Tags
Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Suspense
Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for providing an e-book in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: Henry Lytten–a spy turned academic and writer–sits at his desk in Oxford in 1962, dreaming of other worlds.
He embarks on the story of Jay, and eleven-year-old boy who has grown up within the embrace of his family in a rural, peaceful world–a kind of Arcadia. But when a supernatural vision causes Jay to question the rules of his world, he is launched on a life-changing journey.
Lytten also imagines a different society, highly regulated and dominated by technology, which is trying to master the science of time travel.
Meanwhile–in the real world–one of Lytten’ s former intelligence colleagues tracks him down for one last assignment.
As he and his characters struggle with questions of free will, love, duty and the power of imagination, Lytten discovers he is not sure how he wants his stories to end, nor even who is imaginary…
Iain Pears is another author who I’ve been meaning to try but never got around to until now. Arcadia is a book that shouldn’t have worked. It has a huge cast of characters and alternate timelines and storylines that go back and forth between fantasy, science fiction, and even cold war spy drama. It should have been a confusing mess, but somehow the author skillfully juggles everything for 528 pages until the stories and characters are brought together in a brilliant conclusion. The three settings are: 1960s Oxford, a Scottish island called Mull in 2200, and Anteworld, which seems for the majority of the book to be set during medieval times. There are no less than ten main characters to follow. I know. Sounds complicated, right? While the chapters alternate between these worlds and characters, I was never left feeling confused though. Everything is laid out in a comprehensive fashion, which I especially appreciated as I was reading this on my Kindle which makes it tough to turn back pages. The only story I thought was a bit superfluous was the spy mystery. I found it pretty predictable and it didn’t really add anything to the other stories. Otherwise, although it doesn’t seem like it all these characters and worlds are interconnected. I didn’t know that there’s actually an app for iPad/iPhone users where readers can choose which paths they want to follow while reading the story. You don’t need this, but it is a fun app and I wish I had known about it when I started the book.
Arcadia is a beautifully written and ingenious book whose characters and stories will mesmerize you. Iain Pears is an author that doesn’t show his cards at the very beginning. Instead he lays out a trail of breadcrumbs to follow from chapter to chapter which makes it almost impossible to stop reading. If you’re looking for a book that is different from anything you’ve previously read, I highly recommend this.
I will have to add this one. I am not a fan of so many characters and settings in one book, but I find that I can tolerate the chaos if the story is engrossing. Great review!
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Thanks Lekeisha! Now I just have to find the time to go back and read his other books.
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Oh wow, this sounds fantastic! Great review lady, might have a look into it!
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This was really, Really, REALLY good Zoe!
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I’m liking the sound of these characters.
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It’s already one of my favorite books of 2016!
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Now that is some very high praise indeed Kim.
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🤗🤗🤗
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Hi Kim, here’s the link to a post I did the other day. It got a very good discussion going. https://vinnieh.wordpress.com/2016/02/21/what-is-your-opinion-on-movie-and-television-nudity/
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I read it and commented Vinnie. I thought it was a great and thought-provoking post.
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Sorry about that Kim, totally forgot you’d commented. I get so many comments I often forget.
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No problem Vinnie. You stirred up quite a discussion. I’d be surprised if you remembered every comment.
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I like to sir up discussion every now and then.
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Oh my goodness, this does sound complicated. BUT that’s amazing that he was able to weave it all together and make it uncomplicated and a great read! Fabulous review, Kim! And I’m so happy you enjoyed this book as much as you did!
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Thanks Jen! I think you might really like this.🙋🏻
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It has so many elements that I really enjoy, so I should then! I’m thinking of reading Thief of Lies this weekend, depending upon how I feel after finishing The Forbidden Wish (which is an Aladdin retelling and a lot of fun), and I know you really liked that book a lot. So hopefully I will too! 🙂
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I I can’t wait to hear what you think of Forbidden Wish Jen. There’s been so much buzz around it. I hope you like Thief of Lies too.🙋🏻
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I’m a little over 20% right now for Forbidden Wish and loving it! It’s soooo good and the writing is absolutely beautiful! Oh yes, fingers crossed!
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Woo Hoo!
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