Mare Somniorum

Egan’s way of writing can be seen as one of two things, either he’s trying to flaunt and be obtuse for the sake of showing off, or optionally, he’s just aiming for something he expects his readers to “get”. One option makes him mostly annoying, the other makes him a good writer. It might very well be a little of each, but I mostly belong to the camp that likes the way he does things.

Now, “Diaspora”. Really. I really liked “Permutation City“, I thought it was brash, bold and intriguing. It fascinated me for pretty much most of the read. It was “out there” in a really good way. I picked up Diaspora hoping for more of the same. I expected high information density and ideas that demanded your attention to follow. And yet, it was like stepping into a landscape I’d never even imagined before.

“Diaspora” again works on the information level, most sentient ex-humans are living a polis of their choice, a virtual world of their choosing, each with their own standards of expected behavior. As a stellar incident makes the remaining “fleshers” life less of a life, different groupings choose different “outs”. We’ll be following a group of minds trying to take the final step towards a permanent sanctuary for all time. Yes, “Diaspora” is quite a mind trip as well.

I had to read it in small doses and it took some “work” go actually get through the book. That being said, I’m very happy I read it, and I did enjoy it. Yes, I did indeed like “Diaspora”.