Alternate Realities: A Scifi Book Club discussion

I thought it was okay, but it seemed very verbose. I hated the whole cannibal island thing and think he only put it in there to explain the different religions. I do think he did a great job of building a world, it was just that the story that took place in that world wasn't very good.

it was my first culture book and im reluctant to try others though i did try to read Excession but ended up putting it down.

I cant think of many fellow Scots who are sci-fi authors so i do want to like the culture series but sadly its not for me.

I just read this so I thought I'd comment. I thought it was a fun read but ultimately didn't go anywhere. The ending was unsatisfying, the whole build-up to the climax was too drawn-out, and too many loose ends were left open that you knew were going to come bite Horzu in the ass.

I skipped the cannibal island section because I was reading a library book and a previous reader had written a warning at the start of the chapter to skip the section as it was very gross and didn't advance the plot. So I read the first couple of pages to figure out what happened to his travelling companion, read the last couple of pages to figure out how he got off the island, and googled a summary to get a gist of what was gross. Then I went on to the next section.

Benjamin wrote: "I just read this so I thought I'd comment. I thought it was a fun read but ultimately didn't go anywhere. The ending was unsatisfying, the whole build-up to the climax was too drawn-out, and too ..." what a nice person to leave that note in the book for you.