Scan barcode
scheu's review against another edition
5.0
It took me thirteen goddamned years to finish this book.
I've already read the first book twice and the last time several years ago. Love love loved it, and every time I started the second book I would enter into 150 pages about Pierce Moffett's damn childhood. Totally derailed me, again and again. Somehow I decided that NOW was the time, and it was the time after all!
The magic of this book is in continuation and it doesn't exactly stand up on its own. The plot is not so much; it's the Work that is important.
I've read some reviews online that talk about
I've already read the first book twice and the last time several years ago. Love love loved it, and every time I started the second book I would enter into 150 pages about Pierce Moffett's damn childhood. Totally derailed me, again and again. Somehow I decided that NOW was the time, and it was the time after all!
The magic of this book is in continuation and it doesn't exactly stand up on its own. The plot is not so much; it's the Work that is important.
I've read some reviews online that talk about
Spoiler
Robbie and how it's unclear whether he exists or not. Holy cow, dude, it's pretty clear that Robbie doesn't exist. He never speaks and no one but Pierce ever sees him. It's still a somewhat creepy part of the story, though.orlion's review against another edition
5.0
Starting in a time in the future, perhaps the end, of the series before plunging backwards through time to the childhood of Pierce Moffet, Love & Sleep starts living up to its name as events are related in a dream-like sequence and super-natural beings come and go depending on whether the characters are awake or not.
Love & Sleep is the Summer Quaternary of the Aegpyt cycle. The wants and desires of the characters are established, and they now actively work towards their goal... even as the threat of Autumn looms just beyond our senses and does not take any discernible form until the end.
Perhaps the most jarring feature of the novel is the first hundred plus pages that deal with a late summer in Pierce's childhood. Those impatient to continue the story in real and imaginary times from The Solitudes may find this portion as a tedious obstruction. It is necessary structurally to embody that magical aspect of Summer where possibilities are limited only by the eventual necessity of choosing. It also fits in with how John Crowley has chosen to reveal meaning in this series, peeling a layer of skin before getting to the pulp beneath.
Once accepted, the other feature of the novel is the presence of background forces that shape where the story is going and where it is coming from. Even in the John Dee passages, some Other is shaping events towards some event that precipitates the Fall of many possible worlds and the emergence of a New Heaven and a New Earth.
Like seasons, this book passes and transitions into what will clearly be the Autumn Quaternary... but as one season/age passes into another one, there is an 'end' featuring a stunning realization by Pierce and an incredible passage involving an angelic messenger. Time marches on, and so must my reading of this series.
Love & Sleep is the Summer Quaternary of the Aegpyt cycle. The wants and desires of the characters are established, and they now actively work towards their goal... even as the threat of Autumn looms just beyond our senses and does not take any discernible form until the end.
Perhaps the most jarring feature of the novel is the first hundred plus pages that deal with a late summer in Pierce's childhood. Those impatient to continue the story in real and imaginary times from The Solitudes may find this portion as a tedious obstruction. It is necessary structurally to embody that magical aspect of Summer where possibilities are limited only by the eventual necessity of choosing. It also fits in with how John Crowley has chosen to reveal meaning in this series, peeling a layer of skin before getting to the pulp beneath.
Once accepted, the other feature of the novel is the presence of background forces that shape where the story is going and where it is coming from. Even in the John Dee passages, some Other is shaping events towards some event that precipitates the Fall of many possible worlds and the emergence of a New Heaven and a New Earth.
Like seasons, this book passes and transitions into what will clearly be the Autumn Quaternary... but as one season/age passes into another one, there is an 'end' featuring a stunning realization by Pierce and an incredible passage involving an angelic messenger. Time marches on, and so must my reading of this series.
fahyhallowell's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Death, Adult/minor relationship, and Incest
Minor: Drug abuse
kingofblades113's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
murfman's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Crowley's Aegypt Cycle, of which this is Book 2, is at once beautiful and confounding. It is equally magical and filled with all the emotion that you forgot you had experienced. By the end of this novel, I was questioning how I perceived reality and how we unknowingly alter the shared consciousness that we call History. It is simply a masterpiece.
giantarms's review
3.0
I am interested to see how this series shakes out, but honestly I am not sure I want to slog through another TWO of these books. So, in this one, there's a dude who runs around Renaissance Europe for Reasons, only I think he spends a lot of time thinking or reading or whatever. In [b:Aegypt|90622|Aegypt (The Aegypt Cycle, #1)|John Crowley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388878200s/90622.jpg|2444575], the parts in the past were very entertaining because of all the angels hanging around that you did not know if they were real or not, but in this one I cannot tell you what this man was going through because I kept falling asleep. Perhaps, judging by the title, this was the author's intent. No, in THIS book the thing you are not sure at first about if it is a thing is incest. Considering the cousin-love in [b:Little, Big|90619|Little, Big|John Crowley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1435452849s/90619.jpg|518635], I worry this is a theme for Mr. Crowley and perhaps he should seek therapy.
Anyway, I finished reading this like a month ago and so I've forgotten exactly why the man felt compelled to flee his monastery life (I think he wanted to build some additions to his memory palace that weren't up to code. Also a demon or an angel or something shooed him by drawing a picture at him? Is it very fuzzy). But by the time I got to the end of it, damn it, I found myself invested in all the characters again.
The trouble is that my pile of books has become unwieldy again and so I'm giving it a real 50/50 on if I'll track down number three. Like, I got this dang space book full of happy people loving each other that's taking forever to get through while I keep thinking about this book I found in the stacks about why American Christians are hung up on work that I think would help me chill out and so . . . you know how it goes. I think I've already stated my opinion on books in serial. I got like four more of these to do, so read this book or don't, but you have a good day.
Anyway, I finished reading this like a month ago and so I've forgotten exactly why the man felt compelled to flee his monastery life (I think he wanted to build some additions to his memory palace that weren't up to code. Also a demon or an angel or something shooed him by drawing a picture at him? Is it very fuzzy). But by the time I got to the end of it, damn it, I found myself invested in all the characters again.
The trouble is that my pile of books has become unwieldy again and so I'm giving it a real 50/50 on if I'll track down number three. Like, I got this dang space book full of happy people loving each other that's taking forever to get through while I keep thinking about this book I found in the stacks about why American Christians are hung up on work that I think would help me chill out and so . . . you know how it goes. I think I've already stated my opinion on books in serial. I got like four more of these to do, so read this book or don't, but you have a good day.
tiltingwindward's review
4.0
Since this won't fit in the appropriate box below:
I heartily recommend this book, and its companion novels, to fans of magical realism, philosophical fantasy, and people who like to chew on a book before setting it down. _Love & Sleep_ is the second of John Crowley's Aegypt cycle, currently being republished after enough time out of print that Powells' didn't have any copies. Begin with _The Solitudes_, and by the time you finish _Love & Sleep_, you'll be lucky enough that _Daemonomania_ has come out in paperback.
I heartily recommend this book, and its companion novels, to fans of magical realism, philosophical fantasy, and people who like to chew on a book before setting it down. _Love & Sleep_ is the second of John Crowley's Aegypt cycle, currently being republished after enough time out of print that Powells' didn't have any copies. Begin with _The Solitudes_, and by the time you finish _Love & Sleep_, you'll be lucky enough that _Daemonomania_ has come out in paperback.
untravel's review against another edition
3.0
More transitional than interesting in itself. I may judge it differently after reading the series as a whole.
More...