Reviews

Where to start, with an opus magnum of such intense and fresh vision? There's the voice, the writing -- competent, lyrical, practical and also lush. Then there's the structure -- 3 voices, 3 time periods, 3 sections to the story. First we meet Chapman, the little brother (who is also a faun -- half man, half goat) of Nathaniel, a man who in the late 18th century comes up with a way to hide his brother from civilized society and let him live solely in nature -- they will travel the Ohio territory, planting apple orchards in hopes that they can return years later and request payment from the frontier settlers who benefit from the orchards. This works for a good long while, but then things get... weird. Chapman is, of course, Johnny Appleseed, but writ strange and mythical beyond the existing folktale. Next we meet John Worth, probably a direct descendent of a family who at one point shelters Chapman (in his full-man disguise) and Nathaniel centuries earlier. John is a brilliant inventor who has grown disillusioned with his and his partner Eury's (short for Euridyce) attempts to save the world from climate change and extinction events. He works tirelessly against Eury's megacorp, Earthtrust, and its controlling vision of how the future should unfold. Lastly, we meet C-433, a being who gets routinely re-built from a biomass printer called a "loom" when his life is failing. C's mind contains memories of all the beings that came before. He lives in the far future, in a world with a white sky and deep ice over the surface of all he can survey. C exists to find crevasses through which he can descend and find biological matter that he retrieves and adds to the biomass printer. How do all these folks tie together? You should read this strange and thought-provoking epic to find out.

katrina_c's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

hurst10's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

evanbrodsky's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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