Should You Read THE QUANTUM THIEF by Hannu Rajaniemi?
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- čas přidán 21. 07. 2024
- The Jean le Flambeur trilogy is a mind-bending hard science fiction series that pushes the boundaries of human imagination and comprehension. These novels have been met with polarizing reactions so in this review I do my best to share what kind of readers I think might enjoy them.
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00:00 - The Jean le Flambeur Trilogy
00:58 - Language
03:06 - Science
04:27 - Characters and Themes
05:28 - The Quantum Thief Rating
05:53 - Sequels
06:22 - The Fractal Prince
07:47 - The Causal Angel
#ScienceFiction #Books
I love this channel. Thank you for the suggestion!
I appreciate the kind words Milton! Hope you enjoy!
It sounds like it's right up my alley, I'll have to check it out. And I loved your experimental music analogy!
Haha thanks! It’s a wild ride but I loved it once I connected with it.
Thanks for this. Haven't actually heard of it. The concepts intrigue me
You’re welcome! I hope you like it if you give it a try.
Great review! And I love this series. :)
Thanks! I’m glad you loved it too!
Great review on this. I've never heard of it, sounds interesting.
Thanks! I hope you like it if you pick it up!
Perfect description, didn't always follow the words, but I understood the pages. I really like that one society's idea of privacy, and how they did not want to be found by the Sobornost society. As hard sci-fi writer I was not turned off by the super-advanced tech. Other times references to earth or jupiter being destroyed by 'something' in the past as just accepted even if the technology wasn't outlined. Best most-recent Euro-Sci-Fi I've read.
Awesome! I’m glad you had a similar experience!
Great review on complete series, i've been thinking about getting first book but i was putting it away as i was afraid it can get too hard scifi for me, but now I'll get it for sure, i recently finished reading Spin and love it, i believe you made video on it, now sure if I should read next book Axis, currently reading Recursion.
Thanks! Spin is one of my favourites so I’m glad you enjoyed it. I haven’t read Axis. I hope you enjoy Recursion and The Quantum Thief!
Quantum Thief totally renewed my faith in the future of humanity. Uploaded humans will make AIs look like pocket calculators.
Special mention for the show-don't-tell writing style, there's very little exposition. I gathered that the Sobornost seven were the first humans to go through successful full scale Moravec upload, and shot years ahead the rest of humanity in days... took over the whole solar system, Dysoned The Sun into a Matryoshka brain and let a part of humanity to survive _in the wild_ as some kind of stratagem.
The _Transhuman Space_ setting for GURPS is another one of my favorites, less hard-core and more down-to-Earth. I've been gathering their Transhuman Sci-fi sources into a banging collection.
Magically, my copy of _The Fractal Prince_ has been signed by the author. I have no idea how that happened, maybe he pre-signed copies for the Helsinki Academic Bookstore shelves?
That’s so cool! I’m sure that’s a treasured part of your collection!
@@WordsinTime Truly. I'm also very happy with the copy of _Nanotime_ by Bart Kosko of the _fuzzy logic_ fame, and well-preserved copy of _The Seedling Stars_ by James Blish, the oldest book in the GURPS book sources.
Have you read any Robert Anton Wilson? He's well worth a try.
@@maintaint3003 Blish is on my TBR, I’ll have to look up Wilson!
Exactly what I found while reading it language wise. I didn't really get the sentences but followed the whole idea or themes.
Nice, I'm glad you had a similar experience with the terminology and story.
Glad you liked the whole series in the end! Maybe it has a few flaws here and there but it's a crazy ride all the way 😁 I hope that the rest of booktube picks it up as well as it is definitely worthy of a bit more exposure :)
Thanks! It might not suit everyone but more people should give it a try!
Ah, glad you enjoyed the trilogy :). Sounds like we broadly agree on how it landed too (I maybe liked "The Fractal Prince" _slightly_ more than yourself). Personally that sort of idea packed, slightly "ahead of you" kind of feeling is _exactly_ what i'm (usually) looking for in sci-fi. Could be time for a revisit.
(it can be a fine line between "slightly ahead of you" and "totally lost" of course so I guess I get why it maybe divides opinion a bit)
Haha yes that’s a good way to describe it!
Read half of the first book and absolutely loved it!
I’m so glad! Hope you enjoy the rest!
The 4th or 5th time I read The Quantum Thief it turned into a completely different story; my understanding of the concepts, terminology and characters had become deeper and deeper until it sort of transcended itself. All of the books did this for me; the whole series is IME very rewarding for revisits (over a dozen now).
That’s amazing! I look forward to re-reading it!
Ha! I came here mistaking this for a video about The Quantum Magician by Kunsken. This sounds cool too though!
Haha I have read The Quantum Magician and I liked it but I liked The Quantum Thief more!
I had gotten 100 pages in on The Quantum Thief and decided to start over. The second time I was accustomed to the language and started to get into the story. Went ahead and read all three books. Very inventive! My take is that it's a transhumanist fantasy.
I’m glad it ended up working for you!
wow u gave the first book a 9.5 don't like reading trilogies much anymore because of the time commitment so like that these books are short also like authors with a strong math or science background even though I struggled with college algebra haven't heard the name before but will google them always enjoy your enthusiasm ⚛😀
It was my surprise of the year! Hope you enjoy it too!
I read it! Bought them! It is an incredible story! I wish it is filmed or made into TV series.... Simply an incredible trilogy!!!
Read it twice, definitely a third time is coming... hehe ;)
Haha I’m glad you love it too! A TV series would be wild!
@@WordsinTime Unfortunately, there is no official website, any kind of a more strong marketing, etc., hence the low interest (in my opinion)
Not to mention that there is not even a fan mail to the author, which I find strange and somewhat well, unfare, as there are many fans! And a simple way of contact with the author is not such a drama decision or happening... :P :P
It was interesting seeing Baxter's Ring and Stross's Accelerando mentioned here. I finished Ring two weeks ago, found it wonderful writing and a most imaginative story. However, Accelerando this week quickly became like walking through porridge, mostly because the crazy words that he makes up makes the story almost incomprehensible. I was about to quit on the book but decided to read some reviews. Once I'd read some info on how the whole book is constructed and where it was headed I could go on. So I'll finish it after all. And the next book already in my ereader for after Accelerando? Yep, The Quantum Thief.
A thing I've learnt to do between hard scifi books is to read a Terry Pratchett novel to clear my head. 🙂
I gave Ring a 9 and Accelerando a 7, so I didn’t enjoy Accelerando quite as much as the other books mentioned but it was very ambitious. I hope you like The Quantum Thief!
I'm actually halfway through this book now, and I'm loving it.
Awesome! I’m glad you’re having a good time with it!
This is the rare sci-fi book series where I had to look at its Wikipedia page to keep up
It’s a bit of work but it’s worth it!
@@WordsinTimefor sure, I thoroughly enjoyed it just harder to follow (specially the second and third book) than your usual sci-fi book
This trilogy being older is certainly an advantage if you reckon it’s one to read to close succession - they’re all published and hopefully accessible - but, as ever, it’ll come down to when is it going to bubble up my TBR priority list.
The first one stands well on its own, but if you want to read the trilogy I think it helps to read them together. When you’re in the mood for some crazy sci-fi it doesn’t get much crazier than this haha
I’ve read only the first book, and I feel like I need to read it again in order to continue with the series.
That’s probably a good idea, as it’s a detailed world. Hope you enjoy!
Yes. That’s the only answer.
That's a good answer Richelle!
Iain m banks was apparently a big influence on him
Interesting! I have read 4 Culture books and didn’t notice the connection myself but that’s cool!
So, better as an audiobook or a reading experience?
I haven’t tried audiobooks so I can only speak to the paperback experience, which was challenging but rewarding!
@@WordsinTime It sounds like the audiobook experience might be problematic, due to the language.
4:18 oh no, WoT is trying to trick me into reading more scifi novels again under the disguise it is fantasy related. 😏
Haha guilty