Jenny (Reading Envy)'s Reviews > Central Station

I have meant to read something by Tidhar for a long time, and this was my first opportunity. I know he writes in a variety of science fiction and fantasy subgenres. In this novel, Tel Aviv has become a crosspoint for even more of society - it is Earth's Central Station for the universe surrounding it. Humans have made a mass exodus to surrounding planets and moons, scientists have forced an evolutionary stage of humans that combines robotniks with humans (and all these groups are trying to live together). Also included - a sullen Martian private detective, a data vampire, and of course the Chinese Jewish descendants that share an ancestral memory that is more like a virus.

There is something to the way this is written that reminded me of early William Gibson (perhaps the info-dump details of early cyberpunk), but the sections that made me laugh and read out loud to my husband reminded him of Douglas Adams (when an elevator started waxing poetic, I couldn't help myself.) So somewhere in that spectrum, this book falls comfortably with a lot of unique details and vivid world-building. I loved reading it!

My only pseudo-criticism is that there isn't really an overarching plot. There are stories introduced with each character and I was so caught up in the details of the world that I didn't really notice the lack of clear plot until the end. For me, I was okay without that being the point.

Thanks to the publisher for granting me access to this title through Netgalley.