Hardcover, 432 pages
English language
Published June 4, 2024 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
The book opens on Earth, eleven thousand years from now. The Anth met their end long ago. (You’ll learn how and why; it is not what you expect.) How, then, do we encounter a human boy living in a village in a forested valley? And, when he is levered out of that cozy home — suspiciously cozy, it turns out — who and what will we find waiting in the new world?
That’s probably too long. Here’s another attempt, a bit shorter:
The year is 13777. There are dragons on the moon.
Another weird and crazy Robin Sloan novel that is half fantasy, half sci-fi. set 11,000 years in the future, it skirts the tale of King Arthur while also being an ode to our civilization and the strange post-fall civilizations that followed. And also just the tale of a young boy on an adventure quest with various companions. Really enjoyable read, recommended if you have liked his previous novels.
For me, a perfect tale. World building that expands my mind and delights with humor without overwhelming detail. A love story for the earth and sky; a call to creativity, curiosity, care; to teamwork and individual pursuit of meaning.
This is all of course nothing but my humblest opinion, but I enjoyed every moment of this story and recommend it to anyone seeking refreshment, delight, thrill and expansion.
A lovely adventure story that didn't quite sit in any of the categories I had for it in my head, and which frequently made me laugh out loud with its detail. It's somewhere between science fiction, fantasy, satire, and a meditation on the role of stories, wrapped up in a whimsical, breezy mode of storytelling that was always a joy. I'd hoped it was leading to a more momentous ending than the one that eventually landed, but that's only because the constituent pieces were so satisfying to explore through. I'd eagerly read a follow-up.
An interesting story, mainly due to the meta-fictional elements. Lots of fantasy remixes here with deliberate winking by an unusual narrator. Overall, though, the stakes of the story never really grabbed me.
I feel like summarizing anything might ruin the surprises along the read. It's mostly sci-fi and fantasy —there are castles, "dragons", wizards, a scholars college, talking beavers, a boy on a quest, an adventure— It has lots of weird, fun ideas and turns, with threads of technology and modern culture references that enrich the setting, making it a very interesting world.
It's been a while since I got the tingly feeling of excitment and surprise while reading an adventure, those moments of revelation that surprise you when you thought that you knew where things were going next, or push you into an even more mysterious —don't know what is happening but I'm enjoying this ride— direction.
There is a pulse in this story that pulls me to try mapmaking, to explore, and to creatively experiment. For me it was a spark that ignited some slumbering ideas and made my imagination …
