Ian McDonald
Hardcover | Pages: 597 pages Rating: 3.91 | 5326 Users | 392 Reviews
Describe About Books River of Gods (India 2047 #1)
| Title | : | River of Gods (India 2047 #1) |
| Author | : | Ian McDonald |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 597 pages |
| Published | : | March 1st 2006 by Pyr (first published June 7th 2004) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. Cyberpunk. Cultural. India. Speculative Fiction. Fantasy. Science Fiction Fantasy |
Narrative As Books River of Gods (India 2047 #1)
As Mother India approaches her centenary, nine people are going about their business--a gangster, a cop, his wife, a politician, a stand-up comic, a set designer, a journalist, a scientist, and a dropout. And so is Aj--the waif, the mind reader, the prophet--when she one day finds a man who wants to stay hidden.In the next few weeks, they will all be swept together to decide the fate of the nation.
River of Gods teems with the life of a country choked with peoples and cultures--one and a half billion people, twelve semi-independent nations, nine million gods. Ian McDonald has written the great Indian novel of the new millennium, in which a war is fought, a love betrayed, a message from a different world decoded, as the great river Ganges flows on.
Specify Books Supposing River of Gods (India 2047 #1)
| Original Title: | River of Gods |
| ISBN: | 1591024366 (ISBN13: 9781591024361) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | India 2047 #1 |
| Setting: | Varanasi (Benares)(India) |
| Literary Awards: | Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel (2005), Locus Award Nominee for Best SF Novel (2005), Arthur C. Clarke Award Nominee (2005), British Science Fiction Association Award for Novel (2004), Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire for Roman étranger (2011) James Tiptree Jr. Award Nominee for Longlist (2004), Prix Bob Morane for roman traduit (2011), Cena Akademie SFFH for Kniha roku (Book of the Year) (2009) |
Rating About Books River of Gods (India 2047 #1)
Ratings: 3.91 From 5326 Users | 392 ReviewsCrit About Books River of Gods (India 2047 #1)
I know a lot of people who didn't like this book gave up part way through. I guess the only thing I can say is maybe I should have and I'd be happier. There were some good things about this, don't get me wrong. Unfortunately none of those things had to do with the story but more to do with the writing.The prose, at times, was pretty. I remember the very first chapter described a dead woman floating down a river while there was some sort of festival nearby and the lights reflected around her inA unique science fiction tale of India at its centenary told through the inter-locking tales of nine extremely different characters. There is Mr. Nandha,the Krishna cop tasked with exterminating artificial intelligences (or aeais as the book terms them) who break beyond their programming restrictions to a higher threshold of intelligence. There is Shiv, a gangster fallen on hard times forced to work for genetically-engineered titans. There is Tal, a nute (or neutral-gendered person) drawn into
I respect what Ian was trying to do with this novel, I really do, but his ambition, I think, exceeded the execution to the point of muddling ambiguity. Mr. MacDonald's a wordsmith, there's not doubt about it, and some of his descriptions are small morsels of pure prose desert. He is truly a master of the language and plays with it beautifully. The issue, however, is that one will read pages, perhaps a chapter, and realize how very little actually occurred in the scene and how little it
A kitchen sink novel of catastrophe, salacious sex, and gritty businessisms buoyed together amidst a well-executed cohesion of theme, culture, and linguistic rhythms. McDonald throws it all in: AI, multiverse theory, Urban Combat Robots, media obsession, third gender and does it with style and purpose. A world where gods and data collide.
You know you're probably not going to write a rave when you find yourself skimming hundreds of pages at a time to reach parts of the book that matter to the plot.Four things really bothered me about River of Gods, Ian MacDonald's latest about how humans will react when they create beings greater than themselves (i.e., AIs). In no particular order:1. I'm not a Puritan - sex? profanity? violence? I can deal with it if it's part of the plot or character but outside of romance novels or explicitly
I liked this more than Necroville which I liked a lot and which served as measuring stick for this book since old McDonald's writing style makes it hard to compare it to anything else.Like in Necroville we again have near future setting, far enough to fully implement lot of new technology and near enough not to let go of old ways yet. India is atypical setting for sci-fi and with McDonald's unusual brand of writing creates experience with strong and unusual flavor.It's colorful setting where
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.