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eener's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
The world the author has built is revealed to be more intricately wondrous with each book. Like the true mysteries of the universe, each time we gain some understanding we reveal more depths to investigate. When I get through this series all, I'd like to return to Tech-Heaven and retrace each interwoven storyline through the progression of time. The diversity of characters and their communities feel very authentic and relatable which makes the choices and dilemmas they face much more interesting to follow.
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror, Grief, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Mental illness, Violence, and Confinement
jefffrane's review against another edition
5.0
Linda Nagata's sf seems to be flying under the radar much of the time. Given her decision to self-publish her novels, she doesn't benefit from having a publishing house provide all the promotions (such as they may be), book tours and the like. Which is really unfortunate, because she is unquestionably one of the most creative and significant talents in the field of science fiction. Her near-future stories like The Last Good Man and the Red Trilogy provides some of the best military and hard-sf I've ever read.
Her far-future novels are really far-future, thousands of years and thousands of light years away and it's in these novels, like The Nanotech Succession series and the two books of the Inverted Frontier that Nagata's imagination really soars. They completely engage the fabled Sense of Wonder built on her fascination with nanotechnology but unlike the founding Space Operas of writers like E. E. "Doc" Smith (also far into the future and far across the galaxy) Nagata not only includes actual people but those people are in relationships with others and those relationships are just as critical as the science.
Silver is unusual because it's a sequel to two seemingly-unrelated novels, Memory (2003) and Edges (2019). Memory sets up the story of Verilotus, a constructed planet with more-or-less-normal humans living in a very strange world dominated by Silver (which is a thing I'm not going to explain) and introduces us to several characters that appear again in Silver. At the same time, the book is a sequel to last year's Edges (confusingly part of The Nanotech Succession) where we meet an entirely different group of humans with a unique relationship to technology.
As Edges unfolded, that group of humans interrupts one mission in space to travel to Verilotus and attempt to avoid a disaster of galactic proportions. Whew. So much happening.
And, again, relationships between real people drive the story as much as the amazing tech. Keep your minds open because it's a strange trip indeed.
Her far-future novels are really far-future, thousands of years and thousands of light years away and it's in these novels, like The Nanotech Succession series and the two books of the Inverted Frontier that Nagata's imagination really soars. They completely engage the fabled Sense of Wonder built on her fascination with nanotechnology but unlike the founding Space Operas of writers like E. E. "Doc" Smith (also far into the future and far across the galaxy) Nagata not only includes actual people but those people are in relationships with others and those relationships are just as critical as the science.
Silver is unusual because it's a sequel to two seemingly-unrelated novels, Memory (2003) and Edges (2019). Memory sets up the story of Verilotus, a constructed planet with more-or-less-normal humans living in a very strange world dominated by Silver (which is a thing I'm not going to explain) and introduces us to several characters that appear again in Silver. At the same time, the book is a sequel to last year's Edges (confusingly part of The Nanotech Succession) where we meet an entirely different group of humans with a unique relationship to technology.
As Edges unfolded, that group of humans interrupts one mission in space to travel to Verilotus and attempt to avoid a disaster of galactic proportions. Whew. So much happening.
And, again, relationships between real people drive the story as much as the amazing tech. Keep your minds open because it's a strange trip indeed.
buchanator's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
randomseed's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
ielerol's review
4.0
This is a direct sequel to both Edges and Memory. Edges itself is a sequel to an earlier trilogy, and I jumped in without worrying much, and while I could tell there was context I'd understand better if I'd read the earlier books, I don't think I missed too much. For this one though, I was very glad I went back and read Memory before starting it. I really like the world it's set on, but because the book jumps right into the action and also switches POV a lot, it didn't get a lot of time to shine. If I hadn't already read Memory, I'm not sure I'd have much of a sense of Jubilee and Jolly as people, and definitely wouldn't have known what was up with Yaphet and the way people are paired off on Verilotus. And since a big part of the conflict revolves around potentially destroying Verilotus (a possible threat from both Lezuri and Urban!) I think I was more invested in it having read Memory first, than this book had room to develop on its own.
On the whole I think I liked Edges a little better, though mostly because this book is a tense race against time from the beginning, while Edges spend a lot of time on plot-light competence porn that I find very comforting. I expected the difference, and I do think it's well done--it's the kind of book where the protagonists don't lose outright, but there was still a lot of room for stakes that mattered and just how much everyone might lose in the fight to defeat Lezuri was unclear up until the very end.
On the whole I think I liked Edges a little better, though mostly because this book is a tense race against time from the beginning, while Edges spend a lot of time on plot-light competence porn that I find very comforting. I expected the difference, and I do think it's well done--it's the kind of book where the protagonists don't lose outright, but there was still a lot of room for stakes that mattered and just how much everyone might lose in the fight to defeat Lezuri was unclear up until the very end.
jefffrane's review
5.0
Linda Nagata's sf seems to be flying under the radar much of the time. Given her decision to self-publish her novels, she doesn't benefit from having a publishing house provide all the promotions (such as they may be), book tours and the like. Which is really unfortunate, because she is unquestionably one of the most creative and significant talents in the field of science fiction. Her near-future stories like The Last Good Man and the Red Trilogy provides some of the best military and hard-sf I've ever read.
Her far-future novels are really far-future, thousands of years and thousands of light years away and it's in these novels, like The Nanotech Succession series and the two books of the Inverted Frontier that Nagata's imagination really soars. They completely engage the fabled Sense of Wonder built on her fascination with nanotechnology but unlike the founding Space Operas of writers like E. E. "Doc" Smith (also far into the future and far across the galaxy) Nagata not only includes actual people but those people are in relationships with others and those relationships are just as critical as the science.
Silver is unusual because it's a sequel to two seemingly-unrelated novels, Memory (2003) and Edges (2019). Memory sets up the story of Verilotus, a constructed planet with more-or-less-normal humans living in a very strange world dominated by Silver (which is a thing I'm not going to explain) and introduces us to several characters that appear again in Silver. At the same time, the book is a sequel to last year's Edges (confusingly part of The Nanotech Succession) where we meet an entirely different group of humans with a unique relationship to technology.
As Edges unfolded, that group of humans interrupts one mission in space to travel to Verilotus and attempt to avoid a disaster of galactic proportions. Whew. So much happening.
And, again, relationships between real people drive the story as much as the amazing tech. Keep your minds open because it's a strange trip indeed.
Her far-future novels are really far-future, thousands of years and thousands of light years away and it's in these novels, like The Nanotech Succession series and the two books of the Inverted Frontier that Nagata's imagination really soars. They completely engage the fabled Sense of Wonder built on her fascination with nanotechnology but unlike the founding Space Operas of writers like E. E. "Doc" Smith (also far into the future and far across the galaxy) Nagata not only includes actual people but those people are in relationships with others and those relationships are just as critical as the science.
Silver is unusual because it's a sequel to two seemingly-unrelated novels, Memory (2003) and Edges (2019). Memory sets up the story of Verilotus, a constructed planet with more-or-less-normal humans living in a very strange world dominated by Silver (which is a thing I'm not going to explain) and introduces us to several characters that appear again in Silver. At the same time, the book is a sequel to last year's Edges (confusingly part of The Nanotech Succession) where we meet an entirely different group of humans with a unique relationship to technology.
As Edges unfolded, that group of humans interrupts one mission in space to travel to Verilotus and attempt to avoid a disaster of galactic proportions. Whew. So much happening.
And, again, relationships between real people drive the story as much as the amazing tech. Keep your minds open because it's a strange trip indeed.
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
4.0
sooflo's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
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
4.25
annaswan's review against another edition
4.0
This series was a wild ride! I’ve always loved the idea of uploading consciousness, and Nagata takes that idea in really cool directions. The Universe is big, and dense with danger and weirdness. I’d recommend starting with Vast, then Edges, then Silver.