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corbad's review against another edition
4.0
Like the retrofitted aircraft that lift the novel’s characters into the magnetosphere above the earth, the prose is a little slow to rise and the first of three distinct generational parts is the weakest of them - though it is by no means weak; its exposition fascinating and compelling. But once the novel really gets going, its expanse of concept and intimacy of perspective provoke and thrill in stunning diction (debatably cheapened, though I found the conceit charming, by the use of developing “newspeak”). Incredibly inventive both conceptually and in its use and voice of character.
joeyh's review against another edition
5.0
There are probably better times to read this than during a series of chilly, uncomfortable plane flights, since that's basically its setting. Since it was one of my best reads last year, I'm looking forward to a reread.
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2012 reread: Was struck this time by the beautiful language, phrases like "the faceted running bulge and dip of the Appalachians". I've read criticism of Adam Roberts that suggests he's subverting or doing something strange with SF. Read it in a more literary mode this time.
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2012 reread: Was struck this time by the beautiful language, phrases like "the faceted running bulge and dip of the Appalachians". I've read criticism of Adam Roberts that suggests he's subverting or doing something strange with SF. Read it in a more literary mode this time.
shivers_g's review against another edition
3.0
Liked but didn't love it. there was something unsatisfiying about this book but can't put my finger on it.
roba's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent adult-Nicholas-Fisk type account of an early history of Earth-orbit colonisation. A plausible and compelling unpacking of a wealth of scientific, political, emotional and satirical ideas. Adam Roberts creates a vivid and poetic sense of place out of Earth orbit - 'the Uplands' - without resorting to the phrase 'like a blue jewel'.
One complaint - as the years in the book pass, Roberts adds some slight 'language evolution' which in the last 100 pages becomes intrusive enough to snag your reading. I can see why he did it, but I don't think the effect was worth it. But it shouldn't be enough to put you off an unusual and absorbing novel.
One complaint - as the years in the book pass, Roberts adds some slight 'language evolution' which in the last 100 pages becomes intrusive enough to snag your reading. I can see why he did it, but I don't think the effect was worth it. But it shouldn't be enough to put you off an unusual and absorbing novel.
ericlawton's review against another edition
4.0
Although Roberts' books are full of surprises, they follow a basic pattern of being much more about illuminating social and political ideas than the science fiction universe they are set in.
This is no exception.
I stayed up too late to finish it; for once there isn't a surprise SciFi twist in the last quarter of the book, just a page-turner of an end.
This is no exception.
I stayed up too late to finish it; for once there isn't a surprise SciFi twist in the last quarter of the book, just a page-turner of an end.
rinn's review against another edition
3.0
Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.
This is yet another hard one to rate. I really love sci-fi, especially high-concept, and the quote on the cover led me to believe this was one of those novels. However, I would describe as more of a low-key sci-fi - it is set not too far into the future, and the technology is not majorly developed. Although people (known as 'Uplanders') are living on the edge of the earth's atmosphere, this is a very rare occurrence; and despite this development in technology, the last manned moon landing was Apollo 17 in 1972, as it is today.
The society in the book doesn't seem too changed from our own. There appears to be more of a continental emphasis, e.g. the countries are called England-EU, Finland-EU etc, but apart from casual space travel it doesn't seem too different. There are so many theories about the definition of 'science fiction' compared with fantasy, but the commonly accepted one seems to be that sci-fi is what could happen, whereas fantasy never could. In that case, I would say that 2050 seems far too early for this casual space travel, but it's really hard to query the plausibility of sci-fi!
Roberts has a very fluid writing style, and the first half of the book (narrated by Gradisil's mother Klara) was an account of her life as an 'Uplander', from her childhood to Gradisil's late teens, and was some very effective world building. Yet as soon as the story switched to Gradisil's half, it became much less interesting; it almost feels as though the two halves could quite easily be two different books. Whilst the eponymous character never provides the narration, we see her from two different sides: as a child and a teenager, from her mother; from a young woman to middle aged by her cuckolded husband. This has the effect of keeping Gradisil at a distance from the reader, as she is to all the loved ones in her life.
Yet for all the effective techniques that Roberts has used, there are some downfalls. The beginning of part two of the book, where narration by Slater (who becomes more and more entwined with the story) begins, was just a complete information dump. Too many facts and figures and information about technology was introduced in a matter of pages, and I quite honestly found all but one or two of Slater's chapters really dull. I don't even think his POV chapters were completely necessary.
The changes in spelling as time progressed, whilst showing changes in society, annoyed me. First it was the dropping of 'c', then 'h', then 'ng' became a strange symbol. I really can't stand this in books, hence why I dropped Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks. It worked for Flowers for Algernon (which is a fantastic book, by the way) because it was a very effective way of portraying Charlie's rapidly increasing IQ. Here, however, it really isn't necessary and just bugged me.
Overall, I did enjoy the book but it honestly felt like it could have been two novels, or perhaps a novella - covering Klara's story - and a novel. The two halves were rather disjointed, and I enjoyed Klara's half more, despite Gradisil barely being in it. It was nice to read some low-key sci-fi though, something a bit more easily imagined.
This is yet another hard one to rate. I really love sci-fi, especially high-concept, and the quote on the cover led me to believe this was one of those novels. However, I would describe as more of a low-key sci-fi - it is set not too far into the future, and the technology is not majorly developed. Although people (known as 'Uplanders') are living on the edge of the earth's atmosphere, this is a very rare occurrence; and despite this development in technology, the last manned moon landing was Apollo 17 in 1972, as it is today.
The society in the book doesn't seem too changed from our own. There appears to be more of a continental emphasis, e.g. the countries are called England-EU, Finland-EU etc, but apart from casual space travel it doesn't seem too different. There are so many theories about the definition of 'science fiction' compared with fantasy, but the commonly accepted one seems to be that sci-fi is what could happen, whereas fantasy never could. In that case, I would say that 2050 seems far too early for this casual space travel, but it's really hard to query the plausibility of sci-fi!
Roberts has a very fluid writing style, and the first half of the book (narrated by Gradisil's mother Klara) was an account of her life as an 'Uplander', from her childhood to Gradisil's late teens, and was some very effective world building. Yet as soon as the story switched to Gradisil's half, it became much less interesting; it almost feels as though the two halves could quite easily be two different books. Whilst the eponymous character never provides the narration, we see her from two different sides: as a child and a teenager, from her mother; from a young woman to middle aged by her cuckolded husband. This has the effect of keeping Gradisil at a distance from the reader, as she is to all the loved ones in her life.
Yet for all the effective techniques that Roberts has used, there are some downfalls. The beginning of part two of the book, where narration by Slater (who becomes more and more entwined with the story) begins, was just a complete information dump. Too many facts and figures and information about technology was introduced in a matter of pages, and I quite honestly found all but one or two of Slater's chapters really dull. I don't even think his POV chapters were completely necessary.
The changes in spelling as time progressed, whilst showing changes in society, annoyed me. First it was the dropping of 'c', then 'h', then 'ng' became a strange symbol. I really can't stand this in books, hence why I dropped Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks. It worked for Flowers for Algernon (which is a fantastic book, by the way) because it was a very effective way of portraying Charlie's rapidly increasing IQ. Here, however, it really isn't necessary and just bugged me.
Overall, I did enjoy the book but it honestly felt like it could have been two novels, or perhaps a novella - covering Klara's story - and a novel. The two halves were rather disjointed, and I enjoyed Klara's half more, despite Gradisil barely being in it. It was nice to read some low-key sci-fi though, something a bit more easily imagined.
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