This was a fiasco of a read. Well, not that bad. But in the end i was not satisfied with this book. Which is often considered to be Lem’s one of the best. I guess based on the overarching idea of humanity not being ready or able to communicate with a completely different form of living/intellectual life forms as compared to humans. That idea is being bashed to your head very actively and i would say too much. But my main gripe with this book was the overall disjointment of its parts and questionable story lines and characters. I got stuck really quick with this book while reading the first part on Titan and i just don’t get it why it was there and why it was so long and why Titan’s icy valleys had to be described in so many boring details. I have read in English, maybe i have missed some nuance, but i don’t get it. Then there is again a strange plot angle with reviving some folks. As i have read one critic on the internet, it doesn’t seem plausible that a very important and expensive expedition to another star system would halt to revive some unknown person, who also might not have any memory in the process. It’s like author haven’t come up with any better way to tie in a shadow of a character from the first part into continuation of the story. And it is not like this character was that important to the whole story. And then the expedition to that system with probable civilization. This is where it starts to get more interesting, although again, some say all the gravitational tech described is complete fantasy. But as i am not a scientist, i bought it and it sounded interesting enough. Also, it was interesting to read about challenges dealing with onboard AI, in the light of all the AI craze in our world now. There were points where it seemed like arguing with ChatGPT and dealing with its hallucinations. The last part with alien civilization and their planet was alright i guess. At that point i started to feel that we will never actually get to see or interact with actual aliens. The whole thing with humans trying to force communication at all costs is although somewhat expected, but for the most part not very believable, especially with blowing up stuff and the last pages of the book. Ending also felt abrupt and i had to reread it a few times and go to the internet to confirm i got it right. Not a satisfying ending (not because of what happened, but how it was presented, written). And not a really satisfying read. 6/10

That was one of the longest reads i had in the recent years as i started this book in October last year (~10 months). It is a huge novel, of course. But main reason for long read time was that it was so tedious and boring. Usually, i don’t throw away books if i don’t like something and try to complete no matter what. And this one was not even close to some of the worst books i have read. But it was not great. I liked his “Seveneves” (although last 1/4th of the book was underwhelming), i remember reading it at night not being able to put it away. Didn’t happen with Termination Shock. Usually i would read books during breaks at work or waiting for a lunch, sometimes during commute to work and back. This is on average probably 15 minutes a day. And i didn’t have a desire to read it more, so year, 10 months it is. After some time i got used to the style and pace of it and to the characters and eventually liked some of them. But man, in the beginning it was rough. It is a big book and so often not much interesting things are happening. People are driving/going somewhere and it seems like you are actually going along with them by the amount of pages you have to read. Then they are also talking about some politics that are often too vague and cryptic. Why do we have to learn about every political figure presented in this book, about their looks and hobbies? Why so many side stories about history of some families when it doesn’t add much to the story? It feels like every event or story in this book can be trimmed a lot or skipped altogether to make it a more engaging book overall. Story itself is somewhat interesting. What would happen if we try to alter the climate on a bigger scale actively. But it only covers a few years and it is not something like “in a few decades Earth turned into Ice Age planet”. It is more grounded and realistic, i guess. But it is also boring. The ending was also open ended and vague. So, in conclusion, a few interesting ideas and lets say interesting imagining on climate state in the near future (books finished in 2021), a few likable characters and too long of a book. 5/10