| Anathem, spoiler free |
[Sep. 14th, 2008|02:58 pm] |
When I finished reading Spook Country I couldn't believe it was over. I didn't want it to be over. I wanted William Gibson's next book to be out already, because I wanted to feel his prose inside of my mind, fresh and new, again.
Having finished Anathem a few minutes ago, all I can think is that I'm glad it's over with. Don't misunderstand, that's not an insult to Neal Stephenson or his book, quite the contrary. Unlike Gibson's prose which you gladly follow like a smitten teenager, Stephenson's books grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you to the end. You can barely put it down. The sheer volume of interesting ideas put forth won't let you, no matter if you're tired, have other things that need doing, or...in my case, you've just had a fairly expensive piece of hardware killed by a cat.
So, by the time you reach the end, you're glad it's over, because you need the rest. At the same time, though, just because you've finished the narrative, it doesn't mean you've finished the book. There are enough seeds planted during the read-through that it'll be on your mind for the next week, if not longer.
Not to mention, now I desperately want to go back and finish The Baroque Cycle and see what nuggets I've missed from not having read the last two books...which may sound antithetical to everything I just said above, but after this week, I suspect my procrastination in regards to TBC may have less to do with the internal stories and more with the external of the books. I bought my copies as soon as they came out, which means I got hardback covers, which are monumentally more irksome for me to read than paperback or on a functional tablet. I'm considering repurchasing digital editions of the book, so I can read them on my computer. |
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| Comments: |
I just finished Spook Country recently, and am in middle of Pattern Recognition. They've easily been my favorite Gibson reads. Prior to this, I really didn't come in my pants over stuff like Neuromancer or Count Zero. Still though, I couldn't help but think that if I wanted a sci-fi author for a technical advisor, I'd go for Stephenson or Stross, but if I wanted to know where to get the best leather jacket ever invented, or know what the name of the catalog whatever order of magnitude past Sharper Image in which to look, I'd go to Gibson.
If I wanted the best technical advisor for building some kind of over-technology / super-science scheme, I'd go with Stephenson. If I wanted someone to help me design the next-gen techno-widget, I'd go with Stross. If I wanted someone to teach me the Zen of Cool...or find that leather jacket...yes, Gibson.
I love Stross' work, and the man knows how to write stories that send me into neogasms, but...and I do not want this to come out the wrong way...his writing doesn't have the "holy shit, his meme is going to make my brain explode" scale that Stephenson has. To put it another way: Stross got invited to the Pentagon, Stephenson shows up at Defcon. To put it yet another way: Stross likes to talk about his cats, Stephenson has a basement machine shop where he builds armor. | |
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