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A review by editor_b
Circuit of Heaven by Dennis Danvers
2.0
I've always been intrigued by the idea of immortality. Who wants to grow old and die? Therefore I was impressed by the fact that, in Circuit of Heaven, Mr. Danvers succeeds in portraying a vision of immortality that is downright repulsive.
In this future world, humanity has largely downloaded itself to a virtual reality, a Matrix-like cybernetic environment called "the Bin," where everyone can live forever. The protagonist, Nemo, is a young man who rejects society's move to the Bin, and prefers to stay behind in the real world, now inhabited mostly by fundamentalist Christians.
I was emotionally convinced by Nemo's principled refusal of the Bin. Through his eyes, we see the Bin as a realm of claustrophobic denial and stultifying artifice. The Bin is a symbol of a society that is decadent, corrupt and complacent; Nemo is the idealistic rebel who refuses to go along with the herd. The Bin is hell, but Nemo is on the side of the angels.
The novel is fast-paced, fun and easy to read, and seems to have a classic story hook: Nemo falls in love with a woman who exists only in the Bin. There are several overt references to Romeo and Juliet, and so I steeled myself for a tragic conclusion.
SPOILER ALERT: I can't voice the main objection of my review without giving away the ending, so please don't read on if that sort of thing bothers you. The author seems to have chickened out, or perhaps been bullied by his publisher. The tragic ending which seems so clearly intimated earlier in the book never materializes. That's fine; I like happy endings. But this conclusion is only superficially happy. Nemo abandons all his objections and downloads himself into the Bin to be with the woman he loves! If you were convinced, as was I, by Nemo's initial rejection of the Bin, then you can't accept this reversal. It seems that Nemo simply "sells out," which is perhaps tragedy in itself, but the author doesn't seem to realize it.
I believe this author has committed an unforgivable sin: the betrayal of both the reader's trust and the integrity of his own story.
In this future world, humanity has largely downloaded itself to a virtual reality, a Matrix-like cybernetic environment called "the Bin," where everyone can live forever. The protagonist, Nemo, is a young man who rejects society's move to the Bin, and prefers to stay behind in the real world, now inhabited mostly by fundamentalist Christians.
I was emotionally convinced by Nemo's principled refusal of the Bin. Through his eyes, we see the Bin as a realm of claustrophobic denial and stultifying artifice. The Bin is a symbol of a society that is decadent, corrupt and complacent; Nemo is the idealistic rebel who refuses to go along with the herd. The Bin is hell, but Nemo is on the side of the angels.
The novel is fast-paced, fun and easy to read, and seems to have a classic story hook: Nemo falls in love with a woman who exists only in the Bin. There are several overt references to Romeo and Juliet, and so I steeled myself for a tragic conclusion.
SPOILER ALERT: I can't voice the main objection of my review without giving away the ending, so please don't read on if that sort of thing bothers you. The author seems to have chickened out, or perhaps been bullied by his publisher. The tragic ending which seems so clearly intimated earlier in the book never materializes. That's fine; I like happy endings. But this conclusion is only superficially happy. Nemo abandons all his objections and downloads himself into the Bin to be with the woman he loves! If you were convinced, as was I, by Nemo's initial rejection of the Bin, then you can't accept this reversal. It seems that Nemo simply "sells out," which is perhaps tragedy in itself, but the author doesn't seem to realize it.
I believe this author has committed an unforgivable sin: the betrayal of both the reader's trust and the integrity of his own story.