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A review by tits_mcgee
The This by Adam Roberts
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Cynical dystopian with a dash of satire and a healthy portion of anxiety inducing social media based prophesying.
The This is not a cult, they promise, and like many real world social media platforms their key selling point is one of connectivity and harmoniousness, which is of course, a load of bollocks. This book is about individuality, free will, social media reliance and loneliness. "Information overload" comes to mind as well, it was very clever to include a running feed at the bottom of several pages, conveying just how constant social media is in modern life. The tone was its self lonely feeling, and for people like me, who hate social media with a passion (despite this review being posted on it), it was damn scary to see my worst fears unfolding before me. Very conspiratorial and cynical, my favourite.
The plot is a back and forth between timelines which I found enjoyable, the prelude and aftermath of such a technology are explored by protagonists Rich and Adan, bookended by chapters set in "The Bardo" where we are given some insight from beyond the main narrative through the eyes of Abby Normal. The structure worked well. The Bardo chapters were slightly confusing but still a fun way of changing perspective, which I think was well needed and certainly helped break up the overly similar two male protagonists. Maybe it would have helped break up Rich and Adan's similarities even more if the Bardo scenes were more frequent, but I'm nit-picking.
Oh, and there was a rather unexpected cameo chapter from another, very famous dystopian novel. That was fun.
So who do I think should read this book?
If you're a fan of cynicism, false utopias and paranoid speculations, you'll probably like the main point of this book. The humour works well enough to be enjoyable for non sci-fi fans too. For fans of beautiful, flowery prose, look elsewhere.
7/10
The This is not a cult, they promise, and like many real world social media platforms their key selling point is one of connectivity and harmoniousness, which is of course, a load of bollocks. This book is about individuality, free will, social media reliance and loneliness. "Information overload" comes to mind as well, it was very clever to include a running feed at the bottom of several pages, conveying just how constant social media is in modern life. The tone was its self lonely feeling, and for people like me, who hate social media with a passion (despite this review being posted on it), it was damn scary to see my worst fears unfolding before me. Very conspiratorial and cynical, my favourite.
The plot is a back and forth between timelines which I found enjoyable, the prelude and aftermath of such a technology are explored by protagonists Rich and Adan, bookended by chapters set in "The Bardo" where we are given some insight from beyond the main narrative through the eyes of Abby Normal. The structure worked well. The Bardo chapters were slightly confusing but still a fun way of changing perspective, which I think was well needed and certainly helped break up the overly similar two male protagonists. Maybe it would have helped break up Rich and Adan's similarities even more if the Bardo scenes were more frequent, but I'm nit-picking.
Oh, and there was a rather unexpected cameo chapter from another, very famous dystopian novel. That was fun.
So who do I think should read this book?
If you're a fan of cynicism, false utopias and paranoid speculations, you'll probably like the main point of this book. The humour works well enough to be enjoyable for non sci-fi fans too. For fans of beautiful, flowery prose, look elsewhere.
7/10