I found the particle conceit genuinely interesting, but so fundamentally disconnected from the story itself as to be without impact; she could have revealed in the afterword that the three characters represented just about any scientific concept and it would have been equally applicable, equally interesting, equally inconsequential.
I couldn’t get past 150 pages or so of the actual story, on account of the massive displays of stupidity required for the plot to proceed… the heroine’s utterly contrived refusal to tell her desired allies that she was being blackmailed (or whatever it was she was being pressured to do; it’s been a few years) was painful. Then the scene where the “primitive” suitor kidnaps her from a palace because all the guards are conveniently totally distracted by a distant fire on the horizon… I just could not take it past that.
Oh, my. This one. I could not finish this one.
I found the particle conceit genuinely interesting, but so fundamentally disconnected from the story itself as to be without impact; she could have revealed in the afterword that the three characters represented just about any scientific concept and it would have been equally applicable, equally interesting, equally inconsequential.
I couldn’t get past 150 pages or so of the actual story, on account of the massive displays of stupidity required for the plot to proceed… the heroine’s utterly contrived refusal to tell her desired allies that she was being blackmailed (or whatever it was she was being pressured to do; it’s been a few years) was painful. Then the scene where the “primitive” suitor kidnaps her from a palace because all the guards are conveniently totally distracted by a distant fire on the horizon… I just could not take it past that.