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A review by arkron
The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach
5.0
It is not very often the case that I read SF novels in German. I've read Eschbach's [b:Das Jesus Video|982960|Das Jesus Video|Andreas Eschbach|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1179990439s/982960.jpg|1584715] before, which is a kind of time-travel story, and very well-known here - even adapted as a movie.
Last year, I've read lots of short stories. That might be the reason why I was hooked from the the start by this novel:
Carpet Makers is structured as connected short stories. It might even be called an anthology of stories in a common setting building up a plot. The plot is centered around the eponymous carpets. Material for the carpets is human hair - the hair of the weaver's daughters and wifes. They need a whole life to weave one single carpet as an act of devotion to a God-Emperor who ruled his galaxy-wide empire for some 80,000 years.
The stories plant spotlights with different point of views around that business: The weavers, the merchants, the space transporters etc.
The stories are connected not only concerning their common setting but also by sharing characters - some characters show up in two or three stories.
This might be a problem for many who are more used to one single protagonist driving a linear story.
In summary, I loved the short-story form, the involved characters, the topics and the ending.
There is an interesting background anecdote concerning the novel's history.
Last year, I've read lots of short stories. That might be the reason why I was hooked from the the start by this novel:
Carpet Makers is structured as connected short stories. It might even be called an anthology of stories in a common setting building up a plot. The plot is centered around the eponymous carpets. Material for the carpets is human hair - the hair of the weaver's daughters and wifes. They need a whole life to weave one single carpet as an act of devotion to a God-Emperor who ruled his galaxy-wide empire for some 80,000 years.
The stories plant spotlights with different point of views around that business: The weavers, the merchants, the space transporters etc.
The stories are connected not only concerning their common setting but also by sharing characters - some characters show up in two or three stories.
This might be a problem for many who are more used to one single protagonist driving a linear story.
In summary, I loved the short-story form, the involved characters, the topics and the ending.
There is an interesting background anecdote concerning the novel's history.