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Adrian Tchaikovsky
Nov. 21st, 2024 12:13 pmAlien Clay
4/5. A dissident professor is shipped off authoritarian earth to a prison labor camp on a planet where evolution took a very different tack.
Classic Tchaikovsky – a story told by a dude who is both sympathetic and insufferable, very political, fucking weird. This one is about revolutions and why they fail and how to fix that. The “fix,” in this case, being one of those moves he likes where he “solves” a problem seemingly inherent to humanity in a way that is effective and yet deeply alien and unsettling. On purpose, to be clear. It messes with a readers priors and loyalties in ways I’ve come to appreciate.
I liked this one. It’s tighter than some of his other recent books, and gets the job done well in the space it takes.
Content notes: Prison planet, recollections of authoritarian regime and its enforcers.
Cage of Souls
3/5. Pairing these up because of an artificial similarity and to get myself to finally write this one up, which I read months ago. Here’s the artificial similarity part – a dissident academic is shipped off to the prison from which no one ever returns on end days earth.
Aside from that start, these books have very little in common. This one is much longer, more confused and confusing, and concerned with some stylistic pretentions reminiscent of an eighteenth -century novel. There is some interesting stuff here about the end of civilization and how knowledge is passed or not, but this is definitely not his most successful outing, I’ll say that.
Content notes: Misogyny, carceral violence, body horror, other stuff I’m not remembering because it’s been a long time.
4/5. A dissident professor is shipped off authoritarian earth to a prison labor camp on a planet where evolution took a very different tack.
Classic Tchaikovsky – a story told by a dude who is both sympathetic and insufferable, very political, fucking weird. This one is about revolutions and why they fail and how to fix that. The “fix,” in this case, being one of those moves he likes where he “solves” a problem seemingly inherent to humanity in a way that is effective and yet deeply alien and unsettling. On purpose, to be clear. It messes with a readers priors and loyalties in ways I’ve come to appreciate.
I liked this one. It’s tighter than some of his other recent books, and gets the job done well in the space it takes.
Content notes: Prison planet, recollections of authoritarian regime and its enforcers.
Cage of Souls
3/5. Pairing these up because of an artificial similarity and to get myself to finally write this one up, which I read months ago. Here’s the artificial similarity part – a dissident academic is shipped off to the prison from which no one ever returns on end days earth.
Aside from that start, these books have very little in common. This one is much longer, more confused and confusing, and concerned with some stylistic pretentions reminiscent of an eighteenth -century novel. There is some interesting stuff here about the end of civilization and how knowledge is passed or not, but this is definitely not his most successful outing, I’ll say that.
Content notes: Misogyny, carceral violence, body horror, other stuff I’m not remembering because it’s been a long time.