Reviews for Polystom: Two Universes, One Reality

The average rating for Polystom: Two Universes, One Reality based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-01-03 00:00:00 Ted Bence Hmmm. This was a strange one, and in the end a little unsatisfying. It starts with a great idea- that there is an atmosphere between the planets of a solar system, and that people can fly propeller planes between them. The system is run on a feudal sort of model and there is a war going on where the serf types have risen up against the rulers of one of the inner worlds. Adam Roberts is a diva of interesting ideas and cool concepts (see his book Stone for a great example) Unfortunately the main character of Polystom is an unlikable dick, and the story moves from the interesting air-linked feudal worlds to what is essentially an extended world-war-one-in-the-trenches narrative which, while engaging, is not as compelling. Added to this the final reveal and justification for the strange physics of Polystom's universe - which I won't spoil here - is a fairly old idea which left me a little cold. Sigh. This is the third or fourth book I've read in a row, by an author whose other works I've loved, that has been a middling three stars. I'm getting deja vu from typing 'this isn't as good as (insert author)'s other book (insert title). For this one Polystom isn't as interesting as Salt, or as good as Stone, which is my favorite of Adam Robert's works.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-05-08 00:00:00 Angel Manuel Castillo [ in the final fifty or so pages, it is revealed that the whole world might be nothing more than a simulation inside a vastly powerful computer. Or not. I can imagine that if I had read this when I was much younger, and had not previously read, for example, Nick Bostrom's take on the simulation argument, I might have found this mind-blowing. But as it was, I couldn't help thinking it was, for the most part, a bit of a cheap high-concept add-on. I'm not sure it really put much of a new spin on the story told in the preceding three parts of the book. Did it really make much of a difference to what had gone before that, perhaps, none of it was real? Is there some kind of meta-narrative point being made about the fact that what I'd just read was a work of fiction within a work of fiction? Maybe, but I can't help thinking that this late twist felt like little more than a thought experiment tacked on to the end of the story. (hide spoiler)]