I read this expecting a generic alternative history adventure novel but was greatly disappointed. The book starts out great but when you get to the part about the galactic library and seed sentiences... it all goes downhill. I had difficulty grasping what exactly was going on when the second "book" started, perhaps it was just a little too deep for me at the time.

Was expecting a quick read, got hung up on pseudoscientific terms and bizarre plotlines. ( )

This is a good book. When I began reading it I remembered what a strong writer Wilson is. I was reminded of two authors: Eileen Kernaghan, for the beauty and clarity of the language, and JG Ballard (think Crystal World) for the invented and fantastic wild land.

A satisfying read. ( )

I posted on a SFF thread that, at the beginning, this novel feels exactly the way Peter Jackson's movie "King Kong" looked. The premise of the novel is that, in 1912, the entire European continent and some of its surround is, overnight, transformed into a steaming jungle which, of course, is populated by various types of giant, often lethal bugs. Yeah, that last detail should ring some bells (urgh -- the giant bugs in "King Kong" almost made me lose it). We are introduced to a young man who is fascinated with 'Darwinia', as the newly transformed continent is nicknamed, and when the novel moves forward to him joining an expedition into this untamed, transformed land, we, the readers, think we know what to expect.

We expect the novel to develop as a speculative history, where the familiar events of our known early-20th-century are somehow distorted or transformed along with the continent; in many ways, the novel fulfills this expectation. But we also expect an adventure novel -- when our hero crosses the sea and then the channel and then the river, the shades of Edgar Rice Burroughs (alluded to several times), Daniel Defoe, and even Joseph Conrad rise up to greet us. We anticipate, if not quite buckled swashes, then at least machetes ripping through jungle, the clash of man and nature and, perhaps, primitive culture, the manly imprint of boots upon virgin earth. This is the great colonial vision given us by writers of the past.

But we live in a postcolonial and postmodern society. Expectations are rarely fulfilled in the way we think they ought to be anymore. What we think is a good scifi adventure yarn at the beginning could turn into anything by the end. This is the joy and the frustration of literature in the current age.

So when Wilson's novel, about halfway in, takes a turn toward astronomical tech-theology and abandons man vs. nature for god vs. demon, we shouldn't really be surprised.

We are, but we shouldn't be.

We are, and so the shift -- which really isn't a shift, we realize, but more of a reveal, since the 'new' themes have been there all along, disguised and biding their time -- is a bit of an adjustment. The reader must reevaluate the novel's priorities.

The whole text ends up being significantly more epic than it first appears. It takes up a much grander scale -- an astronomical scale, as a matter of fact -- and deals with speculations about the nature of existence, the existence of gods, and the god within man. Wilson handles the move from "new world" to "worlds within worlds" deftly, but not subtly. His interludes -- the space between sections of the book wherein the larger significance is revealed -- are at first irritating, and then confusing, and then, toward the end of the book, finally revealing. The reader, in fact, feels much like the main character as this progression unfolds -- this deliberate (one assumes) connection between reader and character is a gorgeous act of creative craftsmanship.

The book feels a little lopsided, once one has a chance to appreciate the whole; the first sections of the book (the adventure-y part) are significantly longer than the bits where the 'celestial war' is laid out. Even so, even with all its unexpected choices, this novel is a strange and wonderful beast. It's not an "easy" read, but it is a worthwhile one.

An interesting premise. The galaxy is really, really old, the stars are going out, etc. An effort is made to archive information in what is basically a giant space library of sorts, getting energy however possible from what remains usable out there.

This effort comes under attack from within by rather ravenous entities.

You also don't find this out until halfway through the book.

The majority of the book however is focused on a micro-level look at what i sh appening in a European analogue of the early twentieth century (the replacement Darwinia). With a whole galaxy to play with this is an exceedingly unimaginative and mundane choice. It isn't really very interesting in and of itself, either.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2009/02... ( )

Enjoyable ( )