The Idiot Gods

A book “written” by an orca?!? It shouldn't work but it does.

Who better to reflect the idiocy of man than Zindell's newest creation Arjuna. Not only is he a truly believable character but he leaves you pondering your purpose (both as an individual and a species).

The best parts of Arjuna's story follow him as he travels the waters of our shared planet Ocean (for we are presumptuous to call it Earth). Zindell paints such pictures with his words that you could be swimming alongside these magnificent creatures, listening as they sing their rhapsodies.

I was originally loath to read it as I feared it would be a somewhat silly story (I detest anthropomorphism) but it sucked me in and blew me away. I didn't want it to end but end it did, and well. Closed, yet open, complete but unfulfilled.

Zindell wrote my favourite book, Neverness, and the Idiot Gods is almost an updated version of this. Arjuna, like Mallory Ringess, discovers the beauty of mathematics and the poetry of life. They both explore the outer limits of their universes in an attempt to understand the complexities of man and, ultimately, god(s).

I loved this book, not quite as much as Neverness but enough to know that I will revisit it and recommend it to like-minded readers.