The Will to Battle

The Will to Battle by Ada Palmer weaves both Enlightenment sensibilities and a far future "utopia" which, by this third book in the Terra Ignota series, is starting to fall apart at the seams. Like the first two books in the series (and most of the actual Enlightenment philosophy I have engaged with), I found The Will to Battle both infuriating and fascinating - infuriating in that its global political machinations are entirely focused in on a few (mostly) "men"; that despite the very different conceptions of gender in the future where the book is set, it is told through the lens of a narrator who brings chauvinist 18th century ideals to the proceedings; and that the mystical and religious elements of the book often feel so left field and ridiculous (a character introduced in the last chapter of book 2 felt particularly absurd) that I'm sceptical about whether the plot elements that aren't weird mysticism are ever going to come to a conclusion that I find satisfying. Despite all this, this is idea-driven fiction at its absolute peak, and while I wish I didn't have to wade through the nasty mind of narrator Mycroft Canner to access it, the worldbuilding and political machinations have really sucked me in. Alas, dear reader, that it is such a long wait for the final book in the quartet!