COMMENTARY: Too Like the Lightning (2016)
The following are thoughts and reactions I had while reading Too Like the Lightning (2016) by Ada Palmer. They do not reflect my overall post-reading opinion of the work.
⚠️ SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD ⚠️
- it reminds me of Dune (1965) in that there are so many concepts thrown at you, layered themes. Except… there’s a sixty year distance between when Dune first came out, so all the themes have entered our common vernacular… whereas TLL was published literally seven years ago… and I have to wonder… if TLL retains the stayability that Dune has… would these concepts be something we all wrestle with without explaining the basic premise of them?
- I just audibly exclaimed, “oh that’s fucking cool” to no one in an empty room while reading this line from Ada Palmer’s “Too Like a Lightning”: Do made-up dead people go to the afterlife?
- OMG. The no-no box. The things Bridger could miracle into existence. The stakes just went off the charts.
- 55% mark reveals Mycroft Canner’s evil and the above stakes.
- “animals may hunt by speed, by trap, by disguise, by ambush, but name for me another besides mankind that hunts by trust.” Pg. 400