Gregg Nicholas
In this story, the future is particularly depressing and hopeless. The peoples of earth have begun colonizing other moons and planets with the help of science fiction ‘inventions' of cryogenics and some limited terraforming. Human tensions escalate beyond belief and earth is basically destroyed before any of the colonies are self-supporting. At the same time that war is begun, we are introduced to an implausible ‘nano-virus' that becomes the crucial sci-fi element of the book.
This science fiction story was written more than 20 years ago. In my opinion, it didn't age well. Some of the predictions made by the author just don't fit with what we've learned since then. The author's view of a ‘utopia' sounds more like dystopia to me. He envisions a world without a 5th amendment protection against self incrimination - a world where every deception is immediately discovered - a world where you don't dare answer your wife's question about whether her new jeans make her look fat. The invention of a 100% accurate lie detector is unbelievable, as are several of the other inventions in this story. I'm appalled by the suggestion that one world government would be a good thing.
When I realized that this book would be retelling the Lost Colony from a different viewpoint, I feared that it would be boring - along the lines of “I've read this story before... zzz”. Congratulations to the author for keeping it interesting - and for managing to give the viewpoint of a teenage girl as well as he did.
This isn't a spoiler, because it really has nothing to do with the plot. I think I found a minor discrepancy: at the end of the book, Magdy kisses Zoe on the cheek and it is mentioned that it was a remarkable first . . . but he had kissed her on the cheek once before.
This isn't written as a story. As the title states, it's written more like a diary. As such, it includes a lot of introspective fluff. It is science fiction, but it also belongs in the romance category - and perhaps a bit of the poetry category. No offense is intended toward the author, but it's just not my preferred type of reading.
An enthralling story for the second book in this series. At one point, I think the author made a mistake in describing the process of transferring consciousness differently than it worked in the first book - but maybe the mistake was in my recollection. I was impressed with the way the author took the viewpoint of the villain, and almost made me believe that the villain was the good guy.
In this first book of the series, John Scalzi introduces us to an imperfect universe. Mankind hasn't completely destroyed the Earth, but some wars have made some countries unlivable. The science behind the sci-fi elements of the story is glossed over because the human narrator doesn't understand it. Most of the technology is alien (and probably not possible). The protagonist tries to lighten the mood with humor, which I enjoyed even if the other characters didn't. I'm looking forward to seeing how the universe changes in this series. The way that humans interact with the various alien species needs to improve.
This story occurs in an entirely unfamiliar world, with alien plants, creatures, weather, and magic. Each chapter is a fragment of the story. Each fragment may jump to a different set of characters or a different time. Key elements of the story and the nature of the world are hinted at by the characters, but never explained to the reader - or finally explained much later. For example, ‘weepings' is a word which occurs frequently, but we're more than half way through the book before it is explained. One of the main characters keeps referring to some traumatic experience with his brother, but the details of that experience are trickled out little by little. It's as if the author is purposely trying to keep the reader in the dark.
I do not find this world interesting enough to put up with his writing style and continue with the series.
An exciting adventure exploring the near term possibilities of space exploration. Up until the last 15% of the book, I was wishing that it was real - and that I was part of the team. This book is an example of one of the most thrilling types of science fiction. It appears to be well researched, and sounds like it would all be possible in the near future - without needing to accept things that violate the laws of nature.
This book continues the story of the conflict between the Tabula and the Travelers. The Tabula, a.k.a. Brethren, are a group devoted to controlling humanity. Their tools are Total Information Awareness, closed-circuit cameras, and computerized surveillance of the world. The Travelers and their protectors, the Harlequins, struggle to increase individual freedom.
Perhaps the Tabula aren't entirely fictional. I'd be cheering for the Harlequins, if it weren't for some of the story faults that are common in this type of fiction. As they try to protect the Travelers, they spend enormous amounts of money for bribes, weapons, and false identities. So far, there has been no explanation of where they get all this funding.
If there were a group of people in the real world who were resisting the influence of the Vast Machine, I would hope that they would be better people than the Harlequins and Free Runners. It bothers me that the tools of their fight for freedom include lying, vandalism, stealing, hurting innocents, violence, and murder.
Is this a work of fiction - or does it expose the truth of our Surveillance Society?
But seriously, while this novel is entertaining, some of the details presented are all too real - and scary. How is society changed as we transition to an era where every action is logged, recorded, tracked, and correlated? Is there a chilling effect, stifling dissent and discussion, just because nothing is truly private and the inmates/citizens never know if the Vast Machine is watching?
By reading this book, did i just get put on a list of subversives that need to be watched?
Halfway through reading the prologue, I stopped and searched for something else to read. ‘Young Adult' literature is too saccharin sweet for me. Comic book heroes and villains are absurdly over-the-top and unbelievable. It was easy to see that this book would ignore all the laws of nature and science - and I prefer stories that are more believable.
Didn't have anything better to read, so I decided to suffer through the first chapter. I still don't know how the author did it, but he kept my interest to the end. Somehow, his writing made me ignore all the story elements that typically turn me off.
