The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

One of a series of books that was beautifully repackaged by European publisher Orionbooks, The Sirens of Titan drew the attention of my friends who weren’t necessarily science-fiction fans thanks to the author’s popularity. Vonnegut, after all, has gained literary acceptance thanks to his novel Slaughterhouse Five. Having no preconceptions of what to except from this famous writer, The Sirens of Titan surprised me because of the satiric prose which one doesn’t expect from a serious writer like Vonnegut. The Sirens of Titan isn’t hard SF any more that The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is hard SF. Yet the charm is there and I’ll be honest—I liked The Sirens of Titan more than I liked The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (I can already hear Douglas Adams fans screaming “treason!”). It is in that frame of mind that one should read the book and in that sense, it doesn’t disappoint even if the ending is a little more than ambiguous.

Rating: 4/5.