Alternative Worlds
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2015
- Messages
- 999
Rainbows End
Vernor Vinge
Tor, May 2006, $25.95
ISBN 0312856849
In 2025 in San Diego Robert Gu recovers from Alzheimer’s, but much of the world he once knew has changed dramatically since he originally fell into his fog state a few years ago and he even doubts his once highly recognized skill as a poet. He lives with his son, but struggles with the new information age in which virtual and real seem part of the same double helix; feeling like a toddler, Robert realizes that even his teenage granddaughter appears more knowledgeable than him.
To help him adapt to using the equipment properly, the septuagenarian Chinese American attends remedial technological classes at the nearby Fairmont High School. However, as Robert tries to learn how to properly use his gadgetry, he soon finds himself entangled in a remonstration by retired University of California at San Diego faculty disputing the replacing of the library by online databanks. That soon leads the bewildered poet into the milieu of a conspiracy to create a deadly biological weapon.
This is a well written character driven science fiction that is at its best when readers observe the world through the mature but awed Robert. When the story line spins into the conspiratorial murky weapon of mass destruction it loses some of its strength though it contains a lot more action. Overall RAINBOWS END is a solid futuristic tale starring a wonderful hero struggling to adapt to a brave new world.
Vernor Vinge
Tor, May 2006, $25.95
ISBN 0312856849
In 2025 in San Diego Robert Gu recovers from Alzheimer’s, but much of the world he once knew has changed dramatically since he originally fell into his fog state a few years ago and he even doubts his once highly recognized skill as a poet. He lives with his son, but struggles with the new information age in which virtual and real seem part of the same double helix; feeling like a toddler, Robert realizes that even his teenage granddaughter appears more knowledgeable than him.
To help him adapt to using the equipment properly, the septuagenarian Chinese American attends remedial technological classes at the nearby Fairmont High School. However, as Robert tries to learn how to properly use his gadgetry, he soon finds himself entangled in a remonstration by retired University of California at San Diego faculty disputing the replacing of the library by online databanks. That soon leads the bewildered poet into the milieu of a conspiracy to create a deadly biological weapon.
This is a well written character driven science fiction that is at its best when readers observe the world through the mature but awed Robert. When the story line spins into the conspiratorial murky weapon of mass destruction it loses some of its strength though it contains a lot more action. Overall RAINBOWS END is a solid futuristic tale starring a wonderful hero struggling to adapt to a brave new world.