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Books within books, stories within stories. This book is like a jigsaw puzzle, dumped out on the table, but don't worry, every piece finds it place by the end, and the picture is astonishing!
I had to put it down for a while, because it was a bit heavy (physically and mentally), but it was worth finishing when I was feeling better. I loved Professor Lytton's dismissal of the Narnia books as being "suburban." I mean, I love the Narnia books, but his point was astute and hilarious all the same.
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I had to put it down for a while, because it was a bit heavy (physically and mentally), but it was worth finishing when I was feeling better. I loved Professor Lytton's dismissal of the Narnia books as being "suburban." I mean, I love the Narnia books, but his point was astute and hilarious all the same.
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Dystopian science fiction meets portal fantasy meets British Cold War spy thriller. Sort of. Very complicated, very long, characters not quite compelling enough to carry it (there are, for one thing, far too many of them). Weirdly -- or not weirdly, perhaps -- I ended up finding myself most engaged by the portal fantasy plot: it pops off with the most vivid and humane characters. The whole thing technically comes together, but to me not terribly satisfyingly. However, I did sort of enjoy the lon
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Very well done. Pears weaves together several genres and storylines so smoothly that I felt equally interested in all of them and never like I was being jolted between different books. The events and characters of the future, the 1960s, and Anterwold (which appears to be a fantasy world) are all part of one story, and the interconnections grow stronger all the way to the end; it is really skilfully woven. I liked the presence of several strong female characters (all the smartest and strongest-wi
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It's perhaps a good idea to ignore the official back-of-book blurb and the pastoral cover painting for this one - it all gives a much more stuffy and serious impression than what you actually find in between these covers. Yes, there's a quiet old British lit professor that used to be a spy back in The War, but he's quite happy to drink a pint weekly with his buddies that are each aimlessly working on books that will never get published rather than any governmental shenanigans, thank you very muc
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This was an absolute delight. If you like long books with multiple storylines, if you like the idea of time travel, fantasy, dystopian, pastoral, and spy genres being mixed together, then you will probably like this. Pears is a very good writer; his plotting is really solid and clever, and his prose is clear and accessible but also artful. I think it is best to go into this one without knowing very much. (view spoiler)
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Read my review on my library's website: https://shelflife.cooklib.org/2016/05...
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Feb 09, 2016
Gary
marked it as to-read
Mar 03, 2016
Lisa
marked it as to-finish
Apr 07, 2016
DV
marked it as to-read
Apr 23, 2016
Sharon
marked it as to-read
Aug 25, 2016
Zack
marked it as to-read
Mar 05, 2017
Liz Laurin
marked it as to-read
Mar 13, 2017
Cristella
marked it as to-read
Nov 20, 2017
Laura
marked it as to-buy-eventually
Mar 10, 2018
Kate Thompson
marked it as to-read
Oct 01, 2016
Laura
marked it as to-read
