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nerdyreferencelibrarian89's review
3.0
United States of Japan was a book I checked out on a whim, based purely on its interesting looking cover. As the description says, it draws heavy inspiration from Man in the High Castle; however, this book actually has a plot!
United States of Japan's strengths lie in the interesting ways it imagines the future, if ruled over by a Japanese Empire. The juxtapositions of not only world events and cultures, but also the main character's thoughts, emotions, and habits, was extremely compelling. The book does not fall into the trap of Japan makes everything terrible, or Americans remaining are strictly good; instead, it creates a bit more of an emotionally bleak world, where most people seem to be trying to do what they think best, but that is warped and weighed down but the unfeeling bureaucracy of Japan.
I really enjoyed a book that stuck to the Japanese perspective, rather then falling into the much more frequent trap of focusing on future Nazis.
The biggest weakness of the big is the plot, at times it is riveting with epic video game show downs, kernels and hints of things to come, at other times it gets bogged down in details and twists that seem to lead no where and make no sense. If you can push thru the few slower and less relevant parts, the main story itself was quite enjoyable.
A personal disappointment was that despite a Mech prominently displayed on the cover, they have very little impact in the story, mentioned a couple of time, but only had 1 minor real appearance and one major, both were very cool, and very well done, but part of me felt that with a mech on the cover I would have liked just a bit more.
Overall fun and enjoyable, but probably not something I will be revisiting anytime soon.
United States of Japan's strengths lie in the interesting ways it imagines the future, if ruled over by a Japanese Empire. The juxtapositions of not only world events and cultures, but also the main character's thoughts, emotions, and habits, was extremely compelling. The book does not fall into the trap of Japan makes everything terrible, or Americans remaining are strictly good; instead, it creates a bit more of an emotionally bleak world, where most people seem to be trying to do what they think best, but that is warped and weighed down but the unfeeling bureaucracy of Japan.
I really enjoyed a book that stuck to the Japanese perspective, rather then falling into the much more frequent trap of focusing on future Nazis.
The biggest weakness of the big is the plot, at times it is riveting with epic video game show downs, kernels and hints of things to come, at other times it gets bogged down in details and twists that seem to lead no where and make no sense. If you can push thru the few slower and less relevant parts, the main story itself was quite enjoyable.
A personal disappointment was that despite a Mech prominently displayed on the cover, they have very little impact in the story, mentioned a couple of time, but only had 1 minor real appearance and one major, both were very cool, and very well done, but part of me felt that with a mech on the cover I would have liked just a bit more.
Overall fun and enjoyable, but probably not something I will be revisiting anytime soon.
marcehughes's review
4.0
I really liked this book. It had a lot of the ideas that I liked from Man in the High Castle, but the characters were better and kept me way more interested in the story.
jimjan's review
5.0
Un libro con una perspectiva increíble, me gustó bastante la construcción del mundo y la visión tan particular que nos muestran al decir que Japón ganó la segunda guerra mundial. Ver la tecnología, la opresión, los mechas, el gobierno y su forma de trabajar es algo que de verdad hacen muy amena esta historia. También sentí una gran relación con el libro de 1984 pero pues no puedo contar para no hacer ningún tipo de spoiler. En definitiva una distopía no tan juvenil pero que recomiendo mucho!!
dannoh's review
4.0
A pretty enjoyable book. It is Alternative History, but that isn't the point of the book, just the backdrop.
sarah_elsewhere's review against another edition
3.0
Perhaps too bleak and bloody for my taste, but I tore through it nonetheless. Would probably make a very cool movie.
bmartino's review against another edition
2.0
Didn't really enjoy this. The premise and the first third grabbed me, but it got so incredibly boring after that. A lot of wasted opportunity here. Characters very one-dimensional. A big "meh."
pyonir's review against another edition
5.0
As soon as I heard about USJ, I was looking forward to reading it. I absolutely loved [b:Bald New World|18760990|Bald New World|Peter Tieryas|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390586855s/18760990.jpg|26657873] and USJ did not disappoint.
Peter Tieryas does a great job at storytelling. His world building is great and character development is great as well. The writing in USJ continues this trend as he really puts you into the world you are reading about. The comparison to "The Main in the High Castle" is obvious and everywhere, but I liked that USJ brought a bit of a sci-fi feel to it. The technology throughout the book is more advanced than what we have today, even though most of the book takes place in the late 1980s.
Overall, if you enjoy alternate history with a touch of sci-fi, check it out!
Peter Tieryas does a great job at storytelling. His world building is great and character development is great as well. The writing in USJ continues this trend as he really puts you into the world you are reading about. The comparison to "The Main in the High Castle" is obvious and everywhere, but I liked that USJ brought a bit of a sci-fi feel to it. The technology throughout the book is more advanced than what we have today, even though most of the book takes place in the late 1980s.
Overall, if you enjoy alternate history with a touch of sci-fi, check it out!
vinayvasan's review
3.0
Well a 3.5, downgraded to a 3, cos you know Goodreads rating...
United States of Japan (USJ) has been hailed as the spiritual successor to the all time great work of Philip K Dick, The Man in the High Castle and to a great extent, USJ works. It captures the darkness, the complexity, the weirdness of US being captured by Japan post WW II and remodeled on Japan, absorbing Japanese culture, bowing down to the Japanese emperor as compared to the German equivalent in PDK's seminal work
The cynicism, the apathy, the horror and the brutality have been folded neatly with the Japanese culture (esp around the tenets of duty, honor and the Samurai code). This coupled with the rapid technological developments including the development of mechas (giant robots basically), porticals (mobile phones) and advanced poison based torture devices decidedly moves this alternate history SF tale into the realms of the deadly and weird
The lead pair is a mix of opposites (like in most things). Ben is a lazy, slacker and womanizer, a jaded cynic, who following a traumatic event, refuses to stand out and is content to coast by. Always talking the right things, staying out of notice while being a technological genius, a skill he hides. Akiko on the other hand is a dedicated soldier believing in the Emperor, full of zeal and no patience. The pair come together to unravel a conspiracy that is spreading in form of a game that shows how the world would be if USA had actually won the war. And things escalate fairly quickly.
The world building is fantastic and detailed and layered just like the characters. Where the story really stumbles is in the pacing. The pacing is very uneven, and the ending is very rushed, limiting the enjoyment and the satisfaction of the tale. Also, some of the characters that are introduced late in the book have a whiff of a Dues Ex Machina.
Nonetheless, a solid book that fairly races through and keeps you engrossed even if it makes you want to read Man in the High Castle again and also, see the excellent TV series spawned under the same name
United States of Japan (USJ) has been hailed as the spiritual successor to the all time great work of Philip K Dick, The Man in the High Castle and to a great extent, USJ works. It captures the darkness, the complexity, the weirdness of US being captured by Japan post WW II and remodeled on Japan, absorbing Japanese culture, bowing down to the Japanese emperor as compared to the German equivalent in PDK's seminal work
The cynicism, the apathy, the horror and the brutality have been folded neatly with the Japanese culture (esp around the tenets of duty, honor and the Samurai code). This coupled with the rapid technological developments including the development of mechas (giant robots basically), porticals (mobile phones) and advanced poison based torture devices decidedly moves this alternate history SF tale into the realms of the deadly and weird
The lead pair is a mix of opposites (like in most things). Ben is a lazy, slacker and womanizer, a jaded cynic, who following a traumatic event, refuses to stand out and is content to coast by. Always talking the right things, staying out of notice while being a technological genius, a skill he hides. Akiko on the other hand is a dedicated soldier believing in the Emperor, full of zeal and no patience. The pair come together to unravel a conspiracy that is spreading in form of a game that shows how the world would be if USA had actually won the war. And things escalate fairly quickly.
The world building is fantastic and detailed and layered just like the characters. Where the story really stumbles is in the pacing. The pacing is very uneven, and the ending is very rushed, limiting the enjoyment and the satisfaction of the tale. Also, some of the characters that are introduced late in the book have a whiff of a Dues Ex Machina.
Nonetheless, a solid book that fairly races through and keeps you engrossed even if it makes you want to read Man in the High Castle again and also, see the excellent TV series spawned under the same name
pmtracy's review
4.0
Similar to [b:The Man in the High Castle|216363|The Man in the High Castle|Philip K. Dick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1448756803s/216363.jpg|2398287] but with more tech, including giant robots. It was actually well written.
pablos24's review
5.0
Uno de los libros más emocionantes (cómo película) pero a la vez con complejos personajes y con grandes plot twist que he leído en mi vida.
Pocas veces se puede tener todo en un libro: buena historia, emoción, fácil conexión con personajes y con ambiente (tipo Harry Potter), plot twist por cantidad, buenos arcos argumentales y de personajes, etc.... No es fácil, pero a veces uno se topa con ellos y debo decir que este libro lo es. ¿Por qué? Porque es fácil de identificar y no hay que pensarlo mucho, están a flor de piel.
Es 100% ciencia ficción pero lo sentí también como splatterpunk (con crudeza y gore). Una combinación explosiva que te dan ganas de más. Lo único malo del libro es que no tiene el reconocimiento ni la fama que merece.
Pocas veces se puede tener todo en un libro: buena historia, emoción, fácil conexión con personajes y con ambiente (tipo Harry Potter), plot twist por cantidad, buenos arcos argumentales y de personajes, etc.... No es fácil, pero a veces uno se topa con ellos y debo decir que este libro lo es. ¿Por qué? Porque es fácil de identificar y no hay que pensarlo mucho, están a flor de piel.
Es 100% ciencia ficción pero lo sentí también como splatterpunk (con crudeza y gore). Una combinación explosiva que te dan ganas de más. Lo único malo del libro es que no tiene el reconocimiento ni la fama que merece.