This is an interesting tale on two levels. The basic milieu is an alternate reality--a world in which the Black Death killed off three times the number of Europeans than it did in our world, 99% of the total population. The role that European nations played in world history is now taken by other nations, other cultures. Mr. Robinson postulates the rise of Chinese and Islamic empires that create a history that only vaguely reflects our own. The other premise that makes this novel worth reading (and rereading) is that reincarnation is real. We follow the lead characters from life to life, with a brief scene in the bardo between incarnations. I suppose there might be some spiritual/philosophical insights in the tale, but to be honest, I was too busy enjoying the variety of stories as the characters progressed through a new and intriguing history. Oh, well, it's a good excuse to keep this one on my shelf so I can pull it down for another read someday.
--J. ( )

One of the the most complex, multi-layered and absorbing novels I’ve read, which would definitely benefit from multiple rereadings.

Set in an alternate history where the Plague wiped out 99 percent of Europe’s population instead of just one-third – effectively decimating white, Christian culture – the novel follows 700 years of history as Arab, Asian and Native American cultures flourish and the religions of Buddhism and Islam spread throughout the world. One assumption the novel makes is that reincarnation is real, so the same set of characters (a jati, or group of souls linked by fate) come together in life after life and either witness or instigate the great events, scientific discoveries, political movements and philosophical writings of human history.

This novel is more than just an entertaining series of adventures, though. It has a lot to say about the human condition, religion, philosophy and history itself. How do cultures rise and fall? What small events can create or destroy empires? The section that tells the story of the earth’s world war – called the Long War and lasting more than 70 years – is one of the most harrowing depictions of war and its aftermath I have ever read. This is a weighty book, with a lot of big ideas to captivate and absorb the reader through many visits to this alternate – but very realistic – history of humankind. ( )

Quite intriguing concept for an alternate history. The black plague wipes out Europe (except for a handful of survivors) and changes history beyond recognition.

However I found the story tedious to read. It was hard to connect with the characters in the story and the main characters weren't always interesting to read about. Also the reincarnation of the different main characters made it hard to keep track of who's who (which sometimes only becomes 100% clear when they die).

Although it did have it moments. The moments the entire Jati is in the Bardo can be very hilarious or riveting, depending on the mood the characters have due their death and experiences. Also the first part of the book contains the best 'stories' of the characters. Later on in the book the stories tend to become more philosophical

The global politics and the way technology develops during the centuries in the book is believable. And most certainly the best part in the book. ( )

ZB9

ZB5

Excellent premise for an alternate history novel (Black plague wipes out Europe, changing history completely)...but for me the writing was dense and slow and the changing/re-incarnating characters didn't hold my interest. Might still be worth the read if you like Kim Stanley Robinson though (and the Mars trilogy was excellent) ( )

This is a book that will take your breathe away. What if instead of the Plague killing 33% of the population in the 14th century, 99% are killed? The entirety of Europe, and all of Christianity, is decimated, leaving Buddhism and Islam as the most influential of the practiced religions.

I have to say I loved this book, every step of the way Robinson created a believable, possible history with the same family of souls telling their collective story again and again, each time with a little more progress on their journey.

The end was a disappointment to me at first, yet, the more I have time to dwell on it, the more appropriate it is. ( )

Recommended for those interested in: eastern religions, Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern history, Islam, Buddhism AND enjoy long reads.

Compare to "Ghostwritten" by David Mitchell to which I gave 4 1/2 stars:: The Years of Rice and Salt is longer, more languid. I enjoyed the stories about technological development, the Buddhism and Islam sophistry, less so. The transmigration-of-souls angle of the book is also entertaining and helps pacing when that jati is in the bardo, but I agree with other reviewers that the lack of continuity and placement of these souls to new bodies inhibits flow.

For my own enjoyment, I rate this book 2.8. ( )

I couldn't get into it, in spite of the fact that I made it two thirds of the way through. I didn't like Robinson's device for moving forward through history. ( )

Round and round and round we go, from this life to another through the bardo. I suspect those who believe in reincarnation may enjoy this book more than those who don't, for whom the whole reincarnation thing is just a literary device to allow the author to follow an alternate history down through the centuries using the same characters. Some of my favorite bits were in the bardo with regard to the characters' experience of "Oh no! Not again!". Funny on a simply comic level, but also inviting deeper reflection on the question of just what are the mistakes the characters make in their lives again and again that keep them so stubbornly stuck in the eternal cycle of birth and death. Ultimately they represent us, and their mistakes are ours. ( )

I really enjoyed this novel of an alternate history. All the Europeans are killed by the Plague (or some other disease) leaving the world to the Chinese and Muslims. How is it changed? How is it the same? The book contains about ten episodes, each one concerning a different set of characters at a different place along the timeline. All but the final episode were fascinating to me. The last chapter had too much speculation and philosophy and not enough plot. ( )

I read this a few years, and it took me two attempts.

I found the book hard to get into, initially. It was a bit wordy, and I found the plot a bit difficult to follow, but the second time I read it, I persevered, and found it quite rewarding.

The basic premise is that in medieval times, the black plague took 99 out 100 people, rather than 1 out of 10, leaving Asia and the Middle East mostly unaffected. The story follows two souls, as they get reincarnated into different bodies as time progresses, and alternates between a Chinese Dominated Asia, and Muslim Dominated Europe. ( )

This wasn't as enlightening as I thought it was going to be. After the Widow Kang chapter, any action pretty much stopped. All the recurring characters did was learn and read and debate. That's great, of course, as we all do it. But it gets a little old to read about for half of a 750 page book. So this just gets a "meh" from me. ( )

Robinson falls prey to the same weakness that made Green Mars inferior to Red Mars: losing focus on the characters. The result is a tedious portrait of various societies that emerge from the fall of Christendom. ( )

This is going off my memory of a book I read at least 4 years ago, but something about this book makes it stand out in my mind and makes me suggest it to friends if they're looking for an intelligent read.

The whole idea of reincarnation isn't one I subscribe to, so it doesn't exactly make sense that I think this was the perfect vehicle to carry forward Robinson's story, but there you have it! And the starting point, the idea "what if Christianity HADN'T been the dominant force shaping the Western world", is vaguely offense because it implies that everything that's wrong with the world (but not also everything that's right) is due to organized, monotheistic religion.

Yet Kim Stanley Robinson - and I'll be so bold as to refer to the author as KSR from now on for brevity's sake - is so non-judgemental and fair-minded, that I couldn't take offense. He doesn't seem to hate the idea of God, as most religious oponents do, just that perhaps human failings made the Church into a tool of error and selfishness, instead of the Church improving people and teaching them about God.

This band of souls didn't exactly appeal to me - most of the characters were a bit annoying (to me) in how dense or cruel or self-centred they were. But perhaps this was the point. I loved that at one point, a soul lived as a tiger (am I remembering correctly?), which many readers would consider to be a "better" creature than man, yet KSR never implies or says that just because humans sin, that we are unworthy and lower than animals.

I find KSR to be a bit wordy and dry, especially when dealing with politics (the Mars trilogy comes to mind here), but I love how he examines human motivation. And he's so bang-on with his knowledge of history and science, and the speculative possibilites involving these. This book was a more enjoyable read for me, because it wasn't so dry (due to politics) than his earlier books.

The plot was intriguing, too. It was almost like a series of steps or plateaus rather than a clear path from point A to point B. Each "life" was a discreet story unto itself, yet it tied into the whole, which was the evolution of this group of linked souls and the examination of how the world might be a completely different place if one event had had different results. This idea reminds me of Orson Scott Card's Pastwatch novel, but KSR tackles the concept in a completely different way.

Not my top favourite book of all time, but definitely up there, and definitely my favourite of KSR's novels. A must-read for anyone, no matter their preference of style or genre. ( )

Excellent book but it does drag a bit on the buddhism explanos. Otherwise, I'd highly recommend this book. I can't tell if Kim Stanley Robinson is a proponent of Buddhism or just used it as a device to allow setting his story in many different eras. I'd say probably mostly the latter. It's almost the only way you could write a story of this nature.

Essentially a young man caught as a prisoner of mongolian warlord is freed at the last moment by a freak storm(if I recall correctly), which kills the warlord, freeing the prisoner and he wanders to find home again. But he soon discovers the land is devastated by complete death for hundreds and hundreds of miles. He wanders until he finds himself at a shoreline where he is soon captured by Chines and this is where his adventure begins, where he is taken to the middle east as a slave, and dies, reincarnated, finds himself living in China, leads his friend out of the castle where he is a servant and flees to another Chinese city. He dies, is reincarnated, and this goes on and on until he finds himself reincarnated and under the care of a Muslim king in the Arabian desert where he learns the art of alchemy, though he becomes very frustrated and one day takes out his frustrations out on the equipment. Sometime after he gets the idea to explore physics when he buys another of many books he has already bought which describes experiments in chemistry. This is the beginning of scientific knowledge and the story spends a LOT of time in this era. Kim Stanley explores the repercussions (no pun intended!) of the cannon technology the main character helps develop for the sheik, as he is reincarnated in China once again and this ends the book.

An excellent read!

The book is 800+ pages long, but felt like 500 pages, it was so very interesting. But it was a long read all the same. ( )

My Review

I read Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Years of Rice and Salt last year on my vacation in India. I really didn’t like this book, though I pushed myself to read the whole thing. The premise of this alternate history is that the black plague decimated Europe, leaving it nearly empty. As a result, China and the Muslim kingdoms dominate the world, with some influence from India. It’s really a series of shorter stories set along various times in history tied together by the idea that the characters are re-incarnating into the characters in subsequent stories. These souls are fighting a battle in the afterworld for control or something, and they keep getting sent back. Frankly, that just distracted from the story for me. And the various stories were much too long and many of them just didn’t seem to be too interesting.

I previously read one of Mr. Robinson’s Mars series, and ended up not liking it either. It’ll be a while before I pick up another book of his. ( )

A book about our place in the world and the eternal question of how to live well, disguised as a novel. It's a long read, best savoured slowly over a stretch of time. It's too easy to become impatient and rush through to the "good bits" of action and excitement, and miss the thought-provoking substance.

It is less a fantasy or science fiction work than a tribute to our potential as a species, seen through an Eastern lens that is not often considered in Robinson's English-speaking target audience. ( )

http://www.amazon.com/review/R82A5MRK... ( )

From Amazon:
"...alternative history... "How would our world have developed without Europe?" When the scouts of the Mongol leader Temur enter Hungary in 1405, they find only emptiness and death. Plague has swept Europe off the gameboard of history.
The centuries that follow are initially dominated by expanding Islamic nations and the monolithic Chinese empire. ...a touch of fantasy as the Buddhist wheel of reincarnation brings back the same characters again and again... Episodes of our own history are artfully echoed. ...shortlisted for the British SF Association and Arthur C Clarke awards."

Very good and boring at the same time. I enjoyed the first half of the book a lot, but then started running out of steam. Or it just got too talkative and too heavy on philosophy from the mid of the book. I had hoped for something more action driven. And I could have done without the fantasy take on the bardo / reincarnation. Great idea, very well written. Too long. ( )

Boring! Couldn't finish. The premise was very interesting: all of Europe dies from the Black Death, this is what world history would have been like without Europe. Just couldn't get through the slow pace. Maybe I am too European?

The black death wiped out much of Europe, but what if the destruction had been total? This sweeping novel posits world history without the influence of the West and admirably fulfills its immense ambitions. What speculative fiction is all about.
-- James

Well written and very absorbing. The author creates a convincing history of the world as it might have been without Europeans. The characters are always engaging and the pages just fly by. I was sad to finish it but will definitely re-read it. One to own ( )

I read a lot of alternate history, and I've read several books by Robinson that I've enjoyed immensely. This book bored the living crap out of me. The "Years" in the title refers to the perceived length of time to actually slog through the entire book. ( )