Book #06 - Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota #1) by Ada Palmer
Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota #1) by Ada Palmer
I finally made it through that book, in the second attempt. I didn't realize it just ends in the middle of the plot, or I probably wouldn't have bothered.
* I realize that it's extremely creative when it comes to worldbuilding, and I also realize that all the looks at sex and gender are on purpose, so it's probably better than books that simply get them wrong. (Otoh, I barely read any books that are extremely prejudiced in that respect. Maybe the Rivers of London. Maybe.)
* The thing that annoyed me from start to finish was the way Mycroft insists on categorizing gender by stereotypes. Person is warm and empathetic: must be a woman. Person is aggressive: must be a man. I suspect this is somewhat akin to what society currently does with gender, but I hate it and have always hated it. If I believed that, I would mean that I'm a man. But I'm not, and society can't dictate how I should behave, solely based on my sex. I guess I'm out of step with society with my opinion on gender there. But this is my problem with gender (and society) in general, and not only with this book. This book just pushed my nose in it and it aggravated me no end.
* I don't know why, but even by the end of the book, not a single one of the characters had grown on me. Maybe it's on purpose that they're all manipulative power-hungry assholes. But some of them aren't, like the new sensayer, or Bridger. Still, I don't care about any of them. (The only one who made me perk up was Jed Mason, and only because it was implied that he is some kind of god from another dimension, which added a much needed scifi escape from that world.) Maybe it's just that Mycroft is unreliable as a narrator to such an extent that it's impossible to trust anything he says. Or maybe it's that there is *so much* new in this world that one book is not enough to explore it.
* I usually like unreliable narrators, but Mycroft shoots so far past that that he lost me. The fact that he kept talking to/with the reader didn't help and just increased the feeling of distance and detachment.
* In the beginning, I was confused about him trying to show the society as liberal and genderless and free of oppression but still tipping into descriptions of sex and political manipulation every now and then, but at least that cleared up when it turned out there is *nothing but* sex and manipulation everywhere.
* Usually, I'm all for sex and nudity, even gratuitous, but in this book I simply didn't care.
* I also don't care about what else happens, happened to these people in the past, or will happen in the second book/half of the story. *shrug*
* In summary: not my book.
1 star - not worth my time
1 - * stars - private novel draft
2 - 4 stars - All the Birds In The Sky by Charlie Jane Anders [DW link & LJ link]
3 - todo
4 - 3 stars - Whispers Underground (The Rivers of London #3) by Ben Aaronovitch [DW link & LJ link]
5 - 5 stars - Chimes at Midnight (Toby Daye #7) by Seanan McGuire [DW link & LJ link]
6 - 1 star - Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota #1) by Ada Palmer [DW link & LJ link]
x-posted from dw (comments:
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