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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book is a challenging read, which makes me wonder if it wasn't very good, or I just didn't get it.
There was a lot of very striking imagery throughout, and the overall idea did translate in the end, however... The prose was very abstract and ergodic, and told from the points of view of a range of frankly unrelatable characters - from a human astronaut, to a chimeral duck, to sentient moss.
It wasn't for me, but to those more versed in abstract sci-fi/fantasy, maybe give it a go.
There was a lot of very striking imagery throughout, and the overall idea did translate in the end, however... The prose was very abstract and ergodic, and told from the points of view of a range of frankly unrelatable characters - from a human astronaut, to a chimeral duck, to sentient moss.
It wasn't for me, but to those more versed in abstract sci-fi/fantasy, maybe give it a go.
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I gave this five stars because I thought it was totally original, enthralling, daring, strangely mournful, and very thought provoking. But it is also very not-for-everyone. I think this is Vandermeer's most challenging book. He pushes his style of allusive, poetic, and elliptical writing further than ever before. The reader has to put a lot of pieces together to make sense of it. He combines disparate parts and influences (I was feeling animal fables, environmental disaster, multiverse/time travel, J.G. Ballard, M. John Harrison, Angela Carter, Kathe Koja) into a pretty incredible, beautiful whole that takes the reader on a fascinating trip to a funhouse mirror world that reflects real life ecological and biotech concerns, as well as themes of love and friendship, existential identity, bodily metamorphosis, power, survival, meaning. This is science fiction for poetry lovers, fantasy that is sad and dark and weird and real and bleak and gorgeous, a mind-bending puzzle that is exciting as hell to solve (if you like that kind of reading.)
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed "Borne" and the very complex but interesting world that Vandermeer created in it, however, "Dead Astronauts" is a far more complex book and has in my opinion been written more as a stream of consciousness which unfortunately made it difficult for me to follow.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I am reminded of a prank in which a couple of teenagers convinced visitors to SF’s Museum of Modern Art that a pair of eyeglasses they had left on the floor was a work of high art. This book, I’m afraid, is its literary equivalent. There is no story here, and just barely things that can pass as character or setting. I did not find what it is trying to say (or what I think it is trying to say, or imply) to be compelling or profound, but I think, because it obscures all of its ideas in choppy, confusing, broken language, calling it out for what it is (or isn’t) makes you feel dumb. Well, I’ll just come out and feel dumb: it’s a boring book and the best part about it is when I finally finished it. Never judge a book by its cover. The cover of this book is awesome; the content, far from it.