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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
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
Incredible concept, good execution. Could have been edited down a bit, and I'm not sure why it wasn't published YA.
Good and entertaining read. It reminded me of Jupiter Ascending in certain respects, since Toby is suddenly thrust far into the future into a culture he knows nothing about where everybody is trying to take advantage of him. It did drag in the middle, but overall in moved pretty good. I really liked the lockstep concept... living a normal life span over 30 thousand years... that's pretty cool. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about with understanding the different lockstep combinations, come on people, we are talking about simple algebra... like from 8th grade!
I was optimistic about this book when I started. It introduced a big SciFi idea and proceeded to explore it well. The titular idea may have originated elsewhere, but this is my first exposure to it. Terrific!
The middle third of the book dragged. Toby was pulled this way and that, sometimes making impulsive decisions for no logical reason. The story seemed both frenetic and directionless. I came close to dropping it.
I never truly grasped why a government-mandated schedule was so critical to the whole thing. We're told that the wake-cycle defines a political group of planets and is also mandated within that group. The explanation of why that is necessary, for the empire to survive, is weak.
The final 20% made up for a multitude of sins. Sure, the sappy resolution relied on the bad guys being reluctant to go "full evil." But that's a bet that family members would likely make with each other. In this case, it worked out.
The middle third of the book dragged. Toby was pulled this way and that, sometimes making impulsive decisions for no logical reason. The story seemed both frenetic and directionless. I came close to dropping it.
I never truly grasped why a government-mandated schedule was so critical to the whole thing. We're told that the wake-cycle defines a political group of planets and is also mandated within that group. The explanation of why that is necessary, for the empire to survive, is weak.
The final 20% made up for a multitude of sins. Sure, the sappy resolution relied on the bad guys being reluctant to go "full evil." But that's a bet that family members would likely make with each other. In this case, it worked out.
“Give people the power of the gods, and they'll eventually run down like wind-up toys for lack of reasons to go on.”
Lockstep is.... hard to describe. At its core, it's a space opera about a young man frozen and lost in space for thousands of years. His awakening would lead to epic confrontations and new ideas and discoveries that change his perspective of the universe itself. But, when you really look at it, you realize it is a story about family and growing up an realizing the people you grew up with won't always be the same people you remember.
It is difficult to read Lockstep and not be confused at times. Schroeder manages his world building beautifully, giving vague nods to the other species that roam the galaxy or little hints regarding the nature of the Lockstep Empire,. However, the core concept of the series takes a while to catch on, maybe done in purpose so that we can identify with our main character (Toby), and the reading experiences overall suffers because of this.
My main gripe though, surrounds the handling of the characters in the story. Toby is okay but him being the main character stole focus from those characters truly interesting such as Peter, Toby's brother. The rest of the cast is not much of an improvement, to be honest. I did not hate anyone of them but I did not enjoy the so-called tight bonds Toby formed with them, specially Corva. It just doesn't feel right.
The plot is interesting, albeit a bit slow paced, and the writing is good, but the flaws in the characters and setting made it hard to finish this one in one sitting.
Lockstep is.... hard to describe. At its core, it's a space opera about a young man frozen and lost in space for thousands of years. His awakening would lead to epic confrontations and new ideas and discoveries that change his perspective of the universe itself. But, when you really look at it, you realize it is a story about family and growing up an realizing the people you grew up with won't always be the same people you remember.
It is difficult to read Lockstep and not be confused at times. Schroeder manages his world building beautifully, giving vague nods to the other species that roam the galaxy or little hints regarding the nature of the Lockstep Empire,. However, the core concept of the series takes a while to catch on, maybe done in purpose so that we can identify with our main character (Toby), and the reading experiences overall suffers because of this.
My main gripe though, surrounds the handling of the characters in the story. Toby is okay but him being the main character stole focus from those characters truly interesting such as Peter, Toby's brother. The rest of the cast is not much of an improvement, to be honest. I did not hate anyone of them but I did not enjoy the so-called tight bonds Toby formed with them, specially Corva. It just doesn't feel right.
The plot is interesting, albeit a bit slow paced, and the writing is good, but the flaws in the characters and setting made it hard to finish this one in one sitting.
Quite different from the usual far future sci fi I've read, this one postulates that FTL is never solved and so hibernation is the only way to travel to distant stars. And, beyond that, setting entire planets or groups of nation-states on scheduled 'lockstep timelines' where the society is awake for a few weeks or months, then hibernate for different lengths of time, allow humans to trade and visit other similar societies.
Lots of political and religious overtones as well as family dynamics color the action and the people involved.
Lots of political and religious overtones as well as family dynamics color the action and the people involved.
I was soooo intrigued by the premise of the story. I was excited to see the epic world building that it could build upon. The idea was phenomenal and the first quarter of the book ensnared me.
The the second quarter started and the excitement started to ware away. The epic world building I was expected was still partially there but this was turning into a mere YA novel and the focus started to scatter in many directions. The upcoming revolution and prophecies, the family squabbles, and mixed in with a little world building here and there took up the biggest chunk of the middle of the book.
I was set to give this a four star review based on the originality of the story, but then the end came along and everything just ended with a tad bit of disappointment. I would have liked something more open ended that could lead to something further down the line. But the way it ends I can't see where the author may be taking this if at all.
The the second quarter started and the excitement started to ware away. The epic world building I was expected was still partially there but this was turning into a mere YA novel and the focus started to scatter in many directions. The upcoming revolution and prophecies, the family squabbles, and mixed in with a little world building here and there took up the biggest chunk of the middle of the book.
I was set to give this a four star review based on the originality of the story, but then the end came along and everything just ended with a tad bit of disappointment. I would have liked something more open ended that could lead to something further down the line. But the way it ends I can't see where the author may be taking this if at all.
I mean, it’s sci fi. It’s not my go to genre, however I thought this was an engaging plot with a unique concept. It definitely didn’t have me running to my book each night to read more, but I thought it was entertaining.