There are Wool short stories in the Apocalypse Triptych books, I recommend them if you can find them after you finish the series.

I never finished the Baroque Trilogy, but finished Anathem in a week and then reread it a couple years later. Despite loving everything else Stephenson wrote, The Baroque Cycle felt like pulling my own teeth, with rare interjections of fun storytelling and compelling plots. It dragged me through the first book and almost to the end of the second, but I burned out and never returned. I still sometimes think about Anathem's quantum reality interpretation, how it compares to Dune's golden path, and the implications of being able to visualize such things such that you can affect them within the remaining set of probabilities.

I liked all three in their own way, and I'm very glad I read them all. Even if you end up not liking them as much, it won't ruin Annihilation for you!

They do not overexplain at all. There’s just more weird stuff lol I didn’t like the second one that much but liked the third one. Overall I enjoyed the first one the most. I believe I rated them 5 stars, 3.5 stars, and 4 stars respectively

Exactly. I was actually kind of eager for some answers and then was like... oh. nevermind.

Still enjoyed all three.

Wool is a good way to detox Stephenson.

I know people love his work but I hate it. He comes across to me as someone who thinks he's smarter than everyone else and if you disagree with him, you are an idiot. His books are so boring and only seem to pick up at the end because the first 3/4 of the book is so boring that anything is better.

Oh wow I totally missed that the book is turning in to a tv-series. I read it ages ago and I really loved it. I have read the whole series multiple times. Just watched the trailer and almost cried. I’m so excited!

Mmmm. I also thought that his beliefs about women may have something to do with losing his child as a younger man, back when he was with a woman. If his sexuality was repressed while he was with her (now that I think about it, while he mentions that his partner was good to him, he only says that she loved him, not the other way around), once he’d left her, it must’ve occurred to him that he could be with whoever he wanted. And he wanted men like David.

Take a look at this photo of an 1830s to 1850s frock:

https://mode.nms.ac.uk/victorian-frock-coat/

She ma be having two pieces skirt.

Have a look at this frock from the 1850s from Scotland:

https://mode.nms.ac.uk/victorian-frock-coat/

See how the frock flairs out below the buttons? That is called a skirt too. The frock skirt flairs out so much bc it is expected to go over her regular skirt.

It was so ahead of it’s time with the feminism and robots

I agree, he definitely succeeded on that front.

David as a character is so… stagnant, which is a trait I normally wouldn’t judge him for were it not for his attitude towards Giovanni. You’ve nailed his general character arc (lol)— like, literally ALL he does is flop around, ignoring what needs to be done until the thing gets done for him. In addition, while I do feel some sympathy for his struggles with his sexuality, the way he goes about addressing those struggles… is very deficient, to say the least. Unlike him, Giovanni, for all his flaws, knows when to act (something I admire).

One can appreciate the complexity of a character and ultimately decide to like them or dislike them. I personally come down pretty neutral on the character of Giovanni - I definitely think he is misogynistic but that a lot of that is a result of the society he was brought up in as well as his jealousy and pain. I do however HATE David - just make one decision man, just one!!! - but I still appreciate that he’s a well written character.

yeah they are different. i think i liked authority because i've worked at a giant bureaucratic government agency and he gets a lot of things right

I mean, how can a writer write about misogyny and the negative effects of heteronormativity without depicting misogynistic characters?

In fairness, Authority and Acceptance do have pretty drastically different stylistic approaches. The shift from Annihilation to Authority (with its more grounded, office-intrigue style) in particular can be pretty jarring.

Not that I'm complaining -- I think each book fits with the others, and books 2 and 3 each build to their own forms of weird horror (for lack of a better term!) that are only possible in the contexts they build. I love each book and the trilogy as a whole. But books 2 and 3 aren't just "more Annihilation", and I can see why some people might be put off by that (even if I think they should approach those books on their own terms!).

Probably the top layer of all of her garments.

I still found Giovanni ~more~ likable than David. At least he takes a stand for something and is honest about his intentions while David just flops around and let’s things happen and then acts surprised when they happen. But I don’t think Baldwin’s intent was to write likable characters but to write interesting characters and I definitely think he succeeded there.

I think that Giovanni is a complex and flawed character who certainly expresses misogynistic views. But I think that Baldwin adds this not to perpetuate these views but to develop the character and explore the complex layers of oppression. Giovanni suffers a certain level of oppression due to his sexuality and class. However, he also benefits from a certain amount of privilege because he is a man. Instead of finding solidarity with women who are also oppressed, he exerts the small amount of power he has by asserting his superiority to women. I think this feeling of resentment towards women is amplified by his jealousy, as romantic relationship between men and women are seen as valid while any relationship he has with a man is seen as shameful and loveless. I think his resentment is misplaced but it is also understandable given the circumstances.

Maybe 7/10 here. I think it tails off in the later books but first is solid.

Also note, by the authors admission, book #4 is in the works.

Loved the series, can't remember how I found out about it initially but I also couldn't put it down once I started. I've never been able to get any of my friends to read them though which has always disappointed me lol.

Honestly, had no idea it was a series. I got through Wool. Found it mildly interesting. It didn't excite me. The premise is what got me to pick it up, but I'm thinking sci-fi isn't my cup o'tea because I didn't devour it. The writing was good. All the elements of a good story, so I can see why so many folks are into it. It helps to have a novel concept like it does.

The world it crafted was so good, I read them a few years ago and was binging them between my college classes