Boom! Another Greg Egan fan, here. Reading through Axiomatic right now and loving it.
One thing I've noticed (& which I'm sure a lot of people have stated) is that his fictional works are mostly just a platform for him to explore ideas. Whether or not they entertain is a side effect. A few stories on Axiomatic for instance end rather abruptly. It is as if Egan just couldn't be bothered with tying everything in a neat little package once he'd already finished exploring the implications of a particular philosophical idea.
For more mind altering fiction from Egan, tackle his "Orthogonal" books, which posits a universe where the speed of light is not a constant and builds on that (and Riemannian Geometry).
I had to put this one down but I plan to pick it up later. His ideas can be super dense at times and it makes fun reading feel like work. It definitely doesn't "cool down" my brain at the end of the day.
Have to agree to this. Some of his stories are stellar, but others were very textbook-like, which isn't a bad thing in particular, but usually whenever I'm reading fiction i'm aiming for something lighter.
One thing I've noticed (& which I'm sure a lot of people have stated) is that his fictional works are mostly just a platform for him to explore ideas. Whether or not they entertain is a side effect. A few stories on Axiomatic for instance end rather abruptly. It is as if Egan just couldn't be bothered with tying everything in a neat little package once he'd already finished exploring the implications of a particular philosophical idea.