Rating: 
Summary: Good read
Review: The book deserves 4 1/2 stars more than just four, but half-stars aren't options within the reviewing system. It didn't quite cut it 5 star level.Well written story with a lot of interesting SF ideas. I felt a little lost at the beginning, but it was the kind of "lost" that creates interest in continuing. As you mentally organize the myriad of characters from the book, it story begins to roll along more smoothly. The book has a character list in the beginning to help you keep track of all of these characters. Interestingly enough, even this character list at the beginning helped pique my interest. This is also one of the few books with a sequel that is nice enough to warn on the cover that it has a sequel. Too many times I got to the last page to find the "To be Continued". It's perfectly understandable that some stories will need 2 books to be told correctly. Just let the reader know before he arrives at the last page. This book does that.
Rating:
Summary: Tough But Golden
Review: The early chapters of The Golden Age contain a lot of biological mumbo-jumbo without example or explanation, only to bring some of these descriptions out in digressions during the big climax scene. After that scene, the story soars. You feel and believe in Phaethon's quest. In a publishing world where editorial mistakes are common, this book has more than its share. It's a tough read; Gibson's digressions are frustrating. All this aside, I will buy the sequel, The Phoenix Exultant, because visionary heroes of the calibre of Phaethon are rare in good fiction and I like him and want to keep reading about him. Hopefully the writing will improve.
Rating: 
Summary: Contrived techno-babble
Review: The first thirty pages were so dense with extremely contrived techno-babble as to make the story difficult to appreciate. If you want quality writing read Stephensen or Morgan or Reynolds.
Rating: 
Summary: This Author Understands Science Fiction
Review: The sheer force of imagination evident in The Golden Age is encountered so rarely in any genre that my faith in publishing has been renewed. Mr. Wright strikes an impressive balance between moving his narrative forward yet all the while bombarding the reader with astonishing and entirely original ideas. Not since Dan Simmons' Hyperion (also a debut novel) have I seen a Sci Fi author take such command of his or her distinctive fictional creation.
The Golden Age posits an infinite variety of intelligences, each with their own peculiar focus and means of relating to the world they inhabit. The protagonist happens to be a recognizable human following the conservative Silver-Grey philosophy; a device allowing the reader to encounter the brave new world through eyes similar enough to our own. Phaethon, our hero, has dreams bigger than his entire civilization, the book is obviously an Odyssey for the future--complete with a Chorus.
Although the work constantly throws out original and creative speculation regarding the future, it doesn't forget to tell a story and does so very strictly within the expectations of classical fiction. The Golden Age begins a masterful three-volume exposition of one of literature's primary themes--a uniquely gifted individual struggling to escape the strictures of a stagnant civilization. The quest for knowledge and discovery has long been a staple of excellent Sci Fi. What is so rewarding about the book is that the civilization at issue is so complex and diverse that the reader's understanding of the Oecumene (the future civilization) develops at the same pace as does the story.
Mr. Wright is on my instant purchase list--this volume and its two successors are must-reads for anyone who enjoys Science Fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Overfilled with the details, philosophy takes a back seat...
Review: The wonderfully unique and important message, and philosophy, of the protagonist takes a backseat to the superfluous, neverending details of the settings in this overlong novel. It needed a better editor.
It is a masterpiece, no doubt, but I had to work to get through the descriptions of everything to the plot. I felt like a reader-archeologist digging for the plot and characterizations amongst the atmosphere and descriptiveness of the novel's setting. Bravo to the concept, thumbs down to the delivery and editing.
Rating:
Summary: Good ideas, bad writing
Review: There are some interesting extrapolations in The Golden Age. What new art and philosophy will science bring, and how will society change with virtually controlled perception? I love books like this, deeply and unashamedly intellectual efforts discussing root issues of the human condition. Wright has an original take on the very far future and I loved some of his concepts. But...
But Golden Age honestly has some of the worst dialogue I have ever seen in SF. Example (random page), "Hoy! Listen to his stiff-arsed, high-nosed twang? Eh, oh, Phaethon, you are among friends and close companions of heart!", or (again, random) "The Invariants don't need time to adjust to shock! The Warlock rides his dreams like wild stallions!" And so Phaethon and the other characters go through 300+ pages in a utopian future shouting at each other. There are exclamation points everywhere in this book. They are everywhere! See how much more meaningful and important my sentences are when I use exclamation points! God, I must be making really crucial statements!
So I'm torn now. I finished the book, but it was pretty boring, the dialogue was dreadful and the protagonist is nearly unlikable. Phaethon is a jerk - a well meaning jerk, a hopeful jerk - but a really big jerk. Most of the characters are jerks (thinking, thinking), actually they are all jerks. I'm curious about how this ends, but I've got much better books in my "to read" pile and so do you. Don't be fooled by the computer generated recommendation, The Golden Age is not good.
Rating:
Summary: Well written and thought-provoking
Review: This book is one of the rare few that dares to imagine humanity's future as it might really be -- people essentially immortal, taking on many different forms, and living side by side with artificial life forms (AI). Technology is advanced but not without limitations, and (unlike lower-quality SF) the natural applications and implications are not ignored. The story itself is well-written, and while it is clearly a set-up for the sequel, it's enjoyable by itself. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys contemplating the future.
Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: This is a fantastic book to get you back into Sci Fi if you've ever gotten out of the habit. The best part is that the world of the future we see here is as baffling to us at first as our world would be to those from 200, 500 or 1000 years ago. It's about time I read a novel in the future that made me really belive. The plot is hidden deftly for us to unravel with Phaethon as we read, and the understanding comes nearly as well and beautifully as a good John Le Carre novel. I came to care about the characters, and to believe in the motivations and feelings of Helion, Daphne, and especially Phaethon. Also, the theme of one man's independence being more important than the comfort of the masses is something we don't hear enough these days. In the cacaphony of diversity and interest groups and minorities, we forget the most critical rights belong to the individual. This book sets us back on that path with a character who will do what is right whatever the cost. I was very impressed, and hope to get the same from the next book. Thank you Mr. Wright for a very good book!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly conceived sci-fi that lives up to praise
Review: This is a great work of science fiction that lives up to the critics' praise. The best of sci fi is all here. An intricately created far future world. Characters, plot, and actions that are consistent with this world. Questions of philosophy and morality. And a mystery/conspiracy that keeps you guessing about what's really going on.
What is most satisfying about the book is how all of the details hang together so well--both about the world that Wright has created in general, as well as the details of the plot that unfold. Many details earlier in the novel turn out to matter later in the book (or in the two sequels). And Wright is great at tying up loose ends (again by the end of the two sequels) that many other authors wouldn't have bothered with.
It did take me several chapters to become drawn into the story. It takes time for the tension to build, as Phaethon (the main character) begins to suspect that his life is not as it seems. And Wright also devotes many of the early pages to a description of his universe. But soon I was hooked.
The first book takes you on a journey with Phaethon to discover why his memory seems to have been tampered with. As more and more is revealed, the scope of the story continues to grow. But then alternate explanations are offered that make you wonder what the truth really is.
One reviewer below suggested the book was boring. Maybe if all you're looking for is action/adventure. But certainly not if you enjoy unraveling a brilliantly conceived mystery/conspiracy.
And the fact that main character (Phaethon) is not perfect makes the tale that much more enjoyable. He's a flawed hero. He can at times be haughty or conceited. But he also wrestles with morality. Because of this complexity, I found Phaethon to be a very satisfying hero. Any doubts you might have about whether you like him slowly go away, and by mid-way through the second book you admire him.
I highly recommend this book and the two sequels, The Phoenix Exultant and The Golden Transcendence.
Rating:
Summary: A libertarian paradise - with flaws
Review: This is one of the most thought provoking and genuniely interesting science fiction books I've read in some time. Humnan civilization has evolved into a libertarian utopia of sorts - utopia in the sense that virtually all humans seem to be immortal, with access to mostly subservient computer intelligences of vast power. The book is about Phaethon, a brave version of a cloned son of one of the wealthiest individuals in this civilization, who we discover has entered into a contract to censure large parts of his memory in exchange for not being exiled from the utoopia. The book has a tight plot and the main character, Phaethon, is interesting and complex. In the end two things about the book stand out: Firstly, the prose-writing in this book is outstanding - this despite being filled with descriptions of technology or future-custom that is barely explained. The tone is mostly light, perhaps mirroring a utopia in which life is essentially good and violence mostly unheard of. Lots of little things about the prose contribute to a great reading experience - for example a flashback scene in which Phaethon rememberes his early coming of age, at all of "five and seventy years", or a scene near the end of the book in which Phaethon, stripped of most of his power, begins drawing on simple engineering principles of the type we actually understand to survive. People in Wright's world spend most of their time in various virtual realities that are richly described and seem genuine. After hundreds of pages of virtual reality prose, the last scene in the book takes place in the "real world", where Phaethon must complete a near impossible physical challenge. The simplicity of the prose here - mirroring the less complex but physically daunting world Phaethon has now entered - contrasts superbly with the rest of the book. Secondly, the libertarian utopia Wright sets out to capture faces interesting dilemmas - though not overwhelming the type of philosophyzing seen in the grand science fiction tradition. Is a true libertarian paradise sustainable, or will - as set out in the beginning of the book - a plutocracy of the most fabulously wealthy use their powers to secure long term security for themselves through introducing a stasis that seems to undermine the individual freedoms that would seem to constitute a libertarian worldview? Thinking back on the book, I appreciate Wright's efforts for the text to appear fairly neutral on the political value of a libertarian society - on one hand this is a world in which virtually all enjoy what seem like god-like powers - leading to the thought that when incentives are so aligned a world based on "effort" (the term for work used in the book) can lead to a utopia. But on the other hand, the utopia might be declining due to the greed of its founders. I look forward to the sequel.
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