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mwplante's review against another edition
4.0
Back on his "nature of consciousness" bullshit. He does it so well. I was a little confused by this one but that's my own fault for never finishing Blindsight. I'll have to do a reread when I finally do.
zare_i's review against another edition
5.0
Well this was a surprise read. While looking about the Peter Watts' books I came across this short story and when I found out it is available for free on publisher's (Tor) page I had to check it out.
And what a story. In general SF stories I split into dynamic epics (i.e. Dune, Starfishers, Culture, Polity etc), static epics (i.e Foundation, Culture (some of them are more on talk/philosophy than action)), crime/thriller/action (i.e. Robot series (including Caves of Steele), Neuromancer, Hardwired, Takeshi Kovacs) and existential ones (i.e. We, Brave New World, Hard to be God).
And then ..... then you end up with stories that make you spin around and wonder what did you just read. I had the same thoughts when I read Revelation Space and some of the works by Peter F Hamilton and Adrian Tchaikovsky.
So many elements mixed in, trans-humans, humans, dystopia elements (that mention of panopticon had my skin crawling, why do these elements resonate so close to home these days), weird, almost divine (and scary as hell) AI bio constructs, orbital stations and powerful weapons, biological poisons but also energy guns.
This short story of 29 pages could not be better teaser for this author's Firefall series. It reads like a quick pace movie trailer - we follow a man, Colonel from the title, who comes across the vital clue about his son while trying to deal sort of an understanding between global government and rogue AI bio constructs - for all means and purposes just recall the bunch of people linked together in dump underworld like in Ghost in the Shell movie. Informationt hey provide him, that could be both genuine but also means of manipulation force him to go dark and seek his son.
It is incredible how many things ended up in this .... short, man, shortiest of the short stories I ever read.
Did it interest me for the rest of the series? Absolutely! if single short story packs a punch like some full length SF novels I am in for a full scale adventure.
Highly recommended if you are still deliberating whether or not Firefall series sounds good I think this book will make decision for you. If you already went through the books in the series and liked it ... hey, I know :) I do not want to preach to the choir :) you already know the author's story-telling ability, this story might be interesting but I doubt anything of interest is on this pages for you.
Anyways, I just cannot wait to start the series :)
And what a story. In general SF stories I split into dynamic epics (i.e. Dune, Starfishers, Culture, Polity etc), static epics (i.e Foundation, Culture (some of them are more on talk/philosophy than action)), crime/thriller/action (i.e. Robot series (including Caves of Steele), Neuromancer, Hardwired, Takeshi Kovacs) and existential ones (i.e. We, Brave New World, Hard to be God).
And then ..... then you end up with stories that make you spin around and wonder what did you just read. I had the same thoughts when I read Revelation Space and some of the works by Peter F Hamilton and Adrian Tchaikovsky.
So many elements mixed in, trans-humans, humans, dystopia elements (that mention of panopticon had my skin crawling, why do these elements resonate so close to home these days), weird, almost divine (and scary as hell) AI bio constructs, orbital stations and powerful weapons, biological poisons but also energy guns.
This short story of 29 pages could not be better teaser for this author's Firefall series. It reads like a quick pace movie trailer - we follow a man, Colonel from the title, who comes across the vital clue about his son while trying to deal sort of an understanding between global government and rogue AI bio constructs - for all means and purposes just recall the bunch of people linked together in dump underworld like in Ghost in the Shell movie. Informationt hey provide him, that could be both genuine but also means of manipulation force him to go dark and seek his son.
It is incredible how many things ended up in this .... short, man, shortiest of the short stories I ever read.
Did it interest me for the rest of the series? Absolutely! if single short story packs a punch like some full length SF novels I am in for a full scale adventure.
Highly recommended if you are still deliberating whether or not Firefall series sounds good I think this book will make decision for you. If you already went through the books in the series and liked it ... hey, I know :) I do not want to preach to the choir :) you already know the author's story-telling ability, this story might be interesting but I doubt anything of interest is on this pages for you.
Anyways, I just cannot wait to start the series :)
jmkemp's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting short story with a little twist to it. It is a teaser for the novels set in the same universe where the colonel is the father of one of the main characters
radbear76's review against another edition
4.0
A good novella that introduces some trippy ideas and combines them into an ambiguous ending. I have a feeling a book set in this universe is in the offing if it hasn't already been published and I missed it.
ninj's review against another edition
4.0
Great story set in the Firefall universe; Watts really lets you feel like you're in a realistic future setting with unknown - unknowable? - antagonists. Only downside is that it's more of a vignette, without being a cohesive standalone story. A teaser, rather, or opening into Echopraxia.
synoptic_view's review against another edition
Can be read online here: https://www.tor.com/2014/07/29/the-colonel-peter-watts/
Not really a novel. But it does provide a nice bridge between [b:Blindsight|48484|Blindsight (Firefall, #1)|Peter Watts|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924412l/48484._SX50_.jpg|47428] and [b:Echopraxia|18490708|Echopraxia (Firefall, #2)|Peter Watts|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1380224957l/18490708._SX50_.jpg|26174428]. I would recommend reading it between the two.
Not really a novel. But it does provide a nice bridge between [b:Blindsight|48484|Blindsight (Firefall, #1)|Peter Watts|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924412l/48484._SX50_.jpg|47428] and [b:Echopraxia|18490708|Echopraxia (Firefall, #2)|Peter Watts|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1380224957l/18490708._SX50_.jpg|26174428]. I would recommend reading it between the two.
tallblondehandsome's review
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
abmgw's review against another edition
3.0
Would have worked as a prologe to "Echopraxia", but as a short story its just not worth reading.
cloramagone's review against another edition
3.0
definitely needed as context for echopraxia. somehow does not make echopraxia any less confusing.