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Just finished this book. This review will contain no spoilers.
One of the criticisms levied at Neal Stephenson in the past few years is that he's departed from his sci-fi roots and gotten into works that are more mainstream. I'm not really interested in getting into this debate, because Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle are both enjoyable reads that cover a lot of fascinating territory. Also, it's important to remember that in the Stephenson Lexicon, the literary genre known as SF stands for Speculative Fiction.
But to those who do believe in this criticism, Anathem will be refreshing, as he's back to his old genre -- to a point. Anathem definitely has elements in keeping with Sci-Fi, though many of these elements are handled in very subtle and artful ways.
Anathem has sections that feel similar to Snow Crash, often cited as his most popular work, in that the action moves around and covers a lot of territory, though it doesn't seem that way at first. As always, Stephenson's science is excellent, so fans of hard SCi-Fi will find good things in the work, and the characters are likeable and colorful. The book is told in First Person Limited, and it's a story where the main character, Fra Erasmus, is one that is easy to identify with.
And it has a real, honest to goddess, ending. Some of Stephenson's prior works, especially The Diamond Age, are often criticized because the book just ends, without a feeling of resolution to the ending. But this one actually gives us an ending -- not necessecarily with a bow, but at least the resolution is agreeable and the feeling is that the action has resolved itself.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The characters, as I said before, are richly drawn. STephenson also doesn't crimp on the women, giving them excellent lines and making a lot of the plot triggered by their actions, decisions, and insights, too. And he also doesn't telegraph the ending of the book too early, one of my most common complaints with much of what I read.
This book is a stand alone -- You're not going to find any Shaftoes or Waterhouses in this work. It's an excellent read, and I strongly recommend it. And if you're an audio book fan, the MacMillan version of the book is well read, with nice musical interludes in plainchant that set the mood nicely.
One of the criticisms levied at Neal Stephenson in the past few years is that he's departed from his sci-fi roots and gotten into works that are more mainstream. I'm not really interested in getting into this debate, because Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle are both enjoyable reads that cover a lot of fascinating territory. Also, it's important to remember that in the Stephenson Lexicon, the literary genre known as SF stands for Speculative Fiction.
But to those who do believe in this criticism, Anathem will be refreshing, as he's back to his old genre -- to a point. Anathem definitely has elements in keeping with Sci-Fi, though many of these elements are handled in very subtle and artful ways.
Anathem has sections that feel similar to Snow Crash, often cited as his most popular work, in that the action moves around and covers a lot of territory, though it doesn't seem that way at first. As always, Stephenson's science is excellent, so fans of hard SCi-Fi will find good things in the work, and the characters are likeable and colorful. The book is told in First Person Limited, and it's a story where the main character, Fra Erasmus, is one that is easy to identify with.
And it has a real, honest to goddess, ending. Some of Stephenson's prior works, especially The Diamond Age, are often criticized because the book just ends, without a feeling of resolution to the ending. But this one actually gives us an ending -- not necessecarily with a bow, but at least the resolution is agreeable and the feeling is that the action has resolved itself.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The characters, as I said before, are richly drawn. STephenson also doesn't crimp on the women, giving them excellent lines and making a lot of the plot triggered by their actions, decisions, and insights, too. And he also doesn't telegraph the ending of the book too early, one of my most common complaints with much of what I read.
This book is a stand alone -- You're not going to find any Shaftoes or Waterhouses in this work. It's an excellent read, and I strongly recommend it. And if you're an audio book fan, the MacMillan version of the book is well read, with nice musical interludes in plainchant that set the mood nicely.
