Ignacy

I really enjoyed it, but I feel I need to reread it and take extensive notes to fully appreciate the book’s content. It can be quite dense in places, but it's rewarding. It's a strong case for the usefulness of philosophy in improving the coherence of one’s thought process.

The book was introduced to me as an example of a setting on a tidally locked planet. Well it was set on a tidally locked planet, but it was utterly incidental, irrelevant to the plot and hardly explored. The book is technically sci-fi, but it could just as well have been written as fantasy, and it wouldn't have changed a thing. And all of it would have been fine if I just could connect with the characters or felt invested in the story.

Certainly a pleasant read, well actually a listen, as I chose the audiobook format. I'd recommend the book to everybody solely to experience the superb narration by Stephen Fry. I doubt I would enjoy the book as much without his input. The story itself was fine but slightly frustrating. I've read the book years ago, and I forgot most details, and I'm afraid, those details bothered me quite considerably. At times, I found it extremely hard to compose my suspension of disbelief. A multitude of described events just didn't make any sense after you thought about them for like a second or two. The Forbidden Forest chapter was insane (in a bad way), and the finale was unbelievable (in a bad way too). But to be honest, there was some charm in the childish naivety of the plot. I simply hope, the next books will be a trifle more reasonable, because I might not endure it. All in all a pleasant, but frustrating read.

I quite enjoyed myself during the listen, but now, after the fact, there is a severe feeling of void. The book was written for children, and it's perceivable (mostly in a bad way). There were some charming elements I enjoyed (e.g. chocolate being the cure for dementor fatigue), but the naivety of the story, especially the finale, was more dull than charming. And yes I've known all the plot twist already, but I feel I wouldn't have been impressed even with zero knowledge, because of the way the plot twists were handled. I feel like I need a break from the series for a while. I can't decide between 3 and 3.5 stars.

To be perfectly honest the premise of this book does most of the heavy lifting. There were exciting moments, but there were also less exciting. Some parts were even frustrating. I was unticipating certain description of the resolution and they were completely skipped over. But all in all I enjoyed mostly because the life on a pulsar is an immensly interesting concept to wonder about.