Scan barcode
A review by aoki_reads
Permutation City by Greg Egan
5.0
I don't have much to say about Permutation City except that Greg Egan is almost too intelligent for me, and this is being said by a pretty bright person. This guy is borderline genius.
I do not want to hear anyone ever tell me they breezed through Permutation City. If they tell you that, they've blatantly lied to your face. If you're not a skilled computer programmer, a biotech buff, or a cosmology junkie, this novel is an extremely rigorous (yet rewarding) read that is incredibly dense and term heavy (honestly this is regardless of what you know).
This novel is the definition of science-fiction, but a lot more science than fiction. At times, it can feel like you are reading a textbook, while at other moments, you’re wrapped in the worlds of Peer and Kate, Durham and Maria, and Thomas Reimann. Along with the plentiful hard science that graces the pages, Egan brilliantly mixes the ideas of metaphysics amongst other philosophical ideology. We are confronted with questions about immortality vs. mortality, human consciousness, cloning, God and faith, the dangers of human technology, and “do you REALLY want to live forever?”
Egan doesn’t believe in covering science with a blanket of fantasy and over-imagination. For him, it waters down what he is portraying. And that is perfectly okay. With that being said, I cannot recommend this book to those who love the action-packed, dramatized versions of science fiction novels. Egan is very dry. Maybe it’s because I don’t understand all of the terminology? Nope, I genuinely think this is his writing style. Not that this is a problem.
I did enjoy all that I could comprehend. It was masterfully written. I give this novel five stars because it captivated me while recognizing just how dense and intricate the writing actually was. This would be the epitome of the sci-fi genre, and is an awesome groundwork for any other author writing about VR, human technology, parallel worlds, and cloning.
Egan gave me a headache trying to read this, but I appreciate pushing through. Brilliant, just brilliant.
I do not want to hear anyone ever tell me they breezed through Permutation City. If they tell you that, they've blatantly lied to your face. If you're not a skilled computer programmer, a biotech buff, or a cosmology junkie, this novel is an extremely rigorous (yet rewarding) read that is incredibly dense and term heavy (honestly this is regardless of what you know).
This novel is the definition of science-fiction, but a lot more science than fiction. At times, it can feel like you are reading a textbook, while at other moments, you’re wrapped in the worlds of Peer and Kate, Durham and Maria, and Thomas Reimann. Along with the plentiful hard science that graces the pages, Egan brilliantly mixes the ideas of metaphysics amongst other philosophical ideology. We are confronted with questions about immortality vs. mortality, human consciousness, cloning, God and faith, the dangers of human technology, and “do you REALLY want to live forever?”
Egan doesn’t believe in covering science with a blanket of fantasy and over-imagination. For him, it waters down what he is portraying. And that is perfectly okay. With that being said, I cannot recommend this book to those who love the action-packed, dramatized versions of science fiction novels. Egan is very dry. Maybe it’s because I don’t understand all of the terminology? Nope, I genuinely think this is his writing style. Not that this is a problem.
I did enjoy all that I could comprehend. It was masterfully written. I give this novel five stars because it captivated me while recognizing just how dense and intricate the writing actually was. This would be the epitome of the sci-fi genre, and is an awesome groundwork for any other author writing about VR, human technology, parallel worlds, and cloning.
Egan gave me a headache trying to read this, but I appreciate pushing through. Brilliant, just brilliant.