I ripped through it yesterday in a few hours’ time. It was so… flimsy? Like more of a too-long short story or merely an outline of an idea? It was as if Mandel just had to get something, anything to the publisher to fulfill a contract real quick. The author character made me never ever want to write a book. The characters had no depth, the concepts weren’t fleshed out, and the vision of the future wasn’t credible to me. What did everyone else think?
Ah, Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility. I have to say, I had a similar experience with it. It felt like a sprint through a marathon, leaving me wanting more substance and depth. The characters lacked the complexity I crave, and the world-building fell short for me. Curious to hear others’ thoughts.