I just finished "Ada, or Ardor," (I have been reading a lot of nonfiction simultaneously). I need some time to mull it over a bit and I plan on reading a few critical articles on it in the coming week, but as of now I would give it a solid 9/10, potentially a 9.5 as I look back on it and turn it over more.

First and foremost it is simply beautiful. It's language, imagery and word play are endless in scope as well as depth. It is written passionately and tenderly throughout in a way that apotheosizes love and the power of imagination (to borrow some words from a review). It is strange in its aspects as a kind of half way sci-fiction in a world much like ours but not quite the same, perhaps a kind of alternative history. Van and Ada live in a world where Russia and America appear to have been joined for some time and where, after some great catastrophe we never learn about, electricity has been banned (they use dorophones instead of telephones, for example). There are religious differences that don't amount to much other than indicating that they are not our own ("By log, what have you done?"). They also discuss the possibility of another metaphysical world, called Terra (they live on Anti-Terra), which is subject to some of the same speculation as the afterlife, and yet it is often treated as a psychological question and thus obviously an extended metaphor for art as well as potentially being our world. Through all of this is a truly powerful story of love, "troubled by incest" and a quest to understand the nature of time. Ultimately it is a powerful and beautiful piece work from one of history's finest writers.