Central Station

275 pages

English language

Published Oct. 30, 2016 by Tachyon Pub..

ISBN:
978-1-61696-214-2
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
915503982

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4 stars (22 reviews)

A worldwide diaspora has left a quarter of a million people at the foot of a space station. Cultures collide in real life and virtual reality. The city is literally a weed, its growth left unchecked. Life is cheap, and data is cheaper. When Boris Chong returns to Tel Aviv from Mars, much has changed. Boris' ex-lover is raising a strangely familiar child who can tap into the datastream of a mind with the touch of a finger. His cousin is infatuated with a robotnik--a damaged cyborg soldier who might as well be begging for parts. His father is terminally-ill with a multigenerational mind-plague. And a hunted data-vampire has followed Boris to where she is forbidden to return. Rising above them is Central Station, the interplanetary hub between all things: the constantly shifting Tel Aviv; a powerful virtual arena, and the space colonies where humanity has gone to escape the …

2 editions

It was okay. (Click for moar)

3 stars

3.5 stars rounded down. See previous comment (should be easy to find on the bookwyrm instance itself?), only thing I'll add is that it ended somewhat abruptly.

Looking back, though, the entire work is almost more like a slice-of-life manga than a traditional scifi novel (again: emphasis is very much on mood and place, over plot or conflict) so it's not like it was all that jarring.

I'm glad I read it, but I'm also not likely to rush to seek out Tidhar's other works. (But if I ran across another one recommended in some context like a good friend gushing about it? Sure, I'd give him another shot.)

Review of 'Central Station' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is what is sometimes called a "mosaic novel" -- a novel made up of short stories that have been tweaked to relate to each other. The stories are masterfully written and the connections between them work well; I enjoyed this thoroughly. The ending felt a bit unfinished to me, but that is also understandable -- unlike many more traditional novels, the lives of the characters don't necessarily reach culmination (there is no "lived happily ever after"), but most reach a place where their lives have changed -- so it is, in a way, more realistic.

In short, it's a beautifully penned series of stories. I recommend it.

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Subjects

  • Fiction
  • Space stations
  • Interplanetary voyages
  • Telepathy

Places

  • Tel Aviv (Israel)