[Erfael]

What did we think of this one? Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts.

[Rob B]

I enjoyed this one quite a bit when I read it last year. McDonald did a great job of balancing character, plot, and world-building in the novel. I thought maybe there were too many characters.

Here's a bit of what I said in my review:

The only, minor, problem I had with the book was really settling into the novel. McDonald throws quite a bit at the reader early on, by no means is River of Gods a breezy read. In terms of the "widescreen" and "epic" I’d compare him with Peter F. Hamilton, despite the novel taking place primarily on Earth with events spanning only days, rather than years and galaxies.

[Ropie]

I see this book has been particularly popular :rolleyes: Only one comment from someone who read it ages ago. (should add that I am not reading it)
It's a shame but I think the SF bookclub is maybe a bit dead.

[Erfael]

In the interest of discussion, Ropie, why aren't you reading it?

I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I have a few things to put out there, but just haven't had the moments. Maybe I'd do better to just do a point or two a post instead of trying to find time to get them all out there at once. So here's a few:

One of the things I found most interesting was the storytelling style. Much like Hamilton, as Rob mentioned, there are quite a few characters here, nine or ten mains. Given the length of the book, many of them are getting only about 50 pages throughout the entirety of the book. Somehow, even in that short space of time McDonald manages to paint very clear, interesting characters that held me through their own personal and overarching issues.

The depiction of AI was also unique in my reading experience. Very often we have the story of either the beneficial AI, happy to go about helping mankind, or the hostile AI, happy to go about trying to destroy mankind. Here is the first time I've seen a largely impartial, uninterested AI. The AIs are really only interested in their own survival and they only begin to clash with mankind when it encroaches on their living space, much like things work in nature. Snakes aren't a problem until men start pushing them out of their natural environment. Are there any other novels with a similar treatment of AI entities?

[Rob B]

I thought the AI depiction pretty clever, too.

As much as I enjoyed this novel, I simply could not get into the short story associated with the novel The Djinn's Wife (I think), nor any of his other short fiction I've attempted. I know this thread is to specifically discuss River of Gods, but has anybody else had this same experience?

[randar23rhenn]

I honestly didn't like this one all that much. It's one of the few books I've read recently that just never clicked.

My issues are as follows:

1. The time period he set it in felt unrealistic for the technology that was presented. This is a problem I have with all "futuristic" books that set a date, but especially so when it is so close in the future. I really just didn't think some of the things are possible within the next 50 years.

2. The writing style just never really warmed up with me. I think a lot of this was lack of detail.

3. Most of the characters felt very underdeveloped. I remember clearly one point late in the novel when it was going from the viewpoint of one of the main characters and I suddenly realized I honestly didn't care what happened to them.

4. Pointless devaitions. Some of the plot threads just honestly felt worthless. It's been about six months since I read it so I can't remember the specifics, but I just remember wondering what some of the plot had to do with anything.

[suciul]

I thought the AI depiction pretty clever, too.

As much as I enjoyed this novel, I simply could not get into the short story associated with the novel The Djinn's Wife (I think), nor any of his other short fiction I've attempted. I know this thread is to specifically discuss River of Gods, but has anybody else had this same experience?

I did not enjoy Djinn's Wife that much but I liked Little Goddess much better. The novel itself was very good - and the good-natured digs at some famous contemporary sf authors were funny - but I did not like the ending, seemed a bit wasted after all the build-up. All the Indian pov chapters/main characters were interesting while the Western ones were mostly boring.

Overall, it was a career book for Mr. McDonald and propelled him in the rank of top sf authors.

[vicki_girl]

I have been wanting to get into the book clubs more, so I picked this book up at the library. I gave up after ~3 pages. While there was a glossary/index, there were several things not in it that were used in those first pages. I spent about half an hour on the computer looking things up just for those first few pages. I decided I just didn't have time for that.

(If this is not appropriate discussion of the book, my apologies:o)

[Raule]

As much as I enjoyed this novel, I simply could not get into the short story associated with the novel The Djinn's Wife (I think), nor any of his other short fiction I've attempted. I know this thread is to specifically discuss River of Gods, but has anybody else had this same experience?

Interesting that you should bring that up, because I read The Djinn's Wife and thought it was just okay... nothing about it made me want to run out and try this particular book. I have been, however, interested in trying something else by McDonald, so sounds like this is still worth picking up at some point. Summer is my most expensive time of year. I won't be buying any more books until the fall when expenses go down again. :-(

[Rob B]

Vicki - that's fine and you just let us know your reaction. The book isn't an easy novel on many fronts, and that isn't a slight to anyone. It's "out there" and might be one of those "you have to be in the right frame of mind" for it books.