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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
Loveable characters:
No
A clever meld of locked room mysteries and golden age SF, this is a highly entertaining read that yet again reminds me how much more intelligent than me Adam is. Jack is interesting and entirely different to the semi-mythical figure I was expecting, Diana grew nicely after a slow start, and the whole scope/concept fulfilled the stated idea nicely, feeling very golden age SF but avoiding the staid nature you get with some and foregoing the ponderous world-building. Not sure the blurb's promise of challenging notions of crime and punishment etc is quite correct, but given I wasn't especially wanting that, I was very happy with the straight, non-preaching novel that I got.
So why 4 stars? Honestly, I can't quite put my finger on it, but it didn't blow me away for all I greatly enjoyed it. Maybe just that in a locked room mystery I'm hoping for a sudden spark of understanding and while there is a revelation at the end of the book, it just was a bit of a soft landing for me. I'm coming to the conclusion that Adam's books aren't quite perfect for me, that I'll never be an uberfan but I'll continue to read and greatly enjoy them. There's just a slight disconnect that holds them back from knocking me backwards, or maybe just fulfilling the huge excitement I feel at the basic plot ideas. Given I can't identify any aspect or flaw of the books that might have caused this, having thought hard about it, that's not the author's problem that I don't quite get things as well as he might like. They're all always highly intelligent, well-written and nicely contained, so the problem's probably mine. Since I still enjoy the books however, I'm not worried about that either. Most books I'd not be asking to meet a standard of "spectacular" so that I do expect it of Roberts tells its own tale.
So why 4 stars? Honestly, I can't quite put my finger on it, but it didn't blow me away for all I greatly enjoyed it. Maybe just that in a locked room mystery I'm hoping for a sudden spark of understanding and while there is a revelation at the end of the book, it just was a bit of a soft landing for me. I'm coming to the conclusion that Adam's books aren't quite perfect for me, that I'll never be an uberfan but I'll continue to read and greatly enjoy them. There's just a slight disconnect that holds them back from knocking me backwards, or maybe just fulfilling the huge excitement I feel at the basic plot ideas. Given I can't identify any aspect or flaw of the books that might have caused this, having thought hard about it, that's not the author's problem that I don't quite get things as well as he might like. They're all always highly intelligent, well-written and nicely contained, so the problem's probably mine. Since I still enjoy the books however, I'm not worried about that either. Most books I'd not be asking to meet a standard of "spectacular" so that I do expect it of Roberts tells its own tale.
Jack Glass, notorious criminal and murderer of millions is imprisoned on a asteroid with seven other criminals. The people who have sent him there for eleven years don't know he is there, but when they find out they will be back to get him. It is a cruel, sharp and brutish place, and he must use all his guile to escape from the un escapable place.
On a small planet elsewhere, two sisters are experiencing a spell in gravity in a sealed orbital habitat owned by their hyper rich family. There are themselves, and few personal staff, and 20 or so servants. Normal life is interrupted following the murder of one of the servants, and one of the sisters, Diana, takes over the investigation from the police allocated to the investigation. as she progresses thing are not what they seem, and the murder is a prompt to discover some of the greater questions and threats to the family.
I have read a couple of his before, the last one read I thought was not great at all so I wasn't looking forward to this much. I thought that it was an original story line, a bit gruesome and brutal at the beginning. I liked the way that the story unwrapped in layers, so you were never sure just what to expect next.
The characters were interesting, Jack Glass in particular as he was innovative and single minded. I couldn't warm to the two sisters, they came across as arrogant, and self interested, but that may have been the idea. The worlds that he has created didn't come across as fully plausible, but the integrated tech did. Overall ok, not are I would read another by him just yet.
On a small planet elsewhere, two sisters are experiencing a spell in gravity in a sealed orbital habitat owned by their hyper rich family. There are themselves, and few personal staff, and 20 or so servants. Normal life is interrupted following the murder of one of the servants, and one of the sisters, Diana, takes over the investigation from the police allocated to the investigation. as she progresses thing are not what they seem, and the murder is a prompt to discover some of the greater questions and threats to the family.
I have read a couple of his before, the last one read I thought was not great at all so I wasn't looking forward to this much. I thought that it was an original story line, a bit gruesome and brutal at the beginning. I liked the way that the story unwrapped in layers, so you were never sure just what to expect next.
The characters were interesting, Jack Glass in particular as he was innovative and single minded. I couldn't warm to the two sisters, they came across as arrogant, and self interested, but that may have been the idea. The worlds that he has created didn't come across as fully plausible, but the integrated tech did. Overall ok, not are I would read another by him just yet.
This very clever, twisty, turny book tells the story, or rather, three, related, stories of the notorious murderer Jack Glass. We know that Jack is the murderer, we're told right at the start, but the important questions are how and why. And where do the three little letters FTL fit in, and why are they so dangerous?
Other than his Doctor Who parody, [b:Doctor Whom|1642127|Doctor Whom The Zero Tolerance Approach to Parodication|Adam Roberts|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328861718s/1642127.jpg|1636468] (which I didn't like), I've not read anything by Adam Roberts, but I'd heard good things about this book and had heard that he was good at things that weren't parody. I'm very glad I gave it a chance as I very much enjoyed this book. The language is gorgeous, going for the lyrical, poetical prose that I'm so fond of. The mystery is intriguing and I was true to form in failing to spot the root cause of the mystery (and went one better in the final story, by not remembering the Jack was the murderer and failing to figure out who it was (although can regain some credibility by figuring what what the murder weapon was).
The characters are interesting, especially the relationship between Diana (the young heiress and amateur detective in the second and third segments) and Iago, her tutor. The worldbuilding is also excellent. The idea of a solar system in turmoil is brought across very well, with the minimum of exposition and there are shades of Orwell in the idea of the trillions of 'Sumpolloi' barely surviving in the shanty bubbles of the solar system and trying to ferment revolution in the proletariat to overthrow the mysterious Ulanov clan, who rule the system with an iron fist.
I'll certainly be looking out for more of Roberts' work.
Other than his Doctor Who parody, [b:Doctor Whom|1642127|Doctor Whom The Zero Tolerance Approach to Parodication|Adam Roberts|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328861718s/1642127.jpg|1636468] (which I didn't like), I've not read anything by Adam Roberts, but I'd heard good things about this book and had heard that he was good at things that weren't parody. I'm very glad I gave it a chance as I very much enjoyed this book. The language is gorgeous, going for the lyrical, poetical prose that I'm so fond of. The mystery is intriguing and I was true to form in failing to spot the root cause of the mystery (and went one better in the final story, by not remembering the Jack was the murderer and failing to figure out who it was (although can regain some credibility by figuring what what the murder weapon was).
The characters are interesting, especially the relationship between Diana (the young heiress and amateur detective in the second and third segments) and Iago, her tutor. The worldbuilding is also excellent. The idea of a solar system in turmoil is brought across very well, with the minimum of exposition and there are shades of Orwell in the idea of the trillions of 'Sumpolloi' barely surviving in the shanty bubbles of the solar system and trying to ferment revolution in the proletariat to overthrow the mysterious Ulanov clan, who rule the system with an iron fist.
I'll certainly be looking out for more of Roberts' work.
An interesting concept, but the book wasn't that enjoyable. Plus some things are unbelievable, even in sci-fi (like dead person spacesuits) , and some of the character motivations were just dull. In love with the 16 year old girl? Yawn. I'll admit that I did like the FTL bullet plot device that travels backward through time, however.
Didn't like this much, I think because I didn't connect to/engage with any of the characters. It felt very like the Golden Age mysteries Roberts is riffing off, in that it was three cleverly constructed puzzles and the people were basically puzzle pieces moved to fit. Basically rather cold and hard with pages of dialogue about equations and physics and some really deathly dream sequences (I don't want to hear lengthy accounts of people's dreams in real life; still less do I need five pages at a time off a fictional character), and the opening story has a really grim theme of prison rape which put me off the entire exercise. So yeah, not for me.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes