nicanical

I've only read a little Hemingway, just The Sun Also Rises and some short story collections, but I enjoyed all that a lot. So I was disappointed that I couldn't get into this one.

Plainly, it's the fishing. It's boring to read about. It's handlining too, not fishing with a rod or a net, so you'll read a lot about Santiago's hand pain. I didn't even take it all in as a tragedy in the end, more of an admonition of Santiago's unpreparedness.

I enjoyed the beginning and the end the most, where Santiago interacts with the boy. And of course, the prose is beautifully crafted as expected of Hemingway.

I thought this story had a compelling setting and view of a possible future.

I liked the use of uplift here (i.e., the artificial acceleration of a species' intelligence). I feel like it's not a concept featured so frequently in written sci-fi (I can name several examples in film though), nor is it featured as prominently as it is in Children of Time. Usually, monkeys are the ones uplifted, and/or it's a horror story. Here, we have uplifted spiders in a non-horror story. Very cool! And jumping spiders too, the bros of the spider world—look them up.

I also liked that time dilation was featured, similar to how Alastair Reynolds does it. Most of the other SF stories I've read sidestep this by allowing faster-than-light tech, or drastically limiting distances traveled. So it's refreshing to see time dilation explicitly described and how it can affect characters, etc., even if it ultimately is a minor thing in this story.

The structure is relatively simple: chapters alternating between spiders and humans. Between the two, I felt the human side was weaker—the characterization for the humans was a bit meh. I would describe the prose as straightforward, direct, but not spartan—it's more detailed than, perhaps, Isaac Asimov's style. Personally, I prefer simpler styles like this that get out of your way, so the writing here was right up my alley. You might not like it if you prefer flowery and meandering, or dense and expository dump-style prose.

I enjoyed this book. It is structurally-similar to the two previous entries, Look to Windward and Matter, but corrects some of their deficits: Surface Detail is paced better, and locations and races all serve a purpose. The same goes for the characters, although the Quietus agent's arc was weak and could have been dropped.

One thing though: the contentiousness of the virtual hells and the War in Heaven is never sufficiently developed to match the apparent in-universe furor for them. The Pavulean perspective is in the middle of changing towards anti-hell. And other advanced civilizations (like the Culture) are anti-hell because they oppose the barbarism of virtual hells. But, counter-arguments from advanced, pro-hell civilizations (like the Nauptre) aren't shared in detail. This didn't affect enjoyment of the book because the War is just something happening in the background, and is not central to the main character's story.

Pacing is slow because most of the book is Major Quilan traveling and Mahrai Ziller playing tourist. Action and intrigue are mostly kept to flashbacks, which lack urgency. Only the end has any true tension ... well, the subplot involving the Culture researcher has some too. But, that subplot turns out to be a feigned plot twist, and a waste of an interesting character and locale.

The ending wraps up everything so neatly that it feels contrived. That said, the reveal of the real twist is satisfying and adds some subtle shades to Masaq Orbital and Admiral Huyler's actions—depends upon how much risk you think they really took with the orbital's population (in exchange for maybe unmasking the conspirators).

Interesting ideas, bad execution, frustrating read.

Famous singer Jason Taverner wakes up to find all records of his existence have vanished. His efforts to figure out why draw police attention, starting a chase that lasts the whole story. It lasts the whole story because Jason repeatedly makes unbelievably boneheaded moves at odds with the urgency of his situation. For example, Jason: discovers a woman helping him is a police informant, but willingly accompanies her back to her apartment; overstays in a safehouse although he knows the police are likely on their way; consumes drugs with Alys, the Police General's sister in the General's apartment.

Jason gets up to all this bumbling despite proudly being a 'Six'—a genetically-engineered human with enhanced smarts and resourcefulness, although I never saw it.

There are several attempts at redeeming Jason's character—when he contrasts his life with the people on the streets and also when he meets the potter—but these never coalesce to any satisfaction.

The idea of a drug that gives reality-changing powers was interesting but wasted, receiving only a few throwaway lines in the denouement.