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: Good old hard SF is back!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my first Wilson novel and I really enjoyed it. He is an excellent hard Sci-Fi author. Together with Robert J. Sawyer, they are two of the best science fiction writers on the market. Finally some quality hard Sci-Fi, up to the height of the good old masters of the genre. They both are as good as Arthur Clarke (in his best times), lots of innovation and clever extrapolation of hard science.
Wilson's imagination and creativity are unlimited. The plot is rich on modern scientific knowledge regarding astrophysics and biology. Relativity, the evolution of the universe after billions of years, seeded life on another planet (man made panspermia), terraforming, evolution in another planet, genetic engineering, synthetic biology, von Newmann machines, you name it, everything with scientific accuracy and detail, and a huge dose of imagination. And for those readers who always complain about Sci-Fi typical cardboard characters, Wilson produced some flesh and blood characters, description of the scenery is detailed and even a love story is central to the plot. But probably this is not so good for most died hard fans of the genre, because as a result of his "improved" writing, the pace is slowed down to the point of boredom. For fans of hard SF a plot based purely on clever extrapolation of scientific facts is more important than characters, romance and literary value. Anyway, from time to time you can skip entire paragraphs and still follow the plot. The novel is good for both types of readers.
And for those who enjoyed "Spin", look forward for "Axis", due in September 2007. The adventure continues in Equatoria. It seems the Hypotheticals will be back with some novelties. The paperback version I bought has a little excerpt at the end of the book. I am looking forward to read this new one and some more of Wilson's novels.
Book Review: The good and the bad
Summary: 3 Stars
The good things about the novel : First and foremost, huge idea, that is also fleshed out well till the end (unlike let's say Dan Simmons' Ilium sequel). This is quite an accomplishment, since nothing is explained until the last 5% of the book, where a seasoned reader is afraid of a) a sequel b) an abysmally poor ending. However, Mr Wilson pulls it off decently with a finale not exactly mind-boggling, but not frustrating either.
BTW, note to naive readers : the unorthodox sequence of the chapters serves exactly this purpose, to dealy as long as possible the climax.
Then, the characters. Some reviewers here are full of venom, but there are sf masterpieces with 1/10 of character development of the Spin. The characters are as confused as they should be given the singularity, and they connect pretty well. Sure, this is not Nabokov or Tolstoi, but had it been, then the whining would be about the lack of science. It's hard to be a sf writer, a lose lose situation a priori.
The bad things about the novel : Couple of silly sub-plots, especially the one about the mementos box, which alone shaves off a star.
The death of the Martian was beyond suspense of disbelief, given the police state the spin USA has fallen into. In "reality", there would be a convoy the size of a regiment around the Martian's car. So, sorry Mr. Wilson, since you probably devour Amazon critics, listen to your public : you found an easy way out in this one, and a fine writer like you should publicly declare mea culpa for slips like this. Add all these to some platitudinal twists and they amount to a book easily edited 50 pages shorter.
The overall feeling of the Spin : Imagine a diamond cutter, skilled and creative, who however produces stones with small, but perceptible flaws. I rate this book 3 1/2 stars.
Book Review: Best sci-fi of the decade thus far.
Summary: 5 Stars
This sci-fi novel is probably one of the top 5 I've read; the only competitors that come to mind are Dune, Dune Messiah, Rendezvous with Rama, and Canticle for Leibowitz. The story is gripping, and very interesting, and the author, Robert Charles Wilson, fashions a fantastic, nuanced, and interesting tale of an astronomical phenomenon and its repercussions.
This novel is in many ways the perfect sci-fi novel. It is not Space Opera, nor is it Hard Sci-fi. There is a strong plot device in the scientific phenomenon, but the book isn't just about that. It uses the science to set up a tale, and drive the characters and their world.
The story follows Tyler Dupree, and involves his life with the Spin (the aforementioned phenomenon) and the Lawtons, a family whose lives he is entwined with. The story of Tyler and his relationships and experiences is pretty good on its own, and you can see evidence of the Spin all over it. However, you are not clubbed over the head with it, but instead it helps develop his story. The structure of the novel is interesting, with two narratives occurring at different times, and the book advancing both until they are linked together. You get a great deal of suspense and curiosity as you discover more about the Spin as the characters do.
Most impressively, this book pulls in many different areas to tell the story with. There are political, psychological, sociological, interpersonal, scientific, and religious aspects to the story, and Wilson uses all of them to weave a story that is not only great, engrossing, and well written, but he also produces a consistent, believable world where the experiences seem tangible and ring true.
I can not recommend this novel more highly.
Book Review: A Remarkably Well Written SF Novel
Summary: 4 Stars
SPIN may very well be the best written Science Fiction novel I've ever stumbled upon. Robert Charles Wilson, a Canadian SF writer I know very little about, is a truly superb wordsmith. Most of the characterization in this book is first-rate, with all the major characters achieving a depth and complexity that I almost never find in a novel of this type. Much in the same way Stephen King elevates the horror genre, I think Wilson elevates SF with this effort.
I wish I could say that Wilson's plotting skills are at the same high level, but that is sadly not be the case. SPIN is one of those novels that take place over a long period of time, and the central character is far too passive a hero for my tastes. This is essentially an apocolyptic novel (the world will end in forty or so years due to a cosmic effect known as the "spin") and Wilson spends a large amount of time on how this effects the inner lives of the three main characters, who all have very different reactions to the news.
At its essence, SPIN is a psychological drama with long moments of introspection and profound dialogue exchanges, which means it will bore some readers. Most of the time I found the storyline fascinating, but there are some slow-paced moments where little of consequence seems to happen. Some of the scientific language made my eyes glaze over a bit, but Wilson does a good job of making most of his concepts understandable.
Overall, though, if you're a reader who thinks that most SF is poorly written, I suggest giving SPIN a shot. This is in many ways a literary novel that just happens to have a SF plotline. This is the first novel of a planned trilogy, and I look forward to reading the subsequent installments.
Book Review: A plausible and realistic science fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
Spin was a hard concept for me to take in when I was considering reading it. I couldn't imagine how or what was going to be written about and why was it a science fiction. After putting it off for a while I finally gave in. After all, it did win the Hugo Award, right? Spin completely shattered any ideas I had about it and excelled beyond what I thought it would.
You quickly find that, as with many Hugo and Nebula winners, the story itself is what is important, more so than the actual science fiction. The story of Jason, Tyler and Diane and how their lives interacted through their friendship and the crisis when the Spin happened. The chapters alternate from the present time to the past, some interaction between the characters at varying ages. At first you might think that this could drown the main storyline out, but in fact it accentuates the story perfectly so that you come to know and love the characters and, more importantly, begin to understand them and how they think. Robert Wilson did a fantastic job in capturing their respective personalities, especially how their personalities related to where they were in life.
The science fiction was very subtle at first. You have the Spin, mysterious and awe inspiring, to some apocalyptic. Gradually as you begin to understand what the Hypotheticals had done to Earth you begin to take in the dimensions of science fiction that are present and seemingly very accurate. Although I love science fiction that is a bit more science fiction, this style of writing tends to stand out more so when you use science fiction to accentuate a great story. Bravo to Robert Wilson. I would recommend the book to anyone.
5 stars.