Spin
by Robert Charles Wilson
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.36 You Save: $3.63 (45%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.86 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Spin
Book Review: Time in a Bubble
Summary: 4 Stars
`Hard' science fiction novels, all too often, get bogged down in their `gee-whiz' science, to the detriment of their story and characters. Happily, such is not the case here, as the characters of Tyler Dupree and Jason and Diane Lawton are well depicted, and their story, of just how they react when all the stars suddenly disappear one night, remains front and center throughout this book.
The `gee-whiz' science here is the `Spin', a membrane folded around the earth that slows the time rate experienced by its denizens by a factor of 100 million versus the `normal' universe. This has an implication: in just 40 Earth years, 4 billion years will have passed on the outside, our sun will be nearing the end of its life, and will have expanded to the point that an unprotected Earth would be immediately fried. Where did this membrane come from? Who put it there, and perhaps more importantly, why? What can be done about it? Wilson's characters, in one way or another, attempt to answer these questions, an involvement that shapes much of their lives, and the lives of everyone on Earth, who are effectively facing a true end of the world scenario.
Wilson presents his science in fairly small, well explained chunks - you don't need to be an actual rocket scientist to grasp what he is presenting, and this presentation doesn't interrupt the story flow, unlike all too many books that belong to this sub-genre.
While all the above is quite good, I found I was disappointed in the final answers the book provides. I saw most of the answers long before they were directly shown - not good for a concept of this grand scope. Nor was I greatly impressed by the philosophical points raised. In these two areas, I expected more from a book that took the Hugo award over some other books that are just as inventive and possibly have a deeper level of meaning than this one. The Martian, introduced about the middle of the book, was not characterized very well, nor was his described culture very believable - probably because his function was that of deus-ex-machina device, a way for Wilson to get to his `solution' space.
An entertaining read with some good concepts, but for my money the Hugo should have gone to John Scalzi's Old Man's War.
--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
Book Review: Great storytelling combining a coming of age tale for humanity and our three main characters
Summary: 5 Stars
One day the stars disappear. The Earth has been enveloped by a giant sphere that cuts off our planet from the rest of the solar system. On Earth time passes normally but outside the envelope the universe is moving thousands of years for every day of Earth time. This barrier has been build up by an unknown intelligence that humanity ends up calling the Hypotheticals. Why have they put Earth into a giant coccoon? Ultimately when the sheath that protects Earth is removed our planet will be subjected to the severe radiation and solar flares of our expanding, dying sun and we will be cooked.
Jason Lawton a young genius tries to unravel the mystery. His twin sister Diane falls in with a religious cult believing that the "Spin" as the sheath is called represents the end of days.She doesn't buy it all but believes that God has some purpose for doing this. Tyler Dupree their best friend stays in touch and is in love with Diane. He ends up becoming a doctor and is called back to Jason's project to unravel the secret of the "Spin". He also hopes that, perhaps, there will be salvation for the human race from being cooked by our sun.
As the discontinuity allows the universe to pass us by Jason and his father E.D. a mover and shaker in the aerospace industry move for colonizing Mars in hopes that our Maritian relatives can develop new technology to either end the discontinuity or find some means to understand it.
An excellent story that combines a coming of age saga with a massive challenge facing the human race SPIN is one of the outstanding novels of 2005. Wilson has assembled a great cast of characters in telling a story that glimpses at the fate of mankind as our solar system ages prematurely and Earth ends. The story is much more complex than the brief synopsis that I've given here and much more involving as well.
Wilson creates credible characters and a familair world that we can relate to before setting up his saga. The result makes the story despite its fantastic elements all the more believable. Highly recommend for fans of science fiction and mainstream ficition looking for an involving story that touches on the motivations that drive humanity.
Book Review: "Spin" spins, sometimes in place
Summary: 3 Stars
Robert Charles Wilson's "Spin" tells the tale of the earth being cloaked in a time-warping membrane, put in place by unknown entities. It's also the tale of Tyler Dupree and his privileged best friends, twins born to the couple his mother works for as a maid.
The story weaves the past and the present, starting with Tyler's early life with his mother in a small guesthouse across the lawn from the big house. That's where the twins, Jason and Diane, reside uneasily with their powerful and sometimes cruel father and withdrawn, alcoholic mother.
One night the three youngsters sit talking on the lawn, peering in at a grown-ups' party in the big house. Suddenly, the moon and the stars are no longer visible. They're blocked by the membrane, which is quickly dubbed the Spin.
After that, the story becomes a search for knowledge.
The world wants to know the meaning of the Spin. Tyler wants to know his place in the world. To understand that, he must also understand his relationship with the twins. There's Jason, whose brilliance and hunger to know who put the Spin in place astound Tyler. And there's Diane, whose search for redemption breaks his heart.
This is also where "Spin" starts spinning in place. Does it want to be a science-fiction tale whose main characters come of age? Or a coming of age tale that takes place in a science-fiction setting? It's as if Wilson wants both, and as a result, almost ends up with neither.
There are compelling facets to "Spin," but there are also long passages where the story is beautifully worded, yet the action is plodding.
The ending could've been interesting had it been built to more quickly, and it's not a big enough payoff for the effort we go through to stick with the main characters as they struggle through life.
Those of you who want a fast-paced, simpler story should look elsewhere. Those of you who want great literature should also look elsewhere. Those of you who want to read something by a talented author we'll be hearing from again and again should read "Spin," mostly for its innovative ideas.
Book Review: All this and a man from Mars too
Summary: 4 Stars
In "Spin," the always interesting Robert Charles Wilson, as he did in "The Chronoliths" and "Blind Lake," describes a bizarre event that leads to claustrophobic characters in a lockdown situation, and shows us how they cope (or not).
This time, the Earth is enshrouded (the spin) by the mysterious "hypotheticals," so that time passes far more slowly under the starless nighttime sky with no moon at all, yielding to a sunlike object that appears in the daytime. Eventually, people realize that within a generation or two inside, four billion years will pass outside, and the sun will begin to die, frying Earth as it does so. Hoping that humanity will at least have some survivors, they decide to terraform Mars (rockets can get through the spin, and time is passing at the normal rate there, so it takes only a few years under the Spin for Mars to become habitable).
Dr. Tyler Dupree, friend of the spectacularly intelligent twins, Jason and Diane, acts as our narrator. Jason spends his life researching the phenomenon while Diane turns to religious mysticism, and Tyler reports on their doings.
It's skillfully done. As always with Wilson, there's more thought than action, and the obsessed characters are interesting, to put it mildly. More important, you'll probably believe in them. Then, too, a plot this complicated could easily get out of control, but Wilson doesn't let that happen. What's more, if you've read "The Chronoliths" or "Blind Lake," you'll probably be as stunned as I was when, this time, the author actually provides an ending to all this--one that's logical and moving.
A warning: you may be frustrated by the flashbackyness. Yes, it does make the book in a "how did they get here?" rather than a "will they get here?" puzzle, but it makes for cliffhanger chapter endings. And you might well wonder: why would Tyler, who's supposed to simply be reporting what he's been through and what he's learned, break up his narrative this way?
This one's not easy to forget
Book Review: Wonderful Sci-Fi on a grand scale, and a story that's all human
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of those rare science fiction books that lets you wonder and imagine and forget that it's science fiction at all. Many sci-fi authors lean too heavily on the science and speculation and not enough on the fiction, creating interesting premises but characters that are two dimensional. Wilson does not have that problem here. His characters are fully fleshed, flawed and realistic and it is these characters that move Spin along so well.
This is not to say that this book lacks in science and its implications. As you may have read, the book starts with the main characters star-gazing as they whitness the night sky and all of it's stars vanish, due to a planet encompasing barrier that slows down time on the earth as eons pass outside. So much time passes outside the barrier that the sun itself grows old. This opens all kinds of possibilities and you wonder at first how Wilson will be able to reasonably explain a phenomenon on such a grand scope. Smartly, Wilson deals with the global implications of this as much as the science. He paints an eerie picture of the planet as it would be shrouded under something so large and unknown. Religions are formed around this phenomenon as well as economic disaster. Tyler, our main POV and the two other main characters live through these events and Wilson does a good job of making you feel as if you were actually there. These are characters you care about, which makes their ordeals feel all too real.
This is why I would recommend this book to anyone, to fans of sci-fi or not. There is plenty here for the sci-fi junky as well as fans of character fiction. In the end, Wilson does a good job of wrapping up loose ends and doesn't leave you unfulfilled. His explanations are smart and make sense, though they may leave some dissapointed that were hoping for something more conventional. Take from it what you will, this is great science fiction reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke and I'll count it among my favtorite sci-fi along with Dune and Hyperion.