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spikespiegel's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This is the perfect example of good grimdark writing, a genre that honestly struggles to ever produce much worth recommending. The Algebraist is a weird Baroque sci-fi story about power structures, empire, and social expectations. I don't know if I can recommend it enough, its filled with horror and bleakness, counterpointed perfectly with rare moments of humanity and hope.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Gun violence, and Torture
alishareadsandrambles's review
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book has been sitting on myself for years, and I am so glad I finally got around to it. When I first started this book there was a little bit of a rollercoaster. I really enjoyed the prologue, but then the book got really confusing and boring real fast. This book shifts timelines and POVs without any real warning. On the page there is a small page break, but there is no indication of the character whose POV it is switching to or if the events happened before or after the events that the previous section was about. I love POV shifts and time jumps, but without knowing what was happening this was super confusing. Combine this with the fact that nothing much happened during the first 100 or so pages and I almost DNF'd this multiple times. In the end I'm glad I didn't because after about 100 pages I did start to enjoy it.
This book mostly centers around Fassin who is a seer in the distant future, and the first 100 pages just follows him in different spaces and time as we get ready for the story of the book. It isn't until after the 100 page mark that the story started to make sense to me, and also it was after that point that the synopsis on the back of the book seemed to be relevant at all. Some authors can get away with the long delay, but I don't think Banks has the chops to pull it off successfully.
Most of the characters in this book felt boring and one dimensional, but there are some side characters that really stand out. We meet my favorite characters in the book very late in the story, but they remind me a little of The Mad Hatter, and are just fun to read about. Additionally Banks did do a good job at making me legitimately hate the villain, even if he did feel like a stereotypical villain.
While this book has some problems where it really shines is the aliens. Holy cow there were some really freaking cool aliens and alien worlds in this book. Also as the story does pick up the plot does become interesting, and the story did pull me in so I really wanted to know what happened.
There are some moments in this book that feel very male gaze-y, and every time one of those would occur it was really frustrating and honestly didn't feel like it belonged in the story at all. For example there is one minor side character that we get a POV from for a few pages and there is multiple paragraphs about how this side character hates meetings and spends all his time during meetings picturing the women in the meeting with him naked. It was really gross, and also not relevant to the story at all.
This book mostly centers around Fassin who is a seer in the distant future, and the first 100 pages just follows him in different spaces and time as we get ready for the story of the book. It isn't until after the 100 page mark that the story started to make sense to me, and also it was after that point that the synopsis on the back of the book seemed to be relevant at all. Some authors can get away with the long delay, but I don't think Banks has the chops to pull it off successfully.
Most of the characters in this book felt boring and one dimensional, but there are some side characters that really stand out. We meet my favorite characters in the book very late in the story, but they remind me a little of The Mad Hatter, and are just fun to read about. Additionally Banks did do a good job at making me legitimately hate the villain, even if he did feel like a stereotypical villain.
While this book has some problems where it really shines is the aliens. Holy cow there were some really freaking cool aliens and alien worlds in this book. Also as the story does pick up the plot does become interesting, and the story did pull me in so I really wanted to know what happened.
There are some moments in this book that feel very male gaze-y, and every time one of those would occur it was really frustrating and honestly didn't feel like it belonged in the story at all. For example there is one minor side character that we get a POV from for a few pages and there is multiple paragraphs about how this side character hates meetings and spends all his time during meetings picturing the women in the meeting with him naked. It was really gross, and also not relevant to the story at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Violence
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