yacoob
I do remember trying to read that book few years back - and failing, early into the book. I've got through this time, but it was a bit of a challenge. Dukaj loves creating complex worlds, but he never really bothers to present those to the readers in a simple and transparent way. This exercises reader's attention and memory, but also creates a enormous tree of possible interpretations. Which, I guess, isn't that bad - who said that things should always wear a simple and single description? I loved the world painted in the book. I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot. I found the general concept of psychomemetic field a wee bit naive, but once you accept its existence in the story, all other pieces of puzzles match perfectly. The fact that the narration slips into more action-paced tempo in second half of the story is a bit regrettable, but the book stays interesting. I'm probably more interested in the details of the world itself :DIf I were to compare the complexity level of this book, I'd put it slightly above Anathem. Oh, and it's excellent hard science fiction!
I do remember trying to read that book few years back - and failing, early into the book. I've got through this time, but it was a bit of a challenge. Dukaj loves creating complex worlds, but he never really bothers to present those to the readers in a simple and transparent way. This exercises reader's attention and memory, but also creates a enormous tree of possible interpretations. Which, I guess, isn't that bad - who said that things should always wear a simple and single description? I loved the world painted in the book. I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot. I found the general concept of psychomemetic field a wee bit naive, but once you accept its existence in the story, all other pieces of puzzles match perfectly. The fact that the narration slips into more action-paced tempo in second half of the story is a bit regrettable, but the book stays interesting. I'm probably more interested in the details of the world itself :DIf I were to compare the complexity level of this book, I'd put it slightly above Anathem. Oh, and it's excellent hard science fiction!