Rating: 2, Not recommended Recommended By: io9 Locus
Surreal science fantasy, in which three goddesses come to Paris, prince of a mathematical Troy, and ask him to decide to whom to award an apple.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The wordplay and allusions are fantastic. For example, in computer software, a "memetic attack" is also known as a "trojan horse." If you know the story of Troy plus some modern math and computer science, there's a lot of material to enjoy here.
Con: There's no story. Okay, Paris makes a surprise decision, there's a war anyway, and Helen kills him. So what? Helen chose to be the smartest, not the most beautiful, apparently. Again, so what?
Con: There's no story. Okay, Paris makes a surprise decision, there's a war anyway, and Helen kills him. So what? Helen chose to be the smartest, not the most beautiful, apparently. Again, so what?
It is an intriguing take on the story of Troy. Different decisions are made with no real change to the long-term outcome, with the exception of Helen's. It was worth reading to the end just to see this.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I did enjoy this science fantasy version of the story of Troy. I have read several different versions of the story of Troy over the years, each with its own take and angle, and have enjoyed all of them.
I'd rate this a 3 or 4, but with a caveat that you sort of need to be a Greek mythology fan or a maths fan for the 4.