Rating: 
Summary: What History...
Review: This book just did not deliver the goods. Hyped as an alternate history it is really a series of reincarnation stories about three characters. Any "history" is just an accident IMO. It is long, it is often boring, and it is to be avoided. I wish I had.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow.
Review: There's a lot of book in this book. It follows the lives of a number of people as they are reincarnated throughout history. To make it simpler, the first letter of the names of the characters remain the same throughout the book. Mainly we follow B, I, and K, but there are clearly others like P and S (boo hiss!) who take important roles from time to time.We follow them through an alternate history where the Black Death killed nearly every person in Europe. This stopped the spread of Christianity and radically changed the colonization of the New World. Our heroes are sometimes "in charge" and sometime just ordinary people. They meet at different points in their lives, or are sometimes each others parents or children. Ultimately, they make a big difference, even though in each life they could not really realize it. Only in the bardo, the time between lives, do they get to reflect on this. I think I liked the bardo parts best of all. It's a big, thick book with big, thick ideas. It's about how one person can't make a difference without the support of others, and how the right team of people can achieve great good or great evil. I think I'll need to read it again before I pull out more than the first layers of meaning. It's well worth the time and money. Watch out, you might learn something about the human condition!
Rating: 
Summary: ambitious but a little off the mark
Review: This is one of those books that you marvel at the amount of work and ambition that the writer put into it, but unfortunately it is not a very satisfying read.The author tells of an alternate history where the black plague almost completely wiped out the European races and the Middle East and China became the dominant areas.The story is told through a group of linked souls as they are born, die and are reincarnated throughout this history.The main problems I had with this book are that once I started to get interested in one incarnation of a character their story came to an end and a new story started ,the other problem I had was that although the alternate history was interesting there doesn't seem to be a main story that really goes anywhere.
Rating:
Summary: Has it's flaws but a good concept overall...
Review: I really enjoyed this book. The concept (the Black Plague is 99% lethal and entirely wipes out Christian Europe in the 14th century) is very intriguing. Though the book spans 600 years of alternative history from the early 1400s till present day, the author ingeniously makes use of reincarnation as a device to maintain the same basic characters throughout the book ("B" the romanticist nurturer/protector, "K" the rebellious idealist, "I" the warm & inquisitive but detached intellectual, and "S" the self-centered troublemaking jerk.) The book details how China discovers the new world, how a Japanese Samuri teaches the Iroquois tribes to resist the Muslim and Chinese incursions into the New World, how the scientific revolution occurs in Samarkand, how a socially progressive industrial society develops in southern India, and how the entire 20th Century is spent in a massive World War between the Muslim and Chinese halves of the world. All of this is seen through the eyes of the characters, so it becomes a story of individuals caught up in the story of the world rather than just a historical outline. The book does get a little preachy towards the end, with Robinson spouting off his theories of historiography. It was also a little confusing by the end when he seemed to be trying to undermine his own theory of reincarnation with the secularist/materialist dogma of his characters. I wasn't sure if Robinson was advancing his own views or just relating the views of his characters according to what would be consistent for them during that point in his history. I also thought Robinson failed to provide a compelling ending to his book. Throughout the book he constantly set up questions of whether progress and improvement is possible and whether the actions of the characters are bringing about any larger good, but the end left these questions still dangling with nothing but a flimsy academic lecture to state the author's opinion (in short, that progress is possible for society as a whole but that each individual life is a personal tragedy). What I found particularly intriguing about this book however, was the harshness of ethnic conflict in a world lacking a genuine pluralistic, multicultural society (as America tries to be). Even by the 20th century conflicts were much more about racial competition between Muslims and Chinese than about socio-political ideologies as we experienced in our own world. There was also no model democratic society in this alternate world, nothing like the French and American revolutions ever happened, so even by the modern day most of the world's superpowers were ruled by monarchs or military governments. Upon reflection I found this account of probable world history to be very convincing and likely. If one is familiar with (real) European history one realizes how unique liberal democratic political philosophy is, and how dependent it is on certain key concepts found primarily in the Christian traditions. Anyhow, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes history and has a basic starting knowledge of (actual) world history over the past 600 years. (This basic knowledge is really essential to really appreciate the subtle and sweeping changes that occur in this alternate universe.)
Rating:
Summary: A Difficult Read
Review: What if the Black Plague killed off Europe? That is the premise of this work by the author of Antarctica, Kim Stanley Robinson. The novel covers about six hundred years, and it certainly feels like it takes six hundred years to read. The main characters are reincarnated, so you get to follow history through the same characters over and over again. I found it hard to follow because of similar names, difficult dating system, and the general differentness of the world from our own. It's worth it to read at least once, but for me, once was more than enough.
Rating:
Summary: THE STEPHEN KING ERROR
Review: This was my first exposure to the work of Kim Stanley Robinson. It joined my summer reading stack at the recommendation of NPR, which seldom disappoints. In this case, it mostly didn't. The premise is fascinating. The plague of the Middle Ages destroys 99% of the population of Europe, clearing the way for Chinese and Islamic cultures to dominate history of the past 700 years. Much of so-called "real history" also occurs here: the development of advanced technology (but in India), horribly destructive war (but between China and the eastern Islamic countries), commercial aviation (but in slow airships), nuclear fission (but without the explosive result). Other things are creative inventions: a North America (called Yingzhou) in which Chinese and Islamic newcomers are themselves colonized by the indigenous peoples (who go on to become a formidable naval power), the last surviving remnants of British people enslaved and bred in the harems of Islamic potentates. Partway through the book I thought, "Aha! This is basically a treatise on reincarnation!" But then, in the final sections, Robinson veers away from this useful literary device into speculations into the meaning of history. At the very end, with the appearance of a character named Kali (the Hindu goddess of chaos and bearing the initial of the most rebellious soul in the cycle of reincarnation), Robinson appears to say, "Ha, ha! I was only kidding! I don't take it back!" Hmm, which is it? The answer, of course, in the spirit of "Shakespeare in Love," is "Nobody knows. It's a mystery." Still, I wish, with other reviewers, that Robinson had ended the book earlier. The thing about history is that you can enter the story almost anywhere and exit about as easily. Instead, Robinson commits the error of Stephen King in his last ten or so novels--he expands the story too much. For all of this, I recommend the book. Just be prepared to slog through the last 200 or so pages. And look for a sequel dealing with the cultures of Yingzhou (North America). We've been set up for one.
Rating:
Summary: Challenging Read, Makes You Think
Review: The four stars here are really three and a half stars. I bought the hard back version and wish I'd waited for the paperback (though I definitely recommend this as an intriguing read). My own lack of any depth of knowledge about Middle Eastern and Eastern world history made it hard for me to appreciate and analyze this alternate history for probability. Still, I was able to appreciate the notion of an alternative life without Europe and America as we know them, with technology still developing. There is an amusing discussion between characters about whether or not England would have ever amounted to more than a backwards nation had the plague not wiped them out (most seemed to think this was not very likely). The characters we meet in the beginning are reincarnated for centuries, as men, women and in one case, tiger, traveling in the same group. Between lives they meet in the barrio to compare notes, critique each other, lament over their lack of progress and develop plans to better recognize each other and remember from previous lives (they never did this very well)! Things I didn't like included the lack of comparative timelines; too much poetry in places it didn't seem to fit; beginning chapters had annoying comments from the narrator that were supposed to lead you to the next chapter; the ending was somewhat unclear and fizzled out. The storyline petered down as if the author was in a rush to finish, leaving questions that were barely touched on, certainly not opened enough to lead to a good debate. Although technology moves on, the characters begin to dismiss reincarnation in favor of a belief in one chance, one life. Disappointing, since this seems to indicate that the author thinks despite the dominance of Eastern religions, this alternate world would spiritually parallel the Western world today. Since it is clear (in the book) that reincarnation does exist, is the author saying that it doesn't necessarily mean we develop spiritually? Is he presenting the notion that the more man develops technologically, the more he dismisses spirituality? If so, his change from reincarnation exists to it does not was too abrupt and shallow to initiate a full discussion, leaving me frustrated. The ending begs for more. Still a good read, thought provoking (I gave my copy to one of my son's, but would definitely like to read it again after checking out eastern history a bit more). But in my own reading reincarnation, I'd wait for the paperback edition.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT EVEN A GOOD DOOR-STOP
Review: What a wonderful concept! Mr. Robinson proposes an
alternate history without a Europe. The Black Death
exterminates the Europeans from Constantinople to
Scandanavia, leaving Moslem civilization in the West and a
swelling China in the East. The new history's sweep is seen
through a series of Buddhist reincarnations of the same
family of personalities. There is always a rebellious "K;"
always a sensitive "B;" always a mathematical "I." Their
struggles to shape the earth's history and their own
spiritual future guide the overview of the work. That
constant re-involvement of striving personalities negates
arguments that an Islamic/Indian/Chinese world only have
stagnated.
The book began as a slow, good read, worth taking days
with. What a great idea!
Alas.
By the last two chapters, Mr. Robinson has left writing
and taken up preaching. The enjoyable days of reading
dragged into weeks of hoping-to-finish. Rip off the last
quarter of this book, and leave yourself with a positive
impression of the author. Otherwise, prepare for endless
beatings on your intellect of the Theories of History.
Prepare for sermon text instead of action. Prepare to defend
against being browbeaten into the successful inevitability of
Buddhist/feminist/socialist class struggle. Prepare to watch
the author virtually abandon his migrating-consciousnesses
concept and begin preaching a kind of humanist reincarnation
in a plot-free environment. Prepare to be bored.
Who let this happen? Who let a good book go bad? The
fault obviously lies primarily with the author. Still, isn't
there at least one editor out there who isn't an MBA, who can
still offend a cash-cow author by telling them to rewrite
those awful last chapters?
Evidently not. This book is too small for a door-stop
or a decent fish habitat at the bottom of the lake.
Otherwise, there's always the used-book trade-in or the
fireplace. Don't waste your time finishing it.
Rating:
Summary: Ambitious but overly artsy alternate history
Review: I'd recommend other artsy speculative fiction over this one. "Pavane" by Keith Roberts has a similar structure, tolerable length, and more appealing deities. Ursula LeGuin's "Orsinian Tales" and John Crowley's "Aegypt" also come to mind. What I liked: Robinson really did his research. He packs the story with all sorts of details about every day life, forming extrapolations into plausible alternate history. I especially liked the fact that Robinson refrained from inserting characters from our modern history into his alternate history. No Salman Rushdie, no politicians named Mao. What I didn't like: Robinson's writing technique grates on me. He kept tossing out literary tricks without, I think, really having a handle on what he would accomplish with them. 1) He likes to use very convoluted sentences, which is fine in descriptive passages. Unfortunately, he has a tendency to use them in dialog as well. Lengthy sentences just don't sound plausible in spoken discourse. 2) The first few chapters ended with some sort of comment which would draw the reader's attention to the narrator. Then, abruptly, he abandoned this pattern, with no real explanation why. 3) He sprinkled one section with poems evocative of the action. Another section got margin glosses elucidating the text. Within their own sections, the poems and glosses made sense. However, they didn't fit into the stylistic integrity of the story as a whole. It just wasn't clear to me why some sections got poems and margin glosses, while others didn't.
Overall, Robinson's parade of literary styles had the effect of drawing my attention to the writing technique rather than the story itself. I don't mind being aware of the narrator's voice if the narrator is an actual character in the story, or if the author intends to present the narrator as an unreliable witness. Otherwise I prefer that the author's voice creep in under my radar, quietly setting the mood without attracting attention to itself. Robinson annoyed me by transferring my attention from the message to the messenger for no good reason. And boy, did the book go on, and on, and on.... Robinson tackled a very tough project. Frankly, I'm surprised it came out as well as it did. I just wish he'd been able to pull it into a coherent whole, without the different parts fighting to upstage each other.
Rating:
Summary: Last two chapters completely ruin a very good book. Skip it.
Review: This is a mixed review, because the book was so dualistic in nature I can't think of any other way to approach it. For the first 3/4'ths of the book, Robinson tells an interesting tale of the world if the Black Death had wiped out all of europe's people in the 7th century. The entire planet gets turned on its head: the chinese discover the americas, the Age of Reason and the Industrial Revolution occur simultaneously, and Christianity becomes nothing more than a historical footnote. I'm a history buff, and I just ate this stuff up. Even better he finds a wonderful way to recount hundreds of years of history through the eyes of three souls "K", "B" and "I" who die, are reborn into the world, and then give us a glimpse of the next generation. This is a creative and gripping way to show us history filtered through three attitudes: revolutionary, protector, and intellectual. And for 500 pages Robinson delivers a wonderful story. And then on page 506 ("Nsara"), the Black Death visits the book itself. The book's dialog comes to a grinding halt. Social change skitters and stops. News of the world just sort of peters out into nothingness. The author stops telling a story through the characters and plot. Instead we're informed that stuff happened, and here's how the characters feel about it. To use the book's description, we're treated to 158 pages of coffe-shop talk. I can't tell you what a disappointment the last two chapters were. A storyline certainly unfolds, but it drowns in pages and pages of social commentary. The author seems to have saved his entire life's worth of preaching on the futility of religion, horrors of war, and the evils of racism for this lengthy diatribe. Any editor worth a tinker's damn would have told him to make his point in the story (which he did fantastically throughout the book) and save the dense, unrelenting commentary for his memoirs or the Op-Ed page. I'm upset because I spot-read the book in a bookstore to make sure that I'd be getting my money's worth. Of course, I carefully avoided the ending to not spoil the story. I needn't worry, the author did a fine job of that himself.
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