Slow Gods
I really appreciate someone doing something that feels fresh in a genre as cluttered as science fiction.
There’s much that’s familiar here: epic worlds and sociological studies. It sits on a shelf alongside Le Guin and Iain M. Banks (and not just because this book is artfully read by Peter Kenny, who did the Culture series).
What feels fresh, though, is its monsters and gods: something strange that makes you terribly curious.
The best and the worst bits of the book are its approach to time. Its characters wrangle with it, transcend it, or accept it in interesting ways.
The book itself is oddly paced, though. It has the slight problem of a mid-story climax that then has you asking, “wait… what could the remaining half of this book possibly be about?”.
I do wonder if it couldn’t have been split into two small, Murderbot-sized novels and felt even more exciting.
I’d recommend it for anyone looking for a good science fiction read.