Entertaining but I Wanted More Imagination
This book is so beloved by those who have read and reviewed the print version that I hesitate to rattle the cage. Alas, I must say it. This book didn’t go close to far enough for me. I wanted to read about an actual different world. Instead, we are presented with a history that essentially mirrors our own with merely the primary players changed. This epic story could have gone in many different directions, but it stuck pretty close in the grand scheme to our own history. The idea of a Da Vinci arising without the environment – political, religious, and social – to create the conditions for such a figure to arise shows a disconnect of the author’s understanding of history as it has taken place. In fact, there are so many replays of actual history in this alternate history that it would appear that the author is trying to say, “Stop blaming European Christians for the course of history. It would have played out with the same results anyway.” Another problematic aspect of the book is that the author places modern Chinese, Buddhist, Islamic, and Arabic conventions and sensibilities on those of the past. Another aspect I found off-putting was the use of reincarnation dogma and its visual representation. Having the various characters discuss what they did wrong in their former lives felt rather cartoonish to me and felt far too much like the author offering up a “and the moral of that chapter was…” Okay, okay. I’ve harped on this story long enough. If you listen to this book as entertainment, i.e. you don’t take it seriously or dig no deeper than the surface, this book is going to fit the bill. It has plenty of action. Although it gets a bit cerebral and ethereal at times, the author (mostly) knows when to dial it back in. If you’re a fan of Robinson’s sci-fi, this book won’t be quite as entertaining, as this is a major divergence from the stellar adventures he’s written. You’ll have to be content with remaining on Earth with low-tech stuffs.