Chronoliths

The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson. Having a hard time starting this one. I'm not particularly caring about the protagonist, who's very much a slacker, and just got through wandering off to where he couldn't be reached while his daughter got sick. This isn't engendering much sympathy on my part. (5/6)

Got beyond the first chapter. Scott Warden, the protagonist, does try to redeem his slackerdom, which helps. But it's not quite the story I want to read. I want to read about the Chronoliths themselves, and more about how they're affecting the world, and how they happened, but instead, I'm getting drawn out meanderings from Scott about his life.

And I'm wondering about the contradictions inherent in pushing the chronoliths into the past (the chronoliths destroy the area they appear in, but they're supposed to be monuments to conquest, and have just wrecked what they're supposed to be commemerating. And yet nobody in the book seems to think about that.)

I came to a natural break (start of part three), and in spite of wondering what Kuin is up to, and who he/she is, and Scott's missing daughter Kaitlin, I'm not pushing right on to the next part just now. (5/8)

Reflecting on this book a couple of days after finishing it, I'm still dissatisfied. There was the hint of a story I would have been utterly fascinated by reading in here, but it wasn't the story being told. I really don't like Scott's point of view. His experience of the Chronoliths is too limited and dispassionate. I think Sulamith's story would have been more interesting. Especially her story as it corresponds to section three of the book.

A decent read, and I'll give Wilson another chance (with a library book), but I don't think I'll plan on re-reading this one. I'll be checking reviews to see if his other books have more compelling main characters.