Alternate History discussion

Don't know if many of you have read the Years of Rice And Salt, but its on my (large) pile of books to read. Without spoiling, did you guys enjoy it?

Tyler wrote: "Don't know if many of you have read the Years of Rice And Salt, but its on my (large) pile of books to read. Without spoiling, did you guys enjoy it?"

Its been awhile, but yes I did enjoy it. The book is based on a 99% kill rate though, not 90%.

I've had three goes at reading it. After the second try I was told by a friend that KSR can be a bit of a struggle and to try and read the Mars trilogy first. Did that, though I had to force myself through the final book. After the third try on Years of Rice and Salt I've decided that KSR's writing style is just not for me.
So sadly, I've never finished it.

I found it one of the best alternative histories I've ever read

I thought the ideas were thought-provoking and the different settings and cultures very interesting, but after a while - especially as the story drew away from the diversion point and jumped from different characters (who were the same archetypes?) I started to lose interest. I felt that it became more of an intellectual exercise than a good story, so I ended up putting it down - about 2/3 of the way through.

I did enjoy his first Mars book though - so I'm not sure if its his writing style that bugged me, more the structure of the book perhaps?