Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Radix by A. A. Attanasio ISBN: 0553254065 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 1985 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.3
Rating: 2
Summary: Ambitious, cosmic-scale-but-flawed first novel
Comment: I am glad that I read the later, harder-SF "Centuries" before "Radix". Attanasio operates well as either a hard SF writer or as a metaphysical fantasist. In this, his first book, he tries to be both at once and it doesn't quite work. "Radix" is a saga of a far-future Earth in which mutation has gone rampant after a cosmological cataclysm. Daringly, lead character Sumner Kagan starts off as a screwed-up, homicidal, obese urban teenager. Through the several hundred pages, he transforms into a battered-but-charismatic hero and troubled demigod. Kagan, the divers supporting characters and some of the Big Ideas are great: I was satisfyingly creeped out by the concept of a powerful AI spying on the world through the senses of millions of synthetic "wild animals". However, the highly metaphysical treatment of the nature of once of the species, and of "life force" generally leaves something to be desired, the "Love Reigns Supreme" moral is a tad heavy-handed, and the pseudoscientific rationalisations that appear here and there are bogus enough to break belief for any reader with any scientific nous. Then there is the writing style. Later Attanasio is lyrical and reads beautifully and easily. Here, he overdoes it. Some sentences are elliptical to the point of incoherence. Pretentiously florid adjectives are piled on top of hopelessly inappropriate metaphors. The overall effect is a bit like "Covenant"-era Stephen Donaldson trying to write a Greg Bear novel by channeling acidheads from Zeta Reticuli. Appeals to some, I suppose, but I am glad he grew out of it. NB: the extensive esoteric internal dialog of some characters, and the names-dates-and-glossary appendix. I can see why some readers are reminded of "Dune"...
Rating: 5
Summary: A Very Unique Hero
Comment: Sumner has been, and still is one of my favorite fictional heroes. I read this book at a time when anti-heroes, and good guys with dark pasts were not as abundant as they are now. In effect, this was one of the first I have discovered, and still is one of the best. It is a story of a strange, sad and troubled young man. Far from perfect, the overweight, nearly psychotic Sumner, originally, has only one strength. He is one of the last beings on earth with a totally Human genetic make-up. He was not a heroic figure. He did not try to be a good guy. He was just a mess that ended up totally transformed by situations he had no control of. Earth has passed through a fixed point of space which travels straight through the core of the Galaxy. The "Line" as it is called, is a Cosmic Super-Highway for Gods, Demons, Spirits, and reality-altering powers traveling from place and time, to place and time. At a time, not too far from now, earth passes through the Line with cataclysmic effects! What is not destroyed, is forever changed. Earth is not the same planet anymore. It is a place run by Gods who make war against each other, as well as corrupt governments, rampant mutations, and a host of spiritual entities. 11,000 years later, Sumner finds himself in this altered world. As a somewhat "normal" human, and as a failure in general, he is a true outsider. Preyed upon, and harrassed by mutant gangs, and his own perceptions of himself, he finds something he is good at, beside eating and cultivating a bad case of acne. Sumner is a natural killer. And a genetically "whole" human being. Maybe the 2 traits are interchangeable. And his story takes place between the time others are made aware of this trait, as he is trained and comes of age, and the time when he eventually becomes a deadly instrument in a battle where 2 Gods could decide the final fate of Mankind. It is about a very imperfect hero. The kind of hero anybody could be.
Rating: 5
Summary: Simply one of the best
Comment: I first read about this book on Amazon. They didn't have it. So I lookedand looked, finally I found it in the book section of my favorite storefor under 3 dollars. What a deal. This book is simply one of the bestbooks I have ever read, and my friends I have read a lot ofbooks.
Sumner Kagan has to be one of the most complex main charactersI've seen in a long time, and I still have yet to finish the book.Attanasio does a wonderful job of creating a world that is extremelycomplex and fascinating. It isn't a regular tale: characters that areintroduced and play somewhat of a large role in the story are killed offwithout thought in less than a paragraph.
I recommend this book toanyone who enjoyed Frank Herbert's DUNE series, or any other series in theSciFi/Fantasy genre. It's a classic.
 |
Title: In Other Worlds by A. A. Attanasio ISBN: 0553255665 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 1986 List Price(USD): $2.95 |
 |
Title: Arc of the Dream by A. A. Attanasio ISBN: 0553260359 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 1986 List Price(USD): $3.50 |
 |
Title: The Last Legends of Earth by A. A. Attanasio ISBN: 0385263937 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 1989 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
 |
Title: Wyvern by A. A. Attanasio ISBN: 0899194095 Publisher: Ticknor & Fields Pub. Date: 1990 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
 |
Title: The Dragon and the Unicorn by A. A. Attanasio ISBN: 0061057797 Publisher: Harper Mass Market Paperbacks Pub. Date: 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
