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A review by adamjcalhoun
Brasyl by Ian McDonald
3.0
Ian McDonald has the infuriating ability to write enjoyable, thought-provoking science-fiction books where everything fits together well; everything that is, except for the science. His books have a tendency to take one sci-fi idea and go in a totally fantastical (non-scientific) direction. It's a shame because it can distract from what would otherwise be a magnificent book.
Brasyl is almost thematically similar to Neal Stephenson and David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas - interlocking stories staggered throughout time that combine to make a coherent whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. As he normally does, Ian McDonald takes the reader out of the typical sci-fi setting and plops them down somewhere we don't typically think of. India, Turkey, or in this case Brazil. The ability of McDonald's to transport his ideas to different cultures and times, and to take weighty ideas and put them in a very readable and plot-driven context, makes him unique.
As I referred to at the beginning, my only real quibble is his insistence on stretching the science part of the fiction ideas past their breaking point. I won't give away any spoilers, but the science in the fiction is both facile, silly, and (most horribly!) prominent. It won't ruin the book, but it may leave a bitter taste in your mouth in what should have been pure sweetness.
Brasyl is almost thematically similar to Neal Stephenson and David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas - interlocking stories staggered throughout time that combine to make a coherent whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. As he normally does, Ian McDonald takes the reader out of the typical sci-fi setting and plops them down somewhere we don't typically think of. India, Turkey, or in this case Brazil. The ability of McDonald's to transport his ideas to different cultures and times, and to take weighty ideas and put them in a very readable and plot-driven context, makes him unique.
As I referred to at the beginning, my only real quibble is his insistence on stretching the science part of the fiction ideas past their breaking point. I won't give away any spoilers, but the science in the fiction is both facile, silly, and (most horribly!) prominent. It won't ruin the book, but it may leave a bitter taste in your mouth in what should have been pure sweetness.