[Re-post]
Read it the first time last year during lockdown and I knew something had changed about my perception of the world. But I needed to wait until my reread before I could review it.
So, here we are.
This book is set in a world called Arbre. Similar to our planet in many ways but so very different in others. There are 2 factions of the human population called, the Mathic World (Theoretical scientists, Philosophers, Scribes, Martial Artists etc - Truth seekers of the world) and the Seaculars/Extramuros (Everyone outside the Mathic world). The people of the Mathic world (called Avouts) live within walled Monasteries (called Concents) - a monk-ish lifestyle, completely isolated from the Seacular world so as to preserve the sanctity of their pursuit of knowledge. These Concents are only opened at every 1, 10, 100 and 1000 years' (yeah, we've got super old dudes) anniversaries, and a mingling with the Seaculars happens, only for 10 days (these are called Apert).
That's really just the very basic part of the setting. There is also 6000+ years of history of the Arbran civilization established in the book.
This book does something that most Sci-Fi (or Speculative Fiction) books rarely do; give precedence to World-building. The world-building aspects of this book are more than I can describe here. With visual descriptions and nuanced details of the world, belief systems, life within the Concents, philosophical ideologies etc. This world could exist independently, without being in service to the plot at all and completely separate from the thematic needs of the book.
To describe the Plot, it's very simple yet complicated. A world-shattering event occurs and a ragtag group of Avouts led by our 19 year old protagonist (Fraa Erasmus), gets called out by authorities from the Seacular world for a mission. From then on, an epic journey across the world ensues, filled with conflicting ideologies, action, world-shattering events and ultimately, the pursuit of the Truth of the world.
Our Characters are a group of young Avouts who are leaving their Concents for the first time, experiencing the outside world with fresh eyes, just like us. We experience the journey, which is told through a first person narrative of our protagonist Fraa Erasmus, who is in pursuit of more than what his mission initially entails. He's chasing his beloved mentor, One Fraa Orolo, who gets expelled from their Concent for unknown reasons. These characters are very dear to me at this point. I relate so much with them; their infinite curiosity, aversion to prejudice, nerdy humour etc.
The Concepts and Ideas explored in this book were mind-blowing to me, and am baffled by how well it's conveyed through the narrative and world-building. There are different factions of Avouts in the Mathic world such as:
Rhetors (who use techniques to alter the knowledge of history by using rhetorical approaches to alter memory and reworking documents/records), Leorites (who study history soo in depth so that time is not wasted on inventing/discovering things that have already been invented/discovered), The Ringing Vale (who learn Martial Arts and nuanced controlling of their own body) and Incanters (the most interesting of them all, which you'll have to read to find out what they're about). The book is kind of a love letter to the history of Philosophy and knowledge.
The Pacing of the book will be appealing or not based on how you take it in. The abrupt pauses for short exposition worked great for me and added to my immersion into the world. Also, the time it takes to explain theoretical concepts added so much to my enjoyment, and was pure escapism. The way Stephenson reveals information and plants his twists were riveting and so unconventional for any kind of book.
The Events in this book are a whole another category on it's own. There are narrative-altering incidents that take place, which are epic in scale and the implications are riveting to think about.
Above all, this book made me think about our own existence. There is Social commentary, pointing a finger at the prejudices and flaws of our own world. How and why we treat each other the way we do. How far off from rational beings we are, and how much our actions are driven by emotions rather than by logic/common sense when logic is required. The various terms made-up for this book, which are stand-in for the biases we fall into as part of our subjective perceptions of this world, eg: "Diax's Rake", meaning that, Never believe a thing simply because you want it to be true, and the Avouts try their best to avoid it. How our Consciousness is able to perceive the world as it does and theoretical discussions about how one might perceive it in the absense of Anthropological constraints. And about the Cosmos as a whole.
Sorry for the vomit post. I just had to get it out of my system.