/dev/tea
Picked this up to read for a book club. The story and characterization feels so dated I was quite surprised to discover it was published in 2001 - I was expecting something closer to 1950... The Audible narrator does it no favors either, and I found I had to bump the speed up to 2x to keep from falling asleep
Wow, what a slog. This did not hold up well for me. Only reason I stuck with it and finished it again was that I'm planning to read the sequel, Black House....but now I'm rethinking that, too!
Meh, not a strong recommendation from me. Kind of boring and it doesn't feel like a coherent story to me. The main characters' story lines just feel thrown together.
Interesting idea and the first few chapters were good, but the book jumps from vignette to vignette so quickly that there is no character development, no reason to care about anyone or anything happening in the book. Dropped it about half way through because it's not worth my time, which really is a shame because the start was great and the idea had promise.
Very, very interesting concept but the ending is a huuuuuuuuuuuuge cop out. There's no resolution, no solution to the problem of the novel. Just a ‘what happens next' cliff hanger.
Picked this up again after having read it as a teen. Unfortunately it did not hold up. The story and world building is fine, but the constant internal dialogue the protagonist has going round and round and round makes the read a slog at best.
Great rundown of common conspiracies, alt med ideas, and other common mistaken beliefs. Not necessarily targeted at someone who isn't yet interested in honing their critical thinking skills or for someone who doesn't know about scientific skepticism, but a great read for those who are.