Reviews and Comments

This took another hard turn for worse in the last 10% .

Very tedious, can hardly make myself get to the last 20% . Even a radical plot twist couldn't save this.

A reread, I have forgotten everything and this is much better than I remember

I'm "reading" this because I was in a hurry to download an audiobook and it was the first available and decent thing in the nonfiction history section.

I'm "reading" this because I was in a hurry to download an audiobook and it was the first available and decent thing in the nonfiction history section.

Suffers a little bit from having been so good that everyone knows this by now and this information has already reached me through various other channels

Runs on Rule of Cool, nothing strictly makes sense, but that's ok. I feel like this is the apex of a certain genre of young adult novels - the ones with factions and theming and everything. It's really well-written and having fun with it.

Refreshingly free of hetero plots.

Shallow, or at least nothing in it to interest me specifically. I will not be prioritizing the sequels.

I read this for French practice. It did do its job of being simple in language and short, while being a whole serious "classic" book for adults.

I'm not the type of person for philosophical debates. I know the answers and/or don't care. You shoot someone for no reason -> you go to jail so that you don't do it again. I don't have time for what exactly what might be wrong with this guy or whether he loves his mother.

But maybe I missed the point because I don't even speak French?

More feel-good scifi. (No spoilers:) It's Pepper backstory, and another minor character from A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. I think this one benefits a lot from taking it slowly and focussing on just two characters.

All mysteries are left unexplained at the end. Maybe I just missed all the implications and connections. I don't know what to make of this whole thing.

I feel like this book has had some bad luck by becoming increasingly true and relevant. Since conspiracy theories have proliferated this decade, we're all thoroughly familiar. Although this book was there first, if you've already had a read through everything on wikipedia and countless thinkpieces on the issue, this feels like more of the basics. What might have been obscure and exciting conspiracy theories, a mindblowing social milieu, and novel analysis when presented for the first time is just not so exciting anymore.
This is solidly a good book - its just that the other Eco novels are better. The ones set in the middle ages are more immersive, more imaginative, more vibrant. It also seems like Eco is taking this seriously instead of "just" having fun. There's an analytical and didactic feel at the heart of this novel, which I didn't like.

The author loves his smart scale and will tell you about it in every chapter. He can't wait to have all of our faces tracked in the supermarket. Zero criticism, zero information. Seriously don't bother buying this.