I finished Anathem by Neal Stephenson! I have some mixed feelings about it. This was the longest book I've read in a long time!! I'm very happy to be able to comfortably spend a lot of time reading again. <details> <summary>Warning: spoilers. Click to open.</summary> <p> The first third of the book, up until Erasmas leaves Edhar, was incredibly strong. I was deeply immersed in the world and invested in the plot. The rest of the book didn't give me that feeling of wonder at all. The journey to find Orolo felt haphazard at best, especially because Erasmas repeatedly changes the group he's moving with. First, he splits with half of the evoked avout to seek Orolo, then leaves that group under the instruction of Fraa Jad, taking Cord, Gnel, and Yul along, then is separated from this group in the north. I think this prevented a good exposition of group dynamics and building of trust/relationships, which is the thing that makes stories about a small band of adventurers really great. The entire arc in the north, from when Erasmas leaves the train until he's saved by the Ringing Vale avout, seemed *mostly* pointless. I might be missing something, but I don't remember anything that happened during this arc mattering later in the story, with the exception of meeting the Valers. For what it's worth, the Valers got relatively little exposition, and I felt nothing when they died during the attack on the World Burner (which we only heard about well after the fact anyway). Orolo's death and the events leading up to it were certainly engaging, but somehow it didn't really hit. I don't think I was ever made to care enough about Orolo in particular. What I really, really liked about this book was the world: the Thousanders tending the nuclear waste over centuries, that the Teglon had to be banned because it was too interesting, the mathematical chants, the auts... It's an incredible world. I started to wonder what someone who spent a hundred years isolated on a crag could learn to do. I think I would do pretty well as an avout. </p> </details>