Event Factory

I tried reading this one a while back and couldn't get into it, but something told me I should keep it around and try again. This time, before I read it, I read the acknowledgments in the back, and I'm glad I did, because the author thanks Samuel Delany for Dhalgren, and that turned out to be the key to enjoying the book this time around.

I had the same start-and-stop experience with Dhalgren, though I had to try more than once before I finished (and enjoyed!) it. This is kind of challenging fiction for me, the structure of it, and I guess that's why it was worth going back to. With Dhalgren, I had the knowledge that Delany was worth reading (from enjoying his shorter, older sci-fi stories); with this, I only had the faith that, hey, anybody who loves Dhalgren enough to attempt anything even within the fringes of that style is worth some effort to read.

And it was. I love the conceit of the book, that Ravicka is a place where communication is...complicated. And not just communication, but reality. I'm going to read the other Ravickian books, though perhaps not right away.