Reviews

Arcadia by Iain Pears

siggismara's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

Wow. Just wow. I am usually a fast reader but it took me a while to get the hang of reading this book. The multiple timelines with their seemingly unrelated storylines (at first) took some getting used to but once beyond that I have seldomly so thoroughly enjoyed a book. Highly recommended!

abookorten's review against another edition

5.0

Thoroughly bewildered to have left the complex, intense world Pears creates. Amazing. Absolutely fantastic characters, world building, literary allusions. Think it's going to take me a while to recover from this one.

l_schwartz15's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

melindor's review

funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

disastrouspenguin's review

5.0

The best blending of fantasy and science fiction I've ever read. I have to admit, I wasn't sure if I was going to like this for a few chapters. The author divides the story over several primary characters, leaving the reader to wonder how in the world he will connect such disparate narratives. However, as the book progresses, rather than making the story feel disjointed, he masterfully weaves each story together. I ended up getting equally invested in nearly all of the characters because of the author's excellent empathy, changing the voice, reasoning, and POV for each character. This book is complex and takes its time revealing itself. There are also a few genuine laugh-out-loud moments.

I recommend this for lovers of science fiction and fantasy who are able to dredge up a skosh of patience to enjoy the ride to the heart of this novel.

emmagee's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

pabloochoa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Es un poco pesado pero muy interesante si te engancha.

bijou3owl's review against another edition

DNF @ 43min (audiobook)

Hate all the characters so far:
- pastoral child boy
- the professor dude who is walking male nerd entitlement ("I'm special because I have encyclopedic knowledge of these sci-fi books, and I'm going to do fantasy *better* than Tolkien et al, and I'm going to pat myself in the back for "recognizing" a local teen girl as smart, meanwhile I can't be bothered with domestic tasks like picking up packages or feeding my cat)
- "not like other girls" teenager who feeds the above's cat and dotes on him for who knows why

The latest in my recent string of run-ins with male authors attempting to write "strong female character" and instead generating a flat, trope-laden stereotype

fwee's review

slow-paced

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

4.0

fernfuentes's review against another edition

5.0

This was one hell of a story. It takes place in 3 different worlds, following 10 different characters in a story of space and time. I can’t even imagine the immense amount of brain power it would take to put together this story and close it up so neatly. It essentially just fortified my belief that time isn’t real lol. This was a great read, and a long one, but it really sucks you in. Totally recommend it for any sci-fi, dimension hopping nerds out there.

I really wish I’d found this book when it was published because there was an accompanying app that showed you how to read the book in many different ways, but apparently the app no longer exists.