The Last Legends of Earth

Blew my tiny mind with its high concept and epic span when I first read it back in, as they say, the day, blew it again this time because of the sheer storytelling skill - this is like Iain Banks crossed with Guy Gavriel Kay, to give a woefully inadequate sense of what it does. Massively mind-boggling science fiction melded with a deep love of storytelling, which enables the author to skilfully draw the reader across a tangled plot spread over thousands of years and multiple settings, all contained within a planetray system that is both a disassembled starship and a trap for a particularly nasty and malevoelent enemy that preys on the long-extinct but newly-ressurected race of humans who are bait in the trap. The complexity of the show more worldbuilding and the story is actually kind of stunning. Self-contained, by the way, I haven't read any of the other Radix books - which is weird considering the way this exploded in my head - with no trouble. I think one supporting character comes from the previous books. A love story at its heart, too, which is nice. show less

It's big (huge, collossal, overwhelmingly large) in time, societies and surroundings. It's complicated, with characters coming and going and coming and going, sometimes in both directions. And it's interesting, in a "how the heck is this all going to hang together?" kind of way. But,as much as the authour tries desparately to hold the whole thing together, in my case he failed to hold onto my interest. The best characters and civilizations come and go, and the boring, underdeveloped, predictable ones keep hanging on page after page. It seems to be trying to be space opera and sermon at the same time, and not pulling either off completely.
It's worth reading, but don't expect too too much.

Attanasio is a master wordsmith of the metaphysical and spiritual with a solid foundation in complex transformations. The authors insight and imagination is wonderful!

fantastic!

DNF