The Peripheral

The Peripheral – 4 stars

And I ask myself: was it worth it? I’m not sure I have an answer. I started this as an audiobook and, honestly, I didn’t understand a single thing for several minutes. I looked up the basic plot online to try to help with comprehension, but the neologisms, the weird, unexplained machines, verbs, and concepts were just too much. So I ordered the paperback and slowly made my way through it.

The first 100 pages were incredibly tough, even in print. It got slightly better, but the reading never became smooth. It was always a struggle to stay on top of what was happening. While I initially enjoyed the challenge, I think the author buried an interesting story beneath layers of almost unreadable prose that would test anyone’s patience.

I’m glad I finished it—there are definitely cool and imaginative moments throughout—but if I had known just how much mental effort it would take for a piece of entertaining sci-fi, I might not have started it. The only saving grace was the clean structure of the short chapters.