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peebee's review against another edition
3.0
A million bonus points for having a weirder, more original premise than most of the last 100 years of sci-fi while being one of the originating texts of the genre.
Minus a million points for the interminable over-explanation of basic and obvious motivations for actions or opinions like I've never seen outside of 19th century Russian novelists. This book could have been 30% as long as it would if the author would trust us to understand why a guy might move slow and sneaky around a literal "Whore of Babylon riding a beast Dragon on the Horizon with seven heads and upon each head was worn seven crowns" A+ level Apocalypse - and then trust us to remember that explanation the next eleven times he thinks it's necessary to explain those delays due to slow sneaking are why the protagonist ate more nutrient pills than usual. Also, if he felt it unnecessary to account for how many nutrient pills the protagonist eats for a meal and how often, and then update us on his consumption of said pills in real time at each meal, during a journey that takes by my estimation several months.
In the Foreword, the contemporary author building him up as one of the forgotten greats mentions that the second half is even more so, and literally essentially advises the reader *against* purchasing Volume 2 of this publisher's run.
Plus 2 points for being written for Victorian English people while using language so convoluted and rule breaking as to blow holes in any ignorant, racist grammar pedant's assumption that there is a 'right' way to speak English. Plus one point for using a bunch of obsolete terms from turn of the century English dialects for me to hold in my brain and never have an appropriate chance to use. But if I ever fall into a timehole to 1890's cornwall, I'll be able to describe my calluses in a way that will make people feel like I'm one of the goodolboys.
So three points. Points are stars. Three stars this book gets. From me.
Minus a million points for the interminable over-explanation of basic and obvious motivations for actions or opinions like I've never seen outside of 19th century Russian novelists. This book could have been 30% as long as it would if the author would trust us to understand why a guy might move slow and sneaky around a literal "Whore of Babylon riding a beast Dragon on the Horizon with seven heads and upon each head was worn seven crowns" A+ level Apocalypse - and then trust us to remember that explanation the next eleven times he thinks it's necessary to explain those delays due to slow sneaking are why the protagonist ate more nutrient pills than usual. Also, if he felt it unnecessary to account for how many nutrient pills the protagonist eats for a meal and how often, and then update us on his consumption of said pills in real time at each meal, during a journey that takes by my estimation several months.
In the Foreword, the contemporary author building him up as one of the forgotten greats mentions that the second half is even more so, and literally essentially advises the reader *against* purchasing Volume 2 of this publisher's run.
Plus 2 points for being written for Victorian English people while using language so convoluted and rule breaking as to blow holes in any ignorant, racist grammar pedant's assumption that there is a 'right' way to speak English. Plus one point for using a bunch of obsolete terms from turn of the century English dialects for me to hold in my brain and never have an appropriate chance to use. But if I ever fall into a timehole to 1890's cornwall, I'll be able to describe my calluses in a way that will make people feel like I'm one of the goodolboys.
So three points. Points are stars. Three stars this book gets. From me.
csmiglewski's review against another edition
3.0
Holy smokes, this was a slog. However, this is a groundbreaking piece of SciFi/Fantasy, and many parts were very enjoyable! Fair warning though: if you’re adverse to hearing how often somebody stopped to eat and drink, you’ll find many skippable passages.
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