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A review by lbarsk
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
3.0
This book seems to be really polarizing, but you know what? It was actually pretty great! Yes, there's a lot that will make it "dated" in about ten years, what with one of the main characters working at Google and it being set in the present day with the protagonist literally working in digital marketing. But you know what? There's also a serious respect for books here, which I like a lot, and there's sort of a cool linking up of books and technology. I'm getting a little tired of the BOOKS VERSUS TECHNOLOGY, NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET argument (even though I'm Team Books, haha) because at some point both sides have got to compromise. Physical books are still incredible, as Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore proves, but technology is pretty cool, too, and it's up to THE READERS, the actual people using the books and technology, to reconcile the differences between these two mediums.
So I liked that aspect of the book. And I really liked Mr. Penumbra, because he was a pretty flawed mentor figure instead of the all-knowing one that's usually so present in these sorts of books. Was the prose incredible? No, but it was a pretty solidly told story. It was solid enough that I didn't get distracted from the plot, and it was from the first person POV anyway, which made the shortness/abruptness of some sentences easier to swallow. Were there some problems with female representation in the book? Yes, and that's actually my biggest issue with the book. Kat, the main female (the Google employee mentioned above), was wildly two-dimensional and basically created to be the Manic Pixie Dream Girl for our main character Clay. So do better with your female characters, Robin Sloan. Overall though, a pretty solid book. It would certainly make for a great beach read or a break in between more serious stuff!
So I liked that aspect of the book. And I really liked Mr. Penumbra, because he was a pretty flawed mentor figure instead of the all-knowing one that's usually so present in these sorts of books. Was the prose incredible? No, but it was a pretty solidly told story. It was solid enough that I didn't get distracted from the plot, and it was from the first person POV anyway, which made the shortness/abruptness of some sentences easier to swallow. Were there some problems with female representation in the book? Yes, and that's actually my biggest issue with the book. Kat, the main female (the Google employee mentioned above), was wildly two-dimensional and basically created to be the Manic Pixie Dream Girl for our main character Clay. So do better with your female characters, Robin Sloan. Overall though, a pretty solid book. It would certainly make for a great beach read or a break in between more serious stuff!