On 1/25/22 5:58 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
< It might not surprise anyone here that I have become a CliFi
obsessionist with Kim Stanly Robinson's stuff well represented
("Ministry for the Future" standing out well above the others). His
Red/Green/Blue Mars series is a good complement with the
social/technological/spiritual implications of Terraforming there. >
Huh. I found MftF drawn-out and boring with distracting little
nonsense chapters interleaved. I don’t see why it is popular. A
few good ideas here and there but couldn’t care less about the
characters. It could be massively compressed.
That would be *all* of KSR's novels I'm afraid... my obsession with the
ideas (unanticipated problems as well as unanticipated responses) trumps
any need I have for being entertained by the characters or even plot.
It really read to me (as you point out) as a series of loosely connected
vignettes of specific interest. To the extent that *some* of the MoTF
characters did get under my skin, it was as an irritant as much as
anything. I probably read Red Mars when it was new as my introduction
to KSR and did not go back to his writing until as little as 5 years ago
when I found his topics more relevant than I had acknowledged before...
He seemed to me to be a lot preachy and I guess now I'm enough of the
choir to be able to hum along with his sermons now.
Stephenson also gets very tedious for me, but I find his depth of
research and quirkiness of characters and technical surprises worthy of
my attention through his gruelingly long and seemingly careening
storylines and characters.
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