Neom by Lavie Tidhar is one of my top-5 novels of 2022.

Tidhar has done something amazing. Set in the far-future city of Neom, we follow a handful of perspectives as we examine love from the lens of a robot, art from the lens of murderers, and the like.

It's a slow build, but each arc just adds to the beauty of the novel. Each character adds to the rich tapestry that is Neom. The personal stakes are high, and the mood just oozes out of the prose.

If you're a fan of slow builds and verging-on-pretentious theming, give this a go.

I was excited for the world building of this one, but I don’t like the switching POVs and the meditation on colonial trauma. I wanted to stick with the first POV, rather than living with a small child in a terrible position. Not for me, would work for others.

The world of Central Station developed by Lavie Tidhar is a wonderful foundation for many stories to come. Melding the Abrahamic faiths and eastern religions and properties of many, many sci-fi pulp novels into the most original far-future Earth stories that I can remember.

Characters arrive within a large spectrum of categories from human service workers to rabbi robotniks with all manner of AI and combos thereof.

Like Central Station, Neom takes several characters in disparate parts of the deserts and coasts of Saudi Arabia, Palestine, and Israel and swirls them towards each other to a climactic conclusion. A climactic, but loving conclusion.

Set in the world of Central Station (though not necessary to read that first) Lavie Tidhar's Neom is set in a futuristic world, and more specifically a future version of a smart city being built in Saudi Arabia which is not a project I was aware of until reading this book.

Two things that really worked for me here was Tidhar's prose and the atmosphere he evoked. I also really liked some of the philosophical questions this book brings up and I thought the world was really well built and unique. That being said, I did not find myself connecting with the characters and often had to go back to try to remember who was who, which made some what I assume were meant to be emotional beats fall flat for me.

Ultimately while I had a good time listening to this book, that lack of connection will make it unmemorable, though I would be interested in trying more of Tidhar's work and even in returning to this work to see if it works better for me another time.

I did really love Rasha Zamamiri's narration. I found her voice to be very calming and not only did it fit well with the tone of the story, but she really accentuated the atmosphere for me.

I really, really enjoyed this story. The world-building was fun and so were the characters. How can you not love a future where abandoned tamogotchi and pikachu run wild at a shelter for virtual animals? Or where the "Internet" is called "the conversation" and you can choose how much or how little you want to join in?
It reminded me of a slightly softer companion to Nnedi Okorafor's Noor. I could imagine the books taking place in the same world

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

Wow, what a unique world and story! This was solid Sci-Fi set in a futuristic, desolate part of the Saudi Desert. The characters stumbled into a force much greater than they antipated and there are represcussions. This is a time of robots and there were once a group of artists that built machines of mass destruction and called it art. In Miriam's world, the rich were a parasite to the poor who reaped few benefits. One of her jobs is being a florist and she loves the symbolic nature of flowers. When she disovers a beloved robot who once worked as a caretaker smashed in the street she questions sentience and the journey begins.

Absolutely adored the writing style, a reflective take on what the future may hold. I listened to this as an audiobook and I liked the narrator fine. Her voice was almost too relaxing at times and I found myself dozing once. Granted I also just get tired a lot. Overall, a quick, refreshing listen and I reccomend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape for the audio ARC.

Neom is filled with rich world-building and well written characters. I have not yet read the original work within this universe, but Neom has convinced me I should give Central Station a read as well.

Neom is a beautifully imagined novel in the world of Central Station written by Lavie Tidhar. Released 8th Nov 2022 by Tachyon, it's 224 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. 

This is such an engaging story, told in such lush and exquisitely crafted prose that I was swept away from the first few pages. At its heart, it's a story of longing and family, beauty and danger, and a coming of age adventure with a clever and loyal young protagonist who has a dream and a path to follow. There are several disparate plot threads which wind closer throughout the book though it never comes to a clean denouement and resolution. There are glimpses of overarching themes which center around the interplanetary hub from Tidhar's earlier book but most of the book is word pictures and allegory.

There are also glimpses of homage to the great SF writers of yesteryear, especially Clarke, Heinlein, Asimov, and Bradbury (mostly in the prose - Tidhar can write). It's not derivative in any way, but I did get a definite vibe in places. Although it's the second book set in this world, readers who haven't yet read Central Station won't have any trouble keeping up.

The unabridged audiobook version of the book has a run time of 5 hours and 15 minutes and is expertly read by Rasha Zamamiri. She has a rich, lightly accented, alto voice and does a beautiful job of delineating the large number of characters. She enunciates clearly and well and is never difficult to understand in any way (no mumbling). Sound and production quality were high throughout the read. I alternated between print and audio for this read and when I was reading the print version of the book, I found myself "hearing" her voice for the characters and narration which is high praise. 

Four stars for both the audio and print formats of the book. Highly recommended. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes

Neom is an interesting exploration of identity, choice, and what is left behind. Although I'm not familiar with Central Station, it is clear that Tidhar loves science fiction and the way he blends it in here with a futuristic yet ravaged world is brilliant and engaging. Even with all the technology that clearly exists and the advancement and space travel and colonization that is spoken of, there is still that human element that grounds the story. I could pick up on influences of Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick with respect to the creation and purpose of the robots. Tidhar wanted to complicate the evolution and sentience of these robots which could be read in their interactions among themselves and with humans. I had a good time with this one and will be reading Central Station.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for a copy of the audiobook ARC of Neom by Lavie Tidhar. This book exists in the same universe as Central Station, which is one of my favorite books of the last decade. It can definitely be read as a standalone so don't be afraid to jump right in.

Like Central Station, this book has several story arcs that are linked but don't necessarily fully come together to form an overarching story. There is also plenty of Tidhar's signature philosphy.

The narration by Rasha Zamamiri is excellent.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook ARC!

Neom takes place in the Central Station 'world', and closely resembles it in tone, character, and content. I found the writing style to be very interesting - extremely clear and still vague and imaginative. A very unique combination, leading to a distinct and intriguing voice. The author manages to convey humanity to even the most un-human character. Overall, a very interesting SF read, especially if you're a fan of the author's other works.

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this story! The narration with the accents was fantastic and really helped make me feel like I was in Neom! The world the author creates is incredibly futuristic and I found myself routing for the robots more than a few times. It felt like a small snippet out of a much larger world and I really hope there’s more to come! I would definitely recommend to anyone who loves science fiction and parts of the story gave me Star Wars droid vibes.

🎧 I LOVE ROBOTS!

I LOVE DYSTOPIAN FAR FUTURE DEPICTIONS OF LIFE ON EARTH!

A stand alone novella but fits into this author’s Central Station universe!! Sci-fi, space travel exists.

The robots are fun! I already want to relisten to this audiobook! Robots with heart/soul. Robots posing thought provoking questions!

I enjoyed By Force Alone, I like the prose, got a Monk & Robot vibe. Loved it! It’s short!

I’d like a special edition!

I am a science fiction fan and this book is very Heinlein-esque. It asks some good philosophical questions and weaves an interesting yarn. The characters did not have the depth that I like best and the narration was not remarkable.

Three and a half stars for “Neom.” This book had a lot of potential but fell a little short of being really good. As it is, it stacks up just better than average.

My thanks to Dreamscape Media via Netgalley. All expressed opinions are strictly my own.

#Neom #DreamscapeMedia #NetGalley #Ifcatscouldread #kindlesallthewaydown #scifi

Neom is an unusual case where there are some interesting ideas in world-building, and moments I connected with what was happening with characters. But overall I found myself bored and wanting a more compelling narrative to tie together the disparate characters and pieces of the world. This is science fiction, set in a futuristic version of the Middle East where much of humanity has left earth, there are robots walking about, and relics of past ages being unearthed and sold to collectors.

This touches on oft-explored sci-fi questions of humanity versus AI and what makes someone a person, though I can't say I found anything particularly fresh in this version of it. There are seeds of ideas and characters that have potential, but they never went anywhere that made me truly invested in the story. The prose is nice, the setting of these desert cities well-evoked, but even with the ending which I think is intended to be climactic, I'm left wondering where the emotional impact is. And I think that's really the problem for me- this book isn't bad, I just found it to be rather bland. Which is unfortunate. I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.