The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
dawnsona's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting reading in terms of getting to know different POVs of the same events. However, I did feel the last book was a bit drawn out- could have been made crisper. I felt my attention wandering a bit towards the end.
Overall, though, great concept!
Overall, though, great concept!
hannah8ball's review against another edition
3.0
Really excellent start thru to about 80% of the book. The ending felt really weird and rushed. I dont think it ruined the rest of the book, but it definitely lost a star.
librovert's review against another edition
3.0
The Atopia Chronicles is the complication of 6 previously released novellas, all starting at the same point and being wrapped up in the final story. The story focuses on the denizens of Atopia, a nation built on an artificial island in the Pacific Ocean. Research on Atopia centers on system of virtual reality that allows you to live in any reality you choose while a proxy cares for your body in the real world. The science is promoted as a way to ease the impact of humanity on Earth's resources.
There is some very interesting moral points brought up throughout the stories that I enjoyed and the ah-hah moment at the end was fairly satisfying, but it was overall an average book for me. There were parts in the later stories that edged more towards hard sci-fi that didn't really do it for me (if that's your cup of tea though, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!) and I felt like the book could have used a few more editing passes to tighten it up a bit.
I'm intrigued to see what happens in the next book, [b:The Dystopia Chronicles|21558970|The Dystopia Chronicles (Atopia, #2)|Matthew Mather|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403175660s/21558970.jpg|40323135], but I'm not rushing out to get it.
Audiobook: The audiobook had some good things going for it. Luke Daniels, who narrates The Iron Druid Chronicles, and Nick Pohdel, who narrates Name of the Wind, had a role. The other narrators of the bunch I hadn't heard before and they were decent enough (with the exception of the first story narrated in a very thick New York accent) but not amazing.
There is some very interesting moral points brought up throughout the stories that I enjoyed and the ah-hah moment at the end was fairly satisfying, but it was overall an average book for me. There were parts in the later stories that edged more towards hard sci-fi that didn't really do it for me (if that's your cup of tea though, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!) and I felt like the book could have used a few more editing passes to tighten it up a bit.
I'm intrigued to see what happens in the next book, [b:The Dystopia Chronicles|21558970|The Dystopia Chronicles (Atopia, #2)|Matthew Mather|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403175660s/21558970.jpg|40323135], but I'm not rushing out to get it.
Audiobook: The audiobook had some good things going for it. Luke Daniels, who narrates The Iron Druid Chronicles, and Nick Pohdel, who narrates Name of the Wind, had a role. The other narrators of the bunch I hadn't heard before and they were decent enough (with the exception of the first story narrated in a very thick New York accent) but not amazing.
nyky's review against another edition
5.0
This book brings up many points and concerns of the use of technology and the dangers it poses. While part futuristic, part philosophical, this book centers around the storylines of several characters in the floating city-state of Atopia. Through these characters we see the dangers of technology primarily in the application of digital realities and technological reliance. While some of the characters are advocates of the use of this technology it takes time for them to realize what they created isn't being used as they intended.What started out as a way to help people and fix the materialistic drives of a world of scarcity became a method of control and reliance with Atopia and its prominent citizens as the focus.
Despite the gloom of the above paragraph I found the technology in the book amazing and inspiring. I have not been captivated by a Sci-Fi book like this since I read Accelerando a few years ago. Definitely worth a read!
Despite the gloom of the above paragraph I found the technology in the book amazing and inspiring. I have not been captivated by a Sci-Fi book like this since I read Accelerando a few years ago. Definitely worth a read!
payal_reads_alot's review against another edition
4.0
GEYZUS!!! what. did. I. just. read?!?!
That was insane! It took off with a running start, slowed in the middle, and then finished with a bang. I loved the imagination of the world. It has so much more potential to grow. Great premise, good world building, and a decent group of characters.
That was insane! It took off with a running start, slowed in the middle, and then finished with a bang. I loved the imagination of the world. It has so much more potential to grow. Great premise, good world building, and a decent group of characters.
erickasparkles's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this book, and I think it offered some fascinating concepts and ideas, but fell apart the further it went along. Intertwining the stories was an interesting set up but by the end, I was exhausted. It felt like the villain was foreshadowed and then made monstrous and in a awful, degrading, and yet cheapened way. The ending also made me feel like I'd read the entire book for nothing. I wouldn't recommend.
jenbsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I started this earlier this year ... and didn't finish. The "short story" feel, even though the stories were connected (same world/setting, and some characters crossed), I just wanted a full novel. Then recently, I read the Forward collection Amazon put out. Six short stories in a futuristic setting. I enjoyed them, I guess it depends on my mood. I figured I'd come back and give this another try. This time I finished it, and I liked it, but I don't think I'll continue on with the series.
I listened to the audio version. Several different narrators to voice the different POV. A couple, Luke Daniels and Amy McFadden are ones who have voiced other books I've read. Their voices are very familiar to me. I'm not sure why they had Luke Daniels voice TWO of the sections though ... once from one character's POV, and again from another character's POV. As long as they were switching up narrators anyway, keep different voices for different people. To hear LD's voice again later in the book confused me (is this the same guy/character? No wait, this is different, but he sounds the same!)
As for the stories - looking at them individually, I think the first ones stuck in my memory a bit more. Olympia's tale "Blue Skies" tied into some ideas from Fahrenheit451 (another recent read, for son's school) ... what is life like if you eliminate everything negative from it? Commander Rick Strong's story, the ironically named "Child's Play" reminded me a tiny bit of one of the reads from the Forward collection - dealing with a futuristic look at "planning" your children, although the two approaches were different. "Time Drops" featured Vince Indigo ... and his story was a bit too confusing for me. Looking at different Phutures, attempting to avoid some outcomes. Part 4, "Brothers Blind" introduced us to Bobby, one of the children growing up with the Atopian tech from the start. Part 5 "Neverywhere" again featured characters that had grown up in the tech, William and Nancy, and gave a little more background on "splintering" and such. Part 6 "Genesis and Janus" brought everything together, featuring a character from the older generation, and one from the new ... Patricia and Jimmy respectively.
Ironically - while my first instinct had been to put down the book because I didn't care for the short story feel ... I enjoyed the first two stories the most, they seemed the most complete. The more the book went on, the more the stories intertwined, which does give the book more of a complete/novel feel, but that's when it all got a little more jumbled up in my mind. I'm not sure if I was expecting the short story feel this go-round, wanting it ... wanting more arc and complete closure within the one "bitty book". The remaining four stories were just harder to "sum up the story" because they were more connected to the whole.
Anyway - I don't regret coming back and actually finishing this time. Interesting world. The set up of the trilogy is a bit confusing, with the "Complete Atopia Chronicles #1-6) being book 1, then there being two more books. The #1-6 gives the illusion that THIS book is an omnibus, when it's really just the collection of short stories, within the three-book trilogy. I did peek at the summaries and some reviews of the next two books, but I think I'll stop here myself.
I listened to the audio version. Several different narrators to voice the different POV. A couple, Luke Daniels and Amy McFadden are ones who have voiced other books I've read. Their voices are very familiar to me. I'm not sure why they had Luke Daniels voice TWO of the sections though ... once from one character's POV, and again from another character's POV. As long as they were switching up narrators anyway, keep different voices for different people. To hear LD's voice again later in the book confused me (is this the same guy/character? No wait, this is different, but he sounds the same!)
As for the stories - looking at them individually, I think the first ones stuck in my memory a bit more. Olympia's tale "Blue Skies" tied into some ideas from Fahrenheit451 (another recent read, for son's school) ... what is life like if you eliminate everything negative from it? Commander Rick Strong's story, the ironically named "Child's Play" reminded me a tiny bit of one of the reads from the Forward collection - dealing with a futuristic look at "planning" your children, although the two approaches were different. "Time Drops" featured Vince Indigo ... and his story was a bit too confusing for me. Looking at different Phutures, attempting to avoid some outcomes. Part 4, "Brothers Blind" introduced us to Bobby, one of the children growing up with the Atopian tech from the start. Part 5 "Neverywhere" again featured characters that had grown up in the tech, William and Nancy, and gave a little more background on "splintering" and such. Part 6 "Genesis and Janus" brought everything together, featuring a character from the older generation, and one from the new ... Patricia and Jimmy respectively.
Ironically - while my first instinct had been to put down the book because I didn't care for the short story feel ... I enjoyed the first two stories the most, they seemed the most complete. The more the book went on, the more the stories intertwined, which does give the book more of a complete/novel feel, but that's when it all got a little more jumbled up in my mind. I'm not sure if I was expecting the short story feel this go-round, wanting it ... wanting more arc and complete closure within the one "bitty book". The remaining four stories were just harder to "sum up the story" because they were more connected to the whole.
Anyway - I don't regret coming back and actually finishing this time. Interesting world. The set up of the trilogy is a bit confusing, with the "Complete Atopia Chronicles #1-6) being book 1, then there being two more books. The #1-6 gives the illusion that THIS book is an omnibus, when it's really just the collection of short stories, within the three-book trilogy. I did peek at the summaries and some reviews of the next two books, but I think I'll stop here myself.
jenbsbooks's review against another edition
2.0
DNF ... I feel bad "rating" (and marking it as read) but couldn't see how to leave my notes otherwise.
I'm just not really a "short stories" gal, and that's what this felt like. While I realize the different stories were connected, were part of the same world, this just felt like episodes of "The Twilight Zone" to me. I like to get completely lost in a book/series and I couldn't do that here. I read the first two, and got partially into the third. Maybe I'll come back to it at some point if I'm more in the mood ...
I'm just not really a "short stories" gal, and that's what this felt like. While I realize the different stories were connected, were part of the same world, this just felt like episodes of "The Twilight Zone" to me. I like to get completely lost in a book/series and I couldn't do that here. I read the first two, and got partially into the third. Maybe I'll come back to it at some point if I'm more in the mood ...
yonkeltron's review against another edition
1.0
I had originally bought and read an excerpt in the form of [b:Brothers Blind|14743152|Brothers Blind (Atopia Chronicles, #4)|Matthew Mather|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1338487742s/14743152.jpg|20391039] and didn't like it. Therefore, I held off on reading the full collection until recently even though every recommender engine put it on my list. I finally gave in and, sadly, I really didn't enjoy this book and found it very difficult to finish. The characters seemed unrelatable, the overall plot line seemed a bit contrived and I had to force myself to pick up the book again. I just didn't get it and feel bad about saying it because the author clearly put love into this work and the writing wasn't terrible.
On the upside, the author really got into his characters and slightly altered the writing style depending on the point of view. Technically, it raised a ton of really interesting ideas and provided ample room for social commentary in the classic scifi tradition.
I wish I liked it more, I know I should have. I just didn't.
On the upside, the author really got into his characters and slightly altered the writing style depending on the point of view. Technically, it raised a ton of really interesting ideas and provided ample room for social commentary in the classic scifi tradition.
I wish I liked it more, I know I should have. I just didn't.
momwithareadingproblem's review against another edition
What a disappointment! Here I thought I was getting a cutting edge sci-fi read, and what I got was a reprint of six short stories!! Yes, the stories tie together, but not in a good way. In fact they are set at the same time with overlapping incidents that bring a few of the characters together.
The Atopia Chronicles by [a:Matthew Mather|6151827|Matthew Mather|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1342838843p2/6151827.jpg] is a set of six short stories previously published in 2011 and 2012. Billed by Amazon as the next big thing in science fiction I was under the impression this was a new book. (Not the case! Not the author's fault though). Each story is told for the POV of one character, with a unique plot and sometimes these character's intersect. However the time frame of each story does occur at the same time, so there is a lot of repeat plot points (i.e. defensive test at Atopia repeats in at least first three stories).
So why didn't I like this book? I had the hardest time staying invested in the plot. Mainly because the character's stories ended every 75-80 pages, the POV bounced from one character to another, and some of the imagery I just couldn't picture. Not to mention I felt like I was reading a bad version of the script to the movie Surrogates with Bruce Willis.
Maybe the problem is me. I was only able to read about half of this book before I gave up. I just despised the characters! The first character Olympia Onassis is a narcissistic workaholic who spends the first couple of chapters pining for a pack of cigarettes. The second character Commander Rick Strong spends the entire story having sim children with his clinically depressed (in my opinion Bipolar) wife because he isn't sure he is ready for the real thing. (Now granted this story was funny, especially if you are a parent!) The third character (and who I gave up with) is Vince Indigo who developed the technology that predicts the future. Basically his own technology has predicted his death and so he is trying to escape it, but every time he does it seems like two more events take its place. This character is horrid and I just couldn't read anymore after that which is a shame because I truly enjoy sci-fi books.
So again, I didn't like this book. That said, it is very well written. The plots do tie together nicely, and with the promising prologue I thought I was in for a real suspenseful adventure. However that wasn't the case and I just couldn't finish it. If you like technical, sci-fi with little character development you may enjoy this book. I just didn't.
The Atopia Chronicles by [a:Matthew Mather|6151827|Matthew Mather|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1342838843p2/6151827.jpg] is a set of six short stories previously published in 2011 and 2012. Billed by Amazon as the next big thing in science fiction I was under the impression this was a new book. (Not the case! Not the author's fault though). Each story is told for the POV of one character, with a unique plot and sometimes these character's intersect. However the time frame of each story does occur at the same time, so there is a lot of repeat plot points (i.e. defensive test at Atopia repeats in at least first three stories).
So why didn't I like this book? I had the hardest time staying invested in the plot. Mainly because the character's stories ended every 75-80 pages, the POV bounced from one character to another, and some of the imagery I just couldn't picture. Not to mention I felt like I was reading a bad version of the script to the movie Surrogates with Bruce Willis.
Maybe the problem is me. I was only able to read about half of this book before I gave up. I just despised the characters! The first character Olympia Onassis is a narcissistic workaholic who spends the first couple of chapters pining for a pack of cigarettes. The second character Commander Rick Strong spends the entire story having sim children with his clinically depressed (in my opinion Bipolar) wife because he isn't sure he is ready for the real thing. (Now granted this story was funny, especially if you are a parent!) The third character (and who I gave up with) is Vince Indigo who developed the technology that predicts the future. Basically his own technology has predicted his death and so he is trying to escape it, but every time he does it seems like two more events take its place. This character is horrid and I just couldn't read anymore after that which is a shame because I truly enjoy sci-fi books.
So again, I didn't like this book. That said, it is very well written. The plots do tie together nicely, and with the promising prologue I thought I was in for a real suspenseful adventure. However that wasn't the case and I just couldn't finish it. If you like technical, sci-fi with little character development you may enjoy this book. I just didn't.