Origamy

by Rachel Armstrong

High concept science fiction adventure written by maverick scientist Rachel Armstong (currently a professor at Newcastle university), featuring Mobius, a member of an extended family circus troupe that has the ability to travel through spacetime using a technology that can draw fundamental cosmic threads from the ether. They use this ability to keep the universe in balance and the fabric of firmament healthy, but something is awry. A threat which they barely defeated in ages past is threatening to break through into our universe again, and no one knows if they can stop it a secon time...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

Published April 3, 2018

About the author

Dr. Rachel Armstrong is a writer and lecturer on the future of human society. She regularly appears on television review and chat shows to talk about her ideas and the implications of current technological trends on our culture.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little like Invisible Cities, but in space. A little hard to follow in places though there is a loose thread of narrative.

There is so much beautiful prose that I couldn’t stop highlighting. I enjoyed the weaving of scientific topics and fiction which can get detailed at times.

Not the easiest of reads but very interesting.

[Steen Ledet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scintillatingly apocalyptic prose spins a tale of posthuman metamorphosis.

[david james · Rating 2 out of 5]

I haven't DNF'd a book for a long time, probably over 30 years, but this book tested my staying power to the limit!

Without doubt the author is an extremely knowledgeable scientist who knows her stuff (according to the 'about the author' bit at the end of the book she is a Professor of Experimental Architecture and now 'designs experiments that explore the transition between inert and living matter and considers their implications for life beyond our solar system'.)

However, I can't help thinking that a publisher worth his (or her) salt could have shaped this into a much better novel.

The story itself includes themes of the manipulation of spacetime, the symbiosis of hosts and parasites, the metamorphosis from living to dead, the role of micro organisms, dark matter, and many other scientific concepts (probably too many, if truth be told), while centering on a family of 'circus performers' who are almost godlike in what seems to be a future post scarcity society.

The book is billed as SF, but it has more of a fantasy feel about it as, although it contains many scientific facts, it doesn't try to explain the fantastic events that seem like magic to us.

I do appreciate and respect, however, that the author has tried to tell a story in a different style than the norm, and I don't necessarily think that this is where the story fails. In fact, if you can get through the first half of the book, the second half reads a lot better and is more comprehensible.

I think where the book fails is that wordy, over descriptive and often unintelligible parts of the story aren't really compensated for by the sections of beautiful prose that are present, and the ending isn't a big enough prize for the struggle to get there. There are also too many grammatical errors and mistakes for my liking, although that seems to be getting par for the course in these times where only the best selling authors are allocated a decent editor and publisher.

The book is a beautiful limited edition of 100 numbered and signed copies (mine being number 100) so it's worth keeping for that alone. But for now I'm patting myself on the back for getting to the end of it. Of course, this means that parts of the book will probably stay with me for a very long time so in that respect the author has succeeded.

[Steven Ward · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite an obviously knowlegeable author and a heap of intriguing ideas introduced, this book adds up to nothing. It’s a disorienting reading experience with no meaningful narrative arc, dumb dialogue, and horrific prose. Despite the author’s exhibitionist use of a wide-ranging vocabulary, the book’s metaphors are anachronistic (relative to the time/setting portrayed) and it’s riddled with lazy use of out-of-place idiomatic language. Just plain sloppy writing. It’s the kind of book that makes one wonder what compelled the author to write it and who read it and decided it was worth releasing into the wild.

The only redeeming elements (thus the one star instead of none) are the few, scattered vignettes informed by the author’s broad scientific curiosity and impatient creativity that offer intriguing thought experiments. It’s not enough.

[Maurizio Codogno · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found very difficult to go through this book. Armstrong knows a lot of things and she is eager to explain them at length; but these detours add nothing to the story which remained mostly unclear to me. The history of the circus family, the main character Mobius (with no umlaut) and the menace to our universe seem to run in parallel without any real intermixing. Towards the end of the book the plot seems to thicken a bit, but this was not enough at least for me.

[Ansate]

I couldn't finish it. I made it about 1/3 of the way through, but it's not for me.[return][return]It's a giant exposition dump of an amazing vision of interconnected space time and travel through it being akin to stitches and weaving and acrobatics! but but but, the characters just feel like sinks or sources for exposition instead of people for me to care about, and I just can't do it. It puts me to sleep.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am conflicted, there’s honestly a lot to like about this book. The prose is good, the weave of narrative, science and science fiction is risky and often pays off, and there’s some fantastic concepts in play. My advice to a reader would be; “don’t read the last chapter”. It leaves it up to your imagination but to me it was a very trope ending that took away a big chunk of the enjoyment of the world building.

[Chris Tower · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange book. The language is like poetry in many cases. There's a great deal of science wrapped in this high-concept origamy puzzle, but it's lacking many of the conventions of other novels. If unconventional is your jam, then there's a lot to like in this dazzling panoply of a book.

[Downward · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a book of creeping weirdness, about origamists who fold spacetime to create new realities, engaging in battle with spiders who spit dark matter out like venom. it's a little overwritten and way too expository, but there are moments of depth and creativity in here that really shine.

[Nic · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a bit baffled, tbh.

[Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t think I’m clever enough to have read this book. Lyrically beautiful and evocative but the story requires some real concentration.

[Neil Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of imagination, but *really* needed a much better publisher/editor