Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
The synopsis for Lockstep sounded really interesting, but unfortunately it turned out to be rather dull. It took me far longer to read this than I thought it would and I really pushed myself not to DNF it a couple of times. What I did like about the book was the concept of the Lockstep worlds where people who had colonized different planets slept for 30 years at a time in a frozen state, and were awake for only a month at a time. This allowed them to live for thousands of years and to travel to far off places. That's the main reason I gave this 2 stars instead of 1.
This being a space opera I was expecting adventure and excitement, but instead there was mostly a lot of talking, sleeping, waking up, philosophizing (a lot of which annoyed me), and hiding. There was also a lot of telling instead of showing. The characters could have been a lot more fleshed out. Mostly they felt pretty cardboard. The little romance in the story left me feeling nothing. There was no real spark between the characters, it was like they decided they cared for each other, but none of the feelings were written on the page, we were just told they did. Also lets find a new reason for people to have left Earth to explore new worlds other than some giant corporations took over the world and global warming damaged or destroyed it.
This being a space opera I was expecting adventure and excitement, but instead there was mostly a lot of talking, sleeping, waking up, philosophizing (a lot of which annoyed me), and hiding. There was also a lot of telling instead of showing. The characters could have been a lot more fleshed out. Mostly they felt pretty cardboard. The little romance in the story left me feeling nothing. There was no real spark between the characters, it was like they decided they cared for each other, but none of the feelings were written on the page, we were just told they did. Also lets find a new reason for people to have left Earth to explore new worlds other than some giant corporations took over the world and global warming damaged or destroyed it.
time stuff interesting but doesn't even try to pass the Bechdel test. boring, naive boy hero goes on adventure, saves universe, etc.
The premise of this book was so interesting. It began by omitting interstellar gates, warp speed, and other conventions of sci fi. If spaceships can never travel faster than the speed of light, then the only way people can populate the universe while maintaining contact with those elsewhere is by agreeing to enter hibernation for the length of time it takes to travel between worlds. By hibernating, people can extend the length of time they are alive while vastly increasing the distances they can travel. It also allows them to survive harsher environments—while hibernating, their bots mine for resources until there's enough for use the next time they're awake. The book also touches on game theory, personal freedom, and societal inequality. The technology it describes—the hibernation beds, the bots, the glasses, as well as some of these worlds—was so fascinating.
The reason I didn't give the book a higher rating, however, was because of the characterization and writing. I would have found it less implausible if Toby, the hero, were in his late teens or early 20s instead of 15. His friends were convenient tropes. I also had a hard time believing that most everyone Toby encountered spoke English. The writing was clunky, and it was sometimes hard to follow the action.
Still, I'd recommend the book to fans of speculative fiction who'd like to immerse themselves in another vision of the future. Despite the issues I had with the book, it was a quick and fun read overall.
The reason I didn't give the book a higher rating, however, was because of the characterization and writing. I would have found it less implausible if Toby, the hero, were in his late teens or early 20s instead of 15. His friends were convenient tropes. I also had a hard time believing that most everyone Toby encountered spoke English. The writing was clunky, and it was sometimes hard to follow the action.
Still, I'd recommend the book to fans of speculative fiction who'd like to immerse themselves in another vision of the future. Despite the issues I had with the book, it was a quick and fun read overall.
Faszinierendes Setting, aber wie bei sehr vielen Hard-SF-Romanen, ist die emotionale Bindung an den Hauptcharakter nicht sonderlich ausgeprägt. Das Sense of Wonder verliert sich im Laufe des Romans und Schroeder schafft es nicht, mit seinem Hauptcharakter die Bindung zum Leser aufrecht zu erhalten. Es ist deutlich von Nachteil, dass Toby im späteren Verlauf eine Rolle einnimmt, die ihn vom Leser "entfernt" und die kaum noch Spannung über sein weiteres Schicksal aufkommen lässt. Trotzdem eine 4-Sterne-Wertung, wegen des außergewöhnlichen und durchdachten Settings.
I absolutely loved this book, even though I had so much trouble with the Lockstep system and the actual time in between each step and who was aging at whatever speed they were aging at comparatively. Luckily they often discuss the distance in time for people, so you aren't lost attempting to just do the math in your head. Also the fraction system being based on months seemed a real pain. I really don't get why it wasn't based on years considering you have weekly's, you could have had monthlys, and then represented the rest in yearly fractions instead of fractions of months. I guess since they typically stood awake for 1 month it works, but dividing locksteps by 12 seems bulky, especially in relation to other locksteps.
Moving on, I just finished reading a techno thriller not too long ago and was completely bored with most of the characters, but in love with the idea. I feel like Lockstep really captured both, though I did not feel like Toby was a typical 17 year old, he felt older or younger at every step, he didn't feel like a boy transitioning to a man, which you would expect for a story featuring a 17 year old. However I did love the main characters, that being Toby, Corva and their denner's. It was a great change to get attached to a character in a book again and worry about their safety page by page.
As for the Lockstep system, I thought this part was great, the idea that with a method of hibernation, interstellar travel could become a reality, all it would take is people synchronizing their worlds. The author being able to piece together that this would not only solve environmental, and resource issues, but also the more obvious time difference issue was great. This then feeding into the subplots of people losing others by falling out of their particular lockstep was great. I normally don't write reviews, but I felt like Lockstep deserved a special mention, perhaps because it really pulled me along through the chapters, perhaps because it brought me back to good characters, perhaps because my vision of denners are so adorable.
Moving on, I just finished reading a techno thriller not too long ago and was completely bored with most of the characters, but in love with the idea. I feel like Lockstep really captured both, though I did not feel like Toby was a typical 17 year old, he felt older or younger at every step, he didn't feel like a boy transitioning to a man, which you would expect for a story featuring a 17 year old. However I did love the main characters, that being Toby, Corva and their denner's. It was a great change to get attached to a character in a book again and worry about their safety page by page.
As for the Lockstep system, I thought this part was great, the idea that with a method of hibernation, interstellar travel could become a reality, all it would take is people synchronizing their worlds. The author being able to piece together that this would not only solve environmental, and resource issues, but also the more obvious time difference issue was great. This then feeding into the subplots of people losing others by falling out of their particular lockstep was great. I normally don't write reviews, but I felt like Lockstep deserved a special mention, perhaps because it really pulled me along through the chapters, perhaps because it brought me back to good characters, perhaps because my vision of denners are so adorable.
Review was originally posted on my blog, hiveretcafe
Thank you so much Goodreads and Tor Books for the ARC!
I do admit, I did not enjoy myself in the first 100 pages. I think it might be due to the fact that I am so used to reading YA and how they move so quickly that when I started this, I wasn't used to the pace of the book.
The really incredible thing about this book is the world building. The world is so intricate and complex and it's really evident that a lot of planning went into the creation of the world.
Basically, the Lockstep Empire is the name of the 360/1 lockstep, the original, that Toby's family rules over. The ratio is how many months the people spend frozen to the months they spend awake. So essentially the Lockstep Empire is asleep for thirty years and awake for one month. In this way, they are able to travel to the many planets within the empire in a supposed night's sleep. The amount of resources used from the planet is also less, as there are robots that work during the time that the world is asleep to gather resources.
Time passes slowly in the Lockstep Empire because they are asleep for so long and awake for a short amount of time. Though fourteen thousand years in real time have passed, only forty years have passed in the Lockstep Empire and thus, the original settlers of the Lockstep Empire have aged forty years.
There's a lot of info dumping in the beginning of the book because the world is so complicated and intricate. However, because the Toby has been out of it for fourteen thousand years, the world needs to be explained to him as well.
It got better halfway through the book because it is difficult to understand the world in the beginning and it takes some getting used to. Time is such a huge part of this book with the locksteps and the whole concept of it.
Here are some quotes that I loved from this book!
Thank you so much Goodreads and Tor Books for the ARC!
I do admit, I did not enjoy myself in the first 100 pages. I think it might be due to the fact that I am so used to reading YA and how they move so quickly that when I started this, I wasn't used to the pace of the book.
The really incredible thing about this book is the world building. The world is so intricate and complex and it's really evident that a lot of planning went into the creation of the world.
Basically, the Lockstep Empire is the name of the 360/1 lockstep, the original, that Toby's family rules over. The ratio is how many months the people spend frozen to the months they spend awake. So essentially the Lockstep Empire is asleep for thirty years and awake for one month. In this way, they are able to travel to the many planets within the empire in a supposed night's sleep. The amount of resources used from the planet is also less, as there are robots that work during the time that the world is asleep to gather resources.
Time passes slowly in the Lockstep Empire because they are asleep for so long and awake for a short amount of time. Though fourteen thousand years in real time have passed, only forty years have passed in the Lockstep Empire and thus, the original settlers of the Lockstep Empire have aged forty years.
There's a lot of info dumping in the beginning of the book because the world is so complicated and intricate. However, because the Toby has been out of it for fourteen thousand years, the world needs to be explained to him as well.
It got better halfway through the book because it is difficult to understand the world in the beginning and it takes some getting used to. Time is such a huge part of this book with the locksteps and the whole concept of it.
Here are some quotes that I loved from this book!
"The point is, time isn't the working out of a pre-designed destiny. Time is the possibility of surprise.
" The continent was a collision of lanterns, or a surf of glowing pearls hanging untroubled amid Wallop's storms. The cities' curving sides cradled the white of towers and the green of cultivated jungles that raveled them like verdigris staining a glass ball."
"Because it's ancient and ever-present at one and the same time. So amazingly, impossibly old, yet still here. Living in a lockstep is like hopping in a time machine and shooting back to the dawn of history while simultaneously being shot into the far future. It's that incredible age that everything has here - it's all preserved, the world as it was thousands of years ago."
The interesting concept pulled me into this one, but I'm disappointed to say that it never entirely made sense to me. I mean, the explanation was there, but I wasn't convinced of the supposed advantages to the society that would make it workable. It seems to me that even if many of the real time societies failed, some would succeed, and as their technologies advanced far ahead of the intentionally stunted lockstep societies, the lockstep would simply fade in importance as a quaint antique experiment.
The writing itself was hit or miss for me: some passages were strikingly well done, but I wasn't wild about the overall YA-ish tone - that's not always a bad thing, but the awkward 17 year old protagonist Toby with the cute (though capable) animal sidekick was a bit much, and for me it made a slightly too jarring contrast with the hard SF concepts.
The initial delays in revealing information about the world seemed artificial, making these calculated choices by the author a bit too transparent. Likewise Toby's reluctance to tell the truth about himself or to confront his siblings were less than believable.
When Toby finally takes charge of the situation halfway through the book, things get more interesting, and the ending is not bad, although I never got a good sense of the characters of Toby's family. This was presumably somewhat intentional but it made it harder to see how Toby's relationship with them was developing.
Overall, I liked the book but never really got excited about it.
The writing itself was hit or miss for me: some passages were strikingly well done, but I wasn't wild about the overall YA-ish tone - that's not always a bad thing, but the awkward 17 year old protagonist Toby with the cute (though capable) animal sidekick was a bit much, and for me it made a slightly too jarring contrast with the hard SF concepts.
The initial delays in revealing information about the world seemed artificial, making these calculated choices by the author a bit too transparent. Likewise Toby's reluctance to tell the truth about himself or to confront his siblings were less than believable.
When Toby finally takes charge of the situation halfway through the book, things get more interesting, and the ending is not bad, although I never got a good sense of the characters of Toby's family. This was presumably somewhat intentional but it made it harder to see how Toby's relationship with them was developing.
Overall, I liked the book but never really got excited about it.
I liked the concept, I liked the references to the science fiction greats (Barsoom and the Robotic Laws) but the book was very immature. I hesitate to call it YA but it was definitely a teen hero, love interest, save the world type of book and not near dense enough to make it a great read.
*I received a free ARC of Lockstep from Macmillan / Tor/Forge via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*
The start of Lockstep is very slow, but once I got into the story, I was completely hooked!
The start of Lockstep is very slow, but once I got into the story, I was completely hooked!
My thoughts:
I'm very picky about my science fiction. I think because I like my balance to be tilted towards the fiction and away from the science, slightly. I love stories about exploring new worlds, intergalactic trade routes, aliens, and scientific innovation that's had an impact on... life? What I don't like is when a book is heavily laden with scientific concepts - real or imagined - that dominate the action of the book. I want science, but I don't care so much about how that science works - I want to know what effect it has on the people and culture and plot of the book. Still with me?
Lockstep is on the edge of my kind of book, and this is why: the main idea has to do with people skipping along through time by hibernating while bots take care of primary industry and spaceships shuttle across great distances, then waking to take part in trade, in manufacturing and in all the necessary social work of living.
Now, the part where the book could have lost me is that Toby, our hero, has been asleep for 14 000 years, and so he could have been faced with an incredible amount of technological advancement, cultural change and generally woken up to a completely alien universe.
Fortunately this isn't the case. And exploring the whys and hows of that really sucked me into the story. Lockstep established a universe that I want to spend more time in. The implications of the technology of lockstepping are fascinating to me.
More intimately, I really loved Toby and felt for him. He had to face some extreme changes and I think he's in shock for the first portion of the book. The story really narrowly follows him, and whiel there's a range of secondary characters whose lives he touches, no one else really held my attention the way that Toby did.
Toby's brother being named Peter made me think of Ender's Game, and I think that does signal Toby's genius, aligning him with Ender.
Wrapping your mind around lockstep time does take some getting used to, but the benefits and drawbacks are clearly obvious. And I think that so much trickles down from this central idea - such a well-written book!
The story travels quite a bit, from Toby's small spaceship to large stations and planets of various kinds. There's a lot of variety and imagination in the settings, and each one was a vivid, intriguing enviroment, ripe for storytelling.
Bottom line:
I really loved this book. I devoured it, which is one of my highest compliments! This was an emotional journey about family and time. It grapples with politics and culture, and frankly, I look forward to reading it again.
5 stars
For fans of science fiction, clever heroes
**
Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
I'm very picky about my science fiction. I think because I like my balance to be tilted towards the fiction and away from the science, slightly. I love stories about exploring new worlds, intergalactic trade routes, aliens, and scientific innovation that's had an impact on... life? What I don't like is when a book is heavily laden with scientific concepts - real or imagined - that dominate the action of the book. I want science, but I don't care so much about how that science works - I want to know what effect it has on the people and culture and plot of the book. Still with me?
Lockstep is on the edge of my kind of book, and this is why: the main idea has to do with people skipping along through time by hibernating while bots take care of primary industry and spaceships shuttle across great distances, then waking to take part in trade, in manufacturing and in all the necessary social work of living.
Now, the part where the book could have lost me is that Toby, our hero, has been asleep for 14 000 years, and so he could have been faced with an incredible amount of technological advancement, cultural change and generally woken up to a completely alien universe.
Fortunately this isn't the case. And exploring the whys and hows of that really sucked me into the story. Lockstep established a universe that I want to spend more time in. The implications of the technology of lockstepping are fascinating to me.
More intimately, I really loved Toby and felt for him. He had to face some extreme changes and I think he's in shock for the first portion of the book. The story really narrowly follows him, and whiel there's a range of secondary characters whose lives he touches, no one else really held my attention the way that Toby did.
Toby's brother being named Peter made me think of Ender's Game, and I think that does signal Toby's genius, aligning him with Ender.
Wrapping your mind around lockstep time does take some getting used to, but the benefits and drawbacks are clearly obvious. And I think that so much trickles down from this central idea - such a well-written book!
The story travels quite a bit, from Toby's small spaceship to large stations and planets of various kinds. There's a lot of variety and imagination in the settings, and each one was a vivid, intriguing enviroment, ripe for storytelling.
Bottom line:
I really loved this book. I devoured it, which is one of my highest compliments! This was an emotional journey about family and time. It grapples with politics and culture, and frankly, I look forward to reading it again.
5 stars
For fans of science fiction, clever heroes
**
Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review