The Electric Forest is bogged down by too much exposition. In fact, the biggest plot turn of the who

The Electric Forest is bogged down by too much exposition. In fact, the biggest plot turn of the whole book takes place entirely in exposition in a way that feels like a cheat.

The book really only has a couple characters, and they are basically the same person. Everyone pretty much talks the same. They are not convincingly differentiated. And the backdrop of the world never quite came clear to me.

It doesn't live up to its potential as a novel, but as an entry in the canon of BrainFi it is exquisite. And its sensibility is just so different from a lot of science fiction. The motivations are lust, loneliness and pride more than ambition and curiosity. It just operates at a whole different beat.