One of the things that makes this book so good, is the writing. The way Mark Haddon deals words out is really spot on. His descriptions are funny and informative. He will often use very short sentences to get across the mood. If his character is panicking, the sentences get shorter. And shorter. He did not over describe anything in this book (what a relief). Now, the plot is, well, it’s a children’s book, so it was fairly simplistic and unbelievable. But for Haddon, I am willing to suspend my disbelief.

p.s. Mark Haddon is from Britain, so there is a lot of British slang in this novel. Because of the British slang, I find it helps to imagine Ricky Gervais reading it to me. Most of the novel  just wouldn’t sound right in a Canadian accent.

I thought the timeline was a little bit ambitious. This 1000 page book covers a town that goes from normal to melt down in just under a week. I felt the hoarding would have started much sooner. I also felt the military forces outside waited too long and missed opportunities to influence the town’s events when they realized they could no longer control the municipal government. I had a hard time believing things could go so bad so fast, and I consider myself fairly jaded when it comes to what people are capable of. That being said, the short timeline does mean the book is action packed and the pace remains steady.

I felt the good guys spent a lot of time doing stuff that wasn’t helping the main issue, wich was getting rid of the dome. Even after Barbie is given an order to find out what is generating the dome, he seems to get caught in side plots and putting out proverbial fires that would all be moot if they could get rid of the dome. Wouldn’t that be your first priority? I felt the revelation of the cause of the dome was kind of stupid. I also felt that Julia and Barbie’s pivotal moment stories were sort of incomparable. Really Julia? Your shame is on the same level? Your story is the one that matters most?

All in all this book is well written, exciting, and enjoyable. It felt like a warm hug from an old friend reading Stephen King again after so many years. You know, an old friend that likes to swear a lot and kill people in horrible ways. Read it with caution if you don’t like language, sex or violence.

I thought the premise of the book was good and easily became hooked. Then the book really started to tank. A great idea does not a book make. The book felt like it had been witten with the message first and the plot only there to shove the message in your face. I thought a glaring hole existed when the only characters introduced in the book were alphas and the savage. A society so heavily based on eugenics and caste, and we don’t get to meet any of the lower members? Odd. Also, with such large issues to deal with, the author seemed to disproportionatly focus on femle promiscuity in this horrible new world. Really? That’s the biggest problem? And why are there so many shakespear quotes? I mean, the novel isn’t that thick to begin with. I suppose the constant quotes were included to beef up the page count.

So now that I’ve ripped this book a new one, I will say everyone should probably read it. It is one of those modern classics that pops up from time to time. The premise is interesting, the gently fascist consumerist government model is interesting, and it might be worth it just for the fordisms.

So basically, the story had bad pacing, underwhelming world building, unbelievable characters, boring and unbelievable conversations, and plenty of hitting over the head preaching, which frankly, marred the book’s goodness for me, not to mention the head ache it gave. I fought through the first half of the book (since I keep hearing about this series), but thankfully, it picked up in the second half. Overall though, the book was a waste of my time. I like knowing how a story ends and this one is part of series, so I couldn’t resist reading the plot summaries of the other books on wikipedia. I’m glad I won’t have to waste more time reading the other books to know how unresolved it ends.

I enjoyed this book and the continuing saga of the foundation; until I realized I had missed an entire book in the series and didn’t even notice. So I ordered this book from the library, and not really paying attention just assumed the book titled Second Foundation was the second book in the series. Oops. This is book three and I missed book two, Foundation and Empire. I didn’t notice until today, when I went to look up this book and saw the books in order. One of my complaints in the first novel was the continual jumps through time that pushed the plot forward by hundreds of years and made it hard to connect with the characters. When I picked up this book and started reading I didn’t even find it odd that it was hundreds of years in the future and I didn’t know any of the characters. I’m trying very hard not to let my glaring mistake cloud my judgement of the book.

This book only has one major jump forward, so you have some time to connect with each set of characters. The characters this time through were also far better written, more developed, and the second half even has a strong female lead. However, the paradoxical thinking concerning predestination and mind control just seemed redundant and pointless after a while. If everything is predestined, then every choice you will ever make isn’t really a choice. If everything isn’t predestined, than your individual choices and actions matter. Either way though, you won’t ever know the answer. Should I do A or should I do B? What if my mind has been tampered with and I should do the opposite of what I think I should do? Or maybe I should do what I think I should do because if they had controlled my mind they would expect me to wonder if it had been tampered with and do the opposite of what I think I should do. Wow. Those kind of conundrums repeatedly get old fast. I read the synopsis of the second book in the series and it sounded like it had more action and some attempted plot twists. I am debating now whether to go back and read it too.

All slight sarcasm aside I actually liked this book. It was well written, well paced, and draws an interesting and complex new world. I felt the author did a great job of thinking the plot through and eliminating any large plot holes. (A pet peeve of mine with some science fiction.) I enjoyed the character portrayals, most of them torn between love and duty, and driven by love, fear, loyalty, and hate. I found it interesting the powerful women characters in the book were not wives and liked the way that was portrayed. Some of the most interesting plot lines in the book revolved around the planet itself. On a planet with such small amounts of available water it was very interesting to imagine the incredible importance of it and the ways in which your life would revolve around acquiring, retaining and reusing that precious resource. I have been trying to branch out and get my feet wet in science fiction and only wish I had read Dune at the beginning of my foray, and not towards the end as I’m starting to burn out. Did I love it? Not really, but it is the best science fiction book I’ve read in the last five years (I think) and I will get the next one in the series. I said before I read it I would be done science fiction after Dune, but now I guess I have to find out what happens next. Good heavens, what have I done, I think there are about a million and one books in this series. Ahkk, maybe i’m becoming a fan, ha ha. I’m also a little apprehensive to watch the 1984 film by David Lynch (but how can I not?).

As a side note, I noticed on Wikipedia that (unnamed) ‘scholars’ have compared Dune to Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Ummmmm, Wikipedia said the same thing about Foundation by Isaac Asimov. So I’m beginning to think I just need to read Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and imagine it in space.

The one problem I have with this novel and the first is the voice used. It’s told in the first person but more like she’s telling a story. We don’t have access to all of her thoughts. She uses phrases like “and then I’m going after him..” but why Katniss? Why are you going after him? It wasn’t easy for me to lose myself reading it. But after I got used to that, I really enjoyed the story.