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erebus53's review
As a fan of authors like Neal Stephenson who are heavy on the info-dumps and science, this book let me down in so many ways. The infodumps were BAD. The science was sub-par. The explorations of humanity were philosophical but heartless. The deliberately edgy transhumanism came across as garbage. Genetical, genital and other body modifications seemed tacked on rather than being incorporated into a rich world-building experience.
There were SO many cultural references to things that would have been in Earth's deep past for these people, and the references would go over most people's heads entirely. Some were from Classics, some from fiction, and others from the musical works of Beethoven...
This is the second book I have have read in a year that involved terraforming in space, and this one is also dull. With so much interesting material there should be no excuse for the delivery being so dull that it literally put me to sleep more than once.
There were SO many cultural references to things that would have been in Earth's deep past for these people, and the references would go over most people's heads entirely. Some were from Classics, some from fiction, and others from the musical works of Beethoven...
This is the second book I have have read in a year that involved terraforming in space, and this one is also dull. With so much interesting material there should be no excuse for the delivery being so dull that it literally put me to sleep more than once.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Minor: Dysphoria
kbkbkbkbkb's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
It's a very interesting book. I love how Robinson describes everything; its so easy to get lost in the universe he creates. But, the plot leaves much to be desired. This book is already incredibly long and took me months to get through. It's not a particularly interesting story nor are the characters particularly interesting, and the one plot line that hook me (which seems like it should be the main focus of the book) had less of a focus than I would have like it to. However, once I got to the end of the book I found myself wishing there was more. The epilogue was pointless and I really don't think it should be in the book at all, but I still read it slower than the rest of the book just so I could hold onto the universe Robinson created just a little bit longer.
Content Warnings
Minor: Gore, Sexual content, and Violence
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