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loonyboi's review
3.0
This is a weird book to review, since it's book 5 of 20 of the new releases of Chung Kuo. It's also the first half of book 3 of the old releases, and more than any of the new versions to date, it really, suffers from that fact.
To be clear, this isn't a bad book by any means. It's quite good. But it's really unsatisfying. So far even though the previous volumes have been split in two, enough has happened in each book that I didn't really care (plus there was lots of new stuff). The Art of War however really suffers from the fact that the series is fully underway, and there are a lot of characters we don't get to see.
Mostly however, my complaint is just that not a whole lot of consequence happens in this book. There are major events that are going to happen, but because this is only 1/2 of the original novel, we have to wait a few more months to get to them.
Not helping things is that a fairly large chunk of this book focuses on Ben, a character that serves as an outlet for some of Wingrove's worst tendencies. Wingrove can't write a child for the life of him (a major failing of this series as a whole) but Ben is the most brilliant and irritating 17 year old who ever lived. He's a genius, he's athletic, he's a brilliant artist, he's an inventor...he's unbelievable on every page. He's like an even more irritating Ender Wiggin. Oh, and he also.
If you're reading Chung Kuo, as I am, none of this will bother you much. It's just frustrating, particularly when the publishing schedule in the United States is so erratic. Better books are ahead, so just get through this one and wait for the next to come out.
To be clear, this isn't a bad book by any means. It's quite good. But it's really unsatisfying. So far even though the previous volumes have been split in two, enough has happened in each book that I didn't really care (plus there was lots of new stuff). The Art of War however really suffers from the fact that the series is fully underway, and there are a lot of characters we don't get to see.
Mostly however, my complaint is just that not a whole lot of consequence happens in this book. There are major events that are going to happen, but because this is only 1/2 of the original novel, we have to wait a few more months to get to them.
Not helping things is that a fairly large chunk of this book focuses on Ben, a character that serves as an outlet for some of Wingrove's worst tendencies. Wingrove can't write a child for the life of him (a major failing of this series as a whole) but Ben is the most brilliant and irritating 17 year old who ever lived. He's a genius, he's athletic, he's a brilliant artist, he's an inventor...he's unbelievable on every page. He's like an even more irritating Ender Wiggin. Oh, and he also
Spoiler
has a really gross incestuous relationship with his 14 year old sisterIf you're reading Chung Kuo, as I am, none of this will bother you much. It's just frustrating, particularly when the publishing schedule in the United States is so erratic. Better books are ahead, so just get through this one and wait for the next to come out.
thiago's review
2.0
The pacing slows to a crawl in this fifth book. The war between the Dispersionists and the Seven barely moves forward - it’s at about the same point on page 1 and on page 278. Also, some of the characters spend too much time in boring inner monologues. Only City Africa kept me reading on.
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