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zmagg's review
2.0
bland, obvious after i thought about the title, philosophical musings too transparent not well integrated
errantdreams's review
3.0
Genre clarification: this is philosophical SF. Seriously, in-depth, philosophical SF, largely about the economic basis of various societies. In a general sense I don’t mind philosophical SF, but I don’t like the way in which this book carried it out. Conn isn’t just low-emotion; he’s wooden. Jenore is clearly there to help him become a Real Boy. Each world or region the characters encounter has a monolithic economic system based in a single societal value (one character opines that each is governed by one of the seven deadly sins). Each person they encounter, no matter how highly (or not) educated, is capable of debating their society’s culture and economy. (This also makes many of the characters sound the same.) Everyone speaks in high-falutin’ language, and the author enjoys using hundred-dollar words. It’s very self-consciously pretentious. Also, despite the fact that Conn is a famed duelist and gamer, we only see him engage in one card game and one duel (which comes at the end). For such a physical character he almost never gets to engage physically.
That last quarter of the book helped to redeem it. By that time the staccato rhythm of the character interactions had smoothed out. The pretentious language had eased off a bit. Some things became physical, the characters discussed things other than economic philosophy, Conn started developing emotions, and we got to find out about Conn’s origins. Obviously I won’t give those away; I’ll just say the whole thing was fascinating and made up for much of the preceding chapters of the book.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/01/review-template-matthew-hughes/
That last quarter of the book helped to redeem it. By that time the staccato rhythm of the character interactions had smoothed out. The pretentious language had eased off a bit. Some things became physical, the characters discussed things other than economic philosophy, Conn started developing emotions, and we got to find out about Conn’s origins. Obviously I won’t give those away; I’ll just say the whole thing was fascinating and made up for much of the preceding chapters of the book.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/01/review-template-matthew-hughes/
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