Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Review: Improbability

I recently received an ARC of Sam Leith's The Coincidence Engine, which became available for sale on February 7, 2012.


I don't know if you realize what an avid fan I am of Christopher Moore (who's coming out with a new book soon; yay!) and other humorous, crazed-plot writers - but I am. I was eager to read this book, based on its' description, because I was hoping to have found a new, hilarious, wacky voice.

The book begins by discussing a plane that apparently assembled itself during a hurricane, seemingly from random nearby items, and then crash-landed and disappeared. A secret government agency is looking into the appear- & disappearance of this aircraft that should never have existed. Add in a clueless British dude named Alex, some goons of low intelligence capable of murder, and some members of a top-secret government organization so obscure its' own members aren't even sure of what they're investigating, all on a road trip across the landscape of America -- it sounds fun & zany, right?

Well... not exactly.

This book was not as humorous as I was hoping. Yet I would not say that it was not a good novel. I went in with certain expectations that were not met, yet I still, overall, enjoyed many aspects of it.

I would have preferred the humorous book I was expecting, but that is because I was in the mood for an exceptionally silly, fun romp of a book.

This book was more philosophical. It had a lot of mathematical discussion, and also brought in some physics, some ethical conundrums, etc. It was far, far more serious than I was expecting, yet well written so that I, as someone who mainly avoided math & physics classes when at all humanly possible, could still comprehend it. My brain was not straining to comprehend the subject matter to a degree that took my focus away from the story, either.

Overall, I would say that this story is worth reading, provided that you know what you're getting before delving into its' pages.

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