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A review by konniecanread
The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I wouldn't recommend this book to most people, but I really, really loved it.
It follows the stories of around a dozen immortal humans between 300 BC and thousands of years in the future. The first three quarters, taking place before 1989 (when this book was written) read like historical fiction, the last quarter like science fiction. The author does both really well, and has clearly done his research: the historical fiction bits feel very alive and manage to transport you to the era the immortals have found themselves in, and the science-fictiony bits are based on some convincing-sounding science words and have genuinely interesting philosophical speculation on the future, alien life, and time.
The (mostly) immortal characters are super diverse in race, gender, intelligence, and ways of looking at their fate. The author manages to use all of these perspectives well, if some better than others: seeing, for example, a Phoenician trader interact with a Taoist "wise man" and an escaped first-generation african-american slave, all now hundreds of years old but still heavily shaped by their original circumstances, was continuously interesting.
The book has no real plotline or character development - it's structured in little episodes with 100-500 years in between, but even within these, the hero's journey is entirely absent. The characters face no real conflict, only minor inconveniences. Once they are about 200-300 years old, they also barely learn from their experiences anymore: their personalities remain mostly static throughout the book. This makes the book very unappealing for a certain type of reader, I think. There is no continuous thread encouraging you to read on - you know the characters and how they will react, and you know that they won't learn, gain, or fight anything in the coming chapter. Whether you enjoy this book or hate it, I think, depends on whether you find these short episodes interesting enough to motivate you to keep reading. I very much did.
It follows the stories of around a dozen immortal humans between 300 BC and thousands of years in the future. The first three quarters, taking place before 1989 (when this book was written) read like historical fiction, the last quarter like science fiction. The author does both really well, and has clearly done his research: the historical fiction bits feel very alive and manage to transport you to the era the immortals have found themselves in, and the science-fictiony bits are based on some convincing-sounding science words and have genuinely interesting philosophical speculation on the future, alien life, and time.
The (mostly) immortal characters are super diverse in race, gender, intelligence, and ways of looking at their fate. The author manages to use all of these perspectives well, if some better than others: seeing, for example, a Phoenician trader interact with a Taoist "wise man" and an escaped first-generation african-american slave, all now hundreds of years old but still heavily shaped by their original circumstances, was continuously interesting.
The book has no real plotline or character development - it's structured in little episodes with 100-500 years in between, but even within these, the hero's journey is entirely absent. The characters face no real conflict, only minor inconveniences. Once they are about 200-300 years old, they also barely learn from their experiences anymore: their personalities remain mostly static throughout the book. This makes the book very unappealing for a certain type of reader, I think. There is no continuous thread encouraging you to read on - you know the characters and how they will react, and you know that they won't learn, gain, or fight anything in the coming chapter. Whether you enjoy this book or hate it, I think, depends on whether you find these short episodes interesting enough to motivate you to keep reading. I very much did.