Scan barcode
A review by aix83
Лестница Шильда by Greg Egan, Грег Иган
1.0
Gaaaahhhh, this book is so depressing!
The sci-fi concepts are meh. In fact, the whole theme of the quantum void collapsing into a different state and giving rise to a fluidic-space universe was treated much better and resulted in more fun in the Star Trek Next Generation episodes where they introduced Species 8472, the enemies of the Borg. Not to mention that the new universe is at most interesting to a biologist since all its descriptions make it feel so organic. Actually I'm not sure if it's not by any chance inspired from one of those movies where they get miniaturized and injected in someone's body to treat some disease or wound. Because that's how it feels, like the 90s pseudofuturistic movies where people take on the role of nanites.
The whole way the author treats and views his characters is enough to give one an advanced state of existential dread. You get the sacrificial femto-machines, which are what happens when the author is the worst kind of reductionist, the sort who thinks that if you can't isolate qualia in region X of the brain, then it doesn't exist. (Surprise! It exists but it's an emergent phenomenon!). Everyone in this book is dehumanized and reduced to component parts, which makes it absolutely impossible to care for the characters in the least. At worst, this can throw the reader in a state of advanced existential depression.
The sci-fi concepts are meh. In fact, the whole theme of the quantum void collapsing into a different state and giving rise to a fluidic-space universe was treated much better and resulted in more fun in the Star Trek Next Generation episodes where they introduced Species 8472, the enemies of the Borg. Not to mention that the new universe is at most interesting to a biologist since all its descriptions make it feel so organic. Actually I'm not sure if it's not by any chance inspired from one of those movies where they get miniaturized and injected in someone's body to treat some disease or wound. Because that's how it feels, like the 90s pseudofuturistic movies where people take on the role of nanites.
The whole way the author treats and views his characters is enough to give one an advanced state of existential dread. You get the sacrificial femto-machines, which are what happens when the author is the worst kind of reductionist, the sort who thinks that if you can't isolate qualia in region X of the brain, then it doesn't exist. (Surprise! It exists but it's an emergent phenomenon!). Everyone in this book is dehumanized and reduced to component parts, which makes it absolutely impossible to care for the characters in the least. At worst, this can throw the reader in a state of advanced existential depression.