Reviews and Comments

I thought I'd read this before, but remember nothing. Which is surprising, because it was really freak'n cool. From the very first line, it's all so dang evocative. I had to re-read so much of it to savour each description. But also had to re-read a lot because I only read a page or two at a time, and I got lost a lot returning to it, because everything moved so fast. But hot dang, I see why it's a classic.

Wrote a whole long review about why I didn't like it, but got bored of my own opinion.

In short:

While clever, the linguistic virus, Sumerian, and religion lessons were long and dull
Characters unbelievable, and didn't really invest in them.
Sex with a minor scene - didn't want that

Did like:
the world
the technology
the prologue bit about pizza delivery. Loved that world building, really great opening! Then the main story wrecked it (for me).

This was a tough read. I mean, it was well written, it just chronicles a lot of horrible events, and what concessions/compromises were made. All those beautiful souls put through such torment. The worst people given way too big a platform to spout their hate. I know it was meant to give hope, about what we can achieve when we work for what's right. But I'm mostly sad, and anxious thinking back to those days, and the battles still to come.

Sally Rugg is a treasure though! And it's a good and important book.