Customer Reviews

Radix

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

i met this book ten years ago. and i still live with it inside. This is the book of changes... How can i say?...(my english is bad). Read it and you 'll be different.

Paradoxically enough, the mark of a good book is when you forget that you're reading. This book was one of those.

I was so thoroughly engrossed with Sumner Kagan's life that I began to cancel dinner plans and sat for hours pondering Mr. Attanasio's revelations throughout. This book is a living, breathing organism of wisdom. I agree with a former reviewer, if you haven't read this, I envy you! You are in for a surprise.

I've read through A.A.Attanasio's Radix and I'm captivated by his vivid mastery of the senses, emotions, uncertainty and the unknown. These very human components are deliciously composed together with the barely knowable aspects of reality and the very fringes of fantasy. It was a deeply spiritual journey that presents a panclusive view of the world, life in general, the universe and everything. The book's last piece of poetry sums it all up,

Pain is a rose of great peace.

Silence is the depth of a song.

And stillness is the space of our lives,

So empty it can hold everything.

Without the context of the plot, the poem sounds kinda dark. On the contrary, the book is a celebration of life and all its wonders, possibilities and even impossibilities.

Objectively speaking, the ending got a bit sticky and scattered but the impact this book made on the core of my personality overshadows the minor lapses in the flow of the plot. I'm guessing it's a matter of unavoidable editing. But I'm definitely looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the Radix Tetrad.

If you're daunted by neologisms and poetry don't even try. BUT. If you're up for challenging reality and pushing your imaginations beyond your current world-view then enjoy this beautifully crafted piece of literature.

There is no doubt in my mind that Attanasio is a sci-fi visionary. In a field that unfortunately is filled with pulp, bad fan fiction and shamless rip-offs (particularly the post-Herbert Dune books), this novel -- and the energy he devoted to it -- really shines. His ideas are challenging, sometimes frustrating, but always rewarding. There are very few books in this genre that I would ever consider "life-changing" or even worth re-reading. But Radix is one of them.

Whether your literary tastes run along the lines of sci-fi, fantasy or mysticism, this is a worthy addition to your collection. If this is your first foray into Attanasio or sci-fi, and since this is a hard volume to find, I highly suggest borrowing a copy first.

Sumner has been, and still is one of my favorite fictional heroes. I read this book at a time when anti-heroes, and good guys with dark pasts were not as abundant as they are now. In effect, this was one of the first I have discovered, and still is one of the best. It is a story of a strange, sad and troubled young man. Far from perfect, the overweight, nearly psychotic Sumner, originally, has only one strength. He is one of the last beings on earth with a totally Human genetic make-up. He was not a heroic figure. He did not try to be a good guy. He was just a mess that ended up totally transformed by situations he had no control of. Earth has passed through a fixed point of space which travels straight through the core of the Galaxy. The "Line" as it is called, is a Cosmic Super-Highway for Gods, Demons, Spirits, and reality-altering powers traveling from place and time, to place and time. At a time, not too far from now, earth passes through the Line with cataclysmic effects! What is not destroyed, is forever changed. Earth is not the same planet anymore. It is a place run by Gods who make war against each other, as well as corrupt governments, rampant mutations, and a host of spiritual entities. 11,000 years later, Sumner finds himself in this altered world. As a somewhat "normal" human, and as a failure in general, he is a true outsider. Preyed upon, and harrassed by mutant gangs, and his own perceptions of himself, he finds something he is good at, beside eating and cultivating a bad case of acne. Sumner is a natural killer. And a genetically "whole" human being. Maybe the 2 traits are interchangeable. And his story takes place between the time others are made aware of this trait, as he is trained and comes of age, and the time when he eventually becomes a deadly instrument in a battle where 2 Gods could decide the final fate of Mankind. It is about a very imperfect hero. The kind of hero anybody could be.

This IS an overlooked masterpiece, as another reviewer said. I wish Attanasio would write more science fiction and less fantasy, but we take whatever he is willing to share and we take it gladly. Radix and Last Legends of Earth are two of the best books I have ever had the pleasure of reading and re-reading. Each time I read these books I get something more, something different, and my love for the work deepens. A reprint would bring this towering talent out into the light again, sharing with another generation what science fiction should be. Many seem to feel that if the story is set on a space ship and/or you have a BEM the book qualifies as science fiction. Attanasio, on the other hand, can take you places you have never been and is a wordsmith to boot. If you have never read this book I envy you. You are in for a delightful journey.

What I wouldn't give for more of the centuries-long backstory of RADIX! The idea of Earth precessing into a Line of exotic radiation from the galactic center, and being forever altered is one of those incredibly elegant, simple ideas that I would KILL to have thought of myself! What a great premise! Once you've got an idea that great, it must be so much easier to write something wonderful.

I am SO curious about this A.A.Attanasio person! I've seen other reviewers here refer to this author as "she"; I've seen mention of other books related to RADIX. I picked up Attanasio's very next book and was VASTLY disappointed. Something boring set in Hawaii, as I recall, and it certainly didn't have anything to do with RADIX, far as I could tell. (Mind you, RADIX is dated 1981, so this goes back a way.)

I would welcome any info about Attanasio and his/her RADIX-related books, if any. In the meanwhile, RADIX gets a totally UNqualified RAVE from me! Read it. Live it. Love it. (Well, that may be a bit strong, but you get the idea.)

'Radix' is such an amazingly imaginative and absorbing work of modern fantasy that when I discovered it, I thought perhaps I had been missing out on some real treasures by ignoring this genre. This may yet prove to be the case, but so far my explorations in that field have turned up nothing that has the immense appeal that this book had for me.

As I see some of the other reviewers have suggested, Attanasio has managed to convey a very vivid sense of both a higher consciousness and a higher wisdom than ordinary mankind's, extant in the universe and capable of being interacted with to produce new and unimagined modes of perception in humanity.

This deep metaphysical underpinning supports an epic tale filled with sometimes breathtaking imagery of the beautiful and eerie changes which have transformed this Earth of the future as well as it's inhabitants. Against this backdrop of strange and ethereal beauty, the degeneration of a mutated mankind and the authoritarian rule of their masters has created a hopeless and dangerous environment for those few remaining individuals who are truly human.

While this book admittedly could be classified as escapist(but, actually, what's wrong with that?), I found it opening up areas of my imagination in a remarkably intense way due to the author's marvelous depiction of exotic people, each contributing a piece to the puzzle of the meaning of existence. I came away from reading 'Radix' with the feeling that I had not only been very well entertained, but had been encouraged or nudged to ponder some deeper concepts for myself.

It is a questing book par excellence, even though the main character was for the most part an unwilling participant in his stages of transformation. Though there are a few elements of scientific explanation thrown in to give plausibility to the situation of this future Earth, anyone looking for strictly hard science fiction would most likely be disappointed. The emphasis is much more on the psychological makeup and spiritual aspirations of man.

Even though I think the book deserves 5 stars for it's rich blend of action adventure and mystical odyssey, it seemed to me to flag toward the end, where I got the sense that the author's creativity was hampered by his desire to bring the epic to a satisfying completion. For a book so original and rewarding, I would be willing to forgive many flaws.

This book is one of the underestimated classics of science fiction. Years ago, during a phase in which I read literally all the sci-fi on my library's shelf, I came upon it by accident. I was astonished at the wisdom in it and in the brilliant writing. This book is not to be missed. I came to Amazon looking to buy a copy as a gift for someone, and was astonished to find that it is out of print--incomprehensible. Don't listen to the tiny minority of critical reviews here: find a copy and read it. It is a masterpiece.

Wondrous, powerful writing! Scenes of brutal, bold and beautiful awe! Original and engaging characters! And, oh, what a premise and what a world! This book defines the terms masterpiece and tour-de-force. In fact, it stands as a massive testament to the awesome powers possible when science fiction's potential is fully realized. My favorite book, and one, I am happy to say, my mind may never fully recover from!