/lit/ - Literature

>>23159414
Contrarian, The Grand Illusion #3 - L.E. Modesitt (2023)

Dekkard is determined to reform his country through the legal procedures of government. Foremost is to hold the most powerful corporations and their executives accountable for their treasonous and ruinous dealings that have destabilized the country for their exclusive benefit. They are believed to have funded domestic terrorism in order take back power without it seeming like a coup attempt. For those involved, no one is above the law, not even former Premiers. Dekkard must constantly be on guard against assassination attempts, as there have already been several, and he expects there to be several more.

There's no denying that Contrarian is a repetitive book with a clearly defined routine. At over 200,000 words, 22.5 hours for the audiobook, that may be too much of roughly similar events unless it's something you specifically like, which I do. Almost every single chapter, excluding those chapters that are newspaper articles and book excerpts, is a new day that often begins with Dekkard's morning activities. Afterwards he goes to work, does his job, then enjoys a few hours of leisure, which may overlap with his work-related activities. This is surely the most Modesitt has ever done in detailing the daily life of a protagonist from what I've read and must be among the most for anything he's written.

Some of the daily life activities that Dekkard engages in are learning about the concerns of those in his district, house hunting, discussing legislation (including tax policies), forensic accounting, acquiring information, debating, committee hearings, and eating white bean soup. There's more than that, but as noted, it's often the same activities over and over again, though they're always different in execution, except the white bean soup. He eats other food, but there's so much soup in general.

My reading experience was very immersive, to the point where I wanted to be certain that I read every single word at a relatively slow place. I don't feel the need to do that usually, even for the books I most enjoy, because often I feel the need to read more quickly. A visual depiction of my enjoyment would be a horizontal line. On a heart monitor that would indicate someone is dead, and I have no doubt that's what many would find this to be, dead boring. For me though that instead indicates that it's consistent from start to finish with minimal variation. It doesn't reach anywhere near the highs of my favorite books, but it never becomes any lower than solidly enjoyable.

Modesitt hasn't decided yet whether this is the last book in the series, though the five responses he's posted about it by answering reader questions on his website shows that he's certainly considering doing so and has ideas for what he'd write. I know that I'll be reading whatever comes next.

Rating: 4/5

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