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adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Highly recommend- best experienced without expectations!
What a fun and wild ride. I re-read Sloan’s two most recent books and the connected novellas last year, and was eagerly anticipating this “expansion of the Penumbraverse.” So, I went into this expecting a clear through-line or at least chronologically adjacent addition to the Mr. Penumbra/ Sourdough/Suitcase Clone/Ajax Penumbra world and narrative arc. I wish that I had not gone in with this expectation, because this book is not that in any way that you’d recognize most of the time.
That being said, I highly recommend the book - I was continually pleasantly impressed and surprised by the literary choices here. It’s genre-coalescing and imaginative in a different way than Sloan’s other books. It’s just as fun and there are some specific references to pop culture that were very entertaining, in a Nick Hornby, Chuck Klosterman, Amy Sherman-Palladino kind of way.
Similarly to his other books, there’s a lot of heart in the characters and relationships, it’s compulsively readable with a great narrator, and it’s definitely an epic adventure. Big themes of intelligence, awareness, evolution, consumption, environmentalism but all done at an interactional, conversational, individual level.
Some things to know going in: it’s post-apocalyptic in a Mad Max way, and it’s a reader’s book, so knowing literary structures/allusions will expand your enjoyment!
Read if you liked: Cloud Cuckoo Land (but on one timeline), Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot series.
Extra thanks to Netgalley and MCD for the e-ARC so I didn’t have to wait so long to read this newest installment by one of my favorite authors!
What a fun and wild ride. I re-read Sloan’s two most recent books and the connected novellas last year, and was eagerly anticipating this “expansion of the Penumbraverse.” So, I went into this expecting a clear through-line or at least chronologically adjacent addition to the Mr. Penumbra/ Sourdough/Suitcase Clone/Ajax Penumbra world and narrative arc. I wish that I had not gone in with this expectation, because this book is not that in any way that you’d recognize most of the time.
That being said, I highly recommend the book - I was continually pleasantly impressed and surprised by the literary choices here. It’s genre-coalescing and imaginative in a different way than Sloan’s other books. It’s just as fun and there are some specific references to pop culture that were very entertaining, in a Nick Hornby, Chuck Klosterman, Amy Sherman-Palladino kind of way.
Similarly to his other books, there’s a lot of heart in the characters and relationships, it’s compulsively readable with a great narrator, and it’s definitely an epic adventure. Big themes of intelligence, awareness, evolution, consumption, environmentalism but all done at an interactional, conversational, individual level.
Some things to know going in: it’s post-apocalyptic in a Mad Max way, and it’s a reader’s book, so knowing literary structures/allusions will expand your enjoyment!
Read if you liked: Cloud Cuckoo Land (but on one timeline), Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot series.
Extra thanks to Netgalley and MCD for the e-ARC so I didn’t have to wait so long to read this newest installment by one of my favorite authors!