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I recall the most utterly boring infodump I've ever seen was in some novel that was hailed as a masterpiece of transhumanist literature. It followed in detail the creation of one if the main characters, an AI, with a detailed explanation of the software processes involved. It took up something like fifty+ pages and was about as exciting as reading a software manual

I barely stuck around to see the extinction of humanity, and decided not to read the section where everyone gets stuffed into a coffee can and launched into interstellar space, because I knew THAT would probably involve a hundred pages of mind-numbing exposition.

I think that right there is a difference between mysteries and sf/fantasy: mysteries don't need to spend fifty pages detailing the birth of the hero, or another fifty describing how a police officer's gun works. If they did, that genre might be in as much trouble as sf and fantasy are.

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james_davis_nicoll

James Nicoll Reviews

May 2025

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