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_Anathem_, Neal Stephenson
Oh my gosh, Stephenson wrote an ending.
Sit back and cheer for that, if nothing else: the justly celebrated Neal Stephenson has had severe trouble wrapping up his books, and I think he ought to be congratulated on this achievement.
As it turns out, the book is also full of the sensawunda that filled _Snow Crash_ and _The Diamond Age_ and (I found) was missing in 2/3 of The Baroque Cycle. Despite being over 900 pages, it went quickly in more or less the following fashion: I read the first 20 pages or so, read the glossary completely, and then dove back in. There are no clunker neologisms; Stephenson hasn't got Peter Hamilton's tin ear. Instead, the new words all manage to give the impression that they share a common history, a history which is related to ours but isn't. They feel natural to me: "I was singing the aut of inbrase when the upsight swept over me".
Oh my gosh, Stephenson wrote an ending.
Sit back and cheer for that, if nothing else: the justly celebrated Neal Stephenson has had severe trouble wrapping up his books, and I think he ought to be congratulated on this achievement.
As it turns out, the book is also full of the sensawunda that filled _Snow Crash_ and _The Diamond Age_ and (I found) was missing in 2/3 of The Baroque Cycle. Despite being over 900 pages, it went quickly in more or less the following fashion: I read the first 20 pages or so, read the glossary completely, and then dove back in. There are no clunker neologisms; Stephenson hasn't got Peter Hamilton's tin ear. Instead, the new words all manage to give the impression that they share a common history, a history which is related to ours but isn't. They feel natural to me: "I was singing the aut of inbrase when the upsight swept over me".
