What do you think?
Rate this book
The Cusanus Game
Biologist Domenica Ligrina fears her planet is dying. She might be right.
An atomic disaster in Germany has contaminated Northern Europe with radioactivity. Economic and political calamities are destroying the whole planet. Human DNA is mutating, plant species are going extinct, and scientists are feverishly working on possible solutions. It becomes increasingly apparent that the key to future salvation lies in the past. In 2052 a secret research facility in the Vatican is recruiting scientists for a mission to restore the flora of the irradiated territories. The institute claims to have time travel. When Domenica’s sometime-lover tells her that he knows her future but that she must decide her own fate, she enlists despite his ambiguous warning.
The Middle Ages hold Domenica spellbound. She immerses herself in the mysteries, puzzles, and peculiarities of a culture foreign to her, though she risks changing the past with effects far more disastrous than radiation poisoning. Perhaps there is more than one Domenica, and more than one catastrophe.
An atomic disaster in Germany has contaminated Northern Europe with radioactivity. Economic and political calamities are destroying the whole planet. Human DNA is mutating, plant species are going extinct, and scientists are feverishly working on possible solutions. It becomes increasingly apparent that the key to future salvation lies in the past. In 2052 a secret research facility in the Vatican is recruiting scientists for a mission to restore the flora of the irradiated territories. The institute claims to have time travel. When Domenica’s sometime-lover tells her that he knows her future but that she must decide her own fate, she enlists despite his ambiguous warning.
The Middle Ages hold Domenica spellbound. She immerses herself in the mysteries, puzzles, and peculiarities of a culture foreign to her, though she risks changing the past with effects far more disastrous than radiation poisoning. Perhaps there is more than one Domenica, and more than one catastrophe.
540 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
14 people are currently reading
693 people want to read
About the author
Wolfgang Jeschke
202 books11 followersWolfgang Jeschke was a German sci-fi author and editor, publishing at Heyne publishing house (Heyne-Verlag). He lived in Munich. His best known novel was The Last Day of Creation (Der letzte Tag der Schöpfung)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
January 23, 2014
No matter how much I praise this book, I keep coming back to the one problem that I’m circling around in this review. I just didn’t buy it. It was well done, atmospheric, well written, and multifaceted – all the things I typically love in the books but it just didn’t work for me. The characters were too distant for me to really care too much about. Their motives behind many of their actions were understandable, but not really believable. I can sum up my overall feelings of the novel like that. I just don’t buy into it. It was very well written, and researched incredibly well, but I never got to the point where I could suspend my disbelief long enough to feel invested in the novel at all. Which is unfortunate, but you can’t really win ‘em all.
Read my full review here:
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2014/01/...
Read my full review here:
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2014/01/...
January 21, 2025
I was given this book as a "secret santa book" in MediaDeathCult this Christmas and I really liked it.
All the while as I was reading the book I felt it was very "German" in the way it was written. I mean, there is a plan, a way of weaving science and philosophy and land and people into the text that is just efficient and competent.
There were moments when I was a bit lost with the physics of branes and everything, but I read on and it sort of made sense in the end.
Oh and the post-disaster world is really cool. Gruesome and brutal but also fascinating.
Some warnings for graphic content if you decide to read this book, though
All the while as I was reading the book I felt it was very "German" in the way it was written. I mean, there is a plan, a way of weaving science and philosophy and land and people into the text that is just efficient and competent.
There were moments when I was a bit lost with the physics of branes and everything, but I read on and it sort of made sense in the end.
Oh and the post-disaster world is really cool. Gruesome and brutal but also fascinating.
Some warnings for graphic content if you decide to read this book, though
March 19, 2015
From the so-called “grand master of German science fiction” comes The Cusanus Game, a work of hard science fiction and philosophy that forces the reader to think far beyond the story.
It is the year 2052 and the world is in a sorry state, especially Northern Europe after an atomic disaster along the French-German border, contaminating the continent with radioactivity. As the threat and fear begins to spread, paranoia and terror break out, affecting the entire planet. The radiation is also messing with human DNA causing mutations and creating monstrosities that shouldn’t be.
A secret research facility located within the Vatican is searching for and employing covert scientists with a plan to reintroduce fresh, healthy fauna to the ravaged world. Biologist Domenica Ligrina may be their saving grace, as she dedicates her studies to the mysteries and puzzles of the Middle Ages and learns of a possible solution that may change the world back to the resplendent place it once was.
While an interesting work of science fiction, the writing is clunky and overly complex and labyrinthine that may be due to the translation, or the style of writing, causing the reader to lose their way at times.
Originally written on January 2, 2014 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
It is the year 2052 and the world is in a sorry state, especially Northern Europe after an atomic disaster along the French-German border, contaminating the continent with radioactivity. As the threat and fear begins to spread, paranoia and terror break out, affecting the entire planet. The radiation is also messing with human DNA causing mutations and creating monstrosities that shouldn’t be.
A secret research facility located within the Vatican is searching for and employing covert scientists with a plan to reintroduce fresh, healthy fauna to the ravaged world. Biologist Domenica Ligrina may be their saving grace, as she dedicates her studies to the mysteries and puzzles of the Middle Ages and learns of a possible solution that may change the world back to the resplendent place it once was.
While an interesting work of science fiction, the writing is clunky and overly complex and labyrinthine that may be due to the translation, or the style of writing, causing the reader to lose their way at times.
Originally written on January 2, 2014 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
December 22, 2013
This book is so complex and multifaceted, it's hard to know where to begin. Dystopian fiction? It provides a chilling and near-to-life vision of the effects of global warming on European politics and civilization. Time travel sci-fi? At points, it reads like Connie Willis. But with an interesting backstory of the physics that would make time travel plausible. But then the physics shades into cosmology, and before you know it, you're in the realm of philosophy, having passed through a Gaia-like boundary.
What I found most intriguing is Jeschke's speculations on the historical interplay of religion and science. For Jeschke, the Catholic Church has a very nuanced relationship to science, knowledge, and inquiry. For me, this called to mind Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow.
This is an ambitious book, but the writing does not suffer for that ambition, even in translation. I found it at all times an enjoyable and entertaining read.
What I found most intriguing is Jeschke's speculations on the historical interplay of religion and science. For Jeschke, the Catholic Church has a very nuanced relationship to science, knowledge, and inquiry. For me, this called to mind Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow.
This is an ambitious book, but the writing does not suffer for that ambition, even in translation. I found it at all times an enjoyable and entertaining read.
March 27, 2017
This book got me out of my reading rut. I had forgotten how much I liked hard sci-fi because I'd been reading so much YA.
Anyway, the story was good although a little slow at times and the ending was perfect.
Anyway, the story was good although a little slow at times and the ending was perfect.
August 1, 2017
The writing is a bit stilted with some awkward description - meaty paw to describe a hand is one example. The overall concept of the book is interesting, but the mc is unlikable and uninteresting and the story is just so so. It feels like there isn't a real ending which works on some level given the time concepts, but in reality just falls flat. There is also a burdening amount of science talk which isn't wholly necessary to the story. Overall a slogging read with no real payoff in the end.
March 7, 2024
Ich bin kein großer Science Fiction Leser, aber dieser Roman hat mein Interesse gewonnen und nicht enttäuscht. Vielleicht hauptsächlich deshalb weil es in einem dystopisch zerstörten Deutschland spielt. Ich finde das hat Jeschke wirklich sehr gut gemacht. Er erzeugt eine sehr düstere Stimmung, die Handlung ist ziemlich spannend, es sind etliche philosophische Impulse enthalten und die literarische Umsetzung ist ok. Nachteil: es ist etwas dick, vielleicht wäre eine Kürzung vorteilhaft gewesen, hatte jedenfalls den Eindruck dass die Handlung etwas schneller vorangetrieben werden könnte. Ich könnte mir vorstellen den Roman nach einigen Jahren noch mal zu lesen.
December 14, 2013
Wolfgang Jeschke’s The Cusanus Game ( trade from Tor and translated so well by Ross Benjamin that it read as if it had been written in English) is the best time travel tale I’ve read in several years. Fifty years from now Europe is politically separated because of pressure from Global Warming that has sent refugees fleeing from uninhabitable Norther Africa, and a terrorist nuclear attack that radiated a huge part of Germany. Rome is on the edge of disruption and the Papacy has moved to Salzburg. Botanist Domenica Ligrina is hired by the Pope to be one of the time travelers sent back to fifteenth century Cologne to collect seeds of plants long dead in the 21st century. Her expedition will be a failure because she will be exposed as a witch and maybe burned at the stake. She travels from Rome where she graduated college, by various means of transportation including dirigible, a short plane ride, and numerous trains which allows Herr Jeschke to show in marvelous descriptive prose how Europe has changed with areas of high technology, and poor areas worse than today.. Finally in Amsterdam she is readied for her trip to the past. Time travel modifies the present, but has limits to the amount of change and the tale plays with this in fun ways. I took my time with this delicious novel and really enjoyed it.
Review printed in the Philadelphia Weekly Press
Review printed in the Philadelphia Weekly Press
March 31, 2015
I can't read this book.
maybe it is because I'm american and we don't have much history packed into buildings and physical spaces. maybe it is the translation that isn't conveying to me the intended meaning behind these intricate passages about specific streets and cities and towns.
the fact is, this is the first book in years I am giving up on. I nearly gave in at 25 pages, but urged myself to keep trying. 30-49 at least give some slight hand waving towards character sketches. the background of the main character told through flashbacks in a five question interview is awkward at best; don't tell me why I should identify with this character, *show* me.
page 51-52 and we are back to intricate geographies.
OK, there has been nuclear fallout resulting in civil unrest. I get it. I get the tight resources and the hyper-vigilance and the emphasis on moving boundary lines between the haves and have nots. I really don't need history lessons on how this made up future university in this made up future world moved from one made up location to another and why these locations are historically important. I'm not going to retain this information, even if it does later become necessary to the plot.
who remembers the histories of buildings when reading a science fiction novel about a dystopian future world?
not this girl.
clearly this book isn't for me.
maybe it is because I'm american and we don't have much history packed into buildings and physical spaces. maybe it is the translation that isn't conveying to me the intended meaning behind these intricate passages about specific streets and cities and towns.
the fact is, this is the first book in years I am giving up on. I nearly gave in at 25 pages, but urged myself to keep trying. 30-49 at least give some slight hand waving towards character sketches. the background of the main character told through flashbacks in a five question interview is awkward at best; don't tell me why I should identify with this character, *show* me.
page 51-52 and we are back to intricate geographies.
OK, there has been nuclear fallout resulting in civil unrest. I get it. I get the tight resources and the hyper-vigilance and the emphasis on moving boundary lines between the haves and have nots. I really don't need history lessons on how this made up future university in this made up future world moved from one made up location to another and why these locations are historically important. I'm not going to retain this information, even if it does later become necessary to the plot.
who remembers the histories of buildings when reading a science fiction novel about a dystopian future world?
not this girl.
clearly this book isn't for me.
November 3, 2012
Uuuuuuh time travelling - exciting!!! I read this book when I was much younger, so I can't recall all the details right now, but I remember it in a positive way because I found a bank-note used as a bookmark somewhere in the middle. Yay^^
Anyway, the story is set in the not-so-distant future in Europe after a nuclear accident and civiliation is pretty much shit. I remember there were a lot of things like rape in public and gory gang wars and lots of people suffering from horrible mutations, so maybe not everyones cup of tea.
The main character, Domenika Ligrina, is send back in time to collect some plants that are badly needed in the future and unfortunately the good medieval people misjudge her for being a witch - thats the book in short. I think there was a whole lot more going on (whats happening with my memory) like we get to hear first hand from an old astronaut how their mars-mission failed horribly and Dominika has some unsettled business with her father who died in an train accident (that's where the time travelling comes in handy).
I really liked how Jeschke used the concept of time travelling and although I didn't like his vision of the future I think its a pretty realistic one.
I have to reread this one day.
Jeepers, I say that about so many books.
Anyway, the story is set in the not-so-distant future in Europe after a nuclear accident and civiliation is pretty much shit. I remember there were a lot of things like rape in public and gory gang wars and lots of people suffering from horrible mutations, so maybe not everyones cup of tea.
The main character, Domenika Ligrina, is send back in time to collect some plants that are badly needed in the future and unfortunately the good medieval people misjudge her for being a witch - thats the book in short. I think there was a whole lot more going on (whats happening with my memory) like we get to hear first hand from an old astronaut how their mars-mission failed horribly and Dominika has some unsettled business with her father who died in an train accident (that's where the time travelling comes in handy).
I really liked how Jeschke used the concept of time travelling and although I didn't like his vision of the future I think its a pretty realistic one.
I have to reread this one day.
Jeepers, I say that about so many books.
January 3, 2014
I won a free advanced reader copy of this through a Goodreads giveaway. This perhaps would be a better fit for some other reader besides myself. I don't mind dystopic science fiction as a genre/subgenre, however the opening chapters repeatedly feature too much violence and degradation of women for my taste. To be fair to the author, I don't think that he means to condone or endorse the behaviors. However, I'm just not in the mood to read through it to where things might change. And I am tired of the degradation of women being used as the primary vehicle through which a violent and decaying society is conveyed. Other types of violence are explictly depicted in the early chapters, but most of those examples are still inextricably connected with the violence against women (a man is shot, but because he's trying to defend nuns from the baddies; people in the crowd are threatened with violence from gangs, but only if they object to the sexual degradation of a women that they are coerced into witnessing).
I will also concede that it is possible that continued reading of this book might well make up for the opening chapters. However, I couldn't make myself keep going.
I will also concede that it is possible that continued reading of this book might well make up for the opening chapters. However, I couldn't make myself keep going.
December 20, 2013
I was greatly intrigued by the basic description of this post-apocalyptic world resulting from nuclear events, climate change, and resulting breakdown of civil authority, environmental immigration, and related problems.
I was highly disappointed though when I dove into the book and was faced with a nearly incomprehensible morass of characters and lack of story line. By the time I reached about page 60 I was still largely in the dark about where the book was heading. And, call me a prude, but I was extremely put off by the author's use of extremely offensive sexual content used by the local authorities in the book to keep the masses under control.
There is just to little time and there are too many books to invest my reading time in a book like this one.
Pass.
My overall evaluation is 2 stars. The author can write, but the content and story line just don't work for me.
I wanted to like it, but I just couldn't.
I cannot in good conscience recommend this book.
2 stars
I was highly disappointed though when I dove into the book and was faced with a nearly incomprehensible morass of characters and lack of story line. By the time I reached about page 60 I was still largely in the dark about where the book was heading. And, call me a prude, but I was extremely put off by the author's use of extremely offensive sexual content used by the local authorities in the book to keep the masses under control.
There is just to little time and there are too many books to invest my reading time in a book like this one.
Pass.
My overall evaluation is 2 stars. The author can write, but the content and story line just don't work for me.
I wanted to like it, but I just couldn't.
I cannot in good conscience recommend this book.
2 stars
November 18, 2013
Clever set up which revolves some of the inherent problems of a time travel novel. However, there is something unlikable about the characters.
partially-read
March 4, 2021I've decided to not finish this book.
It's 540 pages, and I got to page 284. I think I only got that far because it's what I was reading when the electricity went out for two days. It's not a bad book, but I don't feel like reading it when I feel like reading so I think it's time to give it up.
It had a really interesting concept for time travel. There are these waves of energy that travel up and down the timeline. They use technology to set up a situation where you can ride the wave to the past, and then back to the future. They aren't even sure if this is a natural effect or something developed by people in the future.
External to this the setting is later this century post-apocalyptic, and European-centric. Europe has damned themselves in to protect against sea level rise from climate change. There is also huge political upheaval. In the beginning honestly it was very difficult to figure out what was going on. There were groups fighting, but unclear who they were or why they were fighting, if it's connected to the time travel or not (it's not). The characters aren't terribly well developed at least in really connecting to them. The main character, Dominica, falls into the writing problem of just having stuff happen to her, instead of having a ton of forward pushing agency. There is a lot of detailed description that I just didn't connect with. (for example they would describe a trip turn by turn giving details of the streets and buildings.) Just when I was finding the plot get easy to follow and flowing along, it got weird and confusing again by jumping to another, quiet alien, perspective on another planet millennia in the future.
There is supposed to be an overarching theme that relates to some philosophy of Nicolaus Cusanus and the titular game, which is just a demonstration of the difficulty in prediction the future motion of bodies due to chaotic environmental factors.
Overall the ideas felt original and fascinating but the execution of the narrative just had me alternately bored or confused. It might be worth finishing, but I'm not excited to spend another 256 pages with it to see how it goes.
If you are particularly enthralled by setting in a book, and patient with slow pacing of narrative, this might be a good read for you.
It's 540 pages, and I got to page 284. I think I only got that far because it's what I was reading when the electricity went out for two days. It's not a bad book, but I don't feel like reading it when I feel like reading so I think it's time to give it up.
It had a really interesting concept for time travel. There are these waves of energy that travel up and down the timeline. They use technology to set up a situation where you can ride the wave to the past, and then back to the future. They aren't even sure if this is a natural effect or something developed by people in the future.
External to this the setting is later this century post-apocalyptic, and European-centric. Europe has damned themselves in to protect against sea level rise from climate change. There is also huge political upheaval. In the beginning honestly it was very difficult to figure out what was going on. There were groups fighting, but unclear who they were or why they were fighting, if it's connected to the time travel or not (it's not). The characters aren't terribly well developed at least in really connecting to them. The main character, Dominica, falls into the writing problem of just having stuff happen to her, instead of having a ton of forward pushing agency. There is a lot of detailed description that I just didn't connect with. (for example they would describe a trip turn by turn giving details of the streets and buildings.) Just when I was finding the plot get easy to follow and flowing along, it got weird and confusing again by jumping to another, quiet alien, perspective on another planet millennia in the future.
There is supposed to be an overarching theme that relates to some philosophy of Nicolaus Cusanus and the titular game, which is just a demonstration of the difficulty in prediction the future motion of bodies due to chaotic environmental factors.
Overall the ideas felt original and fascinating but the execution of the narrative just had me alternately bored or confused. It might be worth finishing, but I'm not excited to spend another 256 pages with it to see how it goes.
If you are particularly enthralled by setting in a book, and patient with slow pacing of narrative, this might be a good read for you.
September 3, 2024
The Goodreads review doesn't do the book justice. This Kirk's Review is much better:
I absolutely loved the thought provoking intrigue of a metaphysical, time travel/save the world "game." LOVED it!!!
By 2052, economic and political meltdown threatens the entire planet. A nuclear disaster in Germany has rendered huge swathes of Northern Europe uninhabitable; vital plant species are becoming extinct. Nanotechnology may be creating more problems than it solves. A top-secret research program sponsored by the Vatican—now relocated to Salzburg—known as the Rinascita Project aims to preserve the future by exploiting the past. Time travel, it seems, may be possible using solitons, standing temporal waves that susceptible persons can ride from present to past and back; the kicker, though, is that multiple branching realities result. Botanist Domenica Ligrina, one of the Rinascita recruits, proves extraordinarily sensitive to the solitons, and what she fears are hallucinations may be an ability to sense other realities and other Domenicas. Her destination is the 15th century, where her task will be to gather specimens of the extinct plants. As she studies the period, she becomes fascinated with German philosopher, theologian, jurist and astronomer Nicolaus Cusanus. In the past, meanwhile, Nicolaus receives strange reports of a highly educated witch who claims to have seen the future. And what of the mysterious creature known as the angel? Is he the mathematical genius from the future who may, or did, or will, invent time travel? It’s impossible to summarize how Jeschke weaves both the theory and practice of time travel into rich, vivid overlapping narratives and characters that appear, collapse, reappear and metamorphose much as the alternate realities do.
I absolutely loved the thought provoking intrigue of a metaphysical, time travel/save the world "game." LOVED it!!!
February 17, 2020
This was one of the earliest books added to my GR TBR so I'm glad I took it on. This is a lengthy, dense sci-fi and while the overall plot was enticing, the execution was not for me. Because of the way it's structured, readers know early on that the main character, Domenica, is going to make travel to the 15th century and be accused of witchcraft. However, she doesn't even begin practicing time travel until after page 400. When she finally gets where she's going, her tenure there is too swift. There is a lot of (clunky, irrelevant) build up with not a lot of pay off. The ending is so small compared to the world Jeschke attempted to build. Taken at face value, this book is a two-star, but my reading experience of having to push through to get to a good spot is definitely a one-star. It's too bad because I can see the considerable effort put into writing and translating this book.
June 16, 2017
I read the first 75 pages. There was a ton of history/facts and a lot less character development/world building. Or maybe there was and it was lost in the facts.
I liked the first three pages a lot which showed people in the middle ages encountering tech from the present. And I imagine the book gets back to that. But it is taking so long to get there. After the first 75 pages, the main character has applied for the secret job we know will become about time travel. She hasn't gotten it yet let alone learned about anything useful.
I suspect I'd like the later part of the book. But I don't see myself getting that far.
I liked the first three pages a lot which showed people in the middle ages encountering tech from the present. And I imagine the book gets back to that. But it is taking so long to get there. After the first 75 pages, the main character has applied for the secret job we know will become about time travel. She hasn't gotten it yet let alone learned about anything useful.
I suspect I'd like the later part of the book. But I don't see myself getting that far.
August 22, 2025
I understand people say I have no right to give a book a one star rating if I DNF it. But I don’t believe that. If I’m not enjoying a book, I have a right not to continue it. And if I don’t continue it that means I didn’t like it. So please don’t harass me and say I have to finish it first before giving it a one star because that’s not true. For me this book was a little too sexual and graphic in that area. The scenes weren’t too bad but I’m only on page 50 and sexual acts were brought up like 10 times and that’s too much for me. I don’t like reading that stuff so I chose to DNF it. I really wanted to continue but I felt conviction to not read this anymore.
July 10, 2019
Wow what a disappointment. Consider the kudos this book has from authors like Modesitt, Morrow, and Benford, I expected so much. My bad, expecting so much. I kept wondering if the authors supplying kudos read the same book I did. Slow going, didn’t care about the characters, too many things happened without precedent (seemed more like convenient conveyances the author dropped in).
Sorry, no.
Sorry, no.
October 16, 2018
I didn't hate it..but I didn't love it either...
November 6, 2015
I have long had an interest in Nicholas of Cusa, so I was not slow in reaching up and taking this book down off the shelf in a local bookshop. I found that it was a science fiction novel about time travel involving Nicholas of Cusa by a German writer acclaimed as a grandmaster of science fiction. It all sounded good, so I bought the book. I do not know how people get to be grandmasters of science fiction because Jeschke can hardly write at all, being one of those authors who seem to believe that if you pile up enough descriptive terms in a description you have described something, be it a person or a background or a train ride. The book starts off with how the planet is in a dire state because scientific experimentation has created an ecological catastrophe. Weirdly, and Jeshke seems entirely oblivious to the lunacy of this, the general response is to perform more science to save the situation. This makes everything even worse than it was before, with the possible consequence of the extinction of all life on earth, with the result that more science is called for . . . This is bizarre. It is as if a religious program that rendered society dysfunctional had to be applied with redoubled force in order to save society! Jeschke doesn't seem to have a clue. However, despite the monumental boringness of the book, I ploughed on in the hope that there would be something worth reading about Cusanus. This was my last hope in reading the book to the end. But my hope was utterly, utterly in vain. Jeschke knows as little about Cusanus as about anything else. This book is a disaster.
April 8, 2015
Noch nie wurde in Deutschland ein SF-Roman so sehnlichst erwartet wie dieser Band einer der besten deutschen SF-Autoren, seit Jahrzehnten gab es Gerüchte um diesen Roman, es gab eine 1981 veröffentlichte Kurzgeschichte Jeschkes "Dokumente über den Zustand des Landes vor der Verheerung", die als Ausgangspunkt zu diesem Roman dienen konnte.
Das "Cusanus-Spiel" ist ein stilistisch brilliantes, vielschichtiges SF-Meisterwerk, das, übersprühend von Ideen, ein Europa in naher Zukunft zeigt, das in einem katastrophalen Zustand sich befindet, das Kernkraftwerk Cattenon ist explodiert und hat Mitteleuropa verstrahlt, im Süden Europas sind Völkerwanderungen aus dem Norden Afrikas angekommen und vertreiben die Eingeborenen nach Norden.
In dieser Zeit endecken Wissenschaftler das Geheimnis der Zeitreise, ohne die Technik, die dahinter steckt zu verstehen, offenbar haben Wesen, die am Ende des Zeitstroms leben, Möglichkeiten installiert, die den Menschen das Reisen in der Zeit gestattet...
Das "Cusanus-Spiel" ist ein stilistisch brilliantes, vielschichtiges SF-Meisterwerk, das, übersprühend von Ideen, ein Europa in naher Zukunft zeigt, das in einem katastrophalen Zustand sich befindet, das Kernkraftwerk Cattenon ist explodiert und hat Mitteleuropa verstrahlt, im Süden Europas sind Völkerwanderungen aus dem Norden Afrikas angekommen und vertreiben die Eingeborenen nach Norden.
In dieser Zeit endecken Wissenschaftler das Geheimnis der Zeitreise, ohne die Technik, die dahinter steckt zu verstehen, offenbar haben Wesen, die am Ende des Zeitstroms leben, Möglichkeiten installiert, die den Menschen das Reisen in der Zeit gestattet...
July 30, 2017
The Cusanus Game, by Wolfgang Jeschke, is a book with almost too many ideas in it. It was as though Jeschke had made not of all the possible questions that time travel brings up and put them all in one book. There are the practical and technological questions of time travel. There are the psychological questions about coping with time travel and alternate realities. Above all, however, are the philosophical questions. Chiefly, I think this book is about whether or not one should meddle with a reality’s timeline. Small fish make big ripples, after all...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
Read
January 7, 2014There is an interesting, *really* interesting, premise underlying this novel. I can't think of a time when I haven't wanted to like a book--but yet could not stand a book--so very much. It's redundant, the female characters are painfully two-dimensional, did I mention the redundancies? Yes, I did? And dear god, all the extra words. Oh, and redundancies.
Also, as a woman, I can't say I've ever thought much about the sensation of sweat between my breasts. I think, "Damn, it's hot out" or "I'm sweating." I sure as hell don't think about it twice in, say, fifteen minutes. Not even jogging in Florida in August. Nope.
Also, as a woman, I can't say I've ever thought much about the sensation of sweat between my breasts. I think, "Damn, it's hot out" or "I'm sweating." I sure as hell don't think about it twice in, say, fifteen minutes. Not even jogging in Florida in August. Nope.
September 17, 2014
I liked the premise of this book, bleak dystopia, time travel, ripple effects. Unfortunately, it just didn't all come together. The pace was glacial, which was a big part of the problem. There were parts that were quite exciting and interesting but they were followed by long passages where nothing interesting was happening. Edited a different way it may have been more successful, but as it is, it's only so-so. 2.5 stars
I was provided an advance copy of this book.
I was provided an advance copy of this book.
April 13, 2014
I had a really hard time getting into this novel and then it became to struggle to finish it. But I'm glad I did. If you can 'buy' into the premesis of it, then it's not only a great story but you'll encounter fantastic writing. However, it's hard to do. Also the translation seems to be almost flawless, which made me really want to finish the novel- purely to enjoy the great work of the translator.
April 17, 2016
Enjoyed this book a ton. Jeschke put in a ton of research and manages to infuse philosophy and physics, Middle-Ages politics and the mechanics of witch-burning, all without losing joy in his subject or the pace of the plot. This book did for me today what Michael Ende's "The Night of Wishes" did for me when I was 9: blend humor and magic and good humor with a bright intelligence that left me thinking for a while.
December 20, 2013
I received a promotional copy, and frankly, I just couldn't get into this book. The formatting made it impossible to read. There were gaps with missing sentences, and it was just disappointing.
Interesting premise though.
Interesting premise though.
November 19, 2013
One of the oddest books I think I've ever read. Took much too long to get to the point, then had rabbit trails everywhere. Not sure it translated from German very well. Glad I won it, would not have wished to buy it.
February 20, 2014
I must echo the voice of other reviews in saying that I never really felt invested in the characters. It felt very dispassionate about their fates, which personally I do not mind.
Just do not go into this expecting a page-turner. It isn't.
Just do not go into this expecting a page-turner. It isn't.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews