Echopraxia

After recently reading Blindsight for the first time and being absolutely spellbound throughout the entire book I have to say I don't think Watts's heart was really in this one. Not near as bad as "Ancillary Justice" but disappointing nonetheless. I can't stress enough how horrible Ann Lecklie is.

It's good if you're into some heavy stuff. I'd say read Blindsight first, but it's not a requirement as protagonists are different and style is also not exactly the same so it's possible to like one but dislike another.

This book had me turning pages well into the night, even though I didn’t really understand much of what was happening. I had the same issue with Blindsight. Forever lost but loving it, like a tour of the Garden District in New Orleans. The how of getting plants to grow like they do in that district is lost on me, but the visuals are pretty enough to keep me enthralled. Visuals indeed. Echopraxia, like Blindsight, is so full of amazing metaphors and similes used as descriptive prose that it is just like riding a street car through the Garden District. Sights that are just beauteous to behold. It is really depressing though, but with a silver lining of hope. I get the silver lining imagery because of the illusion of baseline humans as roaches. Roaches live when all others die. Build yourself up to be a super human by way of tech implants, take away water for three days, and you’re dead. Try to starve or dehydrate a roach and you’re in for a lesson on futility. That’s all I’ll say directly about the story. Should you read Echopraxia? Oh yeah. You should. Read Blindsight first though, as lots of Echopraxia won’t make sense without it. Be prepared for a soul-crushing gorgeous adventure though.