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Comment by mullingitover | Hacker News Reader

I loved/hated the books. I made it through the first two, and I loved parts about them, but I couldn't get myself emotionally invested in the characters enough to drag myself through the third. Maybe something was lost in translation. There are some great plot twists that I really enjoyed.

I'm hoping the series goes through the third book, because based on my reading of the plot summary that's where things get really crazy.

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I had the same experience, after some time spent thinking about why I agree with your point about translation, but I also think it's the author's style. In many ways it's a series about big concepts, about communicating scale, and a series of fascinating events... but not really about people. I remember every story beat, but none of the characters except for the one who (to avoid spoilers I'll phrase this a bid oddly) tells the 'fairy tales' later in the books.

I would recommend this series to anyone and everyone, but it's a great idea more than a great read.

I think you naled it in the head. I would say the book is quite familiar to Asimov's writing in the Foundation trilogy.

Trying to explain and explore concepts where the Characters are just talking carriers of ideas. It's b Not everybody's cup of tea but I loved it.

Same here, it's one of the few works of fiction that gave me repeated bouts of goose-bump riddled shocks. I think it's also an amazing tool to teach people about the absurd scale of the universe we inhabit, and just how unfathomably small the scale of our everyday lives is in comparison.

Plus it presented interesting mysteries, and the payoffs were huge. For that I can forgive the style of writing you described!

Yeah, every time I've attempted to read these the translated prose is really tough to enjoy.

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