The Physiognomy

Jeffrey Ford
The Physiognomy Cover

The Physiognomy

Bormgans
9/14/2016
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The Physiognomy is the first book of The Well-Built City trilogy, and all three books supposedly make up one big novel. I won't be reading book two and three, as The Physiognomy failed to connect with me. I am not saying this is a bad book, I am just saying it wasn't my cup of tea. As it won the World Fantasy Award -- not an award with a bad track record, with winners as diverse as Clarke, Le Guin, Miéville, Kay, Priest, Powers, Wolfe -- I'm sure there's an audience for it.

I've devised a quick litmus test to see if you're part of that audience. Consider these two sentences:

I stared at some of the titles on the shelves and before long found four of my twenty or more published treatises. I was sure he hadn't read Miscreants and Morons -- A Philosophical Solution, since he had not yet committed suicide.

(...)

Please continue the test on Weighing A Pig...

https://schicksalgemeinschaft.wordpress.com/2016/09/14/the-physiognomy-jeffrey-ford-1997/