Stand on Zanzibar

By John Brunner

It is so rare that I actually give up on a book that I can only recall one other instance since we returned from the UK in '99 and that was a work of fact rather than fiction. I don't think its ever happened before with a science fiction novel, but as they say, never say never.

After the first few chapters I'd already had enough of Brunner's style of writing which is so utterly disjointed, so filled with stop and start bytes as to be incurably annoying. If I hadn't already read 'Sheep look up', no doubt I would have pushed on for several hundred pages (and this book is 646 pages long), before I finally gave up, but having read that utterly depressing book I have a good idea as to what is in store for me reading this one... and so I have called a halt after just the first few pages. Life is too short to fill it with misery of this nature and so if any one wants this 'sci fi classic' then feel to speak up and claim it and I shall gladly send it to you in the post if needs be for it shall not grace my shelves.
1/5