Anathem

I figured out why I don't like the endings of Stephenson's novels. Like Tolkien, the main work here isn't the story, but the Universe. I have to say that this universe is certainly as compelling as Middle Earth, if not more. If he wanted, there are certainly a few more novels that could be written around the Mathic World.

This book was slow to get rolling, but once I started reading, I couldn't put it down.

If you're about to embark on this behemoth (890 pages), don't forget about the glossary in the back. I didn't realize it was there until I finished. I had to keep going back and look at terms as they were defined. The Calcas at the end are also a lot of fun.

I was sad as this book came to an end. I'll miss the characters and I'll miss the world and Stephenson built around them. I'll definitely read this one more than once.

He has seen far. His reach did not exceed his grasp. Let not your failings in reaching be a judgment of his vision. Do you know of Saunt Pythagoras, or of Saunt Clifford and Saunt Riemann? Read the library leaves of Saunt Einstein and Godel before passing judgment or the Lorites will plane you! But what of this narrative praxis? A praxis within the thousanders or within us all? You must illuminate further Fraa Stephenson or the Procians will have your liver. The bifurcation of narratives near the singularity of the thousander leads one to expect....?
Read this book! If you are a fan you will expect the first 100 or so pages to be a foundation of the story. Some of the words seem made up BUT they are not. If you don't believe me wiki "praxis" I never used the glossary (not yet anyway...might do it and read the book again). The logic in the book is impeccable and the paradigm is a delicious mind morsel. For those of you who gave it anything less than a five .....either read some Greek thought and non-euclidean geometry and get with the program or may the ring valers visit you in your offline narrative.
Regards.

This is one of the best Sci Fi books I've read in a long time.

Some fascinating stuff here, and a really interesting and detailed world, but the "theorics" got very old and tedious. This could easily have been split into 2 books, one being a 'theorics companion' for those truly interested in multicosm philosophy and metaphysics.

When not bogged down in extended theorics conversations, the story is excellent and quite entertaining.

I'm a big fan (except for Baroque Cycle, which I just couldn't get into) and hope for more SF from Neal; such a gifted writer!

Short Summary:

I did enjoy the Baroque Cycle. I was glad to see this story came to a conclusion in a single book, as I dislike having to wait a long time between books. I enjoyed this book less than the Baroque Cycle, mostly because the ending payoff was kind of flat after reading all the "math theory" to get there. That being said, I did enjoy the adventure of the main character "Raz" but in my opinion I've enjoyed Stephenson's other books more.

Details:

Stephenson went out of his way to make a different universe but everything is translated into English equivalent. A rabbit for instance would be a similar creature to our rabbit. Then there are made up words or words that have different meanings. Each chapter starts with a definition of a word during the different ages, usually that word will be in the chapter. Nothing new from that angle.

There are a lot of dialogs between the math guys explaining the concepts in the book. I read through these, I couldn't really repeat anything about them a week later. It does somewhat help with the plot/concepts in the book, but I thought this was a little over done at points.

I wish there was more chapters about the visitors in the book, it was glossed over at various points. But the point of view of the book was from the main character and he wouldn't know much about them... only what he was told. I guess we might see another book about that?

Outside of the hard sci-fi, this is a story of a guy put into extraordinary circumstances, and he has a fun adventure. During this he gets to see the world and we can explore the world through his eyes as he experiences it. This was an enjoyable part of the book.

There are a handful of characters in the book that are Raz's friends or relatives. Some are standard cookie cutter characters, others are flushed out in more detail. They are there to help move the story forward.