Reviews

Radiant Terminus by Jeffrey Zuckerman, Antoine Volodine

ianlumsden's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

jae_lou's review against another edition

2.0

J'ai vraiment eu du mal à terminer ce roman. J'ai fini pas sauter des passages pour arriver au bout.

haunted_klaus's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

opojaz's review against another edition

Stopped on pg 230.

dolingen_de_gratz's review

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

bedazzlebub's review

5.0

Volodine does an excellent job here of blending science fiction with elements of magical realism. From the radiated pits left by sunken reactors to the unnatural longevity and psychic powers they may grant their visitors. Those wandering the hollowed-out remnants of their homeland, neither alive nor dead (or maybe both). Forests that harbor ominous misdirection and strangeness for anyone foolish enough to traverse them. And perhaps, most importantly, the instability and malleability of the traumatized human mind. Whether by empirical, chemical or supernatural means, the characters in this story are at the mercy of forces incomprehensible and irresistible to them.

For a full review, please visit my blog at
https://infinitememoria.wordpress.com/2019/03/12/radiant-terminus-by-antoine-volodine/

nadinekc's review against another edition

4.0

I read the first two pages as an ebook sample and thought what terrible writing and even worse translating. Luckily I had to read this for a book group, because I started again with a print copy and thought what amazing writing and translating. Once I got used to the rhythm of the writing and the weirdness of this particular bardo, I found so much 'post-exotic' humor and creativity. Definitely a book that works best as a group read.

sjfurger's review against another edition

2.0

This one was a little odd, even for me. The style was difficult to follow, and to be honest, I'm not sure I totally understood it. I think it's something to revisit when I'm in a more analytical frame of mind and not reading for pleasure, if that makes sense. That being said, the prose is lovely, the characters are complex and interesting, and the general plot is fascinating!

piccoline's review

5.0

I don't think Brian Evenson, in his foreword, is right: you should not start here with Volodine. This is a strange, disparate, sometimes aggressively noncommittal book. It's fascinating and intermittently compelling, it has profound things to say and radical, strange ways to say them, but it took me a long time to get through, and I am a rather rabid admirer of Volodine.

If you're already a convert, this is obviously a must-read, and it has many delights and many challenges. Volodine is one of the most profound and interesting writers of the 21st century. But I'd say work your way up to this one.

seanwatson's review against another edition

i thought the first half of volodine's radiant terminus was outstanding. way, way weirder than the "weird fiction" of mieville and vandermeer. offbeat but deadly serious. the way volodine depicted the dream/reality mobius strip was really beautiful, and he handled the confronting r*pe/abuse content with care and insight. but after volodine sets up solovyei's dream invasions and kronauer's fatal encounters with the three daughters, the book seems to stall and never recover. the frequent flights into obscurity in the second half feel bloated, and the leaps forward and back in time seem like a bad joke. that said, from what i've read and heard about volodine, it sounds like his books are very interconnected and benefit from reading a handful of them (as with a writer like bolaño), so i'm hesitant to make a call on him based just on this book.

as a side note, the translation in this was outstanding and open letter deserve full credit for bringing books like this to english readers so quickly.