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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Staggering. Densely written. All about plot and concepts and people.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It1 of 2 members found this review helpful “Didn't bother to finish this awful dreck. Too scattershot, annoying characters, no organized narrative = no thanks.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“Great!”
Mark wrote this review Friday, November 4, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Enjoyable, if a little confusing. Aso a bit long, andI didn't quite get the point in the end.”
Daniel C wrote this review Thursday, May 12, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A good read, with a few novel ideas, but mostly reads like a rehash of several other authors' ideas, only set in India instead of CONUS or Japan. It actually feels quite a bit like Neuromancer. Unfortunately, the pace is languid, kind of shuffling along for the first three hundred or so pages, and only really begins to accomplish suspense by perhaps the four hundredth page. The hardcover of this book was six hundred pages.
avriette wrote this review Friday, January 21, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This isn't to say I didn't like it. I did. But I liked _The Dervish House_, also by McDonald, a lot better. And the latter was much, much shorter. It feels like his editor could have helped reign in the sprawling list of characters substantially (I really saw no reason, for example, for the Shiv/Yogendra episodes). The use of Hindi is a little obtuse at first, and frequently the term cannot be picked out of context, forcing you to go through the lengthy-ish glossary. This interrupts the normal process of just reading the book.
One thing that's kind of interesting to note in the book is his picture of Islam. He paints a mostly positive picture of Muslims in general, but doesn't hesitate to show serious weakness of character (in at least one character). Comparing this to his later work, _The Dervish House_, a clear path of understanding and an evolved perspective on Islam can be readily seen. It was fascinating contrasting the two works in that respect, especially given their post-2001 publication dates (have you seen Islam mentioned in any science fiction texts prior to 2001?).
Between both of these books (and I've only read just the two of his), I wholeheartedly recommend him as an author, but suggest people read _The Dervish House_ first.”1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Staggering. Densely written. All about plot and concepts and people.”
Jacob H wrote this review Friday, December 31, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
0 of 1 members found this review helpful“I stopped reading this book, and I'm an avid fan of all Indian-based literature. It's not a badly written book, just didn't strike my fancy. I have always set a 100 page requirement before giving up on a book. I didn't make it to 100 pages. I may try again at some point in the future, but I can't, at this time, recommend this book except for hardcore sci fi fans.”
Lisa F wrote this review Wednesday, December 29, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“"Aug.15,2047 - Happy Birthday, India" If you have traveled to India or know India is some way, this book is fascinating. For others - suspend disbelief and enjoy the the vision of an India in conflict over water, androids, aliens and on. Great read!”
Richard D wrote this review Monday, December 13, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A brilliant example of fusing near future speculative fiction with excellent prose storytelling. Some may call it cyberpunk, but that's only one of the inspirations involved here. It fuses other forms of SF with the hectic Bollywood and pop soundtrack sensibilities of modern India. The vision of how ai's and India's future states will come together and interact with each other is novel and intriguing.
Ben W wrote this review Tuesday, October 12, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
There's two characters too many, but their segments play out quick enough. Everything else is vividly described and comes together in the end in a way both satisfying and kind of unexpected. It is both a ride and an examination of an idea that might just be plausible, set in a very full world.”“It started really well, but seemed to fall apart a bit towards the end. Definitely worth reading though; it's that kind of near future science fiction that is actually plausible.”
Lydia B wrote this review Thursday, September 30, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A big, sometimes confusing novel set in mid 21st century India. Political conflict, posthumans, artificial intelligence, string theory, gender identity, they're all here.
Drunken O wrote this review Sunday, August 15, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
India is imagined to be divided up into independent states. One of the states harbors potentially dangerous artifical intelligences (AIs called "aeais" in the jargon of the book). A large cast of characters, dealt with episodically, sets out on an apparently diverse set of paths, but they ultimately find that their roads all converge on one singular aeai.
Parts of the book take a long time to develop, and some readers may find themselvse struggling with McDonald's incessant use of unexplained Indian terms--a glossary in the back of the book is at least as annoying as it is helpful. McDonald also has a habit of putting his characters in chaotic, apparently unmotivated scenes, that are only subsequently explained. Yet there were several scenes in the book that I found absolutely compelling, and the narrative has a grand quality about it. ”
