Science fiction is tricky for me. I grew up on this genre but now I find it harder and harder to get into most of what’s out there. A lot of science fiction books are exactly like blockbuster “scifi” movies, heavy on the action with not much focus on any of the characters or plot.
I feel like Robert Wilson made an admirable effort to focus on characters dealing with a very strange “scifi” scenario that changed their world. I enjoyed the characters for the most part, however it always seemed like he was just scratching the surface of their thoughts and motivations and couldn’t fully bring out three dimensional characters.
Maybe it’s because I’m burned out on Murakami but the entire time I read Spin, I felt like i was following a standard protagonist borrowed straight from him. (detached male pushed along through the narrative by forces outside himself in a sort of pursuit for a girl)
Spin provides an interesting mystery that some might tire of by the end but I feel like the overarching scenario is mixed in pretty well with the personal character driven plot line. Also, a huge pet peeve of mine is when an author cannot just end book in a satisfactory manner. I understand trilogies or series or whatever but that is not an excuse to provide a poor ending to the main book (Hyperion still makes me angry). JK Rowling has done it 6 times.