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jam51's review
4.0
I remember having read this book. I think that it was the first Ian McDonald book that I read. I remember liking it enough to want to read other books by the same author. Which I have done. But I don't remember a thing about this book. I think that it was likely about a desolate road somewhere. Probably not on Earth. Mars maybe? Yes, I think it was one of the "Mars books." (I was at one time trying to read every SF book set on or about Mars, which kept me busy for a few years!) So that is why it's on my "To Re-read" list, which I just created. I'll be adding more books to this list as I remember them (which is a pretty unlikely event, given the state of my memory these days!) or come across them by chance or someone else mentions them to me in passing or someone throws the book at me and it hits me in the head.
made_in_dna's review
5.0
Spellbinding!
Set in the far future after man and AI-kind have settled Mars, this is the story of a place called Desolation Road, a town started by one man, where nothing existed before, and nothing was EVER supposed to exist. Yet, as the city grows in size, the story grows in scope, to cover generations of the original inhabitants and their ancestors. Life, death, birth, war, deception, betrayal, religion, sex and love...
For lovers of cyberpunk, biopunk, and space opera.
Set in the far future after man and AI-kind have settled Mars, this is the story of a place called Desolation Road, a town started by one man, where nothing existed before, and nothing was EVER supposed to exist. Yet, as the city grows in size, the story grows in scope, to cover generations of the original inhabitants and their ancestors. Life, death, birth, war, deception, betrayal, religion, sex and love...
For lovers of cyberpunk, biopunk, and space opera.
fuchsia_groan's review against another edition
5.0
¿Western espacial?, ¿ciencia ficción?, ¿fantasía?, ¿una novela épica marciana?, ¿realismo mágico? Sí, sí, sí, sí, y sí. Y un derroche de imaginación, de humor, de buena escritura, una rareza de lectura obligatoria.
A pesar de que, sin haberla leído, pueda pensarse que es una novela de ciencia ficción, pues tiene todos los elementos típicos, la mejor manera de enfrentarse a esta novela es estar preparados para encontrar algo más parecido a Cien años de soledad, algo más místico que científico, desde luego.
En el primer capítulo nos encontramos con la peculiar fundación de la ciudad, Camino Desolación, por el Dr. Alimantando, en un Marte del futuro que conecta sus ciudades mediante ferrocarril, y a partir de ahí asistimos a la llegada de los que serán sus peculiares habitantes, memorables y perfectamente individualizados, marginados, excéntricos, reales: Ed Gallacelli, Persis Jirones, Mikal Margolis, Taasmin Mandela...
En cada capítulo vamos conociendo a cada uno, sus circunstancias y qué los llevó a ser unos “pioneros”. Quizás pueda parecer un relato algo inconexo hasta bien avanzada la novela, y es que casi podría leerse como una recopilación de relatos con un punto en común. Si tenemos algo de paciencia y nos dejamos llevar, si somos capaces de disfrutar de la pequeña maravilla que es cada capítulo, asistiremos a todas las situaciones que ese Marte puede ofrecer: viajes en el tiempo, asesinatos, la vida entera.
Una verdadera lástima que el segundo libro ambientado en este mundo (que no es una continuación), Ares Express (2001), no haya sido traducido.
A pesar de que, sin haberla leído, pueda pensarse que es una novela de ciencia ficción, pues tiene todos los elementos típicos, la mejor manera de enfrentarse a esta novela es estar preparados para encontrar algo más parecido a Cien años de soledad, algo más místico que científico, desde luego.
En el primer capítulo nos encontramos con la peculiar fundación de la ciudad, Camino Desolación, por el Dr. Alimantando, en un Marte del futuro que conecta sus ciudades mediante ferrocarril, y a partir de ahí asistimos a la llegada de los que serán sus peculiares habitantes, memorables y perfectamente individualizados, marginados, excéntricos, reales: Ed Gallacelli, Persis Jirones, Mikal Margolis, Taasmin Mandela...
En cada capítulo vamos conociendo a cada uno, sus circunstancias y qué los llevó a ser unos “pioneros”. Quizás pueda parecer un relato algo inconexo hasta bien avanzada la novela, y es que casi podría leerse como una recopilación de relatos con un punto en común. Si tenemos algo de paciencia y nos dejamos llevar, si somos capaces de disfrutar de la pequeña maravilla que es cada capítulo, asistiremos a todas las situaciones que ese Marte puede ofrecer: viajes en el tiempo, asesinatos, la vida entera.
Una verdadera lástima que el segundo libro ambientado en este mundo (que no es una continuación), Ares Express (2001), no haya sido traducido.
daddyswish's review
2.0
This book starts out ok. In fact the beginning is quite engaging, there's unique characters, a weird town isolated in the middle of mars, elements of magic where a guitar player brings the first rain in hundreds of years. But as I kept reading this story the more and more I felt like it should be a collection of short stories rather than trying to appear as a novel.
The location is the same place throughout the book (a town on mars) but the story leaps between characters, story lines, and even setting where suddenly the author jumps way back to past events. These changes in perspective and time do not overlap or seem relevant to each other. The book has the feel of something along the lines of Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man, with an overarching story being told through substories, but this novel misses the mark.
You get a "feel" for this town, its people, and its history, but there is no coherent main story, or not one that I could find. The writing is at times choppy, and I had difficulty keeping track of which characters were important, because they would change every few chapters, not be mentioned again for 50 pages, and then reappear in a completely new context, or they would be mentioned heavily for a few chapters and then never mentioned again the rest of the book.
Rather than trying to structure this as a novel, it would have done much better as a collection of short stories. I feel like the author got lost trying to connect a bunch of crazy (and yes sometimes very interesting) stories into a singular event and it just didn't work out. To get through this book and find some enjoyment out it I had to stop trying to understand the book as a single story, and just focus on trying to find funny, cool, or interesting ideas in segments of 3 or 5 chapters.
The location is the same place throughout the book (a town on mars) but the story leaps between characters, story lines, and even setting where suddenly the author jumps way back to past events. These changes in perspective and time do not overlap or seem relevant to each other. The book has the feel of something along the lines of Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man, with an overarching story being told through substories, but this novel misses the mark.
You get a "feel" for this town, its people, and its history, but there is no coherent main story, or not one that I could find. The writing is at times choppy, and I had difficulty keeping track of which characters were important, because they would change every few chapters, not be mentioned again for 50 pages, and then reappear in a completely new context, or they would be mentioned heavily for a few chapters and then never mentioned again the rest of the book.
Rather than trying to structure this as a novel, it would have done much better as a collection of short stories. I feel like the author got lost trying to connect a bunch of crazy (and yes sometimes very interesting) stories into a singular event and it just didn't work out. To get through this book and find some enjoyment out it I had to stop trying to understand the book as a single story, and just focus on trying to find funny, cool, or interesting ideas in segments of 3 or 5 chapters.
dancarey_404's review
2.0
I tried. I really, really tried to like this book, because I have loved everything else I have read by McDonald. But this just wasn't enjoyable to me. It was very Bradbury-esque (and from me, that is not a compliment). Eventually, I just gave up on it. I do not anticipate trying to pick it up again.
eunoianowhere's review
2.0
This book starts out ok. In fact the beginning is quite engaging, there's unique characters, a weird town isolated in the middle of mars, elements of magic where a guitar player brings the first rain in hundreds of years. But as I kept reading this story the more and more I felt like it should be a collection of short stories rather than trying to appear as a novel.
The location is the same place throughout the book (a town on mars) but the story leaps between characters, story lines, and even setting where suddenly the author jumps way back to past events. These changes in perspective and time do not overlap or seem relevant to each other. The book has the feel of something along the lines of Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man, with an overarching story being told through substories, but this novel misses the mark.
You get a "feel" for this town, its people, and its history, but there is no coherent main story, or not one that I could find. The writing is at times choppy, and I had difficulty keeping track of which characters were important, because they would change every few chapters, not be mentioned again for 50 pages, and then reappear in a completely new context, or they would be mentioned heavily for a few chapters and then never mentioned again the rest of the book.
Rather than trying to structure this as a novel, it would have done much better as a collection of short stories. I feel like the author got lost trying to connect a bunch of crazy (and yes sometimes very interesting) stories into a singular event and it just didn't work out. To get through this book and find some enjoyment out it I had to stop trying to understand the book as a single story, and just focus on trying to find funny, cool, or interesting ideas in segments of 3 or 5 chapters.
The location is the same place throughout the book (a town on mars) but the story leaps between characters, story lines, and even setting where suddenly the author jumps way back to past events. These changes in perspective and time do not overlap or seem relevant to each other. The book has the feel of something along the lines of Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man, with an overarching story being told through substories, but this novel misses the mark.
You get a "feel" for this town, its people, and its history, but there is no coherent main story, or not one that I could find. The writing is at times choppy, and I had difficulty keeping track of which characters were important, because they would change every few chapters, not be mentioned again for 50 pages, and then reappear in a completely new context, or they would be mentioned heavily for a few chapters and then never mentioned again the rest of the book.
Rather than trying to structure this as a novel, it would have done much better as a collection of short stories. I feel like the author got lost trying to connect a bunch of crazy (and yes sometimes very interesting) stories into a singular event and it just didn't work out. To get through this book and find some enjoyment out it I had to stop trying to understand the book as a single story, and just focus on trying to find funny, cool, or interesting ideas in segments of 3 or 5 chapters.
imitira's review
3.0
It's a beautiful book, slowly mounting to an epic climax through many sub-plots and turnings, but I somehow wasn't captivated. Possibly the episodic style moves too quickly over too many changes for one accustomed to epic fantasy potboilers, and the grand disdain for any underlying consistency of magic or technology is slightly jarring - you never can tell what's going to happen next, and while that's initially lapped up with eager incredulity, one's eyes tend to glaze over a little after a while. Generally an excellent read, and easy to put down and pick up again due to the style, but harder to finish than it should be.
madamepsychosis's review
Una specie di recensione (ovvero, com'è stato tradurlo e perché mi è piaciuto tanto così)
theo1054's review
3.0
It was easy reading. Short chapters, but they draw you in. He does a nice job of tying everything together even if it doesn't seem that plausible toward the end.
tome15's review
4.0
McDonald, Ian. Desolation Road. Desolation Road No. 1. Bantam, 1988.
Desolation Road, Ian McDonald’s first novel, chronicles a hard-scrabble town on a rail line in the desert of Mars, but it has the surrealist feel of some postmodern Westerns like Jim Jarmusch’s 1995 film Dead Man with Johnny Depp and Crispin Glover. McDonald combines some plausible science fiction ideas with a magic realism. The style reminds me of some of Roger Zelazny’s work. Jo Walton’s very good review at Tor.com argues that the novel’s style often makes literally true some tropes that are usually figurative. Here is part of a passage she uses to illustrate the point: “Rajendra Das had been given the power of charming machinery. There was nothing mechanical, electrical, electronic, or submolecular that would not work for Rajendra Das.” Desolation Road is an accidental village in many ways. It was supposed to be named Destiny Road, but people kept mispronouncing it. It collects its citizens randomly, from a crash-landed tourist plane to a time traveling little green alien. The story pulls us along, and in the end, we are more involved than we expected to be with many of its characters. Recommended.
Desolation Road, Ian McDonald’s first novel, chronicles a hard-scrabble town on a rail line in the desert of Mars, but it has the surrealist feel of some postmodern Westerns like Jim Jarmusch’s 1995 film Dead Man with Johnny Depp and Crispin Glover. McDonald combines some plausible science fiction ideas with a magic realism. The style reminds me of some of Roger Zelazny’s work. Jo Walton’s very good review at Tor.com argues that the novel’s style often makes literally true some tropes that are usually figurative. Here is part of a passage she uses to illustrate the point: “Rajendra Das had been given the power of charming machinery. There was nothing mechanical, electrical, electronic, or submolecular that would not work for Rajendra Das.” Desolation Road is an accidental village in many ways. It was supposed to be named Destiny Road, but people kept mispronouncing it. It collects its citizens randomly, from a crash-landed tourist plane to a time traveling little green alien. The story pulls us along, and in the end, we are more involved than we expected to be with many of its characters. Recommended.