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danaisreading 's review for:
The Redemption of Time
by Baoshu
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was looking forward to reading this, since it's considered the final novel in the series, even though it's not written by Liu Cixin. Unfortunately, that becomes pretty obvious here, and not in a good way. If I had known, I would have skipped this one altogether.
I'd say the first 2/3 of the novel are okay, but not great. Yun Tienming and AA are left alone on Planet Blue and revisit events from the first three books with a lot of talking. A LOT of talking. No action really at all.AA has a secret that was never hinted at, and it seems very forced. It feels like a weird retcon for her to be a clone of a little girl from Yun's childhood to try and make sense of some of the events of Death's End, and it's completely unnecessary unless Baoshu was trying to rewrite the book to make the AA the driving force and main character of that book, instead of Cheng Xin.
Same with the idea of the Trisolarans being the space equivalent of very tiny, smart ants. Not sure what the point was there or what that adds to the story. Since Yun was with the Trisolarans when their civilization was destroyed, I would have expected some scenes about that, but there weren't any. Seems odd to leave that out.
It might have been okay if we didn't get dragged into the last 1/3 of the book. I'm not entirely sure I even understood what the plot there was,who the Master and Lurker were, and who were supposed to be the "good" guys. Yun as a Seeker robot spending billions of years trying to prevent the Lurker from destroying the universe, when it seems like that was Master's plan as well? And then Sophon has plans of her own to reboot the universe? Also, even though Singer was in Death's End, the part of this novel with Singer and King felt like a completely unrelated story. I honestly have no idea what it is I read in that section, and I'm not sure an explanation would make things better. It was very over-complicated and not very well-written.
And then there's the Coda. The whole book is fanfiction to begin with, but this is where it becomes very obvious.The less said the better, but Yun is really Liu Cixin? Really? Again, why?
Which unfortunately I feel is the over-arching theme of the book - why? Why was this needed? What exactly was it supposed to add to the series that was missing from Liu's books? The three books were complete on their own, and readers aren't missing anything if they don't read this one.
I'd say the first 2/3 of the novel are okay, but not great. Yun Tienming and AA are left alone on Planet Blue and revisit events from the first three books with a lot of talking. A LOT of talking. No action really at all.
Same with the idea of the Trisolarans being the space equivalent of very tiny, smart ants. Not sure what the point was there or what that adds to the story. Since Yun was with the Trisolarans when their civilization was destroyed, I would have expected some scenes about that, but there weren't any. Seems odd to leave that out.
It might have been okay if we didn't get dragged into the last 1/3 of the book. I'm not entirely sure I even understood what the plot there was,
And then there's the Coda. The whole book is fanfiction to begin with, but this is where it becomes very obvious.
Which unfortunately I feel is the over-arching theme of the book - why? Why was this needed? What exactly was it supposed to add to the series that was missing from Liu's books? The three books were complete on their own, and readers aren't missing anything if they don't read this one.