I was about 2/3rds of the way through this book when I thought to myself: 'Man, this really reminds me of the scene in the Mars trilogy where they were working on the constitution.' Then I thought about it again. And, of course it does. It is the same author!
One thing that Robinson does well, very well, is show the scope and sweep of time. In the Mars trilogy, he did it (spoiler?) by making people live functionally forever. Here he was a little more clever, by working through reincarnations. This also gave him the opportunity to work with a larger cast of characters, who, though they had to fit in a broad category, could have very different personalities, backgrounds, etc. from one reincarnation to the next, with only the first letter of their name staying the same.
The journeys that Robinson makes through the bardo---the land where you go between incarnations---reminded me a bit of the 'behind the scenes' piece from American Gods (possibly one of the few parts of that book I really liked), though the bardo is a necessary stop between lives and often includes much pain and Gaiman's 'behind the scenes' is more a short-cut from one place and time to another. Sort of a worm-hole of alternate dimensions.
Another interesting aspect of the bardo---and the real world, for that matter---was the concept of a group of souls that are connected in some respect and end up together in the bardo and often have interececting and intertwined stories in the real world as well. I was reminded of the concept of a karass from Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, which is a group of people brought together to do God's will. In both cases, no one in the group knows they were meant to be together in real life, but are somehow all striving for the same thing.
Though there are many interesting aspects of the story, the point of seeing the large sweep of history is to extend what would have happened if all the white people died due to the Black Death and, as a result, Christiantiy did not have a large stake in the world. And the answer that Robinson proposes is fascinating, with New World natives actually surviving and creating a modern society in the middle of our North America.
Overall, a fantastic read. Thick, but so very worth it.
9/10
