This was a fascinating read with lots of intricate world building and some great characters. I did wish we'd had more time with some of the non-primarThis was a fascinating read with lots of intricate world building and some great characters. I did wish we'd had more time with some of the non-primary characters and that the main characters had had more non-crisis time to develop past mere survival. But it's fast moving and concise as a result. Definitely worth reading. The audiobook was exceptionally read, as well....more
I'd say that this book was a solid 65% read, but since there are only five stars, I picked the closest rating I can.
Anyway. As usual, a lot of fascinaI'd say that this book was a solid 65% read, but since there are only five stars, I picked the closest rating I can.
Anyway. As usual, a lot of fascinating and elaborate setup, a lot of interesting infodumping. It's worthwhile if you're the kind of person who really digs just reading Wikipedia all evening. But the ending just felt... too soon and not enough. It just seemed aimed for a more interesting trajectory that ended quickly with a shrug rather than a bang....more
It almost feels silly to review this. It's the last book in a nine book series. If you've made it this far, you're going to read it. However, I did waIt almost feels silly to review this. It's the last book in a nine book series. If you've made it this far, you're going to read it. However, I did want to note that it caps off the series wonderfully and the Epilogue especially was a delight. Very, very well done....more
This book was published in, I believe, 1923. Is it fair to judge it by our current social mores? How One star for the audiobook's excellent narration.
This book was published in, I believe, 1923. Is it fair to judge it by our current social mores? How much do I excuse as a product of its time?
Ultimately, I decided to approach this as a question of a modern reader of general mystery fiction wondering if this is worth picking up, to which I say no. It's so wildly sexist as to be entirely unpalatable. Aside from that, it also features a great deal of questionable actions on men's parts being considered romantic that I find it impossible to read that way.
If you're a fan of classic mystery you obviously already know Agatha Christie and have likely read all of her works. Fire everyone else, I'd give this a miss. I'm glad that I paid less than $2....more
I didn't think this series could be capped off satisfyingly in one book, but Scalzi pulled it off. I don't think it was quite as dramatic as the seconI didn't think this series could be capped off satisfyingly in one book, but Scalzi pulled it off. I don't think it was quite as dramatic as the second book (which was a constant stream of "OMG WHAT?!", but it was still gripping. A few characters get fleshed out a bit more, but mostly this book just pushes plot. It also has one of the great one-liners, toward the end. :)
Still, I feel like this could have been a magnificent five-book series rather than a fantastic three-book series, you know? That's hardly a complaint, but it's the only criticism that I have, really. :)...more
I actually finished this several days ago, and I'm not sure why I didn't write anything about it here. Part of it is that I've been busy, but I think I actually finished this several days ago, and I'm not sure why I didn't write anything about it here. Part of it is that I've been busy, but I think part of it is that as much as I enjoyed this, I'm not sure how much there is to really say.
They really treat this as a standalone novel in their promotion of it, but I do think that if you haven't read The Peripheral, you'll be very lost. I would consider it a sequel to The Peripheral because of that, and would suggest reading them in that order. Compared to The Peripheral, this one gets off and running sooner, but I think perhaps has a less satisfying culmination. It feels a little more superficial, and some fairly significant threads that were hanging at the end are kind of just tied up by fiat, off-camera.
My biggest complaint about the story, though, is that it's called Agency, it discussed Agency, it uses the word Agency to refer to a person's power to act rather than just meaning "a company", and yet the main character seems to have none. Also, as often happens in books, she doesn't necessarily differentiate herself in really significant ways within the time frame in which all kinds of important people decide that they like her, and in fact, like her enough to pull a lot of strings and/or trust her with significant risk.
All of that said, you can see that I still gave it four stars. It's interesting, and all of the best elements of modern Gibson's schtick are in play. The characters are fun, the prose is well-considered, and it indulges those of us who like his work with all the tropes that we're used to from him. As opposed to some of his more abstract work, I was much more on the edge of my seat for a great portion of the story as well.
In the end, I guess that's what it comes down to, and what feels like kind of a non-statement: If you enjoyed The Peripheral, read this. If you didn't, skip it. If you haven't read The Peripheral, read it and come back....more
Nothing particularly offensive or wrong with this book. It just didn't really grab me. I wasn't interested in either of the main characters even afterNothing particularly offensive or wrong with this book. It just didn't really grab me. I wasn't interested in either of the main characters even after some time. It was a library loan, so I decided to just return it early....more
This book was fascinating, full of interesting ideas and characters and some really original world building. While it did occasionally info-dump, it mThis book was fascinating, full of interesting ideas and characters and some really original world building. While it did occasionally info-dump, it mostly introduced it's setting organically. It reminded me of the film Code 46 in the way that it often felt like a drama from the future instead of a contemporary achieve fiction book. The narrator also did a wonderful job of the audio reading. The main character is somewhat misogynist and objectifying, but while I worried at one point that that would bleed over into the novel itself, I'm not sure it did, and there was at least one way where it initially appeared to fall into tropes along those lines only to redeem itself later. Overall, I found it a satisfying read and would totally check out other books exploring the world further....more
After having seen a couple of friends give this five-star scores and having it recommended to me highly, I was worried that my expectations would be tAfter having seen a couple of friends give this five-star scores and having it recommended to me highly, I was worried that my expectations would be too high and that I'd be left disappointed. I was not. This is a tremendous work, fun yet moving, with electric prose and world building that feels wildly complex yet effortless. It's short, but packs more of a punch than it's size implies. Well worth your time.
[Tiny quibble: The audiobook narration is overall quite good. However, there is one point where the person pronounces "causal" as "casual" twice in quick succession, which stands out even more in a book about time travel.]...more
This was a TBR recommendation, and I feel like, "I really wanted to love this book, but I didn't," is a running theme in my TBR recommendation reviewsThis was a TBR recommendation, and I feel like, "I really wanted to love this book, but I didn't," is a running theme in my TBR recommendation reviews. However, it's very much true of this book.
One thing I will say flat-out: If you want to read this book, read it in text. The audiobook narration is a complete disaster. The narrator reads it in an exceptionally flat monotone for the most part, with random pauses inserted into the sentences that drain any momentum from them further. When they do add inflection or emotion, it's as likely to seem wholly inappropriate as to add to the story. I really feel like it did a disservice to the text.
That said, I think this book just didn't work for me, and it's possible that I'm just not its target audience. If there's one thing that's common to my experience in media, it's that consistency of world-building or follow-through with the premises laid out is key. I'm the person who never quite gets over the fact that Star Trek: The Next Generation had an episode where the Federation decided that you required special dispensation from Starfleet to go faster than Warp Factor 4 (because doing so was causing damage to a parallel dimension, in a heavy-handed environmental metaphor) and then never referred to it again for the rest of the show and exceeded that speed on a whim for the rest of the show and following shows. This book runs afoul of that with a regularity that may be its own consistency. The novel's central conceit is very unevenly applied, and the frequency with which X is asserted and then something that implies not-really-X follows quickly on its heels may be its only consistency. It never comes across as whimsy or fantastic construction so much as "the author genuinely didn't think this through". That sort of thing drives me bonkers. I know that other people don't really mind it, because often when I bring up plot holes in media people will shush me with a, "Okay, fair point, but shhhh, it's just a show." If you're one of those people, that aspect of this novel may not bother you.
Also, steer clear if you expect characters to act in a way that has any sensible connection of either intellectual or emotional logic to what's happening. That's genuinely absent. (I'm not simply pre-stating my complaint in the next paragraph about inaction. I'm talking here about people saying and doing things that strictly bear no resemblance to anything you would expect anyone to say or do in their situation, based on any set of motivations -- genuine "Wait, what?!" moments abound, and very little feels authentic.)
What may is that there is literally neither plot nor character development of any kind. It's a description, as if its entire duration is a single scene in a traditional narrative. You have a cast of characters, you put them in a terrible situation, and then they just exist. They go about their days. They don't react particularly strongly to any of it. They don't show any desire to change their situation or themselves. They simply exist as static entities in a static situation. Eventually, the book runs out of pages to continue describing this single scene, at which point I sighed in relief that it was over.
It does occasionally give the impression that what it may have brought to the table was a certain poetry, and that a lot of its strangeness may have been in service to a feeling of otherworldliness being created, but I'm not sure that survived the translation from Japanese to English, nor that it survived the flawed translation from text into the spoken word in the audiobook.
It may be that this is simply a style of storytelling that some love but is a poor fit for me. (Sometimes I felt this way, for example, while watching The Lobster, which garnered rave critical reviews but whose artistic choice to have its actors deliver all of their lines completely flat as if reading from a script for the first time seemed an utter disaster to me.) I'm also aware when reading stories from other cultures and reviewing them from the lens of how a story is supposed to operate based on my own culture that gaps may simply be cultural differences rather than flaws. Please take this review with awareness of those possibilities....more
I genuinely wish I could think of something good to say about this book. It was recommended to me by my TBR recommendations person, which makes me wanI genuinely wish I could think of something good to say about this book. It was recommended to me by my TBR recommendations person, which makes me want to like it even more. However, for me at least, it was a complete bust. Like much of modern non-genre fiction, the author tried so hard to make the characters flawed that they forgot to give them any redeeming qualities or even to make them interesting in any way. These are all people I wouldn't want as a friend, and would desperately look for any excuse to disengage from conversation with at a party. Behind all of this, the speculative fiction elements and the supposedly groundbreaking philosophical idea behind it has been a bread and butter concept in physics and science fiction, and even just in pulp comics, since before there was colour television. If they added any interesting elements, the author didn't see fit to share them with the reader. Ultimately, it was a snooze about people I didn't care about at all (barring a few minor characters who were more interesting than the principle ones) without any interesting ideas. I only made it through because it was an audiobook and so it kinds of continued on its own. Tellingly, when I reset my phone a few times during the reading of this, it always took an extraordinary length of time to find my position in the book again because I just couldn't even recall sections I'd actually read before. So yeah....more
This is a very strange book. A combination of the narrator's slightly condescending sing-songey delivery and the writing style of the author starts yoThis is a very strange book. A combination of the narrator's slightly condescending sing-songey delivery and the writing style of the author starts you off with the distinct impression that this is a YA or pre-YA novel that doesn't think much of its audience. Nothing in the first about-how-long-that-led-me-to-expect-it-to-be changed that impression. Also, the narrator, while adept at distinct voicings and with a broad range of simulated accents available, makes some distinctly poor choices for some major characters that render them, and thus a sizeable portion of the dialogue, incredibly grating. I honestly only kept listening out of a sense of, "Well, I've made it this far."
But then it did two things that made me continue further: First, it kept going. It stolidly refused to end at any of the several junctions where I expected it to. And second, it genuinely surprised me. And then it did it again. And again.
What initially felt like a small and predictable story began to feel like a MUCH, MUCH larger story with a good deal of fascinating as-yet-unexplored avenues. And what was even better, most of them didn't feel completely tacked-on. (A few did.)
A quarter of the way through, I thought this was a book I'd grudgingly trudge over the finish line with, and now, having finally finished, I'm definitely going to read the sequel. And yet, I can't give it a higher rating because a lot of that time was, in fact, not particularly enjoyable or engaging, and I still don't think all that much of the author's writing style. However, if you're the sort of person who doesn't get very caught up in style and gets really excited over plot and plot turns, this may be the ticket for you.
Just, please, if you ever get involved in voice acting, don't decide that the way to give a character a distinct voice is to plug your nose and speed in a gratingly reedy tone. It gets unbearable faster than you'd think....more
I love Neal Stephenson, but this was one of his weaker novels. It felt like four to five separate novels, distinct not only in time and events but alsI love Neal Stephenson, but this was one of his weaker novels. It felt like four to five separate novels, distinct not only in time and events but also in tone, and I think that separating those out might have resulted in stronger books than this one. Also, it felt like he had an idea of certain allusions or parallels that he wanted to draw ahead of time and that he tortured the story more than a little to cleave to those, even when they weren't really working out. Lastly, there were both aspects of the technology that seemed oddly poorly thought-out for him and aspects of the characters' behaviours that seemed implausible and were noticed but merely lampshaded rather than reconsidered.
I greatly enjoyed some of the separate sections of this book. There were at least two segments that I would recommend to people in a moment. I gritted my teeth through others. I can't think to whom I'd recommend the work as a whole....more
I gave up on the audiobook of this a bit less than half way through and actually asked for (and received) a refund for my audiobook credit.
It was honeI gave up on the audiobook of this a bit less than half way through and actually asked for (and received) a refund for my audiobook credit.
It was honestly unbearable. The main character is just such a thoroughly awful human being, and the whole story is seen through his eyes, so you can't get away from his constant thoughts and opinions. You get to hear him call women sluts for having sex with him while having sex with them, hear his annoyance at the fact that so many women are driving cars (as opposed to having their men drive for them) and that those women have the additional audacity to drive SUVs (which are supposed to be only for men), get his evaluation of how many days it would take of being stranded in a group together before he started fantasizing about literally every single woman he encounters in any context in the book, get to hear him magnanimously talk about how forward-thinking he is because he once let a gay man give him a handjob after he'd gone without sex for half a year while also cracking jokes with homophobic preachers about making altar boys who were "too feminine" put out candles with their mouths, his constant stereotypical thoughts about people of various nationalities, etc., etc.
I'm sure that there are those who will say that I missed the point because he was supposed to be a charicature of a certain type of guy. I didn't miss that point. I just didn't see the point of spending hours listening to that type of guy blather on about the world. There's a reason I didn't join a fraternity. (Well, other than that the University that I went to banned them.)
I hung on as long as I did only because I thought the book was almost over, and because I'd paid an audiobook credit for it and didn't have any idea what to get instead. However, whether he redeems himself in the end or not, I no longer care, and when I discovered I wasn't even at the half-way point, I had to bail.
I recently read and reviews the Strugatsky brothers' "Dead Mountaineer's Hotel," and awarded it five stars with the caveat that it's deeply misogynistI recently read and reviews the Strugatsky brothers' "Dead Mountaineer's Hotel," and awarded it five stars with the caveat that it's deeply misogynistic. I've been giving some thought to that review while listening to "Roadside Picnic," which is likely their most famous book due to having been the inspiration for Tarkovski's film, "Stalker".
This book, like that one, is stellar in almost every respect. I can't explain how exhilarating most of the Strugatsky's writing is. The book goes so much further and is so much more fascinating than the film. Part of me is prepared to just gush about it, as I did with Dead Mountaineer's Hotel.
Except that, like the former, it's deeply misogynistic. However, unlike the former, there's no sense that they're working within a parody of a genre and a good deal of that is their parodic take on the characters that inhabit said genre. Also, although the characters in Roadside Picnic are in their own way even more flawed than those in Dead Mountaineer's Hotel, once you have more than one example you start to feel less inclined to make a divide between the characters' proclivities and the authors'. Also, the "deeply" part of "deeply misogynistic" is even stronger this time around.
And then, there's just a fundamental level where giving a book five stars and saying, "It's amazing, but just be aware that it's deeply misogynistic," is a little like saying, "I'm not racist; I voted for Trump for his {pretend he's good at something for the sake of the example}." It implies that that thing that you're footnoting is of very little consequence to you.
So yes. Three stars because again this book is in all other respects among the best I've read, and the audiobook narration matched the feel of the material perfectly, but being "oh, by the way, deeply misogynistic" is not something I feel I can give them a pass on again. ...more
This book was amazing -- at turns funny and intriguing, philosophical and whimsical, and all within the framework of a genre detective novel. There arThis book was amazing -- at turns funny and intriguing, philosophical and whimsical, and all within the framework of a genre detective novel. There are some issues in which the book is quite dated. I wouldn't say all tag it as groundbreakingly feminist, inclusive, or representational. However, I would have been genuinely surprised had it been. I loved it nonetheless, but I don't want to just gloss that over....more
The prose is challenging in ways that I'm not sure add much to the story, and the story itself is challenging in ways that I'm not sure added much to The prose is challenging in ways that I'm not sure add much to the story, and the story itself is challenging in ways that I'm not sure added much to my life. It's a difficult story written in a difficult style that would need every trigger warning know to humanity if I were recommending it....more
Perfectly serviceable, perfectly interesting projection of New York in 2140, but somehow it just didn't grab me. There were the inklings like there miPerfectly serviceable, perfectly interesting projection of New York in 2140, but somehow it just didn't grab me. There were the inklings like there might be a story instead of just world-building, but I didn't really feel like waiting. Plus, the day-traders' day-trader-focused sex talk just about killed me.
I've bounced off of KSR's other books in the same way, so if you haven't, you might enjoy this....more
Loading...
