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A review by isabellarobinson7
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
3.0
Rating: 3 stars
The first part of The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson (no relation) was so good, I thought I was looking at a new favourite here. The idea of the Black Death being a lot more deadly in an alternate timeline was really interesting, and imagining how history would play out largely without a European presence is a compelling thought in and of itself. (Getting annoyed because the SFF you read is too European centric? Well, Kim Stanley Robinson (no relation) has solved that problem for you by wiping Europe off the map altogether!) The hours of research Kim Stanley Robinson (no relation (I've started this joke now, I have to keep going)) had so clearly done shone through each and every element of the story, and it truly embodied what an alternate history should be. I could legitimately see the logic in the course this "history" was taking.
This grounded nature did shift, though. Usually with alternate history, you see the "modern day" effect all the changes the slight divergence has resulted in, so it is already really far fetched to our eyes (in The Man in the Hight Castle we see the divided Japanese/Nazi America, not really the events that lead there). But The Years of Rice and Salt starts so plausible, so when the plot events started becoming more and more removed from our actual history (i.e. what regular stories from the subgenre tend to be) I was almost surprised - even though that is what I went in expecting! I don't understand this phenomenon, because I got what I was expecting and yet somehow I am disappointed.
Aaaaaaaaaand... if I'm being completely honest, it got kind of... well, boring. During the first hundred-ish pages, the story clipped along so smartly that I was a bit baffled as to why this book was categorised as "slow paced". But after the first couple of sections had ended and I had finished being amazed at the concept, the novelty began to wear off. Then the aforementioned slow pacing kicked in. Though I would never say it was a slog to get through, the rest of the book definitely took me longer to read. It just kept going, history kept changing, and it no longer felt like I was reading a sci-fi alternate history novel. In the end, it felt like I had just finished reading a fantasy story, and that's not just because it was a bajillion pages.
I will definitely check out Kim Stanley Robinson (no relation) in the future, mostly because his Mars trilogy particularly interests me, but also because he is obviously very good at what he does, and I had no issue whatsoever with his prose or how he told this particular story. (Also, is it just me or does Kim Stanley Robinson (no relation) kind of look like Stephan King. Just me? Ok, please ignore my observations.)
The first part of The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson (no relation) was so good, I thought I was looking at a new favourite here. The idea of the Black Death being a lot more deadly in an alternate timeline was really interesting, and imagining how history would play out largely without a European presence is a compelling thought in and of itself. (Getting annoyed because the SFF you read is too European centric? Well, Kim Stanley Robinson (no relation) has solved that problem for you by wiping Europe off the map altogether!) The hours of research Kim Stanley Robinson (no relation (I've started this joke now, I have to keep going)) had so clearly done shone through each and every element of the story, and it truly embodied what an alternate history should be. I could legitimately see the logic in the course this "history" was taking.
This grounded nature did shift, though. Usually with alternate history, you see the "modern day" effect all the changes the slight divergence has resulted in, so it is already really far fetched to our eyes (in The Man in the Hight Castle we see the divided Japanese/Nazi America, not really the events that lead there). But The Years of Rice and Salt starts so plausible, so when the plot events started becoming more and more removed from our actual history (i.e. what regular stories from the subgenre tend to be) I was almost surprised - even though that is what I went in expecting! I don't understand this phenomenon, because I got what I was expecting and yet somehow I am disappointed.
Aaaaaaaaaand... if I'm being completely honest, it got kind of... well, boring. During the first hundred-ish pages, the story clipped along so smartly that I was a bit baffled as to why this book was categorised as "slow paced". But after the first couple of sections had ended and I had finished being amazed at the concept, the novelty began to wear off. Then the aforementioned slow pacing kicked in. Though I would never say it was a slog to get through, the rest of the book definitely took me longer to read. It just kept going, history kept changing, and it no longer felt like I was reading a sci-fi alternate history novel. In the end, it felt like I had just finished reading a fantasy story, and that's not just because it was a bajillion pages.
I will definitely check out Kim Stanley Robinson (no relation) in the future, mostly because his Mars trilogy particularly interests me, but also because he is obviously very good at what he does, and I had no issue whatsoever with his prose or how he told this particular story. (Also, is it just me or does Kim Stanley Robinson (no relation) kind of look like Stephan King. Just me? Ok, please ignore my observations.)