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jhallobc's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
mathematicalcoffee's review against another edition
2.0
The world and ideas were pretty cool. But the characters were not very interesting and neither was the plot. The main protagonist sort of drifted through the plot doing very little active to affect it, while the actual interesting plot (the 3 intelligence operatives & rabbit) was sort of pushed to the side/used to frame what maybe? was meant to be a more personal/character development story of Robert Gu adapting to the new world, except that it wasn't. Struggled to finish.
manuphoto's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Ready Player One meets Neuromancer, but with better writing than either of them.
This book is very different from the other Vinge novels that I’ve read, those from the Zone of Thoughts. Here, things are a lot closer to home, literally.
Vinge still uses some of his old tricks, including the technological singularity and stories told in parallel to converge in the final act of the book, all very well executed.
I’m not a huge fan of cyberpunk, and the parts with the virtual reality “fights” were slogs to be, but luckily the book is not about those. It’s more about how major technological change will affect people, all sorts of people. Also about security and privacy.
To that effect, Vinge has Robert Gu for main character. An interesting choice. A former remarkable poet, considered the best of the best, but also an intimidating persona and.. a complete a**hole. I won’t spoil the story but let’s say Vinge takes Gu to unexpected places during the story.
I’ll be clear, I didn’t find this book nearly as compelling as A Deepness in the Sky for example, but it’s still a solid novel, and a very well crafted one. The plot is interesting; if sometimes confusing, the characters are very distinct and well developed, and some experience great arcs.
All-in-all, and nice piece of science-fiction by one of the masters of the genre. It will make you think about the implications of many things: communication, healthcare, privacy, weaponry, etc. It’s certainly a book that deserves to be analyzed and studied. Plus, it’s Vinge, so it’s still very readable, with even some pretty funny moments.
songwind's review against another edition
5.0
Rainbows End is an interesting look at identity, technology and society in a world where augmented reality is within the reach of almost everyone.
Robert Gu is an Alzheimers patient who is brought back to health and mental clarity through a new medical procedure. In his youth, Robert had been a world class poet. The newly reborn Gu must find his place in a new world.
Gu's awakening takes place against the backdrop of an espionage operation to uncover the identity of a group which has developed a mind control technology.
Robert Gu is an Alzheimers patient who is brought back to health and mental clarity through a new medical procedure. In his youth, Robert had been a world class poet. The newly reborn Gu must find his place in a new world.
Gu's awakening takes place against the backdrop of an espionage operation to uncover the identity of a group which has developed a mind control technology.
tahnok's review against another edition
This was my favorite book as a teenager. I loved the vision of an AR future it painted, with people becoming increasingly sophisticated users of tech. It seemed so plausible
Now, on a reread, it's still a really interesting vision for the future, but it seems unlikely. People aren't going to all become programmers because they have to touch a computer 24/7
I also feel like the characters were a bit flat. Robert senior is a bit too likeable too fast for his redemption arc
Now, on a reread, it's still a really interesting vision for the future, but it seems unlikely. People aren't going to all become programmers because they have to touch a computer 24/7
I also feel like the characters were a bit flat. Robert senior is a bit too likeable too fast for his redemption arc
noranne's review against another edition
Calling it quits on this one. I realized the only thing that was interesting me was the fact that it was in San Diego. Characters, story, writing all felt blah. Life's too short to slog through books!
grayjay's review against another edition
3.0
An elderly poet, is revived from a twenty-year fog of Alzheimer's by new medicine, to find he's been left behind by technical advance, and cured of both his poetic talent and his characteristic cruelty.
He enrolls in the highschool his granddaughter attends and while reviving old academic acquaintances, becomes the figurehead of a resistance movement against the digitization of information.
It gets zanier when the resistance movement turns out to be a carefully engineered distraction for world-changing mind control research.
There's a lot more going on than that, and the author has done some interesting imagining about what could be possible of we all wore virtual reality contact lenses.
But what was most interesting was the changes wrought in the protagonist as he has to re-train to catch up to the new way of interacting with information technology.
He enrolls in the highschool his granddaughter attends and while reviving old academic acquaintances, becomes the figurehead of a resistance movement against the digitization of information.
It gets zanier when the resistance movement turns out to be a carefully engineered distraction for world-changing mind control research.
There's a lot more going on than that, and the author has done some interesting imagining about what could be possible of we all wore virtual reality contact lenses.
But what was most interesting was the changes wrought in the protagonist as he has to re-train to catch up to the new way of interacting with information technology.
jurgenappelo's review against another edition
2.0
I generously read until page 225. Now, I give up because I still care nothing about any character. That's the end of Rainbows End.
bea_evans's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Read this for a book club. Not the easiest read but an interesting near-future world is presented. The set up is like a thriller in that the reader is told the circumstances, the conflict, and the bad guy within the first few pages and then the rest is watching everything unfold with the “but will he get away with it?” plot line.
A “great man” who loses everything to Alzheimer’s is given a second chance on life when a cure brings him back as a younger, slightly changed, man. He’s used, along with others he works and lives with, to try to unravel what’s going on in the laboratories of UCSD.
He’s unprepared for the world as it is now. His family can’t get past the man he used to be and all he wants is to regain his talent. These familial relationships seemed the most real to me. The peripheral a little less so. Is he just using them to get what he wants or is he really changed?
The moral of the story? I don’t know. Don’t be an asshole? Teamwork makes the dream work? Examine the ways information moves in our world?
A “great man” who loses everything to Alzheimer’s is given a second chance on life when a cure brings him back as a younger, slightly changed, man. He’s used, along with others he works and lives with, to try to unravel what’s going on in the laboratories of UCSD.
He’s unprepared for the world as it is now. His family can’t get past the man he used to be and all he wants is to regain his talent. These familial relationships seemed the most real to me. The peripheral a little less so. Is he just using them to get what he wants or is he really changed?
The moral of the story? I don’t know. Don’t be an asshole? Teamwork makes the dream work? Examine the ways information moves in our world?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Injury/Injury detail
jonathanpalfrey's review
3.0
Vernor Vinge has a history of writing novels that offer fascinating and persuasive visions of worlds different from ours, but which are somewhat less satisfying as stories about people.
Here he does it again. The world of Rainbows End is in our near future, but the differences are still fascinating, and he dramatizes them well.
The story starts slowly and takes a long time to get going; the second half becomes more exciting, but some readers give up before getting that far.
The central character is Robert Gu, who starts a new phase of his life at the beginning of the book, and is starting another new phase by the end of the book, so that's the rationale for the beginning and end of the story. He's spent most of his life as a highly respected poet and thoroughly obnoxious person, but he's going through a period of change now.
An off-centre but important character is known only as the Rabbit or the Mysterious Stranger. He appeals to me more than Robert Gu, but he remains stubbornly mysterious and we never learn much about him or what eventually happens to him.
The other characters include a small group of shadowy operatives (spies?) working for the Indo-European Alliance; Robert's family; some of his acquaintances (he has no friends); and some children and teachers at a school. Most of the story takes place in San Diego, where Robert is living.
The major events of the story are set off by the machinations of Alfred Vaz, the boss of India's External Intelligence Agency, who has a special interest in San Diego. But most of the narrative is about Robert Gu and his associates, who are eventually affected by what Vaz is doing.
Overall, I like this book and I'm glad to have it, but so far I've read it only twice. I reread a book mainly to revisit appealing scenes and characters, and this book is short of them. However, when I do get around to reading it, it's an interesting experience, and the later stages of it are gripping.
I'm puzzled by the book-shredding that happens in this future. As Vinge surely knew when writing, you can digitize a book by scanning the pages. It's not necessary to shred the pages, and I don't see any advantage in doing so. His reasons for including this odd feature are one of the mysteries of the story.
Here he does it again. The world of Rainbows End is in our near future, but the differences are still fascinating, and he dramatizes them well.
The story starts slowly and takes a long time to get going; the second half becomes more exciting, but some readers give up before getting that far.
The central character is Robert Gu, who starts a new phase of his life at the beginning of the book, and is starting another new phase by the end of the book, so that's the rationale for the beginning and end of the story. He's spent most of his life as a highly respected poet and thoroughly obnoxious person, but he's going through a period of change now.
An off-centre but important character is known only as the Rabbit or the Mysterious Stranger. He appeals to me more than Robert Gu, but he remains stubbornly mysterious and we never learn much about him or what eventually happens to him.
The other characters include a small group of shadowy operatives (spies?) working for the Indo-European Alliance; Robert's family; some of his acquaintances (he has no friends); and some children and teachers at a school. Most of the story takes place in San Diego, where Robert is living.
The major events of the story are set off by the machinations of Alfred Vaz, the boss of India's External Intelligence Agency, who has a special interest in San Diego. But most of the narrative is about Robert Gu and his associates, who are eventually affected by what Vaz is doing.
Overall, I like this book and I'm glad to have it, but so far I've read it only twice. I reread a book mainly to revisit appealing scenes and characters, and this book is short of them. However, when I do get around to reading it, it's an interesting experience, and the later stages of it are gripping.
I'm puzzled by the book-shredding that happens in this future. As Vinge surely knew when writing, you can digitize a book by scanning the pages. It's not necessary to shred the pages, and I don't see any advantage in doing so. His reasons for including this odd feature are one of the mysteries of the story.