AlsoPaisleyCat on Nostr: npub1ey8ly…krwac Appreciate the review, and it largely aligns with my overall sense ...
npub1ey8ly3gusf4pxhckc0jsh8t7k7andh537txqx38tsjmwwjz7n92qpkrwac (npub1ey8…rwac)
Appreciate the review, and it largely aligns with my overall sense of the balance across the trilogy. A few observations however.
- I always give the middle book in a trilogy some grace to be intentionally incomplete, darker and more confusing. Often they only can be fully appreciated on a reread (or rewatch) once you’ve seen it through to the end. I really believe that the middle book in this one meets that test. It set the stage, and Revenant Gun landed the series.
- It’s interesting to me to see a review from someone who omits mention of the math, because for me it’s the playfulness with math concepts, particularly topologies, that’s one of the outstanding features of this trilogy. It’s also what puts it firmly in the scifi category despite its fantasy and Korean mythological elements.
Mathematical scifi is a subgenre that’s quite esoteric since physics and biology seem to dominate, and is often limited to short fiction.
We’re now seeing some space operas where there are attempts by enemies to impose the physics of other universes (e.g., Tchaikovsky’s Final Architect series, Lee & Miller’s Liaden Universe books) but alternate physics generally implies different underlying mathematical topologies which is what Lee has directly taken on in this “Machineries of Empire” trilogy. To see the ‘imagine a world in which’ postulating of theoretical math brought to a not just a novel but a trilogy is really something to celebrate.
Appreciate the review, and it largely aligns with my overall sense of the balance across the trilogy. A few observations however.
- I always give the middle book in a trilogy some grace to be intentionally incomplete, darker and more confusing. Often they only can be fully appreciated on a reread (or rewatch) once you’ve seen it through to the end. I really believe that the middle book in this one meets that test. It set the stage, and Revenant Gun landed the series.
- It’s interesting to me to see a review from someone who omits mention of the math, because for me it’s the playfulness with math concepts, particularly topologies, that’s one of the outstanding features of this trilogy. It’s also what puts it firmly in the scifi category despite its fantasy and Korean mythological elements.
Mathematical scifi is a subgenre that’s quite esoteric since physics and biology seem to dominate, and is often limited to short fiction.
We’re now seeing some space operas where there are attempts by enemies to impose the physics of other universes (e.g., Tchaikovsky’s Final Architect series, Lee & Miller’s Liaden Universe books) but alternate physics generally implies different underlying mathematical topologies which is what Lee has directly taken on in this “Machineries of Empire” trilogy. To see the ‘imagine a world in which’ postulating of theoretical math brought to a not just a novel but a trilogy is really something to celebrate.