My brief but enthusiastic review of Kim Stanley Robinson's masterful alternate history novel, "The Years of Rice and Salt". Done for Toronto Public Library's 2010 "Keep Toronto Reading" site.
Years of Rice and Salt is far and away the best thing KSR has ever written; it's a very classic instance of an author doing what I call 'punching above their weight class;' Ender's Game is another good example of that. 'Years' is a hell of a lot better than either his Mars trilogy (merely 'good') or his climate-change trilogy (yawn-inducing); everything just ended up clicking in it. It's like reading an SM Stirling novel, only more polished and in-depth.
I saw this in the bookstore today and almost got it.....wish I had heard this review prior.
njabulani 1 year ago
Years of Rice and Salt is far and away the best thing KSR has ever written; it's a very classic instance of an author doing what I call 'punching above their weight class;' Ender's Game is another good example of that. 'Years' is a hell of a lot better than either his Mars trilogy (merely 'good') or his climate-change trilogy (yawn-inducing); everything just ended up clicking in it. It's like reading an SM Stirling novel, only more polished and in-depth.
Murcushio 2 years ago