masn's review
4.0
Deep book, questioning reality, free-will, AI, and the existence of sentient alien life. The constant swapping of consciousnesses was a little odd and started to get old the third time it was used, but other than that, this was an excellent book
alice2000's review
2.0
A little too hard core scifi for my tastes. I normally don't mind books jumping around and introducing different time periods, but I found it hard to care in this case.
nwhyte's review
http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2007/04/the_2007_philip.shtml[return][return]This first novel is an ambitious exploration of the future development of artificial intelligence through three viewpoint characters separated by decades in Ballantyne's future history (2051, 2119 and 2210), but sharing the problems of an intrusive nanny state and also a consistent uncertainty - extending to the characters' perception of themselves - as to who is human and who is an AI. However, I was left unconvinced by the external world-building - on the very first page, one of his central characters accidentally destroys an entire planet, which raises for me important questions, never answered, of how you can locate planets that can be so casually destroyed. In addition, I felt that the author's prose style simply did not rise to the level needed for such an ambitious plot.
franceswren's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
wealhtheow's review
3.0
Not great, but not terrible. The first 3/4ths of the novel are confusing and the various characters have literally nothing to do with each other. The very end is interesting in much the same way as Westerfeld’s Evolution’s Darling or Blindsight--it’s an exploration of what it means to be intelligent, and what intelligent machines would mean (both to humanity and to themselves).
terminatee's review
3.0
Hard science parts made my head hurt, never really understood how all the pieces (three different story lines) fit together.
More...