The Golden Age

Rating:
Summary: Great Debut
Review: First, lets be clear here, this is a trilogy, not a 2 book series as is indicated in the 'official' reviews. And, to get the entire story, you *must* read all three books. The Golden Age cannot stand alone, in doesnt 'end' in any way. It merely takes a break until you grab the second and third novels (The Phoenix Exultant and The Golden Transcendence) The publisher probably just decided to get 3 books out of the story, as opposed to one long story, which is what this really is, and should have been published as. (I believe i saw that the SFBC has them all in one volume)

A second warning, is that The Golden Age is difficult to start. The author throws terms and uses of language at you that can seem daunting and baffling. I'd actually reccommend you get the third book first, just to read the appendix which is included in that volume, that does a marvelous job of giving you the neccessary background to understand the beginning of The Golden Age. (I read the hardbacks, maybe when the paperbacks came out they included the appendix in the first volume)

That being said, The Golden Age is a marvel. Once you get past the initial confusion of who, and what, everyone is, it is a novel that you simply cannot put down. The story is engrossing, fast paced, and extremely well written. I saw it being compared to Perdido Street Station and it is a fantastic comparison. The books are just a bit different from, and far superior to, the typical fare that is offered up these days.

Enough other people have given a sense of what the story entails that I wont go into that. Just remember, it is really a 3 book story, be prepared to read all 3 if you want the story to be finished, and secondly, it may take awhile to get into and understand what is occuring at the beginning of the Golden Age. Be patient, and you will be rewarded.

Rating:
Summary: Hugo/Nebula contender (and likely winner)
Review: For all the talk of 'space opera' and other genre/author comparisons, _The Golden Age_ is one of the most original novels to come out in years. John Wright lays out and tosses away more inventive, imaginative ideas in a few pages than many SF authors manage in a whole book. And not only has he developed a long-term extrapolation of human/technical evolution, he has done so in a story built on various intersections of myth and philosophy.

Wright's writing is intellectually challenging without being condescending or obtuse (deliberately or otherwise). He never forgets the need to be a good storyteller, yet probes close to the bone on such core issues as the determination of truth, the nature of reality and the tension between individual freedom and social good.

Utterly outstanding. I hope Wright gets the accolates he deserves. ..bruce..

Rating:
Summary: Some good ideas, but a REALLY slow book
Review: I bought this book based on other recommendations about its great ideas involving long life, godlike powers and nanotechnology. BUT, but I really wish I had not gotten this book. This book was painful to read, due to the overly florid prose - kind of like reading court transcripts from "Olde Englande".

There is WAY too much of the book that is spent in dialogue between characters. I finally got interested about halfway through, but then it dragged ON and ON and ON until the so-called resolution. Then you are left hanging, since it really won't be resolved until the next book in the series.

I had less fun reading this book than any I've read in the last two years!

Rating:
Summary: Jaw-dropping, and any other superlatives you can think of
Review: I can only echo the words of previous reviewers, and say that this is an astonishing book, with some of the most amazing ideas, characters, and situations I have ever seen, in addition to the incredibly rich future world it is set in. However, before I continue in my showering of praise, I should give a strong warning: This book is a classic example of "hard sci-fi," and should be read as such. If you need lengthy exposition, are easily confused, or just don't like to put a lot of energy into your reading, than this book is NOT for you. It also helps a lot in reading this book to know a few of the conventions of the genre, such as the general lack of an omniscient narrator and the slightly odd dialogue (although this makes sense in the context of a world in the far future). HOWEVER, if you take this book for what it is--a brilliant example of hard sci-fi at its very best-- than you will never cease to be delighted by its constant stream of fresh ideas, fascinating insights, and amazing moral dilemas. For the serious and thoughtful reader, this is almost certainly one of the most ineteresting new novels out there, by an author who will surely deliver us great things in the future. One furthur word of caution: like the first two books of The Lord of the Rings, this novel has no ending. It deserves to be read with its sequel, Phoenix Exultant. Highly reccomended.

Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK IS VERY DIFFICULT TO READ
Review: I found this book extremely difficult to comprehend and also rather boring. The book is set in the far future, but the author provides no context or past history which would explain how society has evolved to its current state. Although I sense that the author made a significant effort to be creative and explore new concepts, the book lacks clarity. He constantly uses words and terms without explaining their context or their meaning. I am not sure if he expects the reader to figure them out after reading hundreds of pages or he thinks that this adds to the far future aura of the book (i.e. incomprehensible terminology = an incomprehensible future era). I still am not sure what the Golden Ocumene is, what Sophotechs are or Silver-Gray is ,etc. I could list a dozen more cryptic terms like these that are never explained. This makes reading the book very frustrating. I have found that the sci-fi greats always write with tremendous clarity- the context of events, the era, technology, milieu, etc. are always explained as part of the narrative. It also seems that almost nothing "happens" in the book- it's merely a bunch of conversations. I do feel that the author has vision and creative potential, but he should read books by, for example, Robert Sawyer, whose books deal with innovative sci-fi concepts, but are so coherent that the reader never feels like he missed the train ( which is how I felt re: this book).

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic future
Review: I picked this book from the public library. It was the first book I read for Mr. Wright and I am extremely glad to admit this wonderful author into my reading life.

Mr. Wright's style and prose are highly engaging and who needs aliens when you can hardly recogize humanity itself in that far flung future. Humans are able download their memories and experiences to be stored until they have need of activating a new body/clone/ or remote telecast. Machines are sentient and are playing a role in the long term future or humanity (cannot tell as yet whether it is for or against). The legalities and ethics that accompany such a complex existence are quite interesting.

Yet the protagonist "Phaethon" remains highly human despite his origins. His driving passion, covictions and drive are infectious. Aslo relationships are well developed and enjoy satisfying complexity and depth. I can hardly wait to get my amazon shipment containing the "Phoenix Exultant" to find out what happened to him.

Rating:
Summary: What a Treat
Review: I picked this book more or less at random (yes I liked the cover art) and I'm glad I did. Excellent plot line, great imagery, and a mind blower when it comes to new ideas, settings and technology. This book takes SciFi and space opera to a whole new level.

The idea of sense filters (people in this book can choose what to see and hear) thrills me no end, I can't wait to get mine installed.

Rating:
Summary: The Golden Age
Review: I've read and enjoyed many TOR books but The Golden Age was a dissapointment for me. The main character Phaethon goes from one dissapointment and failed challenge to the next with little or no redemption throught the entire book, culminating with Phaethon loosing everything and utterly hopeless. Come-on J.C.Wright, whats the deal? Isn't life bad enough? Do you really think readers want to read about an underachieving loser who screws his whole life up and loses all hope of redemption? Was this entire novel written simply as an advertisement for the sequel? The only redeeming quality in my mind is the wonderfully detailed and well thought out world in wich this tragedy plays out. If readers want my advice, I say don't waste your money on The Golden Age unless you are into depressing stories about underdogs getting their high hopes smashed again and again. Maybe the sequel would be more upbeat, but I will never know; I for one do not put my 'faith on' Mr. Wright redeeming the dissapointment I feel after reading his book, so I will spend my money elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Pure mental exhilaration. Ideas enough for 20 novels.
Review: If this book were titled "Brilliant new ideas for SF writers" and simply listed alphabetically the ideas Wright packs into his story it would still be worth the money. There are single paragraphs in "The Golden Age" which contain more original concepts than the entire works of other SF writers. I had the distinct sense that Wright has had a very pregnant mind for far too long and that finally writing everything down was an incredible release for him. This all begs the obvious question: What hideous ogre has kept him off the shelves? Why are we shackled with "Picard Gets a Hangnail, Part IV" when we could have books like the "The Golden Age". Someone in the publishing world needs to be fired.

Wright seems to take particular glee in tackling some of SFs stickier ideas head on just to prove he can. For example: How do you write a character a thousand times smarter than you are? What would such a character say and how do you extrapolate its actions and thoughts? By page 28 he's already hit this one out of the park. The main character's exchange with a bizarre creature called the Neptunian deserves to be studied by other authors as a shining (and hillarious) example of how an alien super intellect might behave.

Far future novels featuring technology that controls all the perceptions of the characters often fall apart. If authors have to extrapolate too much they lose credibility and discerning readers inevitably have to break out their B.S. shovels. But Wright is so comfortable and fluent with his ideas you get the impression he's not extrapolating so much as explaining the world in which he lives. I kept wanting to review some huge stack of technical notebooks from which these concepts were obviously drawn. Even the things he casually tosses out just to show off have a kind of critical mass of detail that hints at much deep thought. Throughout the book there's a constant undertone of Wright daring you, "think about this for a month or two and you'll come to my same conclusions."

With his first novel Wright brazenly cuts near the front of the line of my favorite authors. I eagerly await more.

Rating:
Summary: Exeptional Sci Fi in the Golden Age Tradition
Review: If you harbor fond memories of the first time you read Asimov's Foundation trilogy and thought that such works ended with the golden age of sci fi, if you enjoyed the storytelling of Hamilton's Naked God space opera but weren't thrilled by the horror aspects of the series, if you yearn for the heroic parables of Wolfe, Zelazny, and Silverberg, then you will thoroughly enjoy the Golden Age trilogy by John Wright. The story is fun, the hero is, well, heroic, the plot has enough twists and turns to keep even avid mystery readers guessing, and Mr. Wright does a nice job of developing the social, human, and legal implications of the scientific breakthrough that undergirds his future world. After so many years of dark cyberpunk and serialized sci fi, I'd almost forgotten how much fun golden age sci fi was -- I was tempted to read this trilogy under the covers with a flashlight like I did 40 years ago.

Three quick stylistic notes: 1) Keep a dictionary handy. Wright's vocabulary includes many words you didn't learn while studying for the SATs. 2) If you're at all compulsive, you will find the number of typos maddening. Mr. Wright desparately needs a more thorough editor. 3) I believe that another reviewer's objections to Wright's style are off the mark. Most of the examples cited by the reviewer are quotations from characters, and one of the stylistic conventions of the books is that different characters speak in different styles, reflecting their "neuroforms." The styles are often meant to be awkward, reflecting the difficulty of communicating between individuals with radically different thought processes. I rather liked this convention -- it reminded me of reading newspapers from at least three countries before forming an opinion on a breaking news story.

I Hope that Mr. Wright has more stories of this quality in him.