A review by outcolder
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson

3.0

What was at first a series of delightful orientalism fantasies became bogged down on long expository lectures... I mean characters are actually giving lectures! I think having a world without Europeans go through stages so similar to the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, Imperialism and World War is Eurocentric. The interesting question of how would contact and trade or possibly colonies have functioned in the "americas" or Africa if it was led by Asian cultures is not examined in much detail, even though the book takes nearly 800 pages. I also had the nagging feeling that it was kind of Islamophobic in parts. Finished it though so I must have liked it.