Hard to be a god

8/10

I felt worried as I read the prologue, not knowing where this was going or what was going on. In the end, I'm still not sure what the prologue and epilogue are doing, but I liked everything in between them.

The first 1/3rd is pretty slow, but as things start to ratchet up, the story and discussions become much more interesting. I was not expecting a translated piece of Soviet-era science fiction to be quite so funny, but I was frequently chuckling at Don Rumata's bristling against people. There's a scene around page 190 where he comes up against some bureaucracy and calls the bureaucrat a “blockhead,” which gave me quite a giggle. He does that a lot.

I feel like the satire or speculation, which sort of simmers throughout the first 2/3rds, shows itself plainly in the final third and does so quite well. I particularly enjoyed some of Rumata and Reba's back-and-forth. I think if this were summarized at all, the best selection of pages to communicate the core ideas are probably pages 214-218, the conversation between Rumata and another character where the book's title shows itself and those ideas are explored.

I think I would benefit from a re-read somewhere down the line, as I'm sure the pro/epilogues have significance, but I'm not sure what it is.