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davemeister28 's review for:
Spin
by Robert Charles Wilson
July 2020 review--I'd go down to 3.5 stars. This is still a fantastic, worthy-of-Hugo book upon rereading, but I knock it down a bit because there really is a lot of "tell" rather than "show." The story is excellent, but giving that it is narrated from one character's point of view, we often get info dumps in the form of narrative along the lines of, I found out later that [stuff the narrator wasn't physically present for]." As a result also, we get a lot of character development of the narrator but miss out on some depth for the other principals.
This is not meant to be a huge knock on the book. The concept is excellent; the what-if scenario quite a mind-bender but at the same time something easy to believe in--which I think is crucial in speculative fiction. The characters are compelling, interesting, and mostly multidimensional. I say "mostly" because of the above-mentioned development issues and because there are certain shadowy bad guys who are just "the bad guys,"--although at least it's clear why they would be opposed to the protagonists' goals.
I would recommend this book to any sci-fi fan, and I'd say it's even accessible to newcomers to the genre. It gets a bit sciencey toward the latter third but remains comprehendible. There are two sequels in this series, but they are not mandatory to enjoy this self-contained novel. I believe I read _Spin_ near its 2005 release date, and I feel like I read the first sequel not long after it came out, too. That I cannot remember might indicate that moving on in the trilogy isn't worthwhile, but should not serve as indictment of this excellent first book.
This is not meant to be a huge knock on the book. The concept is excellent; the what-if scenario quite a mind-bender but at the same time something easy to believe in--which I think is crucial in speculative fiction. The characters are compelling, interesting, and mostly multidimensional. I say "mostly" because of the above-mentioned development issues and because there are certain shadowy bad guys who are just "the bad guys,"--although at least it's clear why they would be opposed to the protagonists' goals.
I would recommend this book to any sci-fi fan, and I'd say it's even accessible to newcomers to the genre. It gets a bit sciencey toward the latter third but remains comprehendible. There are two sequels in this series, but they are not mandatory to enjoy this self-contained novel. I believe I read _Spin_ near its 2005 release date, and I feel like I read the first sequel not long after it came out, too. That I cannot remember might indicate that moving on in the trilogy isn't worthwhile, but should not serve as indictment of this excellent first book.