Chad
DNF about halfway through. I couldn't take it seriously. The premise is just kind of stupid in my opinion and I felt really silly reading it. Fantasy books are usually very hit or miss for me. So, it's not surprising that I didn't enjoy this.
I wish I could give this more stars. I did not want this book to end and that's rare for me. Usually I'm wanting to get to the end so I can move on to the next one but not so with this one. I wanted to stay in Carolyn's world for at least another 1000 pages. Can't recommend this one enough.
I really enjoyed the previous entries in the series (especially Cibola Burn). However, I made it a quarter of the way through when I realized that I've been forcing myself to want to read it and what's the point of that? Too many books I want to read to waste time on something like this.
As other reviews have said, absolutely nothing happens for chapters at a time. If you want to read a story about the inane details of space mercenary life, you might enjoy it. Far too much Holden exposition. The futuresque, socio-political paradigms that Corey is so fond of feel forced (over and over again) instead of fluid and sensical. I'm all for looking into the future and seeing how progress might change social norms and mass cultural psychology but it needs to feel fitting instead of jarring and downright awkward.
I have enjoyed the books series up to now (I even kind of liked the show) but this one does it for me. Too many books and not enough time to waste it on something like this.
Not a fun read. There really isn't anything at all that happens. It's mostly about Auri finding inanimate objects and assigning emotions to them, which is just a bit cringey to read honestly. I tried to finish it because I love the series so much but I just don't have enough time left in life to waste on reading this.
Loved it! Takes you through the entire apocalypse; impending doom to apocalypse to surviving to rebuilding. It felt a little like two books in one to me.
The first 3/4 of the book are very hard sci-fi. Lots of technical jargon and descriptions for astronomy and spaceflight theory that will leave a lot of people turned off. Personally I loved it, I can say that I learned a lot of interesting things reading this book that I never knew the first thing about.
The last 1/4 of the book falls more in line with your traditional sci-fi. It's been 5000 years since the apocalypse and a lot has changed. I thought it was a great ending for the book and really can't imagine it having ended any other way.
Stephenson has said in interviews that a sequel could be forthcoming and I really hope it is. There is so much more that can be done in this story. Just one off the top of my head is the Mars diaspora. Their expedition is never mentioned again afterwards. So, that would be a great place to take it.
TL;DR Excellent book that covers the entire spectrum of an apocalypse. Stephenson is the absolute man!!
Excellently written, terrible to read. One of my quickest reads because I really needed it to end. Devastating and truly heartbreaking.
Not for me
I probably just didn't get it but basically nothing happens in this story. It's a lot of repetition and build up to.... not much at all.
One of the best books I have ever read. I always used to shun fanatasy novels because I thought they were kind of cheesy. This book along with The Name of the Wind and Lies of Locke Lamora have 100% changed my opinion on that. Yes, it's long but not for one second did I ever think that it should have been shorter. Def a must read!
Excellent world building and writing. Character development is surprisingly good also despite the fact that the cast is huge. Only complaint is the ending gives you nothing really. I guess I'll just have to read the sequel sooner rather than later!