thomas

took me three tries to get through this, by god what a slog.

the whole book feels like a “wow look at how fucking smart these guys were for predicting stuff”. so boring!

real shame bc the robot novels are so much more compelling, on a plot level and on a thematic one

fun book, would recommend if you like backrooms type stuff.

don’t think they did enough with the concept of “forgetting” on a thematic level. while an entertaining read, it’s mostly driven by its plot, which is admittedly very interesting.

it’s “gimmick” does get a tad repetitive near the end, but even so almost always manages to catch me off guard.

*spoilers, broad strokes only below*

its ending is by far its weakest part though. i think it shouldn’t have escalated as much as it did. the stories and snippets were more interesting to me when they were more local, personal, and while the plot does try to keep things personal, it definitely does not stay local.

that too could be fine, but the resolution is a bit ehhh. while kind of in the nature of the subject of the book, there’s no real character development to look back on, everything ends up going kind of back to the status quo, which is i think the real problem with this kind of escalation.

genuinely compelling world, grimy, unique. first half of the book briefly filled a disco elysium shaped hole in my heart.

my main complaint with the book is that it turned into a more generic actiony-adventurey type beat in the second half when the protags need to overcome The Obstacle.

spoilers below

while the slake moths are really interesting, this part of the story kind of lost the magic of what was set up imo. rather than exploring the setting it felt more like a slideshow of it: wow here’s this big robo consciousness! there’s these other guys they can do magic!!

maybe it’s just a matter of expectations, but take Motley for instance. his dynamic with Lin was setup to be something kinda interesting, this fucked up guy with an obsession with transitions. really compelling, but in the end he just turns into a generic mob boss. i wish we could have a version of this book with lower stakes and which explored the relationships between the characters and the city more.

big fan of the city btw. and of isaac being a scientist as a framing device, love it when you learn about a world together with a character in a natural way.

audiobook wise the narrator was passable. a tad dry, and wasn’t a big fan tbh, but after hearing the narrator for the sequel i kinda want him back

only problem with it is that there’s not more of it! deeply compassionate advice, short enough to listen to over and over again while cleaning.

provides a compelling case for why the gospels have been surprised by the church for so long

not a good introduction into the gospels themselves tho, already pressuposes some reading