Beyond Reality discussion

Share your thoughts here about When the Sparrow Falls by Neil Sharpson. Spoilers ahead!

I was fascinated by the mirroring of our current societies.

This is a well crafted story in a well crafted world that felt small and mean and depressing. It's basically a Cold War spy novel set in the future, and I'm sorry to say that humanity hasn't learned much from it's past. There are some very human moments that are welcomed in the midst of the cold machinery of the state and an insistence on ideological purity that is just an excuse for persecution. It was perhaps too realistic to be an enjoyable read, but I appreciate the skillfulness of the storytelling.

Political thrillers aren't usually my favorite genre, and this one was a little too political to be my cup of tea. But it was well written and I'm certainly glad I read it - I enjoyed the characters even when I had a hard time keeping track of the various factions and their aims.

I was proud of myself for immediately suspecting that there were chips hidden in the zodiac figures. Fairly obviously predictable, but I sometimes miss the obviously predictable things because I read so fast, so I always pat myself on the back when I actually catch something :D

Let's start with the likes - the worldbuilding is great. I can see how the Caspian Republic could come to be, warts and all. All the ethical questions that the New Humanists have are things that we'll likely have to wrestle with in years to came.

The protagonist's everyman qualities are established nicely, and the plot is (for most of the book) dynamic and moving forward at a fast pace - the bulk of the book happens inside two days where everything happens.

However, in the second half, it becomes quite uneven, with multiple-chapter flashbacks, and stories within stories. Also, I have a distinct feeling that everything after South's imprisonment should have been an epilogue. Feels like a first novel from a writer that I'd like to read more from.