mauami reviewed Mycelium. Program apokalypsy by Vilma Kadlečková (Mycelium, #8)
An overpromised land
2 stars
Mycelium was recommended to me as an example of a good Czech sci-fi. It's one of those series whose publishing span lasted years and many of the early fans got detached from the story waiting for its finish and weren't that eager to reread it once the last piece was published a year or so ago.
As you can imagine, there's a lot of fungi activity in the book. I won't go too deep into the plot not to reveal too much, but I find the idea of employing mycelial structures to enable the civilization jump forward one of the stronger parts of the series. The layers of conflicts were set nicely: the personal one between the protagonists, between the Akkutlix church and scientific approach to the available powers, and the further development in the wide universe. On the weaker side there would be the characters and their relationships. That …
Mycelium was recommended to me as an example of a good Czech sci-fi. It's one of those series whose publishing span lasted years and many of the early fans got detached from the story waiting for its finish and weren't that eager to reread it once the last piece was published a year or so ago.
As you can imagine, there's a lot of fungi activity in the book. I won't go too deep into the plot not to reveal too much, but I find the idea of employing mycelial structures to enable the civilization jump forward one of the stronger parts of the series. The layers of conflicts were set nicely: the personal one between the protagonists, between the Akkutlix church and scientific approach to the available powers, and the further development in the wide universe. On the weaker side there would be the characters and their relationships. That there are no likeable characters - that's alright. But if I drank a shot every time I read about a female character yelling at someone, I'd not remember that half a year it roughly took me to read the series. Even more frustrating was the 1-dimension of the female characters, who didn't have any personality other than being unconditionally supportive of their men. Just giving them professions like sculptor or professional sportswoman didn't do the trick, sorry. I believe more editorial work, including cutting some content, would benefit the series overall.
Would I read it again? No. Would I recommend it to others? Not likely.