Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books

Neal Stephenson - Anathem

Reviews
 

An absolutely fantastic book! To read it is to live in an alternate world with a long deep history, cultures philosophies and technologies that resonate, elucidate and occasionally satarise our own. The intricately crafted world is no mere literary indulgence - all the historic events and figures serve the narrative. Profound ideas blend with page-turning intrigue & action, subtle set-ups and pay-offs, and compelling characters that makes this a truely memorable and inspiring book. It makes me want to learn more about its concepts. It makes me want to dress up and enter its world. It makes me want to start back at the beginning again.

Three longer conceptual discussions are moved to an appendix giving you a choice to skip them, read at the end or read in-line with the story. As the concepts are well explained by the characters, and discussing such concepts is what they spend much of their lives doing, I recommend reading them in-line. Indeed I would have been pleased to have more, though I can understand that some readers might forego them altogether.

There is also a timeline of historic events at the beginning, which becomes of greater interest the further you get into the book; and a glossary of names and words peculiar to the world of Anathem at the end, which is somewhat superfluous as they are all explanined either by context, the characters, or dictionary definitions scattered through the book that act as harbingers or events shortly to transpire.

Much is revealed in the course of the story and to discuss any specifics would spoil your journey. But it is a journey I do not hesitate to recommend you make.
Thomas Ashley

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No attachment to the characters whatsoever....
You just read this book and think what is it about...
Very Sterile and without a soul.
In the end I didn't want to finish it but completed it but then threw the book in the trash..it's that bad and boring.
Probably the worst book I have ever read..
** Don't Bother...930 odd pages of boredom..
Darren

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I have read almost all of Stephenson's books (the exceptions being Quicksilver and the following two novels, as I struggled to get past Quicksilver) and, I am sad to say, that I found this to be the least engrossing (with the obvious exeption of Quicksilver. There are quite a few reasons for this - some the fault of the author, the editor, and some inherently my own.

I'm not a fan of the language that Stephenson has constructed. I think it gets in the way of the relating meaning to the reader - I found myself referring to the glossary all too often. This cannot be a good thing. If the language constructed is combined with vivid characters and readable prose then I should not have to refer to a glossary at all - the meanings of the words should flow and make sense to the reader.

I have no prior knowledge of quantum theory or philosophy - this is a fault of my education/interest in such matters and not the author's. Some of the concepts are quite difficult to follow (to an admittedly limited mind such as my own). However, I think it would be nice to have a primer on the topics contained within Anathem. In all fairness to Stephenson, he does concede the point, but also explains that it is not possible to have footnotes present in a work of fiction. Also, having footnotes with explanations and historical references, that would have to refer to Earth scientists and philosophers, would jar harshly with the world of Arbre.

However, the biggest issue with the novel is that there is a distinct lack of any characters that you care about, and there is zero tension throughout. It reads on rails - nothing surprises you at all. And this is a crying shame from the author of Snowcrash, the Diamond Age, and Crtyptonomicon, which are three of my favourite reads of recent times.

As another reviewer has, correctly said in my opinion, Neal Stephenson has a mind that is full of ideas. I think he needs to work on combining these ideas with plot and characters - and move the focus away from the ideas a little bit. It is almost like Anathem was written during intense bursts of energy and the author had to get all his thoughts down, and then neglected to proof read and edit them into something more streamlined and focussed . Anathem could, and should, be so much better than it has turned out. I just hope that he finds his rhythm for his next opus.
J. Hooker

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Anathem is an impressive book of ideas and theories. There is an intriguing plot and a brilliantly detailed alien world and social system, but the real worth of this book is in its theoretical & philosophical musings. A significant chunk of Anathem is about people with a scientific mind & education (but little technology) thinking and talking about the universe. This is pretty much how Einstein came up with the Theory of Relativity, with only a pen and paper as his scientific "tools" and those parts of the book are fascinating.

In the beginning, the author takes the reader through daily life in this foreign planet, and familiarizes us with its structure and customs, so over a hundred pages passes before any hint of a plot appears. That Neal Stephenson takes his sweet time in getting the story going in his books should not be a surprise to fans of, say, Snow Crash, where it is only at about page 200 that the real story is revealed. Still, Anathem was particularly egregious in this respect. There were times in the first 200 pages where I wondered if this book was going anywhere and persevered by remembering that this is the guy who wrote Cryptonomicon. Thankfully.
Zeynep CB

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The exploration of ideas, physics, and math works perfectly here within the traditional science fiction genre of world building. The "slow-moving discussion" sections are fascinating and I found I was almost disappointed when I reached the more action-filled second half of the book. I purchased this on the basis of amazon reviews and wasn't sure I'd love it, or even like it, but it's definitely my book of the year so far!
Trish Amundrud

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