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svenpdb's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
swarmofbees's review against another edition
challenging
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I'm confused
hazel_oat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
infinimata's review against another edition
3.0
After a great opening that should have been its own book (it has almost nothing to do with the rest of the story), it descends into a kind of Kafkaesque burlesque on John le Carré. At times very funny, perpetually inventive, but it could just as easily have been a short story with all the fat trimmed. By the halfway mark I felt like the book could have stopped at any time and it wouldn't have made any difference. Then again, maybe that was the idea.
olapielakx's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
peebee's review against another edition
4.0
It's very weird that it starts out about (and the coverleaf is 80% devoted to) a plague on paper, that eliminates humanity's ability to communicate information, leads to a breakdown in society, a vicious dark age, and new renaissance once humanity triumphs, all of which would be fine on their own for a book.
And then on like page ten it says 'here is the only bit of paper that has survived' and the story abruptly shifts to a post-capitalist bunker where the remnants of the American Military Industrial complex have sealed themselves and what remains of US capitalism into a mountain and devolved into the Dulles Brothers John Birch paranoid feverdream that America has always promised it's citizens it would become.
But the paper thing? Never comes up again, not even in an epilogue.
And then on like page ten it says 'here is the only bit of paper that has survived' and the story abruptly shifts to a post-capitalist bunker where the remnants of the American Military Industrial complex have sealed themselves and what remains of US capitalism into a mountain and devolved into the Dulles Brothers John Birch paranoid feverdream that America has always promised it's citizens it would become.
But the paper thing? Never comes up again, not even in an epilogue.
corpotrash's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
bllowns's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
saadr's review against another edition
challenging
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
barbtrek's review against another edition
3.0
I love Stanislaw Lem but sometimes it is just too much. This was craziness upon craziness upon craziness. I ended up getting lost and confused. But even when I was lost and confused I enjoyed the clever writing.