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pronkbaggins's review against another edition
4.0
4.0/5.0 stars
I feel like I do not understand exactly what I read, both because I may not be smart enough and also because it feels like what I think a drug trip would feel like. There is a lot of philosophy, violence, and vibrant imagery in this. It's an intriguing story and it kept my attention throughout. There is one particular line about the character Katherine which cracked me up immensely, and I am not sure if the author did that on purpose to give us a peek into the main character's character flaws or not.
I may have to come back to this book for a re-read at some point to hopefully understand it better.
I feel like I do not understand exactly what I read, both because I may not be smart enough and also because it feels like what I think a drug trip would feel like. There is a lot of philosophy, violence, and vibrant imagery in this. It's an intriguing story and it kept my attention throughout. There is one particular line about the character Katherine which cracked me up immensely, and I am not sure if the author did that on purpose to give us a peek into the main character's character flaws or not.
I may have to come back to this book for a re-read at some point to hopefully understand it better.
spitzig's review
4.0
Strange convergence of topics. I just read a book that talks about the elimination of free will. Free will was a less pessimistic topic in this book. Also, I just read a collection of short stories involving neanderthals. This novel had a group who'd genetically modified themselves to basically be neanderthals, and lived like them.
I liked the treatment of (basically) hyperspace. Also, the "gods"(technologically based) were interesting, and not just superpowered men.
The city and its society were interesting, too.
I liked the main character, and sympathized with him. A couple of the secondary characters, too.
I liked the treatment of (basically) hyperspace. Also, the "gods"(technologically based) were interesting, and not just superpowered men.
The city and its society were interesting, too.
I liked the main character, and sympathized with him. A couple of the secondary characters, too.
jazzhands35's review
4.0
Really interesting world building. In fact, some of the most intriguing world building I've read since probably Hyperion. I do think some of the world building devolves into listing things a bit too often. Things that don't every really get explained and are just there to make you think the world is complex. Like he will list 14 names of pilots that did important stuff but you only learn about one of them. Or will list 10 different castes/classes/jobs (whatever they are called in universe) with no explanation of what 8 of them are. Some amount of this can be very effective. It adds mystery. But the author overdoes it a bit. Even late in the book you will see lists of heretofore unmentioned things with little bearing on the storing. I really liked the piloting parts. Really unique idea. The main character is often annoying and arrogant, but intentionally so. We are supposed to be frustrated by him. The caveman part was OK, but was a bit too long. Overall, very enjoyable but could do with some editing and maybe 100 fewer pages.
ashtardeza's review
5.0
Another teenage favorite that really stuck with me. I loved the contrast between the very high tech city ( fighting with math!) and the very low tech civilization outside the city. I would love to read this again some day.
corymojojojo's review
4.0
Neverness is an intricate tale told on a huge scale. With a setting and journey of hardship reminiscent of Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, and the philosophical musings and near-impenetrable world-building of Herbert's Dune, Zindell creates an insanely creative world and a story that is hard to explain. Built on a foundation of high-concept mathematics, this is the story of the search for the secret of the universe and how mankind fits into it all. While the ambition is great, the story dragged on a bit at times (this is a long book), and somehow every single character in this book is incredibly unlikeable. I having a feeling that if I ever reread this book down the line, I would have a much higher opinion of it, because the amount of made-up words to flesh out the world, while memorable, is a chore in the beginning and even by the end I don't think I was fully grasping a lot of it. Then again, there is something special about a book that you don't fully "get" until the second read.
shallowdepths's review
I can't even work out whether I like this book. There are things about it that are interesting. There are some issues. It jumps around between quite different sections that seem concerned with different ideas and different kinds of storytelling. Which could be a good thing, and there are still common threads to hold it together somewhat, but still a lot that didn't land for me.
I don't regret reading it but I'm feeling relieved to be finished.
And yeah, pretty bad at depictions of women, and some weirdness around what it means to be civilised vs primitive (though that part not nearly as bad as it could have been). Almost entirely unlikeable characters, but I don't personally mind that.
Might make more sense in relation to later books in the series, we'll see. Prequels are weird.
I don't regret reading it but I'm feeling relieved to be finished.
And yeah, pretty bad at depictions of women, and some weirdness around what it means to be civilised vs primitive (though that part not nearly as bad as it could have been). Almost entirely unlikeable characters, but I don't personally mind that.
Might make more sense in relation to later books in the series, we'll see. Prequels are weird.
ashleylm's review
I'm basically a hopeful reader. I never know when the next book might turn out to be a personal favourite. I have a slight bias for quirky, and scoff at anything too too popular, but it so often turns out that the popular have earned such a position for a reason (they're good! they're fun!) and the quirky are often too quirky, even for me.
Such is Neverness, which never really grabbed me, then lost me entirely after the painful caveman sequence, death of the main character (ish), and ultimate resurretion by aquatic beings? I can barely remember. And that was just halfway.
Anyhoo, I set it aside in case I was in a mood, and after a few years absence, I discover I genuinely have no desire to return to it. So on to the next book, still hopeful of finding new favourites. (Which still happens—I discovered Naomi Novik only four years ago, and I adored the so-far-one-book-only Weave a Circle Round by local author Kari Maaren). Fingers crossed.
Note: I have written a novel (not yet published), so now I will suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. In my subjective opinion, the stars suggest:
(5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = actually disappointing, and 1* = hated it. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
Such is Neverness, which never really grabbed me, then lost me entirely after the painful caveman sequence, death of the main character (ish), and ultimate resurretion by aquatic beings? I can barely remember. And that was just halfway.
Anyhoo, I set it aside in case I was in a mood, and after a few years absence, I discover I genuinely have no desire to return to it. So on to the next book, still hopeful of finding new favourites. (Which still happens—I discovered Naomi Novik only four years ago, and I adored the so-far-one-book-only Weave a Circle Round by local author Kari Maaren). Fingers crossed.
Note: I have written a novel (not yet published), so now I will suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. In my subjective opinion, the stars suggest:
(5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = actually disappointing, and 1* = hated it. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
fuchsia_groan's review against another edition
2.0
Ocurre con frecuencia que las novelas de ciencia ficción no terminan de satisfacerme del todo: a menudo las ideas planteadas me parecen buenísimas, interesantes, me resulta muy estimulante imaginar y tratar de comprender la propuesta, pero más allá de eso no hay nada: la trama, los personajes, no consiguen captar mi atención. Esto es lo que me ha ocurrido con Neverness.
Mucho antes de que supiéramos que el precio de la sabiduría y la inmortalidad que buscábamos estaría más allá de lo que podrían pagar nuestros medios, cuando el hombre —lo que quedaba del hombre— era aún como un niño jugando con guijarros y conchas a la orilla del mar, en la época de la búsqueda del misterio conocido como las Antiguas Eddas, oí la llamada de las estrellas y me preparé para marchar de la ciudad de mi nacimiento y muerte.
El doble misterio del planteamiento, el familiar del protagonista y el viaje a lo desconocido, la búsqueda de la verdad sobre el origen de la vida, el secreto de la inmortalidad, el misterio de la naturaleza de Dios y del hombre, me pareció interesante, pero la novela es además muchas otras cosas, en mi opinión demasiadas: saga familiar, ci-fi de ideas, novela de trasfondo filosófico (la libertad como concepto ya muerto, el miedo como motor de la evolución), historia de aventuras, especulación antropológica, space opera matemática... llegando a ser el desarrollo como mínimo desconcertante, errático, al servicio de la exposición de las diferentes ideas y no de una trama bien pensada.
Mucho antes de que supiéramos que el precio de la sabiduría y la inmortalidad que buscábamos estaría más allá de lo que podrían pagar nuestros medios, cuando el hombre —lo que quedaba del hombre— era aún como un niño jugando con guijarros y conchas a la orilla del mar, en la época de la búsqueda del misterio conocido como las Antiguas Eddas, oí la llamada de las estrellas y me preparé para marchar de la ciudad de mi nacimiento y muerte.
El doble misterio del planteamiento, el familiar del protagonista y el viaje a lo desconocido, la búsqueda de la verdad sobre el origen de la vida, el secreto de la inmortalidad, el misterio de la naturaleza de Dios y del hombre, me pareció interesante, pero la novela es además muchas otras cosas, en mi opinión demasiadas: saga familiar, ci-fi de ideas, novela de trasfondo filosófico (la libertad como concepto ya muerto, el miedo como motor de la evolución), historia de aventuras, especulación antropológica, space opera matemática... llegando a ser el desarrollo como mínimo desconcertante, errático, al servicio de la exposición de las diferentes ideas y no de una trama bien pensada.
kruppe337's review against another edition
5.0
Breathtaking
Imagine Hermann Hesse, Roger Zelazny, and Robert Holdstock getting together to write a science fiction epic the size of Dune.
Imagine Hermann Hesse, Roger Zelazny, and Robert Holdstock getting together to write a science fiction epic the size of Dune.
thedoctorreads's review
5.0
What if I told you there is a book, written by a mathematician, that’s better than Dune, better than anything in science fiction? What if I told you there was a book that would haunt your every waking dream under the sun?
This a book that I hesitate to talk about because it’s so closely wound up with the strands of not just my childhood, but my younger brother’s as well like the walls of our shared womb. To talk about it, would be to muddy the waters of this memory with my own half-baked opinions without the clarity of my brother’s perceptions. Which is why after you’re done reading this, you’ll need my brother’s take on it as well.
David Zindell’s ‘Neverness’ might still be hanging out somewhere in the dusty shelves of Army Central Library, Rawalpindi, but for us, Neverness has become a city as real as Rawalpindi, maybe even more so. After all, I don’t normally find myself thinking about the government and their political machinations while going about my day. But I do catch myself wondering about Mallory Ringess and his mathematical ship, when the night is glimmering with stars, and a full moon grins bone-bleak in the cold winter sky.
Set in a far distant future, millennia after the destruction of the Earth, humanity has spread far and wide across the known galaxy, mutating and changing to adapt to the myriad of worlds they come to call home. Somewhere, they’ve become ocean dwellers, somewhere they’ve become planet-wide brains, intelligent yet insane. On the planet of Icefall, the city of Neverness stands as a beacon of civilization, a lighthouse in the dark sea of deep space. Meanwhile, capital C Civilization, in all its corrupt decadence and scientific glories, has flowered into a multi-hued but cold gem, and Neverness, with its Academy and scholars (Pilots, Mathematicians, Horologues, Eschatologists, Healers, Scryers—to name a few), it’s crystal colored streets, it’s murderous politics, is its brightest facet.
We meet Mallory Ringess with his best friend Bardo on the night before their graduation from the Pilot’s Academy, tonight they are journeymen still, and full of a novice’s bravado, they crash into a Master Pilot’s bar and Mallory meets Leopold Soli, Lord Pilot, who tells them of the Solid State Entity, a pulsing intelligence in the stars, a ‘goddess’ spanning light-years in space. In a less fortunate turn of events, Mallory swears a suicidal oath to ‘map’ the Solid State Entity, to journey to the capricious ‘goddess’ and gain knowledge from her.
As the plot unfolds in a deadly chain-reaction, David Zindell’s masterful prose keeps it’s hold tightly on your pulse, never letting up for a second. Even as new characters are introduced, new motivations are found, new plots uncovered, you never feel your interest in the world he’s creating waver for even a moment—it is an intoxicating feeling to look up from the pages of your book and find the real world bland and colorless in contrast.
Mallory is not an ideal hero; he is arrogant, quick to take offense and give offence in return, brash and cowardly, but capable of deep introspection as well. His conversations with the Solid State Entity remain some of my favorite sections of writing EVER. Even as they argue about human consciousness and what it means to be a mortal in a universe where the mortality of your body no longer holds you prisoner, you realize how deeply, deeply human all of these character are, how tightly they want to hold on to what makes them ‘them’.
The rapid destruction of the stars, the growing ‘Vild’, the warrior-poets and their conflict with the Academy, the book is rife with ideas, many that I guarantee you, you will not have across before. Even if you’re not a fan of science-fiction, read David Zindell for the beauty of his prose, for his creation of a world that is as real as ours. I often wonder, when I die, will I wake up in nothing? Or will I wake up in the vast Academy of Neverness? I hope it’s the latter.
Favorite Lines:
“Do you hear the ticking, Mallory, my brave, foolish, young pilot? Time—it ticks, it runs, it twists, it dilates, shrinks, and kills, and one day for each of us, no matter what we do, it stops. Stops, do you hear me?”
― David Zindell, Neverness
Also, The whole damn book :P
This a book that I hesitate to talk about because it’s so closely wound up with the strands of not just my childhood, but my younger brother’s as well like the walls of our shared womb. To talk about it, would be to muddy the waters of this memory with my own half-baked opinions without the clarity of my brother’s perceptions. Which is why after you’re done reading this, you’ll need my brother’s take on it as well.
David Zindell’s ‘Neverness’ might still be hanging out somewhere in the dusty shelves of Army Central Library, Rawalpindi, but for us, Neverness has become a city as real as Rawalpindi, maybe even more so. After all, I don’t normally find myself thinking about the government and their political machinations while going about my day. But I do catch myself wondering about Mallory Ringess and his mathematical ship, when the night is glimmering with stars, and a full moon grins bone-bleak in the cold winter sky.
Set in a far distant future, millennia after the destruction of the Earth, humanity has spread far and wide across the known galaxy, mutating and changing to adapt to the myriad of worlds they come to call home. Somewhere, they’ve become ocean dwellers, somewhere they’ve become planet-wide brains, intelligent yet insane. On the planet of Icefall, the city of Neverness stands as a beacon of civilization, a lighthouse in the dark sea of deep space. Meanwhile, capital C Civilization, in all its corrupt decadence and scientific glories, has flowered into a multi-hued but cold gem, and Neverness, with its Academy and scholars (Pilots, Mathematicians, Horologues, Eschatologists, Healers, Scryers—to name a few), it’s crystal colored streets, it’s murderous politics, is its brightest facet.
We meet Mallory Ringess with his best friend Bardo on the night before their graduation from the Pilot’s Academy, tonight they are journeymen still, and full of a novice’s bravado, they crash into a Master Pilot’s bar and Mallory meets Leopold Soli, Lord Pilot, who tells them of the Solid State Entity, a pulsing intelligence in the stars, a ‘goddess’ spanning light-years in space. In a less fortunate turn of events, Mallory swears a suicidal oath to ‘map’ the Solid State Entity, to journey to the capricious ‘goddess’ and gain knowledge from her.
As the plot unfolds in a deadly chain-reaction, David Zindell’s masterful prose keeps it’s hold tightly on your pulse, never letting up for a second. Even as new characters are introduced, new motivations are found, new plots uncovered, you never feel your interest in the world he’s creating waver for even a moment—it is an intoxicating feeling to look up from the pages of your book and find the real world bland and colorless in contrast.
Mallory is not an ideal hero; he is arrogant, quick to take offense and give offence in return, brash and cowardly, but capable of deep introspection as well. His conversations with the Solid State Entity remain some of my favorite sections of writing EVER. Even as they argue about human consciousness and what it means to be a mortal in a universe where the mortality of your body no longer holds you prisoner, you realize how deeply, deeply human all of these character are, how tightly they want to hold on to what makes them ‘them’.
The rapid destruction of the stars, the growing ‘Vild’, the warrior-poets and their conflict with the Academy, the book is rife with ideas, many that I guarantee you, you will not have across before. Even if you’re not a fan of science-fiction, read David Zindell for the beauty of his prose, for his creation of a world that is as real as ours. I often wonder, when I die, will I wake up in nothing? Or will I wake up in the vast Academy of Neverness? I hope it’s the latter.
Favorite Lines:
“Do you hear the ticking, Mallory, my brave, foolish, young pilot? Time—it ticks, it runs, it twists, it dilates, shrinks, and kills, and one day for each of us, no matter what we do, it stops. Stops, do you hear me?”
― David Zindell, Neverness
Also, The whole damn book :P