Radix est un voyage tout à fait fascinant dans l’imagination d’[author:Attanasio], il est assez difficle de s’intéresser à Kagan qui, tout au long du roman, deviendra un individu de plus en plus transparent. Si en effet le terroriste du début est assez intéressant, malgré son côté franchement détestable, le héros qui termine l’aventure, doté d’une force physique et mentale impressionante, a lui l’épaisseur d’une feuille de papier. Et c’est franchement frustrant pour le lecteur, je trouve. A bien y réfléchir, j’ai même du mal à trouver de bonnes choses dans ce roman : l’écriture, sans être lourde, n’a absolument aucun charme(1), le monde décrit est plutôt farfelu, encombré d’extraterrestres mutants,d’esprits-dieux incarnés et d’autres fadaises new-age, et même l’autoscopie, mélant une espèce de transe de perception à de la méditation pseudo-zen, ne me semble pas quelque chose de très crédible. Bref, ce roman est pour moi une déception. Assez mesurée, certes, dans la mesure où la comparaison avec [book:Dune] est le signe certain que l’éditeur a juste compris qu’il y avait un cheminement initiatique dans le désert. Mais une déception quand même.
(1) Ne venez pas me dire que c’est la faute du traducteur. C’est un peu facile de rejeter ça sur l’un des auteurs de l’oeuvre sous le prétexte qu’il n’a pas eu l’idée du roman.
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