Klik op een omslag om naar Google Boeken te gaan.
|
Bezig met laden... The Dervish House (origineel 2010; editie 2010)door Ian McDonald
Informatie over het werkThe Dervish House door Ian McDonald (2010)   
Bezig met laden...
 Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek.  Treebeard_404 | Jan 23, 2024 |   1. Plausible reality 2. Interesting Sci-Fi 3. The occasional bit of Sci-Fi whimsy 4. Real world uses of futuristic technology that are plausible and likely. 5. Good Characters with distinct personalities. 6. Fantastic writing and prose normally reserved for regular fiction. 7. Great exploration of the social implications of nanotechnology. (Positives and Negatives 8. It made me ponder and think about larger issues and thus became more than just a story. 9. Captures the reality of Istanbul down to an accurate street level. (Amazing to read paragraphs and realize "Wait. I've been there and it's exactly like that." Little shops and nuances that give it a further reality. 10. A nice unexpected bow that wraps it all together in the end. Anyways great novel...took me way too long to read for it's length. Thinner on pages but densely packed with wonderful ideas. (  ) hubrisinmotion | Nov 14, 2023 |  ) rufus666 | Aug 14, 2022 | ) lavaturtle | Jan 19, 2022 | )1  macha | Nov 22, 2020 |
 After Africa (Chaga - aka Evolution’s Shore -, Kirinya and Tendeleo’s Story), India (River Of Gods, Cyberabad Days) and Brazil (Brasyl), in The Dervish House McDonald now turns his attention to Turkey: specifically Istanbul. The novel is set several years after Turkey has finally gained EU membership and joined the Euro (perhaps a somewhat more remote possibility now than when McDonald was writing) in an era when children can control real, mobile, self assembling/disassembling transformers and adults routinely use nanotech to heighten awareness/response in much the way they do chemical drugs at present. The fruit of what may have been a prodigious quantity of geographical and historical research is injected more or less stealthily into the text. The main plot is concerned with a terrorists group’s plans to distribute nano behaviour changing agents designed to engender a consciousness of mysticism, if not of the reality of God/Allah. The resultant, what would otherwise be magic realist visions of djinni and karin, is thereby given an SF rationale. In the interlinked narratives of those who live in and around an old Dervish House in Adam Dede Square, and covering events occurring over only four days, there are subplots about contraband Iranian natural gas, corrupt financial institutions and insider dealings, the circumscription of non-Turkish minorities, tales of youthful betrayal and frustrated love, not to mention the discovery of an ancient mummy embalmed in honey, which last gives the author the opportunity to deploy a nice pun on the phrase honey trap. The usual eclectic McDonald conjunction of disparate ingredients, then, and somehow amid all this he manages to finagle football into the mix as early as page two. Fair enough, though; Turkey’s fans are notoriously passionate about the game. While not quite reaching the heights of Brasyl or River Of Gods, The Dervish House still has more than enough to keep anyone turning the pages. Onderdeel van de reeks(en)New World Order (3) Onderdeel van de uitgeversreeks(en)Gallimard, Folio SF (515) PrijzenOnderscheidingen
Fiction.
Science Fiction.
HTML:It begins with an explosion. Another day, another bus bomb. Everyone it seems is after a piece of Turkey. But the shockwaves from this random act of 21st century pandemic terrorism will ripple further and resonate louder than just Enginsoy Square. Welcome to the world of The Dervish House--the great, ancient, paradoxical city of Istanbul, divided like a human brain, in the great, ancient, equally paradoxical nation of Turkey. The year is 2027 and Turkey is about to celebrate the fifth anniversary of its accession to the European Union. This is the age of carbon consciousness: every individual in the EU has a card stipulating individual carbon allowance that must be produced at every CO2 generating transaction. For those who can master the game, who can make the trades between gas price and carbon trading permits, who can play the power factions against each other, there are fortunes to be made. The old Byzantine politics are back. They never went away. The ancient power struggled between Sunni and Shia threatens like a storm: Ankara has watched the Middle East emerge from twenty-five years of sectarian conflict. So far it has stayed aloof. A populist Prime Minister has called a referendum on EU membership. Tensions run high. The army watches, hand on holster. And a Galatasary Champions' League football game against Arsenal stokes passions even higher. The Dervish House is seven days, six characters, three interconnected story strands, one central common core --the eponymous dervish house, a character in itself--that pins all these players together in a weave of intrigue, conflict, drama and a ticking clock of a thriller. From the Hardcover edition.. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
Actuele discussiesGeenPopulaire omslagen
 Google Books — Bezig met laden...GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)823.914Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde: (3.88)
Ben jij dit?Word een LibraryThing Auteur. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
8
This is an awesomely well-crafted book. The characters are full and vibrant; the interweaving plots are all interesting; the future tech is just futuristic enough that it helps drive some of the plots, but not so over-the-horizon as to be unbelievable. But perhaps what makes this book so enrapturing is the way McDonald makes the city of Istanbul a character in its own right.
I recently read [b:Deep State|8203603|Deep State (Dagmar, #2)|Walter Jon Williams|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1297054903s/8203603.jpg|13050632] by [a:Walter Jon Williams|48960|Walter Jon Williams|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1275489992p2/48960.jpg], much of which was also set in Istanbul. In my review of that book, I complimented Williams for doing "a nice job of sketching out the various locations in which the narrative occurs, providing enough detail to help the mind's eye without getting bogged down in florid detail." McDonald, on the other hand, paints deep, rich, vibrant pictures of Istanbul; I almost feel as if I have visited there myself. Yet he never lets this word-painting get in the way of allowing the plot to move forward. I am in awe at his masterful balance.
[Note: If/When I re-read this book (as I fully intend to do), I will give it five stars. It's just a personal rule of mine that I only give that rating to works that I return to.] (