Finished The Broken God at 1:30 this morning.
Such an incredible read. Much less action packed than Neverness (although the bit with the warrior-poet was cool
), but took me into such a succession of headspaces in such a short time. Given that almost all of the book takes place in one location, it plays out remarkably like a road movie- a spiritual, intellectual, philosophical road movie.
There's so much high-brow exposition here (most of which I followed much better than the maths in Neverness
), it's a wonder the characters get any room at all. But Zindell's characters are where I think he truly shines. For all the debate and theorizing, I never once felt that a character had become a mouthpiece- there was always a weight of emotion and personality behind their words. And what personalities! I am in love with Danlo and Bardo and poor Tamara. And Hanuman li-Tosh....Oh Hanu. Danlo repeats this so often it's come to pretty much encapsulate how I feel about him. He's one of the most complex and vivid characters I've ever read. What he did to Tamara and Danlo was heartbreaking and infuriating. But his own plight is no less poignant.
I'm hooked. More than that, I'm touched. This rivals Donaldson's work for its impact on me. Bring on The Wild!
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Seven chapters in, and I love so much about it I hardly know where to start. I love that we talked with a goddess a mere five chapters in. I love the characters, Mallory, Bardo, Soli, Katherine, the Timekeeper. I love that Bardo farts when he is nervous, and that Mallory is screwing his cousin on the sly. I suspect Soli isn't as much of a jerk-off as Mallory perceives him to be, and that Soli's feelings towards Mallory are far more compassionate than he believes. I suspect it was Mallory's mother who hired those assassins, but I further suspect we will never know for sure. I love the piloting, even though the science and maths go waaaaaay over my head. I love how I probably understand less than 10% of the scientific foundations of this world, but I'm immersed in it nevertheless. 
