Interesting Ideas, Awful Ideas, and Yikes!

Reading this was a like riding a roller coaster that inexplicably grinds to a halt and then falls off the rails. In the opening, I was genuinely interested in the worldbuilding, conceits, and quality of the writing. There was a tone that felt rather Orwellian, but once the actual plot gets going in the second act it becomes a bogged down and boring mess, before a ludicrous eyebrow waggling, fart sniffing conclusion.

This is an older, unpublished book released posthumously, so that has to be somewhat taken into account, but the politics, assumptions, and handling/ treatment of women range from ridiculous to disgusting and abhorrent. The women are one dimensional 'Madonna' and 'Whore' archetypes and the men are hardly characters either.

In many different ways I'm offended by this book, but the treatment of women, farsical and unopposed abhorrent views taken as fact, and a meandering and boring 'great man' 'beneficent' authoritarian revolution are at the top of my list, along with making me think this really might be something.

The performance is actually brilliant and perfectly in line with the tone, which I don't think I would have finished this without.

I'm learning the hard way that the Audible Included library is not the way to first encounter famous writers. I am still interested in reading Dune, though, knowing some of the conversation around its actual intent and message, the politics of this book will certainly be in my mind.

Really disappointed. ( )