Monday, June 17, 2013

2312

23122312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book was torture. Certain parts of it were great, but the rest of it falls flat, especially when you compare it to the good parts. I didn't really see any growth in the characters. The story is basically a mystery but it is very linear with no twists or false hunches. I kept expecting a surprise and got nothing. Maybe there was one in the epilogue, which I didn't even bother to read.

The book was a good world building exercise, but that was really all he did. He throws in some futuristic philosophies and technologies, but I found some of these a bit far fetched or not far fetched enough. The main plot point is said to be impossible in the text and it is never explained in the text how it isn't. It was infuriating.

View all my reviews

5 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I'll be sure to avoid it.

Pat Tillett said...

Thanks for the warning!

Nick P said...

I enjoyed the Red Mars Trilogy, but I haven't been the mood for hardish sci-fi for awhile now.

Considering your reaction I'll probably never get around to this one.

Ah well.

Marlene Detierro said...

I really like the concepts on display here and can see the enormous potential, but can't get past the broken Kindle formatting, the writing that, at points, becomes a candidate for Pseud's corner in Private Eye and the lack of pacing that all conspire to undo what should have been great. I hoped for so much more.

Marlene Detierro (Zespri Gold Kiwifruit)

Budd said...

Marlene- I what kindle formatting problems did you have? I don't remember having any.