Finished it, a bit of a gallop to get to the end. I do feel he worked hard at this, but it really didn’t work for me at all. There are two narrative threads, Maur and Allardyce. They are essentially chronological,  but out of joint temporally, for various reasons but in part I suppose so Mieville could keep some secrets from the reader in Maur’s timeline. The structure is artful, even perhaps one might say masterful, and the writing also, but boy it was not in the least an enjoyable read, for me. 

I want to describe a poor reading experience I have had recently. Perhaps it’s my fault: who would go to an AI, tell it my preferences and wishes, and read what it suggests? Somehow that got me to The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. I had not heard of him before. I am 70% in.

The book started out well enough - propulsive, vivid, promising. Some quantum mumbleygook crossed with police procedural, and a looming end of the world ahead. But somewhere that throbbing loading icon turned on, and it hasn’t stopped spinning. I got through the first half in a week or so, but got to 60% a month and a half ago. Somehow it’s gotten complicated, repetitive, silly, and I find myself reading on, unsure if I’ve read that page before. All the pages are sounding the same. The plot has become overly complicated and cloying. The recent pages repeat in my brain as I’m trying to sleep. I just want it to stop. Or move beyond. And I’m stuck, unable to quit. Maybe the author intended to replicate the experience of floating infinitely toward an event horizon, never reaching it. If so, the book is a success.

starexplorer wrote:

I want to describe a poor reading experience I have had recently. Perhaps it’s my fault: who would go to an AI, tell it my preferences and wishes, and read what it suggests? Somehow that got me to The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. I had not heard of him before. I am 70% in.

The book started out well enough - propulsive, vivid, promising. Some quantum mumbleygook crossed with police procedural, and a looming end of the world ahead. But somewhere that throbbing loading icon turned on, and it hasn’t stopped spinning. I got through the first half in a week or so, but got to 60% a month and a half ago. Somehow it’s gotten complicated, repetitive, silly, and I find myself reading on, unsure if I’ve read that page before. All the pages are sounding the same. The plot has become overly complicated and cloying. The recent pages repeat in my brain as I’m trying to sleep. I just want it to stop. Or move beyond. And I’m stuck, unable to quit. Maybe the author intended to replicate the experience of floating infinitely toward an event horizon, never reaching it. If so, the book is a success.

Double=posting to note that I've never heard of the book or its author before either, but it will be added to A Certain List for further investigation when current reading committments allow.

 

Kokipy wrote:

Star, I wonder if your book was written by AI, in fact😳

💡!
 

Kokipy wrote:

I am now reading Exit Party by Emily St John. It’s gotten a bit depressing
also I have just seen some posts on social media suggesting that men don’t enjoy reading books by women in general, because women write about feelings and relationships and the men in question prefer sci- fi. Which got my attention as you might imagine. I believe that we have many brilliant men in this community who enjoy many female authors and in particular many female sci fi authors, am I quite correct about that? 

Kokipy, absolutely you are correct about that.

I confess I also saw some similar social media posts like that this morning, and my immediate reaction was 'what utter garbage!'.  Anyway, fwiw, I already have Exit Party on my future reading radar, bu I want to finish my Olga Tokarczuk and Jo Walton backlogs befoe I get to it.