Loved itYet again, another book that I did not quite enjoy the ending the way I had wanted to, but the beginning of this book and the ideas in it were so mindblowing that I can forgive them all and put this on my number three for this year.
Anathem (2008)
Others: Overwhelmingly positive Anathem, the latest invention by the New York Times bestselling author of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, is a magnificent creation: a work of great scope, intelligence, and imagination that ushers readers into a recognizable — yet strangely inverted — world.Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside — the Extramuros — for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates — at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change.Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros — a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose — as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world — as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.
- ISBN:
- 9788466641135
- Length:
- 933 pages
Genres: science fiction, thriller, historical fiction
Lists: …
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Loved it
Loved itDespite it being 900 pages long, I've read this three or four times, and I get something different, something more from it each time.
Loved itI just love Neil Stevenson as an author. I'm actually surprised there's only one of his books on this list at this time. I feel like that's going to change in the future, but at the moment, this is my favorite of his books.
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Loved itThis is another standalone science fiction novel. It is my favorite book by Neal Stephenson and out of these five, I think it has the best first sentence.
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