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A review by sevskywalker
The Fortress at the End of Time by J.M. McDermott
5.0
4 or 4.5 stars.
I can't decide on the final rating and I might change the rating in future after my thoughts settle down.
Science Fiction. What would I do without Science Fiction? I have not always been a fan of science fiction and after I became a fan of science fiction I felt like that I had no connection to that guy that was not a SF fan. So was that guy the same guy as me or was there so much changed that they cannot be the same anymore? Existential crisis at it's best or worst?
Another thing that I would not have associated myself in the past was Philosophy. Now, I crave for philosophical musings everyday,which brings me to this book The Fortress at the end of time by Joe. M. Mcdermott.
This was a such a great mix of science fiction and philosophy and this wasn't new to the SF genre, indulging in deep philosophy, but this book stands out because even though it uses the same tropes there were some very dealt scenarios of the after effects of war with an unknown alien civilization.
When I started reading this book, I was sure that I will not be liking this book what with all the mixed and bad reviews and my genuine dislike for the protagonist Ensign Ronaldo Aldo. But his character went through much development throughout the book. He is still not a good person by any means, he was just a really awkward person who is not only really selfish but also a pain in the ass to work with, but one thing that is sure to be noticed is that he was sincere to his work as long as he could, until he snaps at the end and does something that screws up everyone and everything around him.
There wasn't much to talk about other characters. There were some important characters, some short but well written, some are just outright annoying. But they are all there and they do what they should.
Finally, this book may be pushed under the military SF subgenre, but it is far from the action packed SF books that are more popular. This book is a slow burner( as slow as it gets) with very little plot or action, but what it is is a very character driven, philosophical, hard SF that touches really well on topics like Existentialism, loneliness, selfishness and religion( went into a weird tangent there-not a big fan).
P. S I don't know if I got a bad copy or its an editing problem or the author's, but there are so many grammatical errors, errors in spellings (there were instances where the main character's name was spelled wrong Ronaldo was spelled as Renaldo WTF) which was just borderline annoying and put me off reading this at times, but it still is a good read despite all that and maybe even worth a re read sometime in the future.
I can't decide on the final rating and I might change the rating in future after my thoughts settle down.
Science Fiction. What would I do without Science Fiction? I have not always been a fan of science fiction and after I became a fan of science fiction I felt like that I had no connection to that guy that was not a SF fan. So was that guy the same guy as me or was there so much changed that they cannot be the same anymore? Existential crisis at it's best or worst?
Another thing that I would not have associated myself in the past was Philosophy. Now, I crave for philosophical musings everyday,which brings me to this book The Fortress at the end of time by Joe. M. Mcdermott.
This was a such a great mix of science fiction and philosophy and this wasn't new to the SF genre, indulging in deep philosophy, but this book stands out because even though it uses the same tropes there were some very dealt scenarios of the after effects of war with an unknown alien civilization.
When I started reading this book, I was sure that I will not be liking this book what with all the mixed and bad reviews and my genuine dislike for the protagonist Ensign Ronaldo Aldo. But his character went through much development throughout the book. He is still not a good person by any means, he was just a really awkward person who is not only really selfish but also a pain in the ass to work with, but one thing that is sure to be noticed is that he was sincere to his work as long as he could, until he snaps at the end and does something that screws up everyone and everything around him.
There wasn't much to talk about other characters. There were some important characters, some short but well written, some are just outright annoying. But they are all there and they do what they should.
Finally, this book may be pushed under the military SF subgenre, but it is far from the action packed SF books that are more popular. This book is a slow burner( as slow as it gets) with very little plot or action, but what it is is a very character driven, philosophical, hard SF that touches really well on topics like Existentialism, loneliness, selfishness and religion( went into a weird tangent there-not a big fan).
P. S I don't know if I got a bad copy or its an editing problem or the author's, but there are so many grammatical errors, errors in spellings (there were instances where the main character's name was spelled wrong Ronaldo was spelled as Renaldo WTF) which was just borderline annoying and put me off reading this at times, but it still is a good read despite all that and maybe even worth a re read sometime in the future.