Too Like the Lightning

by

Hardcover, 432 pages

English language

Published Oct. 9, 2016 by Tor Books.

ISBN:
978-0-7653-7800-2
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OCLC Number:
918994531

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4 stars (5 reviews)

"The world into which Mycroft and Carlyle have been born is as strange to our 21st-century eyes as ours would be to a native of the 1500s. It is a hard-won utopia built on technologically-generated abundance, and also on complex and mandatory systems of labeling all public writing and speech... And in this world, Mycroft and Carlyle have stumbled on the wild card that may destabilize the system: the boy Bridger, who can effortlessly make his wishes come true. Who can, it would seem, bring inanimate objects to life..."--Book jacket.

12 editions

reviewed Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer (Terra Ignota, #1)

Only half the story

2 stars

This book only covers the first part of a two-part story. At the end of it, none of the big mysteries have been solved and several of the characters are in trouble. I wish I had known that before starting it. I probably would not have finished the book. But I kept on reading despite my misgivings (more on that in a second) because I wanted to know who was behind the criminal case at the heart of the story.

The two things that put me off this book (and its sequels) are the gory descriptions of several murders and the way this book in the form of the narrator deals with gender. Very stereotypical views and a ton of misgendering. Not sure what the point of that was.

I'll end with a positive aspect: the worldbuilding is done very well.

reviewed Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer (Terra Ignota -- Book 1)

Review of 'Too Like the Lightning' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Unique and thoughtful, I enjoyed it a lot.

Reading this book was an amazing an unexpected experience. The reading itself was a pleasure, the writing style unique but reminiscent of so many influences. As a fan of science fiction, I was excited not only for the technological future described, but for the future of ideas that is proposed, all with a multitude of characters which you actually get to know and love or hate or fear. Even if this is only the first half of the story, there is a sense of completeness. Looking forward to complete the cycle.

reviewed Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer (Terra Ignota -- Book 1)

Review of 'Too Like the Lightning' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I finished Too Like the Lighting on July 5th, and then the next day started reading it again from the beginning. It's now July 12th. The second read was slower and I'm glad I did it. It also made me raise the star rating from 4 to 5 stars. I've never done that before - finished a book and then read it again immediately.

Many reviewers have commented that the book is slow going or difficult to follow. I can't agree. Then again, maybe you shouldn't trust me. I'm one of these awful literary types and I've read continental philosophy. I've read Gravity's Rainbow and The Book of the New Sun is my favorite science fiction book series of all time. Although, once the sequel to Too Like the Lightning Comes out, maybe Terra Ignota will take its place. It's that good.

On the first read of this book, I …

avatar for puercomal

rated it

5 stars
avatar for Mignon

rated it

5 stars

Subjects

  • Utopias
  • Prisoners
  • Twenty-fifth century
  • Fiction
  • Third millennium