Rezensionen und Kommentare

It must have been 30 years since I've watched the movie. Reading it now, some of it comes back to me. A great movie and a great novel.

Der Roman scheint sich an Bildungsbürger und Gamer gleichermaßen zu richten, und genau in diesem Spannungsfeld wächst der Protagonist auf. Erzählt wird seine Schulzeit an einer höheren Schule in Wien, wo er vor allem unter einem sehr strengen und eigensinnigen Klassenlehrer leidet. Neben seiner Schullaufbahn spielt er semi-professionell Age of Empires 2. Eine Liebesgeschichte ist auch dabei. Wir erfahren viel über Literatur und werden intensiv auf AOE2 eingenerdet. Das kann manchmal, je nachdem wozu man eher neigt, etwas zu viel Information sein, dennoch erzählt der Autor sehr unterhaltsam und wortgewandt und auf hohem schriftstellerischen Niveau. Einige der geschilderten Episoden sind auch sehr witzig. Es entsteht eine Art Kultur- und Sittengemälde der Wiener Jugend in den 2010er Jahren, ein Gesellschaftsroman, eine Coming-Of-Age Geschichte. Kein Buch, das tief bewegt, aber ich habe es sehr gern gelesen.

The Mountain in the Sea, set in a not-too-distant future, has several major subjects: the most important is intelligence, in particular an intelligence fundamentally different from ours, that of the octopus. In the novel, a population of octopuses living in an isolated archipelago has developed tool-making, language and even writing. Another main subject is artificial intelligence, for example an advanced android who seems to be fully conscious, but also simpler LLM-like AIs, like fully automated fishing boats; this brings us to another major subject, which is the depiction of a dystopian late-stage capitalism society. Machines are too expensive, so the the AI-vessels also keep some human slaves aboard those fishing boats to do the hard work. The novel is an easy read, a page-turner with some sci-fi action, but it also contains some deeper thoughts about society, AI, and how we can connect with other lifeforms. I liked it.

(written without AI by a non-native speaker, any awkward formulations are mine)

This novel leaves me a bit ambivalent. On one hand, its language is of outstanding beauty, though a little hard to read; you should have a thesaurus at hand. The text also has an enormous information density, so it’s important to read it very thoroughly. It is elaborately constructed like a good detective story, and from a purely aesthetic point of view, it’s a great piece of art. On the other hand I found the two time traveling agents quite unendearing, and their conniving attitude didn’t help to conjure up the romantic feelings advertised in the blurb. The killing of a pinniped (which is used as a pun and/or metaphor for “breaking the seal”) and other grim deeds made it difficult for me to find a connection to them. I don’t think a protagonist has to be likable, there are lots of counterexamples throughout literature, but I’m not sure if the authors did this intentionally here. The book is entertaining and well composed, but it didn’t evoke any compassion. Despite all criticism, I can still recommend „This Is How You Lose the Time War“, because the story is brilliantly told and excellently crafted.

(written without AI by a non-native speaker, any awkward formulations are all mine)