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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
Judging from the reviews, this is either a love it or hate it book and I am solidly in the first camp. It's batshit crazy and meandering but I loved it. If you like Philip K Dick, Pynchon's easier material, or William Gibson, you will probably love it too. It's jam packed with philosophical musings and hints of our future. I'm going to have to read it again sometime to get all the stuff I missed.
You probably won't like this book! Seriously, it's complicated, it's convoluted, it's clever. It's got a lot of long obscure words in it. It's long, it's tough to follow over the course, and it jumps around a lot to make you *have* to follow it over the course!
Now, that all the "easy book" readers have left...
That's what Warren Ellis wrote about this book in his newsletter. That's what got me to purchase it. I'm glad I did.
The comparison to William Gibson and David Mitchell is valid (If you don't like the novel of Cloud Atlas don't even think of starting this), but the book strikes its own path.
If all of the above has piqued your interest, go ahead and grab the book. You won't regret it.
Now, that all the "easy book" readers have left...
Imagine a highly-democratised total-surveillance state in the near future. I mean, extraordinarily fine-grained democratic action by and for the people, which also oversees an utterly transparent national surveillance operation. Refusing to participate will get you noticed. If you refuse an interview on the subject, your mind will be read - a process that is not only painless but also has health benefits!
And then someone dies under the process. An inspector is placed on the case to discover how such a rarity could happen. This involves taking the read into her own head, to relive the interviewee's experience.
There's something impossible in the read. There's something impossible in the dead woman's head.
This book has more than one book in it. It is an astonishing piece of construction, complex and witty and, frankly, evil. Yes, Nick, I am looking at you right now. There are some downright evil moments in this book.
It's science fiction, but also historical fiction and social fiction and just plain odd fiction. It is a magnificent achievement and the book everyone will be talking about when it comes out in November. He's never written a bad book, but this is the one that'll see him mentioned in the same breath as William Gibson and David Mitchell (CLOUD ATLAS). Two names I evoke for very specific reasons.
This book seriously just destroyed me with joy.
That's what Warren Ellis wrote about this book in his newsletter. That's what got me to purchase it. I'm glad I did.
The comparison to William Gibson and David Mitchell is valid (If you don't like the novel of Cloud Atlas don't even think of starting this), but the book strikes its own path.
If all of the above has piqued your interest, go ahead and grab the book. You won't regret it.
In futuristic London where "The Witness" knows your thoughts, sometimes before you do, an inspector investigating the mind of a suspected murder victim ends up unraveling an even bigger mystery. Long, convoluted, hard to get through.
It's a near future Britain where the system takes care of you, but that means you are never not under surveillance. It is a kindness to bring in people with bad inclinations and give them a brain cleaning, so to speak.
And then Diana Hunter submits to an interrogation and she dies. Mielikki Neith is a Witness - an investigator who must upload Hunter's brain reading into her own head to find out what happened.
Then all hell breaks loose. Layers of story, misdirection, a Greek math whiz with a shark, an artist who escapes prison, a game developer who may have created the system, a submarine, and an alchemist who descends into Hades to recover her dead son. Plus an assassin and an eternal entity who hops into bodies.
You have to be prepared to go on the adventure and to engage with the text on this one. There's always some interesting echoes with Harkaway - if you need some comparisons, it'll be Neal Stephenson, Don DeLillo, and Baudrillard.
And then Diana Hunter submits to an interrogation and she dies. Mielikki Neith is a Witness - an investigator who must upload Hunter's brain reading into her own head to find out what happened.
Then all hell breaks loose. Layers of story, misdirection, a Greek math whiz with a shark, an artist who escapes prison, a game developer who may have created the system, a submarine, and an alchemist who descends into Hades to recover her dead son. Plus an assassin and an eternal entity who hops into bodies.
You have to be prepared to go on the adventure and to engage with the text on this one. There's always some interesting echoes with Harkaway - if you need some comparisons, it'll be Neal Stephenson, Don DeLillo, and Baudrillard.
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
a very good book, by a lovely author, that felt like it could have used some tighter editing.
An incredible response to 2017. Long and occasionally abstruse, but worth it.
Overall this work was thought-provoking and rich, both in vocabulary and worldbuilding. But at times the prose lagged, causing me to wonder if the book was worth continuing. In the end, I skipped around a little. There are many ideas I will mull around for quite some time, but I don't think the text will remain in my mind or on my suggestion’s list.
If you are someone interested in surveillance states, video games, mythology, and mystery, pick up a copy at the library and give it a try. You too, perhaps, will find something worth digesting.
If you are someone interested in surveillance states, video games, mythology, and mystery, pick up a copy at the library and give it a try. You too, perhaps, will find something worth digesting.
Daunting, but I do love layered narratives, especially about storytelling. It's overlong, but each narrator is engaging. My vocabulary got a workout, as did my ever-growing dread of the surveillance state. Can't say we haven't been warned (again).