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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A wonderfully crafted thought experiment, what happens to the world when technology eliminates privacy and allows perfect recall of any events of human history? and what happens when this technology can not be restrained, allowing every person on the planet to become effectively omniscient? Baxter's influence shines through really strongly in this one, with many of the themes that are used being more polished versions of stories he has told before but applied to a unique and bizarre scenario.
without a doubt one of the best books I've ever read. I say that because it left me with so many things to think about, especially how we view ourselves as individuals in a species, but also with how we view our need for privacy.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The concept and the development of that concept are fascinating. I really enjoyed the last part of the book in particular. The plot, sadly, is dreadfully dull and disappointing, and the characters... Meh. Worth a read for the concept, though.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was an interesting idea that was horribly executed. The characters are very flat. The story is not compelling. The story"telling" is the worst. Major plot points are basically skimmed over.
I also think the authors tried to address too many issues in one story. Not only are there WormCams, which allow anyone to view any point in spacetime, there's an asteroid on course to destroy the world in 500 years. Oh yeah, and people adapt the WormCam technology to link their minds and create some sort of superconsciousness. Later, babies are born with wormholes already in their heads. Whatever.
One big hurdle that I would think WormCam technology would need to overcome is that of a moving universe. To find a point in spacetime to view, you would have to account for the rotation of the Earth, the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, the trajectory of our galaxy, and the expansion of the universe. Not to mention getting a continuous stable view of the subject while all of those things are in motion. It bugs me that this was never addressed.
There are huge plot holes that don't make any sense. For example, a character is falsely charged with a crime and they can't prove she didn't do it. Even though they have this all-seeing WormCam technology that can even look into the past. They talk about looking over her shoulder when she supposedly committed the crime, but somehow they can't get close enough to see what she was actually doing? It doesn't make any sense. Years later, she is cleared of the charge because they've developed technology to read hard drives through the WormCam. That's rather complex. What's so hard about reading a computer screen?
About 5% of the end of the book is spent describing what some characters see as they rewind through time 4 billion years. Not only is it mostly inconsequential and not told in an interesting or believable manner, but it happens 40 years after they have the technology to do so. As if it never occurred to anyone to look that far back in time before.
There's so much more that bugs me about this book, but I've already wasted enough time on it.
I also think the authors tried to address too many issues in one story. Not only are there WormCams, which allow anyone to view any point in spacetime, there's an asteroid on course to destroy the world in 500 years. Oh yeah, and people adapt the WormCam technology to link their minds and create some sort of superconsciousness. Later, babies are born with wormholes already in their heads. Whatever.
One big hurdle that I would think WormCam technology would need to overcome is that of a moving universe. To find a point in spacetime to view, you would have to account for the rotation of the Earth, the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, the trajectory of our galaxy, and the expansion of the universe. Not to mention getting a continuous stable view of the subject while all of those things are in motion. It bugs me that this was never addressed.
There are huge plot holes that don't make any sense. For example, a character is falsely charged with a crime and they can't prove she didn't do it. Even though they have this all-seeing WormCam technology that can even look into the past. They talk about looking over her shoulder when she supposedly committed the crime, but somehow they can't get close enough to see what she was actually doing? It doesn't make any sense. Years later, she is cleared of the charge because they've developed technology to read hard drives through the WormCam. That's rather complex. What's so hard about reading a computer screen?
About 5% of the end of the book is spent describing what some characters see as they rewind through time 4 billion years. Not only is it mostly inconsequential and not told in an interesting or believable manner, but it happens 40 years after they have the technology to do so. As if it never occurred to anyone to look that far back in time before.
There's so much more that bugs me about this book, but I've already wasted enough time on it.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes