ielerol's review against another edition
4.0
I don't read a lot of straightforward hard science space opera these days, and maybe that's a mistake. I'd forgotten just how soothing I find lengthy explanations of barely plausible fictional tech. Plus most of this book consists of a bunch of nerds trying to do their best, which I also love. I honestly expected more interpersonal conflict on the Dragon based on the initial setup, but other than some routine disagreements the only real conflict is when the antagonist shows up at the very end, and I am into it.
I've had a couple of Linda Nagata ebooks for years now that I sort of forgot about, so clearly I have some catching up to do.
I've had a couple of Linda Nagata ebooks for years now that I sort of forgot about, so clearly I have some catching up to do.
jefffrane's review against another edition
5.0
Nagata returns to her galaxy-spanning, far-future universe with a stunning beginning to a new series. Hard SF with real and fascinating characters and solid tech. I consider Nagata to be one of a small group of cutting edge SF writers that deserve far more attention than they have gotten to date. Like Linda Nagata, they should all be showered with awards but at the very least, go out and by this book!
wynnz's review
1.0
Ok, let me start off by agreeing wholeheartedly with the one percenters. Straight off the bat, I did not like this book, not one iota. It's going to be more of a rant than a review.
In fact, I would go as far as to say, read the blurb, don’t bother with the book. I gained more information from the blurb than I did from the book. Whomever wrote the blurb did a good job, if the author wrote the blurb, then she should have continued in that vein. Instead, I got pretentious, highbrow claptrap. I also want to emphasise my utter contempt for this book by swearing, but swearing they say is a lack of vocabulary. Unfortunately, this book had the mother-lode of vocabulary, after every sentence I had to virtually look it up in the dictionary, in fact it was like reading the dictionary.
Language and vocabulary are as grand as her ideas, if you have a degree, PhD or a doctorate in literature, philosophy and any of the other ologies, then this is the book for you. I didn’t even know whether the characters were human, there were avatars, ghosts, copies, copies of copies, sub minds, was it the Matrix in space? Transhumanism? Consciousness uploaded or downloaded, were they all digital consciousness, I haven’t got a clue. On top of that there were the philosopher cell, WTF are the philosopher cells, I thought it was a bunch of philosophers sitting around discussing the meaning of life, metaphysics, epistemology, and there’s me thinking it was 42. Apparently, it's the coating of the spaceship, see I did read it, mind you I wish I hadn’t, I wished I'd been poked in the eye with a sharp stick, more enjoyment, I think.
Imagine a bald fat man sitting in his underwear in front of the TV, scratching his arse, smelling his fingers afterward, eating pizza and drinking a beer. Now he sends his avatar down to the shops to do some shopping, he then sends a ghost to work, sends a copy to watch a movie in the theatre, and his sub mind is on a date. They all come back, and he’s got all their memories, or something like that.
The characters were bland, sterile, clinical, I couldn’t empathies nor sympathies with any of them, they had no pathos whatsoever, I couldn’t care if they all died, in huge explosion of nanomachines and biomaterial.
The premise sounded interesting, but the delivery was abysmal.
In fact, I would go as far as to say, read the blurb, don’t bother with the book. I gained more information from the blurb than I did from the book. Whomever wrote the blurb did a good job, if the author wrote the blurb, then she should have continued in that vein. Instead, I got pretentious, highbrow claptrap. I also want to emphasise my utter contempt for this book by swearing, but swearing they say is a lack of vocabulary. Unfortunately, this book had the mother-lode of vocabulary, after every sentence I had to virtually look it up in the dictionary, in fact it was like reading the dictionary.
Language and vocabulary are as grand as her ideas, if you have a degree, PhD or a doctorate in literature, philosophy and any of the other ologies, then this is the book for you. I didn’t even know whether the characters were human, there were avatars, ghosts, copies, copies of copies, sub minds, was it the Matrix in space? Transhumanism? Consciousness uploaded or downloaded, were they all digital consciousness, I haven’t got a clue. On top of that there were the philosopher cell, WTF are the philosopher cells, I thought it was a bunch of philosophers sitting around discussing the meaning of life, metaphysics, epistemology, and there’s me thinking it was 42. Apparently, it's the coating of the spaceship, see I did read it, mind you I wish I hadn’t, I wished I'd been poked in the eye with a sharp stick, more enjoyment, I think.
Imagine a bald fat man sitting in his underwear in front of the TV, scratching his arse, smelling his fingers afterward, eating pizza and drinking a beer. Now he sends his avatar down to the shops to do some shopping, he then sends a ghost to work, sends a copy to watch a movie in the theatre, and his sub mind is on a date. They all come back, and he’s got all their memories, or something like that.
The characters were bland, sterile, clinical, I couldn’t empathies nor sympathies with any of them, they had no pathos whatsoever, I couldn’t care if they all died, in huge explosion of nanomachines and biomaterial.
The premise sounded interesting, but the delivery was abysmal.
mjfmjfmjf's review
4.0
I am happy that this author returned to her earlier hard sf world. And this book is certainly cool. There was very interesting use of upload of intelligence. But the book was also slow and plodding. I could have re-read the first book first. And the characters were cool. I wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. I will read the sequel. 3.5 of 5.
bartalker's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
annaswan's review
Fascinating and weird and cool. I paused about a quarter of the way through to go read _Vast_, the preceding novel in this universe, and I’m glad that I did.
quiraang's review
3.0
It's strange how you can react to certain books. Whilst this was a well written book, with an interesting concept, I found that it depressed me.
I don't know why.
I don't know why.
elizafiedler's review against another edition
3.0
Nevermind that it rushes through several centuries, this book moves a bit too slow for me, and I'm having a really hard time caring about characters who deliberately edit all their emotions out. But if you like Neal Stephenson, definitely give this book a read! The technical details are rich. (I just don't care, lol)
trike's review against another edition
3.0
It’s a decent story, but definitely only part one of a longer series. I haven’t read any of the other books set in this universe, so I don’t know what I might be missing, but this was self-contained enough. It’s old school SF with ships taking centuries to travel between stars, so that was a nice throwback amidst all the Stars Trek & Wars these days.