In writing circles (and many reading circles as well), it’s a cardinal sin: refusing to finish a book.

The general thinking is “Well, you wouldn’t want someone to not finish your book, would you?” But the truth is, if they read my book and dislike it that much, then I see no problem with it. In the end, I’d view it as a sign I did something wrong.

Mind you, refusing to finish a book is not a decision I take lightly. I won’t stop reading simply because it’s not the kind of thing I usually read (if that’s so, why am I reading it in the first place?). Nor because it offends my sensibilities; I like to think of myself as fairly thick-skinned. No, on the few occasions I don’t finish a book, it has to come down to the writing.

Within the writing community, we always try to stay positive. And I love that. But in the end, it’s fair to call a spade a spade, especially when it can teach you something about writing. So, from this point forward, every time there’s a month with a fifth Friday, I will be taking a look at one of the handful of books I’ve picked up but never finished. And that starts this month with Blue Remembered Earth.

Blue Remembered Earth, by Alastair Reynolds

Blue Remembered Earth is a semi-utopian work of afrofuturist science fiction by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds. Ultimately, I made it to chapter nine.

Set initially on a restored Earth in the late 22nd century, the novel revolves around Geoffrey Akinya: a member of a powerful African corporate family, who renounced his family’s wealth and power for a life working with elephants. His sister, Sunday, is the ubiquitous secondary character, serving to drive the plot through her genius with technology and connections to an underground hacker community on Earth’s moon.

I’d love to go into greater detail regarding the plot. But therein lies the problem…

My Take

Let me start out by saying I stopped after chapter nine because, prior to starting the chapter, I decided I’d stop reading if I got through nine chapters and still couldn’t identify the plot.

Look, truth is, I liked this book. I did. It had interesting characters, splendid dialogue, and some of the coolest, most crisp and well-defined worldbuilding I’ve ever seen. Honestly, if I’d have picked this book up twenty years ago, I’d have read it cover to cover. I’d also have had a hard time remembering details of it afterward, and would have wondered why. But today, as a writer, I know.

Blue Remembered Earth is the book I was always afraid I’d write: heavy on detailed worldbuilding and social commentary but lacking in substance. “Just vibes”, as modern literary agents would put it. The absence of a clear plot may be best demonstrated by the fact that, while researching this article, I read a synopsis of the novel and realized I still couldn’t understand exactly what was going on.

Through the first nine chapters I was treated to some truly wonderful scenes, from a gathering of Bohemian hackers to a mind-linked giant robot grudge match on the lunar surface. But every time I thought the plot was about to reveal itself and things would get moving, it just fizzled out. And the characters didn’t seem overly interested in pursuing any coherent plot. After a while, I shared their disinterest.

Even still, had I not been reading this for comps research, I would probably have read on. But I realized early on there was little value in comping my book to one where I struggled to determine that there was, in fact, a plot. I live in dread of making a comp that could actually do my case more harm than good. In the end, I’d say I did enjoy what I read of Blue Remembered Earth. But I cannot, in good conscience, recommend it. – MK