Started: 7/24/2016
Completed: 8/28/2016
Recommendation: Well worth the volume
Recommended By: Nobody
Review:
It is easy to think that this is a work of science fiction. It isn't. This is a book about physics and, in particular, the Many World's Theorem of Physics. I finally get it. It finally makes sense to me. Thank you, Neal Stephenson.
As a novel this book is pretty good. Stephenson does a very good job of building a consistent, completely alien, world. It is different enough from our world to be clearly alien, yet familiar enough that most of the behaviors and technologies only need cursory explanations. The audio version has lots of music that really makes the world seem more real.
As a love story, this book is a flop. Boy ignores girl, boy finds girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl. C'mon Stephenson, you can do so much better. The romance between Fra Leo and Valore (not a character, but a kind of loving history of martial technology) is so much better then the romance between Fra Erasmus and Sur (sp?) Aela. Even Cord (sp?) has a better romance then "Ras."
The world building is second to none, the basic plot that carries the story forward, however, is physics. The physics sort of falls apart at the end, but it needs to be a novel for some reason. I'm comfortable with that. The relationships between the main character group collapses and sort of drags as the story moves forward and I'm completely unclear about the extensive side trip in the snow (it doesn't seem to forward the story, but does offer a little foreshadowing) and so, I found that hard to enjoy. The end product, however, and the clear explanation of the Many Worlds Theorem was excellent. It was completely worth the time and there is a need to build up a lot if one is going to make an incomprehensible theory understandable. Thank you, Neal Stephenson.
It is easy to think that this is a work of science fiction. It isn't. This is a book about physics and, in particular, the Many World's Theorem of Physics. I finally get it. It finally makes sense to me. Thank you, Neal Stephenson.
As a novel this book is pretty good. Stephenson does a very good job of building a consistent, completely alien, world. It is different enough from our world to be clearly alien, yet familiar enough that most of the behaviors and technologies only need cursory explanations. The audio version has lots of music that really makes the world seem more real.
As a love story, this book is a flop. Boy ignores girl, boy finds girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl. C'mon Stephenson, you can do so much better. The romance between Fra Leo and Valore (not a character, but a kind of loving history of martial technology) is so much better then the romance between Fra Erasmus and Sur (sp?) Aela. Even Cord (sp?) has a better romance then "Ras."
The world building is second to none, the basic plot that carries the story forward, however, is physics. The physics sort of falls apart at the end, but it needs to be a novel for some reason. I'm comfortable with that. The relationships between the main character group collapses and sort of drags as the story moves forward and I'm completely unclear about the extensive side trip in the snow (it doesn't seem to forward the story, but does offer a little foreshadowing) and so, I found that hard to enjoy. The end product, however, and the clear explanation of the Many Worlds Theorem was excellent. It was completely worth the time and there is a need to build up a lot if one is going to make an incomprehensible theory understandable. Thank you, Neal Stephenson.
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