I was introduced to Nick Haraway during my final year at university doing my dissertation. He has a unique style: his world-building is always complex and his characters are six-dimensional, let alone three! Nothing is what it seems in his books.

I wanted to read Gnomon – I wanted to see where he wouldtake a reader next. I kept putting it off – this is a hefty book and I wantedto commit to it properly. I’m glad I did as it took a while!

I have really mixed feelings on this book.

On one hand, I had no idea what was going on for most of it! There are a lot of characters – whether they are real or not is up to you – and you get snippets of their stories in different orders before eventually seeing them blend together. But just as you get used to one character, everything changes and you’re back where you were – you think.

There is an intricate plot being twisted through the different narrations. There are times when I felt like I had a handle on it, and then times when I was totally lost. The parts set in ‘reality’ were the most confusing: the society set-up echoes ‘Big Brother’ and how the use of technology can undermine our freedom. While that seems simple, there’s a lot going on that left me bemused.

The switching of the characters worked…sort of. Each had their own story and you eventually see how they connect. But as the stories blend together, it felt the characters lost their individuality. Which is the point when you know the plot, but you get invested in these characters and it doesn’t feel like they have satisfying endings.

Despite the confusion, the writing quality is so strong that when I could figure out what was going on, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters are well-defined and the dialogue was natural and amusing. There are times when the tension increased and I was gripped: I wanted to see how each story arc played out.

This is a really hard review to write. I wanted to like the book, and I can’t say I disliked it. I just got so confused at times that I can’t look back and say it’s an enjoyable read. The length didn’t help either – it meant the pacing was steady to the point of slow, so you’d spend a day with one character, then flick to the next and by the time you got to the fourth, you couldn’t remember where in their story you were.

If you’ve enjoyed Harkaway’s complex world-building before, then I’d give this book a go: I’m ultimately glad to have read it. But if you want something you can get swept up in, this possibly isn’t the best choice; you have to concentrate throughout.

Am I glad to have stuck with it? Yes. Would I read it again? Possibly not. But I’d definitely be interested in his future books and it was fun being challenged.

I must apologise for not being able to review this book after you so kindly accepted my request. I have had an unfortunately challenging time, but am now free to resume reading and reviewing. I hope that you will not hold my difficulties against me in future requests

Not the easiest read I've ever had. But, I did enjoy, even if I wasn't always sure I understood it!
Probably my grasp of the Classics is a little lacking to fully appreciate the references contained. But, I did feel I got enough to enjoy the 'drift'... Likewise the references to financial collapse and global commerce...
The story is complex (and fantastic) and certainly pulled you through a maze of changes and challenges.
I think I may come back to this book in the future and have another go - I took too long to get through it on this occasion (my fault, not the book's) and that probably hampered my understanding and enjoyment
If you like your fiction cerebral (maybe more like "2001, A Space Oddessey" than say, "Stainless Steel Rat"!) then you'll like this...

**I received this book free via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I found this an exceptionally difficult book to not only read but to review also. I consider myself quite a prolific reader and yet Gnomon has taken me half a year to read! I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's the time of life I am in and I just can't find the opportunity to read as much as I would like to? Or maybe it's just that this book didn't engage me.

As I received the book for review I made a determined decision to read it all and see it through and today I reached the end.

What makes this difficult for me, is that at another time of my life or in the hands of another reader this book would be considered excellent. It's clever, it's multi-layered, there are stories within stories and it's complex.. All things I usually go for in a book. It also has some of the most beautiful, quotable sentences I have read in a long time. Some passages I read twice I was so stunned by their effectiveness. Harkaway has a rich and eloquent vocabulary which I delighted in, including managing to drop a few into conversation here and there during the course of my reading.

I also enjoyed the sub-stories of the seemingly disparate yet eventually inter-woven characters. The cocky swagger of a Greek banker being chased by a shark, the alchemist who puts a bishop or two in their place, the artist coming to terms with family and identity. There is so much to like in this book (even a cameo of a Julian Assaunge inspired character).

It has all the makings of a great book so why did it take me six months to read? I believe it was due to a lack of caring about the story or the characters. It was like looking at something you know is aesthetically beautiful yet fails to capture the emotion. There wasn't a single point in the book where I thought 'one more page'. It meanders, says a thousand words where a paragraph would suffice. The story is convoluted and challenging. One needs to think when reading this book, and yet I don't think it was worth the emotional payoff after all that thinking.

Perhaps most damning is upon reaching the end my thought was, 'whatever'.

Capture me in my teens with this book and I'm going to tell you it's awesome. As a busy casual reader it fails to engage.

Near-future dystopian fiction which requires the reader to pay close attention.

I’m late with this review. In part, it’s my fault as life has been hectic but, in part, it’s the fault of the book!

I started and restarted and restarted it but couldn’t get sucked in. I can’t decide if it’s the premise, the language or the characterisation.

It’s not for me.

Regrettably I found I just couldn't get into this book. I managed to dip in and out of the book and found it was about Diana Hunter who died in custody which never happens in the world of Gnomon. An official is consigned to find out what transpired.

I generally enjoy Sci-Fi books but this one was very slow moving. An interesting concept but in the end I found it boring.

It was ok i guess. It took me absolutely ages to trawl through it because i constantly lost interest and found something better to do.

I really struggled with this and could not finish the book.

Gnomon is a novel that shouldn't even be placed in the mystery or fiction genre. Instead, I think it deserves a shelf space of its own, especially as some of the aspects it creates are brilliant pieces of prose bordering on the surreal. Reminiscent of Inception for a particular story and yet entirely original in others, Gnomon was one of those special kinds of books that makes you think for yourself instead of having the writer spoon-feed you information you're supposed to know after having just read a chapter.

Here's to looking forward for more, Nick.

I'm sorry. I really tried. I cam back to this book twice. I got as far as 67%. But life's too short. It was very clever but I found all the characters too similar, they all had world-beating vocabularies and ruminations on existence and it all stodged up the plot too much for me. But thank you for allowing me to have a go.

The length of that blurb might give you a little hint about the complexity of this book. At 700+ pages, it is long. And, wow, is it complicated. I made it to 8%, had no clue as to what was actually happening, and had to admit defeat.

From what I could see, Gnomon did actually seem like a really interesting book and, apart from being confusing, well-written. I did enjoy the 8% I read so, one day, I might return and try again. If that happens, I will update my review. Until then, however, life is too short to read long books you don’t understand.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dense yet intriguing, Gnomon is not an easy read. That's not to say it is not enjoyable - it is, but perhaps only for the right reader. It is confusing at times, due to its numerous layers and depth, and the narrative voice matches this complexity. Overall, this novel isn't for everyone, but worth a read for those interested in fantastical dystopian that requires a little hard work.

DNF at 32%.

This was an incredibly difficult book to read, and I really struggled. I loved the premise, and I was really excited for it, but the writing let it down. It was really convoluted and slow paced, with large parts of the novel dedicated to descriptions which felt like it slowed the book even more. The plot itself was difficult to follow, being really convoluted. Nothing about this story made me want to continue reading.

I really struggled to finish this with the story being far too long, slow and boring.
What more can I say.
Not for me.

He invertido mucho tiempo en la lectura de Gnomon, la titánica obra de Nick Harkaway. También he pasado tiempo pensando en la reseña, no porque (como se dijo de Mike Oldfield en su día) en una obra tan larga forzosamente te tiene que gustar una parte, si no porque creo que tiene muchas ideas interesantes.

Lo primero que chocará al lector es la estructura tan extraña escogida por el autor para contar su historia. Recuerda a la utilizada en El Atlas de las Nubes, pero como si a este libro le hubiéramos añadido un triple tirabuzón carpado. La subjetividad de la narración da juego para esto y más, pero aún así no deja de ser una apuesta muy arriesgada de la que no sale necesariamente exitoso siempre.

El argumento subyacente es de rabiosa actualidad. En un futuro Reino Unido post-Brexit la vigilancia y la supervisión por parte del Estado es constante y aceptada, casi unánimamente, con regocijo. La seguridad es mayor si todo está supervisado, ¿pero dónde queda la libertad? La pesadilla de Doctorow y Orwell hecha realidad.

¿Cuál es la minúscula contrapartida de este perfecto y maravilloso sistema? Algunas veces hay que hacer "lecturas mentales" de algunas personas para estabilizar el entramado. Es un procedimiento probado, nunca pasa nada, ... hasta que pasa.

Gnomon, no obstante, es mucho más que esto. La inteligencia y el conocimiento de la cultura clásica de Harkaway sale a relucir en más de una ocasión, así como su capacidad para hilar historias interesantes. Pero tiene un problema de fondo, que se aprecia más conforme vas pasando páginas y es que el autor se "recrea" en su propia complejidad. Las cualidades oníricas de algunos de los pasajes y la subjetividad en general le permiten hacer lo que quiere con el libro, saltándose sus propias reglas y creando una sucesión de Deus ex machina que acaba resultando irritante, cuando no directamente agotadora. Creo que se podría haber reducido mucho, MUCHO, el volumen del libro y eso que habríamos salido ganando.

Las múltiples capas que forman Gnomon se relacionan de muy diversas maneras, desde la repetición de palabras claves a las que hay que estar atento a otras un poco más burdas, en las que el autor prácticamente te lleva de la mano hasta el descubrimiento. Hubiera preferido ir uniendo yo los hilos, pero no sé si la ausencia de algunos infodumps hubiera soslayado el problema de la longitud.

La novela hace honor a su nombre como algo que se sale de lo habitual, es una lectura fascinante pero exige un esfuerzo continuado al lector que no muchos estarán dispuestos a entregar.

The description of this book was very promising and I read a few chapters hoping that I would get into the book but I ended up getting more confused and it progressed.

This book seemed really promising, with a strong lead character and compelling premise. But it became too convoluted and I got about 20% through before deciding not to continue with it. Not a reflection on the quality of the book but it just wasn't for me.

I'll be honest. I gave up after the first chapter. I didn't have a clue what was going on or what the book as about. Obviously the description of the book had something that interested me but I seriously did not feel clever enough to understand what was going on here. The language just went over my head. I'd like to come back to it again one day and see if I get it.

I have no idea where to start with this review. Usually I start with a synopsis. However after trawling through 700 odd pages I cannot tell you what the hell was going on. The basic premise is in a future Britain a computer system called Witness sees all, hears all,records all. Technology is at a stage where even thoughts and dreams can be witnessed. Interrogation is invasive in the extreme. In this dystopia Diana Hunter, a woman who has made her home a haven from the constant surveillance is denounced, arrested and interrogated.She dies in interrogation and Inspector Mielikki Neith is tasked with discovering what went wrong. Was Hunters death a tragic accident or criminal act? She enters Diana's recorded thoughts to discover the truth, to see her life history. Except it isn't Diana's thoughts or history she sees. Instead there is the banker Constantine Kyriakos,  the alchemist Athenais Karthagonensis, jilted lover of St Augustine of Hippo and mother to his dead son, kidnapped and required to perform a miracle; Berihun Bekele, artist and grandfather, who must escape an arson fire by walking through walls – if only he can remember how; and Gnomon, a sociopathic human intelligence from a distant future, coming in time to conduct four assassinations. 


And that is where I got lost. Reading this book was such a weird experience. There are moments of sheer brilliance, when I would suddenly latch on to what was happening and be right in the moment.....followed by chapters of frankly what can only be referred to as waffle. When there is an entire paragraph of the word pain you do start to wonder if the author was been paid by the word. And yes that's an extreme example but there are just too many damned words in this book. It seems to think it's telling an amazing and original story but really it's a well worn sci fi plot that has stuck its head as far up its own rear end as possible. And yet....and yet (oh Christ he's got me at it now) there are those moments when I'm right there, looking at that shark....hmmmm so how to rate? The main problem with this is it's too long, too in love with its own cleverness to be really accessible. But it's cleverness is the very thing that raises it above an average sci fi and makes it literary. But I went enthralled to bored out of my mind at the turn of a page.  There were times this was a 1 star novel and times it was a 5 star. So the only option I can see is to give it 3 stars. Middle of the road it ain't but divisive it certainly is.