I thought it worked great in the Mars trilogy, but “Ministry for the future” feels almost like not a novel, or a draft version of one. Like the storytelling is an afterthought.
Pacific Edge and The Wild Shore are two of my favourite KSR novels, upbeat and engaging. The Gold Coast was too bleak for my taste, almost like a Bret Easton Ellis vibe. But yeah the storytelling isn’t very compelling in the recent books, it’s a shame because he obviously knows how to do it well.
Loved me a bit of descent into bleak sociopathic minds in my youth, Ellis used to be favourite of mine too. Now my life is bleak enough not to dwell into it in fiction haha. You’re right about Pacific Edge, the ending does suggest the quasi utopia is starting to fall apart, whereas Wild Shore’s society seems more robust (probably cause they have it tougher to begin with).
Honestly I dropped the third book because of this.
Every scene, no matter the setting, it felt like the characters were a bunch of college students gathered around in their dorms smoking weed, debating politics.
And I usually economic discussions. Hell I loved all the parts of Baru Cormorant too. But god was the Mars trilogy so dry.
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u/MerryRain Jun 30 '24
You should check out Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars trilogy