nicanical
114 Reads
Matter progresses similarly to Look to Windward, the preceding novel: the main characters spend most of the story traveling before facing the big bad, a subplot attempts to misdirect, then a drastic asymmetry between opposing sides leads to a swift conclusion.
My criticisms are also similar:
- While traveling, the main characters learn about their situation and gather allies—it's setup, for the final confrontation. All this time setting up slows down the pace of the story.
- Banks wastes some interesting locations and ideas here. First, by zooming past them during the main characters' travels; and second, by burning them in an ultimately insignificant subplot.
- The swift conclusion makes the ending feel rushed. The epilogue doesn't mitigate this. Also, knowing about mind-state backups wrecks any heroism in the ending for me.
Matter progresses similarly to Look to Windward, the preceding novel: the main characters spend most of the story traveling before facing the big bad, a subplot attempts to misdirect, then a drastic asymmetry between opposing sides leads to a swift conclusion.
My criticisms are also similar:
- While traveling, the main characters learn about their situation and gather allies—it's setup, for the final confrontation. All this time setting up slows down the pace of the story.
- Banks wastes some interesting locations and ideas here. First, by zooming past them during the main characters' travels; and second, by burning them in an ultimately insignificant subplot.
- The swift conclusion makes the ending feel rushed. The epilogue doesn't mitigate this. Also, knowing about mind-state backups wrecks any heroism in the ending for me.