The Book Count 2021

[Greg]

Radiance by Catherine Valente 

This book was a mishmash of styles and tropes and somewhere in the middle of it, I think there was a story about the disappearance of a woman called Severin. I think I need notes to fully explain what the hell was going on in the book.

First, there are a lot of elements of filmmaking in the book, because in one of the many narratives, Percy is making a movie about the dissappearance of his daughter Severin on the moon of Venus. Many chapters discuss which genre of filmmaking they will use to tell the story. Then there are the scenes of the movie told in other chapters using the various genres. Plus there are some meta bits. It's hard to describe.

Plus, every planet in the galaxy is inhabitable each with their own unique traits. And the story travels to quite a few of them. Lots of steampunk references. It's almost if the world of Melies was brought to life. 

In the end there wasn't a distinctive enough narrative for me to fully enjoy the book although some of Radiance was really well written.