Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer
Genre: Science Fiction Publisher: Tor Books Year of Publication: 2016
Mycroft Canner is a convict. For his crimes he is required, as is the custom of the 25th century, to wander the world being as useful as he can to all he meets. Carlyle Foster is a sensayer – a spiritual counselor in a world that has outlawed the public practice of religion, but which also knows that the inner lives of humans cannot be wished away.
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 labelling all public writing and speech. What seem to us normal gender distinctions are now distinctly taboo in most social situations. And most of the world's population is affiliated with globe-girdling clans of the like-minded, whose endless economic and cultural competition is carefully managed by central planners of inestimable subtlety. To us it seems like a mad combination of heaven and hell. To them, it seems like normal life. And in this world, Mycroft and Carlyle have stumbled on the wild card that may destablize the system: the boy Bridger, who can effortlessly make his wishes come true. Who can, it would seem, bring inanimate objects to life... (via Goodreads)
Why was this book on your TBR? Because it sounded super cool!
How long had it been on your TBR? Since it came out, so about a year and a half.
Was it everything you’d hoped? Oh, my god, yes. This is a pretty difficult book to read, because it’s written in the style of an 18th century philosophical text/novel, and because it feels like pretty much every sentence is crucial to the book. I went back and re-read paragraphs all the time, which is why it took me a lot longer to read than other ones. But holy cow, is it worth it. The world is incredibly intricate, fascinating, and alive, and I loved learning about the world and how the system worked. I love the idea of bash’es, and the Hive system was so much fun. I have no idea which one I’d be, but I loved it. I just...there’s not a lot that I can explain about it without taking away from the book itself, but I can’t stop thinking about it, and I learned a lot about what I think and believe while I was reading it. And there are three more books in the same series! I have the next one checked out already, and I’m so psyched for it. But there’s definitely some parts to it that won’t be for everyone, so read my warnings below.
Rec it or forget it? Rec it, but with several conditions. I don’t think that everyone will like Too Like the Lightning. It’s too dense, and too philosophical for it to be for everyone, and honestly it feels a little bit like it’s meant to make you uncomfortable, to challenge your philosophy and moral code and make you rethink things. And, also, very importantly, the narrator is NOT a good guy. He seems like one, despite the fact that he warns you specifically at the beginning of the novel and a couple of times throughout it that he is not a good guy, but it’s not until about halfway through that you find out why, and it is a shock, and very disconcerting. So, be warned. If you can’t handle torture, don’t read it. But this was definitely one of my favorite books, for the world and the sheer amount of thought I’m going to be putting into the book for a long time.
Favorite quote: The beginning of Chapter 4, I think. The description of Cielo de Pajaros is beautiful and fascinating, and that’s when I knew I was hooked.
My Rating: 5/5
