Central Station, the world in which this novel is set, was a fix-up from stories Tidhar wrote over a decade or so. It reads like one but it's still interesting, I read it in order to be ready for this one. Neom was not really supposed to be a fix-up novel, but it still reads like one. Much is explained in the afterword. Tidhar did not know where the narrative was going, he just took the setting and started writing chapters to see what would happen. Some writers put this stuff aside after using it to craft a narrative. Tidhar rolls with it and puts it out there. So we have interesting characters and an increasingly complex world to unpack, but as a story it's more slice of life or even soap opera (the central plot doesn't resolve in any particular way, though a side romance does). But it's fun to read, kind of an amalgamation of science fiction and magical realism. Tidhar is a capable writer and enjoys what he's done with this, so we could see more and even better stories in the future.
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