The above conversation, from last February was the first time I had heard of The Gone-Away World. I put it on my personal backlog until May when I saw it hanging out in the window of a used bookstore I had never been in. When I finally got around to reading it, I wished I had gotten to it sooner.
I would say that the book has three distinct phases. The first phase is the first chapter which alone is about 5% of the book. It throws you into the deep end of a post apocalyptic world and hurls a large number of characters and concepts at the reader. It can be overwhelming but it is worth soldiering on because the second phase, almost two thirds of the book takes place before the first chapter. The author takes that time to explain how the world of today managed to change to the world shown in the first chapter and gradually introduce the readers to the same characters and concepts that they were barraged with before. The final phase, comprising the rest of the book takes the readers from the first chapter to the thrilling (and a little silly) conclusion. Along the way there are some serious twists that would be disastrous to spoil so I will say no more.
The characters are all excellent and have enough detail to show they are unique characters with their own lives and aspirations but not so much that you lose track of the importance of the narrator. Many authors will throw world building details into their novels, but this book does world building through its characters.
The book manages to take itself just seriously enough that it can get away with absurd things without being absurd itself. It manages to wrap its silliness in a cloak of plausibility in a way I have seen few other things do. It reminds me of Vonnegut's books in a way.
Overall, I would give this book a 97%.
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