[erikw]

Anathem and The Baroque Cycle both took me two tries as well. The second half of Anathem is an action-adventure book mix of Zodiac and Seveneves, so it gets really engaging. The Baroque Cycle eventually sucked me in because I felt like I really got to know the characters, but it never gets fast-paced.

[s1artibartfast]

Interesting, I thought the second half of Anathem wend down hill. The first half reminded me of Hesse's The Glass Bead Game