Well, got through this one. A bit of an odd story for me. The writing style is very good and kept me reading even though it seemed at times not very much was happening with the character. I think it would have benefitted from more detail about the troubles back on Earth. Still, a good read and I look forward to more from this author.

Interesting premise, so satisfied my constant itch for the more 'speculative fiction' side of sci-fi. (I'm not typically an other planets/aliens fan, but this worked.) The overall narrative is compelling and the trajectory is satisfying.
But, try as I might, I never really got enough from the protagonist to care what happened to him. Too inscrutable for me to put myself in his place and too tough/matter-of-fact for me to generate a supportive sympathy. ( )

This is the sort of book I loved in high school. It contains echoes of Chip Delany and a phildickian atmosphere. Evans was a poet but lost his ability to write. His life is in danger, so he accepts an odd invitation to an off-world audition. The concepts are fascinating: a union of aliens, who communicate in a very complex combination of words and context, which the humans want to join.

Several of the locations are described pretty well. The invented names for future items are easy enough to figure out. Unfortunately, there just isn't enough to the characters to keep me interested. I went back and forth several times between "why am I still looking at this?" and "hmmm, this is better than I thought." Evans, the viewpoint character, mostly just goes where he's sent. He is better than his peers at recognizing how little we all know, but he doesn't do much with this nugget. If the author can make his characterizations as interesting as some of his other concepts, he will be one to watch. ( )

I haven't finished reading this yet - I found it difficult to get into initially but now that I am progressing through it, it's getting much easier to read. In my 30's, I used to look for mind-twisters or something to read out of the ordinary. Now that I am retired from working full-time, I find that I am writing proposals for art projects instead of reading books like The Pollutant Speaks. I do find the writing to be illustrative and I can certainly imagine the settings quite well. ( )

--ARC provided by Bee Orchid Press and LibraryThing.--

While this _is_ a densely-told and immersive SF novel, what it _isn't_ is highly original. This is a rich quilt of SF influences (from "A Clockwork Orange" to most of PKD's oeuvre) without a great deal of fresh voice other than the neologisms and world-creation trappings. I know I sound like the wettest blanket, but I've read a great deal of SF over the last half-century and it's all in here. The overpopulated dystopia of social-media crowd control seems to be a cyberpunk standard, but the characters, politics, and the mechanism by which the antagonist 'does his thing' are straight out of Samuel Delany's "Babel-17" from 1966. Worst of all is that the main character proceeds mostly through mention of his past: his agency was essentially silenced before the story begins and he sleepwalks through most of this novel, as frustrated as I at his inability to do anything significant.

I really wanted to like this, and Cochran's use of verse as political subversion and unrest if great, but the constant clamor of the Cannots was like listening to banging radiator pipes. This is a journeyman piece but hopefully not Cochran's last word.

Also, a note to Bee Orchid Press: the proofreading really broke down about halfway through and the last third of this ARC is rife with errors. ( )