The Absolute Book

A huge disappointment. This was an absolute mess of a book. I had been hearing a lot of hype for this one, but this really was not a good read. Borderline incoherent, this story has a plot that jumps all over the place, thinly developed characters and world and a distinct lack of fun. I can kind of respect the ambition presented, but it falls flat on its face quickly and never really gets back up again.

As far as I can tell the main themes seem to be about the power of books and knowledge - a constant theme seems to be the burning of libraries and a search for a scroll containing the language of god. The importance of these things are only loosely alluded too though. Elizabeth Knox appears to have attempted a melding of literary fiction with fantasy, and I can respect that the prose is good. The plot however crawls along at a snail pace. It moves glacially slowly, and I am still not convinced that there is more than a few pages worth of relevant information in this massively long book. This lack of plot is a criticism I have made of literary fiction before as well, and it seems particularly out of place in what is marketed as an epic fantasy (where plot is vitally important!).

Ultimately I was bored and confused by this. Biggest disappointment so far this year.