Book Review: Terra Ignota
By Ada Palmer
I think all humans feel rage at our finitude when we see others read what we cannot. In some eras fire was the solution, to burn, like infected sheets, the witches and heretic philosophers who read too well the signs and stars. But wiser eras hold such prophets dear.
Why You Should Read This Book
I really don’t want to spoil this series for you. And not just for the usual reasons—although they do apply—but because we all lose something if the series is spoiled for you. These are such a weird, wonderful, complicated books; they can be read in so many different ways that just reading them can feel like losing forever all of the other ways you could have read them for the first time. If this feels like a histrionic way to start a book review my only defence is that these are the sort of things that reading these books left me thinking about.
If you are going to read this you should be ready to dedicate time to it, it’s long and dense, and will suffer more than most books by being read in fits and starts.
My Thoughts
I’d like to ask you once again not to read the spoilers that follow, not just because they will spoil your appreciation of the book, but also because without the shared experience of reading the book I think they might also spoil any lingering respect you had for my sanity.
Is J.E.D.D. Mason Donald Trump?
Yeah, I know, this sounds insane. And I don’t think I truly believe this, even in the most metaphorical sense. But think about it: a deluded narcissist surrounded by sycophants who define the terms “good” and “evil”, “true” and “false” not by connection to reality or any external moral theory, but by their correspondence to the words of the Dear Leader. I kept finding myself thinking Sure, Mycroft thinks he’s a God, but we know Mycroft isn’t a reliable narrator. Isn’t this exactly how e.g. Michael Anton’s narrative of the Trump Administration would read? I’d like to do a re-read at some point and really try to take Mycroft’s side.