I wanted to read this because I remember being somewhat stunned by the Tarkovsky film of the book: Stalker. I'm not sure if I ever got past the first scene, which in my memory, is 15 minutes of silent scrolling doomscape*. But, it has stuck with me.

Initial impressions of the book were not so good. Sometimes sci-fi books can seem a bit like computer game non-playable scenes. A bit cartoonish. A bit mysogynistic. Edgy protagonists. Masculine cliches. Lacking real detail. And I got that sense immediately. What I try to remember when I experience this, is that it is not necessarily the fault of the book, but quite possibly the fault of my imagination. So in this case, I used my memory of Tarkovsky's film, to filter my reading of the book. It worked a treat.

If you're a fan of Jeff Vandermeer, and particularly the Southern Reach Trilogy, I recommend reading this book back to back with Downward to The Earth by Robert Silverberg. I will say no more.

I was flummoxed by the title of this book. It seemed to make no sense, especially for a sci-fi book, and it's not nearly as cool a title as "Stalker". But, it does finally make sense, at I think the crux of the book, where the big philosphical insight - that makes a good sci-fi - is given.

* It's not the first scene. I've started watching the film. It's about 35 minutes in. And it's not 15 minutes. It's actually more like 4 minutes. It just feels like 15 minutes.