The language-play is less of a mystery and more of a fun pattern matching game when you speak a slavic language. It’s hard to rate any such book where the content is so vile and nauseating, but beyond that, the writing is just fun. It feels similar to watching a Shakespearen play where by the end of the play you may forget they’re speaking a different dialect and you start to question whether the production chose to use modern English, so immersed are you. Something about the book does feel like ’this should be analysed in A-Level English’ and it’s hard to put my finger on what that point is, as it’s a detriment. Is it that the book hews too close to common tropes? Is it that the themes are obvious and brow beating? Are the contrasts between constrained society and personal anarchy too loud? It feels like it is 90% of a great novel.
This is a re-read — see my original review from 2020.