Science Fiction Aficionados discussion

This month, for the theme "Mindbenders," we're discussing Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief, which won the Locus Award for Best First Novel in 2011.

I'm about 200 pages in so far, and it's certainly a mindbender - what do you folks think?

Still working on it, about 50 pages so far...

I downloaded mine but havent started yet....

I'm almost 200 pages in too and I'm really enjoying it. Cyberpunk is a challenging genre for me and I don't know always know what's going on, but I still like it. The story is bizarre and it keeps me hooked. I've been tearing through it and wouldn't be surprised if I finish in the next couple of days.

I'm not sure I always know what's going on either - sometimes I think the author errs a bit too much on keeping too much mysterious, but yeah, I enjoyed the whole thing. And I found the resolution to the mystery both surprising and satisfying.

I have it on my bookshelf, signed by the author, but I haven't been able to start it yet. December is a bad month for this, since I usually use the Christmas time to re-read some old favourites.

I think I'm about to start but I ran across this and thought some might find it interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary...

Man, is there anything you can't find on Wikipedia?

That's very helpful, Banner! Thank you!

As a big fan of Dead Souls, I love the term 'gogol' pirates...lol

I just finished and although I'm still foggy on a lot of what happened, I really liked it.

Thanks for the link Banner, it was helpful.

Yeah, some of the ending I think I got, other parts I'm not entirely sure about. What did you get/not get? (We can spoiler-tag those parts of the discussions.)

I'm reading it and it's a bit disjointed. I just finished the chocolate section and since I love chocolate, I kept reading. I'm hoping things will fit together, but this author is really making the reader work. Right now with the holidays it's hard to fit in unless it's a compelling read.

Im very intrigued with these points of time as money, and the quiet

It's definitely a challenging one, Sheron. The author throws you in at the deep end, and doesn't explain too much. It's definitely worth sticking with, though, if you can find the time!

Yeah, the whole society of the Oubliette, based on time as currency, and privacy as an inherent right - and the Quiet as the cost of the previous two, is fascinating.

(view spoiler)[And I found the gun at the end, that spent the time/lives of le Flambeur's friends as the cost of shooting it, gutwrenching. (hide spoiler)]

Sheron wrote: "I'm reading it and it's a bit disjointed. I just finished the chocolate section and since I love chocolate, I kept reading. I'm hoping things will fit together, but this author is really making th..."
Sheron, I had the very same impression - like a postmodern multiple perspective non linear narrative that just wasn't quite going right. After the midpoint it clears up considerably, even becomes a page turner.

Just finished the book - challenging(it'd never be a beach read!) but still enjoyable. It seems to me that the author may have deliberately used the uncertainty (changes in narrative style, unclear whether segments were past or present, totally foreign social structures) to FORCE us to feel displaced and uncomfortable - and if so, it worked! I suppose a book written by a string theory physicist would have to be a stretch! Definitely left me wanting to spend more time with the characters, and that's what I generally read for anyway.

Maggie wrote: "Im very intrigued with these points of time as money, and the quiet"

Like all good sci fi, the ideas that make us think about OUR reality are the ones that stick most. It seems to me that my own life comes down to managing time, and while I don't "spend" time per se to buy a meal I do spend time at work which then gets turned into money. Time is the one thing we have the least of....

(view spoiler)[The recurring images of prison and control - at first explicit, then in terms of LeFlambeau's bond to Miele, and then hidden bondage to time and to social control - was pretty compelling. (hide spoiler)]

It was indeed a challenging read! Disjointed is a good description of about the first half of the book but it was also worth sticking with it when it all started to fall together! I was left with a zillion questions, such as why was the thief in prison in the first place, and what is the story of how the Oubliette came to be. Glad I read it.

Mindbender is the right term. I finished reading and felt like someone had made an origami out of my mind and the shape wasn't certain.

Obviously, there's a sequel. So many things still left unexplained or unclear and unfinished.

The reviews on the back are amazing..."The strongest debut in years." Kirkus. What makes me mad, as a writer, is that it breaks a lot of the rules you hear for writing. They tell me I have to hook my reader in the first five pages, and patently that isn't so. Just make them confused and bewildered and they'll read on to make sense of things.

Now, I'm a fan of Gibson..so it's not the cyberpunk bit that I object to, and yes, it was interesting in spots. It's the overwhelming 'isn't it fabulous' that has me scratching my head. Although Dave mentioned some interesting points about prison and control. Time and money.

I still not quite finished, but I am certainly finding it mind-bending. Almost like I have to re-read it to understand! I am intrigued enough that I will, but wish I'd had a few more clues

Yeah, that was my main complaint with the book too, Maggie. It felt sometimes like he was so comfortable with the universe he'd created that he forgot that we don't know it as well as he does. I don't mind working at it, but there were things that felt more like oversight than mystery.

Which isn't to say I didn't like it! I did - I just wanted a little more help negotiating this fictional universe.