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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
There were a few occasions when, as in many sci-fi books, an info-dump was needed, and the characters started to sound like history textbooks. But for the most part, exposition was handled well.
Purchased at Google Play books.
The worldbuilding is complex and innovative, and drives the plot and plot constraints. I like that some of the economics of distance and hibernation are well thought-out. I think other parts are less well thought-out. Hibernating societies should be destroyed far more frequently if they co-exist on planets with "fast" societies.
There's also some elegance of plotting which I appreciate. Things that should tie together mostly seem to. Stuff has reasons. Loose threads come up and are reattached in a satisfying way.
Perhaps its intentional so that the reader can imprint, but the main character is simple and bland. He wakes up with god-like powers in a confusing future society. He tries to do the right thing. Um did I miss anything about his personality? no, i think that about covers it.
When reading Karl Schroeder you've got to be ready to put your brain into overdrive to keep up with the ideas and discussions. Deep within this fairly basic story with complex world building, are hidden some real gems to contemplate:
Time - it's everything to this world since the Locksteps are places where everyone is awake for short periods and then in hibernation for years until the next scheduled wake time. This is done on a regular schedule and allows the people to make drastic jumps into the future while feeling like they've only slept a single night. And there are other locksteps with different schedules, which means some people speed through time closer to real time than others. This really stretches the concept of time and how we think about it.
The Rise and Fall of Civilizations - While those living in the locksteps pass through 14,000 effortlessly, people living back on Earth and other "fast moving" planets have post-human civilizations that continue a cycle of rise and fall. The locksteps provide an option to reset many of these world after the crash of a post-human culture.
Orphaned Worlds Between the Stars - Once again, like he did in his book Permanence Karl Schroeder sets much of his universe on planets either at the edge of solar systems or floating between the stars. These worlds are easier to get to and don't require quite as much travel time as getting to the nearest stars, though he hints that these too are populated by humans over the vast stretch of time. There are even some more exotic places, such as one planet who gets it's light from giant laser arrays located in the "Laser Wastes" There is no doubt this universe is big enough he could easily visit it again, exploring some of the places we only get a brief mention of in this book.
The story itself is pretty common broken family stuff, but set inside this universe adds some new twists to it. The ending could have been a bit more detailed and dramatic; it wasn't bad, but it did seem a bit flat. Overall, I highly recommend this one, but be sure to be ready to tackle some strange new concepts.
Otherwise I enjoyed it and would love to see more of this universe.
