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The Mongoliad: Book One
by Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Erik Bear
Once again, I got stranded at the beach with nothing I felt like reading, despite extensive preparations. Luckily, while in the past this has meant scavenging of other people's reading materials or desperate quests for bookstores, now I have my Kindle. So I was able to download [b:The Mongoliad: Book One|12853147|The Mongoliad Book One|Neal Stephenson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1335306387s/12853147.jpg|18004624].
In the marketing of this book, [a:Neal Stephenson|545|Neal Stephenson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1314902446p2/545.jpg]'s name has been used heavily. Given that and the subject matter, and I was expecting something pretty strongly resembling a [a:Neal Stephenson|545|Neal Stephenson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1314902446p2/545.jpg] novel. Sadly, that is far from the truth. It's more a [a:Greg Bear|16024|Greg Bear|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1223822211p2/16024.jpg]. A whole long list of people collaborated. It's not that the story was dull--it wasn't--but the characters weren't nearly as well drawn as Stephenson ones, the plotting wasn't as sharp, there weren't nearly enough rambling departures to discuss interesting cultural or technological details, and the narration was far from as sharply funny as Stephenson can be.
This book might have been a four-star book if I didn't go in with such expectations. But I did. It was still an enjoyable story. But there was far too much sexualization/objectification of the women (in the way they were described and they way they all easily fell for their Assigned Heartthrob). The adventure story was fun. The characters were engaging for the most part. But it wasn't what I was hoping for. Every now and then something distinctly Stephensonian would pop up and you'd get all excited for a moment, but then it was back to the tepid adventure grind.
Here's a fun exercise: Get on a bus (or anywhere in public with a mix of all kinds of people) and pick out the ones that would be Stephenson protagonists. Hint: It's never the canonically (blandly) attractive one. It's the one that looks like they have a history and a story. If Stephenson were fully driving this boat, Percival would never be a central figure. It'd be Roger all the way.
In the marketing of this book, [a:Neal Stephenson|545|Neal Stephenson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1314902446p2/545.jpg]'s name has been used heavily. Given that and the subject matter, and I was expecting something pretty strongly resembling a [a:Neal Stephenson|545|Neal Stephenson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1314902446p2/545.jpg] novel. Sadly, that is far from the truth. It's more a [a:Greg Bear|16024|Greg Bear|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1223822211p2/16024.jpg]. A whole long list of people collaborated. It's not that the story was dull--it wasn't--but the characters weren't nearly as well drawn as Stephenson ones, the plotting wasn't as sharp, there weren't nearly enough rambling departures to discuss interesting cultural or technological details, and the narration was far from as sharply funny as Stephenson can be.
This book might have been a four-star book if I didn't go in with such expectations. But I did. It was still an enjoyable story. But there was far too much sexualization/objectification of the women (in the way they were described and they way they all easily fell for their Assigned Heartthrob). The adventure story was fun. The characters were engaging for the most part. But it wasn't what I was hoping for. Every now and then something distinctly Stephensonian would pop up and you'd get all excited for a moment, but then it was back to the tepid adventure grind.
Here's a fun exercise: Get on a bus (or anywhere in public with a mix of all kinds of people) and pick out the ones that would be Stephenson protagonists. Hint: It's never the canonically (blandly) attractive one. It's the one that looks like they have a history and a story. If Stephenson were fully driving this boat, Percival would never be a central figure. It'd be Roger all the way.