第四間氷期

Entertaining But Challenging to Read

This was quite the read. I liked the beginning, with the engaging murder mystery, and the end, with all of its twisty developments, but all of the science-y jargon in the middle wasn't my cup of tea. Not in English, and certainly not in Japanese! Add onto the fact that this book is from the 1950s, has NO readings for ANY of the kanji and often uses archaic kanji and older vocabulary, and it's a recipe for slow reading.

Language difficulties aside, the main character is (intentionally) a terrible person. He's incredibly petty, close-minded (despite literally making a machine that can tell the future), and is constantly hesitating to act. Despite all that, I enjoyed watching the story develop around him as it twisted and turned in different directions, eventually culminating in a satisfying way.

This is a wild ride, plot-wise, and is worth reading simply for that. If you enjoy machines that tell the future, murder mysteries, bio-engineering, and climate disasters, this successfully combines all that and more!

Overall, this was mostly a fun (if difficult) time, and I enjoyed the wackiness of the plot combined with the awful(ly) entertaining main character. However, be forewarned that the technical science descriptions are very difficult. With that said, feel free to refer to the English translation for reference. 3.5 stars.