I like to read books. Wish I had the energy and time to read more.
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After being interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of …
This book is about 15 years old at the time of this writing. The message is still as relevant and as poignant as it was at the time of publishing. As much as I applaud mr. Doctorow for this, it also makes me sad.
When my children grow a bit older, I will have them read this book.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets the joy and glamour of Eurovision in bestselling …
As other reviews stated, this book is in the style of Douglas Adams. The main idea was what convinced me to read this book, but the story was a bit light. The chapters switched between story and background and the background chapters felt like they were written to be as wordy as possible for the sake to be as wordy as possible, a bit like this sentence. Also, the end was a bit too much Deus Ex Machina, which as a bit meh compared to the buildup.
I did enjoy the story for all its imperfections, but would not be quick to recommend it to others.
Final thoughs on the trilogy as a whole: as separate entities, the three books were awesome. The ideas were compelling and the science got stranger as the story progressed.
However, although the books are interconnected both through theme, characters and plot, it did not entirely feel like an actual trilogy. I could not entirely put my finger on it, but parts of that observation are the change of pace in the storyline and the vastly different eras and overall vibe among the books.
It is a long time since I read a full trilogy in one go and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Content warning Major spoilers. Also, strong opinion on final part.
The final volume: Death's End, is by far the least coherent story. Due to hopping in between eras, the story feels to fragmented, even if most of it is through the eyes of the main protagonist.
As with 'The dark forest', this character was not really relatable either. No biggie though. For me, the main character was humanity as a whole.
One main plot element builds on the conclusion of Death's End: how does humanity implement the 'Dark Forest' idea? That could have been more interesting if there had been fewer eras, but all in all, the overall picture was compelling.
The final part of the story felt a bit rushed. Suddenly, humanity was wiped out by a third party. The story ends a bit abruptly . The few surviving humans are saved by a Deus Ex Machina and are released in a reborn universe at the end. All in about 100 pages. It felt anticlimactic to me.
The science in this story became more trippy as the story progressed. That was fun. Also, the evolution of humanity in the different eras was interesting. It would have been fun to explore those societies further, but I understand that this would have made the book even bigger and (for some) more inaccessible.
Content warning Major spoiler on main plot elements
Next: 'The dark forest'. Plot-wise and idea-wise (is this a word? Now it is...) it was by far the best of the three parts. I mainly like the idea of science to be stuck to a certain level and the possibilities for humanity to keep evolving. The other main part, marching toward certain doom, made this all the more compelling. The concept of the four wallfacers versus wallbreakers was awesome.
Two points of criticism. At times, the story dragged on a bit. Also, the main character was a bit unbelievable and utterly unrelatable (although the latter was possibly the point, i get the idea that the reader was supposed to dislike him).
Some thoughs on 'The Three Body Problem'. It was one of the first books in years whose plot actually surprised me. All in all the overall feel was that of a cross between 'Dune' by Frank Herbert and 'The Discovery of Heaven' by Harry Mulisch. Add to this a dash of 'The Matrix' and you get the idea. Of the three RoEP's books, the story of this part was the most coherent one.
The one thing that bothers me, are the characters. They just felt wooden to me.
Content warning Minor spoilers
I finished this trilogy yesterday evening. I am a bit torn though. The ideas and the plots of the first two volumes are great. Sometimes the writing drags a bit, but all in all it is a fun read. Part three was somehow both more coherent and more fragmented. The science becomes more and more trippy as the story advances and in the end the story becomes just weird.
IMO, the final chapters are unsatisfying. The final part of the saga feels a bit rushed and the re-introduction of a deus ex machina was a bit of a mood killer.
Bill Bryson describes his attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail with his friend "Stephen Katz". The book is written in …
Death goes walk-about and tries everything, including joining the French Foreign Legion, to forget a tragic carriage accident at dead …
A satirical comedy on the subject of death. It begins when Death decides to take …
This book needed re-reading.
I read this book for the first time about thirty years ago. I have maintained for years that this very book is the counter argument that Science Fiction cannot be literary. My current copy (with a hideous cover) has been sitting on my shelf for many years now. Having reread (and re-enjoyed) the first trilogy, it was time to re-read this book as well.
More than with the first trilogy, it took a long time for both the story lines and the characters to properly develop. Apart from the main character, there are four other major characters who were a bit cardboard-ish in the first three quarters of the book, but who finally fleshed out in the last 150 pages or so.
The same goes for the story. A lot of pages are dedicated to describing the universe after several thousands of years. There were plots and subplots in good …
I read this book for the first time about thirty years ago. I have maintained for years that this very book is the counter argument that Science Fiction cannot be literary. My current copy (with a hideous cover) has been sitting on my shelf for many years now. Having reread (and re-enjoyed) the first trilogy, it was time to re-read this book as well.
More than with the first trilogy, it took a long time for both the story lines and the characters to properly develop. Apart from the main character, there are four other major characters who were a bit cardboard-ish in the first three quarters of the book, but who finally fleshed out in the last 150 pages or so.
The same goes for the story. A lot of pages are dedicated to describing the universe after several thousands of years. There were plots and subplots in good Frank Herbert fashion, but it only got really interesting when a number of major characters got together. I will not dive into this any deeper to prevent spoilers.
The first half was a bit difficult to read. The characters were not that appealing yet. However, the plots started to converge and the characters started to get the development they deserved. The climax was ham-fisted at first sight, but provided a satisfying closure for both the main character himself and my as a reader.
I still stand by my earlier comment that this book should be considered literary in quite a snooty sense of the word.
Randall Munroe left NASA in 2005 to start up his hugely popular site XKCD 'a web comic of romance, sarcasm, …
