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A. A. Attanasio

Radix (Radix, Book 1) Mass Market Paperback – September 1, 1985

by A. A. Attanasio (Author)

31 ratings

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In a vastly changed world, thirteen centuries from now, Sumner Kagan searches the earth to find the godmind, a malefic being with reality-shaping powers

Print length

466 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Spectra
Publication date

September 1, 1985
ISBN-10

0553254065
ISBN-13

978-0553254068
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A.A. Attanasio
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A. A. Attanasio
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Spectra (September 1, 1985)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 466 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0553254065
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0553254068
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces

Best Sellers Rank: #326,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #27,229 in Science Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
31 ratings

About the author

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A. A. Attanasio

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I live in Honolulu, and I actually write most of my fiction inside a volcano: Koko Crater, a botanical garden near my home. Fantasies, visions, hallucinations or whatever we call those irrational powers that illuminate our inner life fascinate me. I’m particularly intrigued by the creative intelligence that scripts our dreams. And I love how this dramatic energy finds its way to the page, into the one form that most precisely defines who we are: story.

Customer reviews

5 star		85%
4 star		8%
3 star		3%
2 star		3%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Mark G

Really Good Story

Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2016

Verified Purchase

I read this when I was younger, re-read it as an adult. I like the story, love the atmosphere, but it is a bit weird. :)

I tried another of his books, about a bear I think, and didn't like it. This one, however, is very engaging and the world is cool.

Helpful

RL Smith

From English Publisher

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2019

Verified Purchase

Good Price for Good Condition book

Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2016

Verified Purchase

the best scifi.

One person found this helpful

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John Klatt

Perfect scifi story. Enthralling

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2010

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It has all been said already. This is my all time favorite scifi. if you like it strange and trippy along with psychological and thrilling you'll want to read it.

Helpful

Noel Garcia

Very satisfied, Thank you

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2014

Verified Purchase

Shipped fast and in the described condition. Very satisfied, Thank you.

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Amazon Customer

This is the place to start your A. A ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2017

This is the place to start your A. A. Atanasio journey. This book was a Hugo Award finalist and it won the Golden Egg Award in France. Blows my mind he isn't more popular.

Helpful

Peliens

Interesting Setting; Effective Prose; Marred by Weak Characters and Confused Plot

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2014

This book was recommended to me by a friend, who told me I would be inspired by the ideas and imagery in the book. He was absolutely correct, but I was disappointed to find out that the vehicle for these ideas was not quite so satisfying.

The book starts out with a strong focus on the protagonist, Sumner Kagan, who is an interestingly flawed anti-hero. As we follow Sumner on what he understands to be the last adventure as the vigilante/serial killer "Sugarat," we learn about his strange post-apocalyptic world, filled with a eugenically-minded authoritarian society, mutant distorts, mysterious hippy-like Voors and strange creatures and landscapes (I especially liked the wind-eels and giant pangolins that live near the glowing ruins of Houston or Dallas.)

This world is strange and lifelike and tries not to be too corny or heavy-handed in its portrayal of the different factions. Voors, for example, are not just all-knowing, all-loving hippie alien psychics, but they are immersed fully in a revenge-heavy vendetta culture that allows them to kidnap and rape an unknowing child in order to obtain his genetic material. At the same time, we are informed that they are lost, wistful, wise spirits - the endlessly homeless disembodied souls of massive, conscious coral reefs on a now extinct world who truly understand balance in the world.

I'll say right now that although this balance in its portrayal of these (and many other characters) made the book richer, it made it difficult to know where my sympathy should go. In the end, it was withdrawn entirely from the world of this book, which seemed more like an étude in applying meditative concepts to a Sci-Fi setting (and in homeric prose) than a mature novel.

As other reviews have revealed (spoiler alert), Sumner's career as a killer is put to an end when he is caught by the police and beaten to within an inch of his life. He is then brought to a prison camp, and he begins a transformation that lasts for the duration of the book's Second Act. I was honestly excited when this happened, since most of the book had been a wandering kind of stage-setting, complete with frustrating flashbacks - and now it had some direction. To my utter disappointment, I observed that Sumner Kagan actually did die when the police beat him - from this point on, he has no personality at all - nothing with which the reader can relate to him. He goes through a completely clockwork progression of extravagant improvements - he loses weight, he becomes completely physically adept, he gains complete mental control over himself, he becomes infinitely compassionate and aware of the world around him (basically enlightened) - and by this time hundreds of pages have passed, and he has done nothing *but* improve. He is completely without personality. At this point, he is simply a blank canvas onto which the author paints his fantasies of perfection.

By the time we get to the book's Third Act, Sumner Kagan is just there to do whatever needs to get done. He has no past anymore, no history, no real relatable desires - he's just doing the next right thing. This character certainly exists elsewhere, but it is in the super hero comics pre-Spiderman (who remained troubled and neurotic even after becoming a hero), not in a complex novel.

The Third Act suffers from three major flaws: 1. the introduction of new protagonists way too late in the book (something that always irritates me), 2. the granting of super powers to too many characters, thereby lowering the stakes to almost nothing, 3. a villain with extremely murky motivations. I think that sums it up pretty well. Sadly, I feel that these flaws dominate the entire Third Act (basically everything after Bonescrolls' death) and made me lower my opinion of the book as a whole. I finished the book, because I liked the world I had been introduced to, but it was a bit of a chore once we were talking about Jak Halevy-Cohen and Rubeus.

I'm left with a memory of a sweet foretaste with something bitter and astringent afterward. I found it a valuable read. As I have already stated, I really did like the world created, with the different types of people. I especially liked the Voors and the Né. Contrary to some other negative reviews, I did, in fact, love the play of psychological and spiritual concepts. And (something I haven't really mentioned yet), I really did like Attanasio's prose. He made liberal use of the very popular and often misused homeric tradition of creating compound words. With the exception of the unfortunate coinage "fleshlight" - for which Attanasio is at no fault, writing in 1980 or so - I think he pulls this off really well and adds a nice musicality to the narrative.

In my opinion, Attanasio could have spent more time refining the world and waiting a bit longer to find a more satisfying, enjoyable plot with more balanced characters. He seemed to skillfully create a world with a lot of moral gray areas, and he could have stuck with that a bit more. On the other hand, the villain Rubeus was way too diffuse and could have used a little simplification. How to pull that off? Well, the biggest flaw was that Sumner Kagan's transformation was not conceived of with delicacy, and the character's personality was lost in his usefulness. The obvious solution would be to have made him less likeable until his confrontation with Rubeus - it would make the final battle more compelling, have more stakes, and also give Kagan more room to grow towards the end of the novel, as well as making Rubeus more intimidating in a very graspable way, since he would have Kagan's moral turgidness to play off of. Anyway, just my thoughts.

In the end, I give the book 3 stars, even if this was a negative review, because I notice that the novel's inherent richness of concept gets me thinking about its flaws so strongly, what could have been.

3 people found this helpful

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Wandering Wonderer

Enriching

Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2005

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.

15 people found this helpful

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Radix (Radix, Book 1) Mass Market Paperback – September 1, 1985

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About the author

A. A. Attanasio

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