A review by bojangles
Exhalation by Ted Chiang

adventurous challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Ted Chiang’s mind is the love of my life. My favourite part about his two books now is the collection of author’s notes he includes behind each story. Reading his stories, I feel as though I’m being invited to debate and challenge him, but only after listening very carefully and thoughtfully to the story he’s crafter to explain how he came to the conclusion he did. His stories feel like you’re looking at a craftsman playing with a Faberge egg. In my own hands, I’d likely smash it to bits. But in his, even his play is delicate and skilled enough to not break it as he’s tossing it from one hand to another, and spinning it on the table. In fact, his playing with it almost makes you forget how priceless and delicate the ornament is, so knowledgeable is he in handling it. 

At times, I found the narratives bogged down by exposition and heavy handed metaphors, especially The Lifecycle of Software Objects. But in the end, I had such a nice time visiting with the ideas that I can tolerate the heavy handed ness.