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A review by rheren
Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds
3.0
This is a fascinating science fiction read, and I enjoyed reading it very much. It's imaginative and unpredictable, and quite an interesting premise.
However, with that said, there were a couple points I couldn't quite follow. The world is a hideously savage place outside of the carefully structured "zones" where the story begins. It seems almost excessively so: they keep bouncing from one horrifying group to another, until they get to "Swarm", hinted at ominously early on, but Swarm ends up being totally civilized and one wonders how they ended up getting a bad name at all. Their rescue by "Swarm" also seems a bit random and contrived; it "just happened" that Swarm rescued them right when they needed it, even though it doesn't seem like Swarm would ever do that kind of thing. I also had a hard time understanding the elaborate, systemic naivete of the main character (meant to be illustrative of the same attitude in the whole "zones" city). They live their entire lives on a mountain overlooking vast expanses of valley all around them. Have they really never even asked themselves what those other people and cities they could see down in the valley even were? Never even been curious? Doesn't that sound a bit preposterous?
Anyways, a good read but I just had some reservations about a few spots, so I gave it a 3, although I really struggled wanting to give it a 4. I really liked it, except for those few things that didn't seem well-thought-out.
However, with that said, there were a couple points I couldn't quite follow. The world is a hideously savage place outside of the carefully structured "zones" where the story begins. It seems almost excessively so: they keep bouncing from one horrifying group to another, until they get to "Swarm", hinted at ominously early on, but Swarm ends up being totally civilized and one wonders how they ended up getting a bad name at all. Their rescue by "Swarm" also seems a bit random and contrived; it "just happened" that Swarm rescued them right when they needed it, even though it doesn't seem like Swarm would ever do that kind of thing. I also had a hard time understanding the elaborate, systemic naivete of the main character (meant to be illustrative of the same attitude in the whole "zones" city). They live their entire lives on a mountain overlooking vast expanses of valley all around them. Have they really never even asked themselves what those other people and cities they could see down in the valley even were? Never even been curious? Doesn't that sound a bit preposterous?
Anyways, a good read but I just had some reservations about a few spots, so I gave it a 3, although I really struggled wanting to give it a 4. I really liked it, except for those few things that didn't seem well-thought-out.