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extrapenguinI do not regret reading it, even if it did end up in a rather dark place. What bothered me the most was the sheer hetness of the thing: Diziet Sma's "ahh yess I had a nice time with THE MENZ – not the laydeez, the MENZ" and just the reminders that the main characters were het, every time there was a sort of sexual situation, and a lot of them sort of rubbed me the wrong way. Just ... have the characters be het and engage in hetsex, no need to go all Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today about it.
The flashbacks/multi-timeline narrative was annoying at first, but when I got that the book was actually about Cheradenine Zakalwe and his past, rather than the present situation, they were much more manageable. (I think I'd have liked a book about the present situation more? Not sure.) Indeed, at the end, the timelines coalesced into an extremely well done. Also at the end – after Zakalwe was told to abandon the priests to their fate – the narrative turned very depressing and hopeless, which was not my thing at all. The twist was well-done, not especially obvious, but was like one of those good jokes: one formed a picture from the information one was given, only to realize that one's picture was wrong. Not really my thing, though.
Skaffen-Amtiskaw is a treasure.
The flashbacks/multi-timeline narrative was annoying at first, but when I got that the book was actually about Cheradenine Zakalwe and his past, rather than the present situation, they were much more manageable. (I think I'd have liked a book about the present situation more? Not sure.) Indeed, at the end, the timelines coalesced into an extremely well done. Also at the end – after Zakalwe was told to abandon the priests to their fate – the narrative turned very depressing and hopeless, which was not my thing at all. The twist was well-done, not especially obvious, but was like one of those good jokes: one formed a picture from the information one was given, only to realize that one's picture was wrong. Not really my thing, though.
Skaffen-Amtiskaw is a treasure.