A review by kimu
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
4.0
November 2008: Initial thoughts... Just to be clear, I didn't like the Baroque Cycle - couldn't ever finish it. I love Stephenson's early work though - [b:Snow Crash|830|Snow Crash|Neal Stephenson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157396730s/830.jpg|493634] is one of my all time favorite novels and I enjoyed Cryptonomicon. I'm finding Anathem to be just as dense and difficult to access as the Baroque Cycle, but I gave it a chance and now that I'm past the first 100 pages, I'm starting to get into the book. I'm still waiting for "the big idea" of the book though - what's the point of the book?
February 2009: This book took me forever to read, partially because it's insanely long but also partly because I kept getting distracted by other faster-paced books. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I would have rated it as a 5-star book, but it seriously could have been about 200 pages shorter and been a better book. I miss Stephenson's earlier novels, which were much tighter and faster-paced. There were a few points in Anathem where the characters were just monologuing needlessly. I'm glad I finished reading it, but these monologue bits made it a bit of a slog at points. Definitely worth reading if you enjoy well-constructed science fiction.
February 2009: This book took me forever to read, partially because it's insanely long but also partly because I kept getting distracted by other faster-paced books. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I would have rated it as a 5-star book, but it seriously could have been about 200 pages shorter and been a better book. I miss Stephenson's earlier novels, which were much tighter and faster-paced. There were a few points in Anathem where the characters were just monologuing needlessly. I'm glad I finished reading it, but these monologue bits made it a bit of a slog at points. Definitely worth reading if you enjoy well-constructed science fiction.