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bookteafull 's review for:
Gnomon
by Nick Harkaway
DNF'ed at 32%. I tried. I really, really did.
Another week, Another DNF.
Scifi is one of my favorite genres but lately, it feels like every time I pick up a sci-fi novel to read - I'm extremely bored, confused, and disappointed. I received this book in a PageHabit box that a friend bought for me. Her heart was in the right place but this book belongs in the trash.
I did not care for the synopsis. Wow, another dystopian society where the government sees and records your every move. So shook, I've definitely haven't read this a thousand times before. This is such an innovative idea.
Basic af plot aside, my primary issue stems from the writing. The author is guilty of data dumping what feels like useless information for pages on end, to the point where the story almost feels convoluted. This shouldn't be a story that's difficult to follow and yet it was. There's a break in the narrative where one of the protagonists has what I can only describe as a spiritual experience with a shark. Yes. You read that right. Although it was one of the more interesting sections to read, I couldn't help but feel that the story was all over the place.
There were various sections where I had to pause my reading and I ask myself: "What is happening?"
I just don't understand how the pacing was so unbelievably slow and I still missed how entire sections went from point A to point B. This book just wasn't for me. I made it to page two-hundred and something and I couldn't get emotionally invested in any of the characters. They weren't even slightly interesting to me. The more I read, the more distant I felt from the story (and the recondite terms definitely didn't help).
Overall, it felt like I spent the majority of my time and effort on concentrating, on trying to understand what was happening rather than on enjoying anything. I'm sure this is a very clever book for some readers. I'm sure there are people out there who read this book and were mindblown, but I will never be one of those people.
Side note: I discovered a new pet peeve. Long af sentences to describe or state something that can be said in a few words. I don't need a 1k worded prose to tell me the sun is hot. Condense the writing, please.
