Helpful Score: 3
While I love PA literature and read it with a passion, this was not my cup of tea. But, if you liked "This is the Way the World Ends", "The Sheep Look Up", or "The Hospital Ship" this book might be yours... It contains elements of each (so no--I didn't like those books either). :)
From the inside cover:
In the crippled city where time has lost its meaning
and violence is swift and sudden,
a nameless young man with no memory appears....
He shares his great strength
in a loving trinity with a young boy
and a haunted beautiful woman,
in that time before the end of time.
I made it all the way through this HUGE book (nearly 900 pages)... but it was a struggle. I read brain candy like King and Piers Anthony, Terry Brooks, C. S. Freidman, etc. I don't like to have to think too hard to understand the story--I want it spoon fed for the most part. This (for the most part) is NOT that type of book/story. This book definitely is more of a 'brain tester'... it starts out sort of disjointed.. then becomes more linear in the middle.. but by the end its definitely non-linear and a struggle to follow without paying close attention (and even then--I didn't get some of it).
Similar to "this is the way the world ends" the story largely is about the main characters thoughts/ideas, and less focused on events. Similar to that book too the book flies off from seeminly coherent, semi real events to complete fantasy (that seems disjointed/non sensical).
Throughout the story you wonder what's happened in the city of Bellona (10th largest in the US)--The city is deserted and many parts are in shambles/destroyed. The few people who remain are lawless... society has completely degenerated. Fires burn out of control in sections of the city.. people ransack houses and steal to survive... Time has no meaning, space contorts making travel in the city challenging, etc. Gangs run the streets, no one works... etc.
A warning--Similar to The Hospital Ship, this book has a "mature" theme and contains explicit intimate passages. It swerves from the mainstream pretty far in terms of acceptable "relationships" and behavior [to say the least] (See above passage from inside cover for a foreshadow of relationship that is unacceptable in mainstream). If you're not interested in this type of storyline avoid this book because its very prevalent/hard to skip over.
From the inside cover:
In the crippled city where time has lost its meaning
and violence is swift and sudden,
a nameless young man with no memory appears....
He shares his great strength
in a loving trinity with a young boy
and a haunted beautiful woman,
in that time before the end of time.
I made it all the way through this HUGE book (nearly 900 pages)... but it was a struggle. I read brain candy like King and Piers Anthony, Terry Brooks, C. S. Freidman, etc. I don't like to have to think too hard to understand the story--I want it spoon fed for the most part. This (for the most part) is NOT that type of book/story. This book definitely is more of a 'brain tester'... it starts out sort of disjointed.. then becomes more linear in the middle.. but by the end its definitely non-linear and a struggle to follow without paying close attention (and even then--I didn't get some of it).
Similar to "this is the way the world ends" the story largely is about the main characters thoughts/ideas, and less focused on events. Similar to that book too the book flies off from seeminly coherent, semi real events to complete fantasy (that seems disjointed/non sensical).
Throughout the story you wonder what's happened in the city of Bellona (10th largest in the US)--The city is deserted and many parts are in shambles/destroyed. The few people who remain are lawless... society has completely degenerated. Fires burn out of control in sections of the city.. people ransack houses and steal to survive... Time has no meaning, space contorts making travel in the city challenging, etc. Gangs run the streets, no one works... etc.
A warning--Similar to The Hospital Ship, this book has a "mature" theme and contains explicit intimate passages. It swerves from the mainstream pretty far in terms of acceptable "relationships" and behavior [to say the least] (See above passage from inside cover for a foreshadow of relationship that is unacceptable in mainstream). If you're not interested in this type of storyline avoid this book because its very prevalent/hard to skip over.
