Post by Bongo50 on Jan 25, 2023 21:50:15 GMT
Having recently finished Of the City of the Saved..., I wanted to give some of my thoughts on it and also provide a place for future discussion about the novel. As the author, Philip Purser-Hallard, is on this forum, I also hope that he might be able to drop in and answer some questions.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book. I felt that it had a very slow start but, when it going, it was excellent. The City is an increadible setting and its world building runs throughout, from before Book One with the note and "Voces Populi", right the way to the end with "Ex Cathedra". I still struggle to comprehend the shear scale of the City. It is mentioned briefly (completely casually) that the Chamber of Residents is the size of a gas giant. Small things like that blow me away. Another great example is real space, containing 38 entire start systems within the confines of the City. I also love the variety of humans found in the city, emphasised for me by the fact that one of the main characters is a Neanderthal who is dating a Posthuman birthed from a member of the final human civilisation.
The cast of characters are varied and interesting. I particuarly like the use of changes in perspective. At first, the different perspectives don't feel particuarly connected but they slowly come together until they feel strongly intertwined. Additionally, there are no "boring" perspectives. Each one was interesting and fun to read.
I liked the stylistic choice to represent sign language differently than vocal speech. However, while similar, I found Deadalus' and Ludmilla's chapters very hard to read due to the lack of most punctuation and I still can't work out why this was done. As far as I can tell, it just makes it harder to read.
Another thing I found interesting was the massive prominence of the Romans and the Romuline District. How did they become so powerful? For a single civilisation from Earth's history, they have a lot of significance.
On page 84, there is a very passing mention to "Big Finnish Benny". Is this intended to be a referance to Big Finish Production's Bernice Summerfield series?
The rest of this post is going to be spoiler tagged. I don't recomend reading it until you've read the book.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book. I felt that it had a very slow start but, when it going, it was excellent. The City is an increadible setting and its world building runs throughout, from before Book One with the note and "Voces Populi", right the way to the end with "Ex Cathedra". I still struggle to comprehend the shear scale of the City. It is mentioned briefly (completely casually) that the Chamber of Residents is the size of a gas giant. Small things like that blow me away. Another great example is real space, containing 38 entire start systems within the confines of the City. I also love the variety of humans found in the city, emphasised for me by the fact that one of the main characters is a Neanderthal who is dating a Posthuman birthed from a member of the final human civilisation.
The cast of characters are varied and interesting. I particuarly like the use of changes in perspective. At first, the different perspectives don't feel particuarly connected but they slowly come together until they feel strongly intertwined. Additionally, there are no "boring" perspectives. Each one was interesting and fun to read.
I liked the stylistic choice to represent sign language differently than vocal speech. However, while similar, I found Deadalus' and Ludmilla's chapters very hard to read due to the lack of most punctuation and I still can't work out why this was done. As far as I can tell, it just makes it harder to read.
Another thing I found interesting was the massive prominence of the Romans and the Romuline District. How did they become so powerful? For a single civilisation from Earth's history, they have a lot of significance.
On page 84, there is a very passing mention to "Big Finnish Benny". Is this intended to be a referance to Big Finish Production's Bernice Summerfield series?
The rest of this post is going to be spoiler tagged. I don't recomend reading it until you've read the book.
Firstly, I had accidently spoiled the twist that Compassion V is the City when reading through a conversation on the Doctor Who Discord server. I'm very annoyed about that. It is a great twist, though. It is mentioned that UniMac helped Compassion resurrect humanity. Does this mean that Mesh Cos had knowledge on the City's true identity, or was UniMac acting independently at that point? Also, was it ever explained why UniMac and Mesh Cos were creating a colony in the next universe? It feels like a bit of a weird thing to do when you live in somewhat of a utopia.
I liked Godfather Avatar a lot. The way in which his chapters are written like scripts helps to emphasise how he is somewhat of a character that other people play. One thing that I found interesting was that he seemed to be able to swap between shadow weapons. I thought that the Grandfather was the only person who could do this. Does this make Avatar the Grandfather? At first, I thought that this wouldn't work as the Grandfather is a Housewolder, not a human, but then I remembered that, by some accounts, the Doctor is a half-human Time Lord. Does this make the Doctor the Grandfather and Avatar? It could also help explain why Avatar doesn't have a proper material prescense due to the GRandfather's self-erausre. This does begin to feel a little far-stretched, though.
The ending was not what I was expecting. I was hoping for something more... conclusive. I do see why Tobin said no, though, and it makes sense. Would the other Compassions respond the same way? On the topic of the City's sentience, and to add to one of my points from earlier, why is it the Romuline where Compassion V manifests as Civitata?
What happened to Compassion III? She just seemed to join the Rump Parliament and then we didn't see her again (on a related note, that freeze-frame chapter was brilliant). I don't like these unresolved threads.
Manfold is very interesting. I like the idea that they may not have always been part of the City but were retroactively added. Would Compassion V be aware of this retroactive addition?
As I already mentioned, I didn't the ending very satisfying and so long for a sequel. What is best to read next? Unification Theory, A Hundred Words from a Civil War, The City of the Saved series, or something else entirely? None of them seem to have been published that soon after Of the City of the Saved... which makes me unsure if any even act as a proper sequel. Also, I'm aware that some of these stories bring in lore from other series. Are these important to read first?
I liked Godfather Avatar a lot. The way in which his chapters are written like scripts helps to emphasise how he is somewhat of a character that other people play. One thing that I found interesting was that he seemed to be able to swap between shadow weapons. I thought that the Grandfather was the only person who could do this. Does this make Avatar the Grandfather? At first, I thought that this wouldn't work as the Grandfather is a Housewolder, not a human, but then I remembered that, by some accounts, the Doctor is a half-human Time Lord. Does this make the Doctor the Grandfather and Avatar? It could also help explain why Avatar doesn't have a proper material prescense due to the GRandfather's self-erausre. This does begin to feel a little far-stretched, though.
The ending was not what I was expecting. I was hoping for something more... conclusive. I do see why Tobin said no, though, and it makes sense. Would the other Compassions respond the same way? On the topic of the City's sentience, and to add to one of my points from earlier, why is it the Romuline where Compassion V manifests as Civitata?
What happened to Compassion III? She just seemed to join the Rump Parliament and then we didn't see her again (on a related note, that freeze-frame chapter was brilliant). I don't like these unresolved threads.
Manfold is very interesting. I like the idea that they may not have always been part of the City but were retroactively added. Would Compassion V be aware of this retroactive addition?
As I already mentioned, I didn't the ending very satisfying and so long for a sequel. What is best to read next? Unification Theory, A Hundred Words from a Civil War, The City of the Saved series, or something else entirely? None of them seem to have been published that soon after Of the City of the Saved... which makes me unsure if any even act as a proper sequel. Also, I'm aware that some of these stories bring in lore from other series. Are these important to read first?
), I loved it a lot. My favourite parts were with UniMac and Laura Tobin I. The way the setting had to juggle all the different aspects of Compassion was delightful too, I already adored her from the EDAs, and had no idea she had any follow-up until recently. Along similar lines, does anyone know where Tobin's story goes after Of the City...? Which short story do I need to hunt down?
