Rating: 
Summary: Paradoxiically Good and Bad
Review: I love time travel stories. I wanted to like this one. Its not that the writing or characters were bad. Quite the contrary, I enjoyed much of the story. What left a sour taste in my mouth was the obvious contradiction of the Chronoliths. Chronoliths appear from the future altering our present to lead to a situation that generates the Chronoliths in the future? I don't buy it. Just take a moment and think it through logically. If you are satisified with your present status, do you do something to alter the past? No. If you are not satisfied with your present, then you do something to alter the past, so your present existence will change. You can't alter the past dramatically to keep the same present existence. It's not a paradox, it's nonsense. That's why this book gets only 2 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Original and powerful novel of time travel and war
Review: The new Robert Charles Wilson novel is _The Chronoliths_. The Chronoliths are huge monuments, made of some indestructible substance, commemorating the military and political successes of someone named Kuin, 20 years in the future. Each of them (others soon follow the first) has apparently been projected 20 years back in time by this Kuin. Kuin appears to be some sort of warlord, and the Chronoliths become almost a self-fulfilling prophecy of a future of economic and political disasters and decay -- self-fulfilling not only because the thought of the coming of Kuin is morally sapping, but because the Chronoliths themselves are disasters, causing much loss of life and infrastructure. Thus Kuin is using the Chronoliths to prepare the way for his arrival, even though he could never have built and sent them without the power he gained: from having sent them. In its essence, a familiar time travel paradox, but I think very subtly and originally portrayed by Wilson. Scott Warden, after witnessing the arrival of the first Chronolith in Thailand, returns to the US to be near his divorced wife and daughter. But after a time his past involvement with the first Chronolith, and also his earlier association with the physicist Sue Chopra, who was a favorite professor in college, catches up with him. It seems he has been under the eye of the authorities because he was near the first arrival -- also it seems that Sue, who has become perhaps the leading expert on Chronoliths, has decided that his association both with her and with the arrival is not a coincidence, but rather some sort of sign. So when she has a job opening for someone with Scott's skills (he is a "code herder", a neat term for a future software engineer, nicely implying without any explanation that software is not written line by line anymore but sort of "raised", like animals), she scoops him up, more or less. And Scott spends some time on Sue's team, witnessing another arrival, learning that they can be predicted, learning a little bit about Sue's controversial theories. At the same time the political situation is worsening. Much of the economy is diverted to war preparation, while at the same time many people have become sympathizer's with the shadowy aims of the still unknown Kuin. Scott's wife's slimy new husband is one such sympathizer -- worse, his daughter becomes involved with a more radical Kuinist youth group. Scott leaves Sue's group abruptly when his daughter disappears, and soon finds himself in the company of another woman, the mother of another disappeared child, as well as the mysteriously returned Hitch Paley, heading to Mexico where, it seems, the next Chronolith will arrive, and where many of the Kuinists are heading on a sort of pilgrimage or "haj". The disastrous events in Mexico change Scott's personal life further, though not entirely for the worst, and the book then continues to its resolution: the potential arrival of a Chronolith on U. S. soil, and a desperate attempt by Sue Chopra to sabotage the Chronoliths, and the traitorous resistance to that attempt by the increasingly radical domestic Kuinists. The ending is surprising, and things are very logically resolved. The book is at once an effective and original time paradox story, a grim but hopeful story of a depressed future, and an involving story of an ordinary man in extraordinary times. I have rated it 4 stars -- really it's closer to 4 and a half.
Rating: 
Summary: A new view of time
Review: The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson opens in Thailand in the 2020s. Out of nowhere, an enormous monument appears in the jungle. It bears a plaque commemorating a military victory in the year 2041, twenty years in the future... It turns out to be the first of many. They are quickly dubbed chronoliths and Kuin, the mysterious military leader whose victories they commemorate, inspires cults all around the world, though as yet nobody knows who he is, for his campaigns have not yet begun. The chronoliths spread out from south east Asia as Kuin's military conquests expand his empire. More and more of the chronoliths appear in major cities and cause huge devastation and loss of life. Nevertheless the cult of Kuin continues to thrive though he himself remains elusive. The novel finishes twenty years after it begins. Soon the first chronolith will begin its journey into the past. Where is Kuin? The mechanics of the plot are a sheer delight, but that isn't what gives the book it's major strength. For me, the attraction was in both the very human story of the life and times of the viewpoint character and also the subtle fascination of the intellectual ideas it explores - how does feedback influence the relationship between cause and effect?
Rating:
Summary: Well-written, intereting, but....
Review: This book has pretty interesting idea with it and Wilson did a wonderful writing. But in fact, the ending is not really as impressing as I expected. Somewhat disappointing. Worth reading for sure, but please don't expect something surprising would happen till the end. It won't.
Rating:
Summary: An enthralling tale
Review: In the year 2021, Scott Warden finds himself caught up in a historical event. When he goes to investigate a mysterious explosion in Chumphon, Thailand, he discovers a giant monument, a monument commemorating the victory of a conqueror some twenty years in the future! It is only first of many that begin to pop up around the world, convincing multitudes that the conqueror coming is inevitable, and perhaps desirable. Pulled along by unseen forces through an increasingly chaotic world, Scott must live his life, while simultaneously aiding an old friend, a friend who wants to stop that future conqueror. In this book, Robert Wilson succeeds is building and maintaining an enthralling level of suspense. His characters are interesting, but it is the situation that is so fascinating. Indeed, I found the story eminently believable, and was swept along with it. I highly recommend this fascinating book. [As an aside, I am a fan of Messrs. Strauss and Howe, and their generational theories. This book went along excellently with it, with the main character picking up on generational differences.]
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing concept, good story, but....
Review: The concept presented here is fresh and fascinating, and the story and characters are nicely presented and not overwrought. The story progresses at a brisk pace, and wastes little time with trivialities, and takes some unpredictable, interesting turns. Thankfully (for this reader), Wilson doesn't go over the top with what could have been a deep foray into the mind-boggling physics/paradoxical side of the subject. Ultimately, though, the ending was a little dissatisfying. I would have liked some of the loose ends wrapped up a little better. I think you'll know what I mean when you get there.... It's a fairly quick, read, though, and well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: A very good read
Review: The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson is an excellent science fiction novel of the "old school." By this term, I mean of the Philip K. Dick and Clifford Simak school. The science is there but doesn't burden the story. Rather it returns to the basic root of science fiction: take a plausible but as yet not possible event/occurence, apply it to a story, and go from there. The pacing is excellent, and the story is well thought out. It is a bit sparse if you have been used to the technology driven tales of the past several years. The characters speak in a believable tone. There are a few plot twists and it reads well. The point of the tale is well suited to our time. As we enter the early 21st century, it is easy to become jaded and cynical about the future of man; how despite the fall of the many of the threats of the last century - communism, fascism, etc, we seem no closer to finding a way of peacefully coexisting. But a seemingly inevitable grim future is not necessarily fated to be. By falling into that mindset, we may be unconsciously creating the very future we desire to avoid.
A very nice story.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful account of the near future
Review: A mysterious Kuin is sending monuments to his great victories into his past--and really screws up Scott Warden's life. Are these messages of world conquest a fact that must be dealt with, or are they, in fact, intended to become a self-fulfilling prophecy? Interestingly, author Robert Charles Wilson makes Warden a relatively minor player in the attempt to thwart Kuin. For a while, he works as a computer programmer for a scientist (Sue) who has the closest handle on the math that would allow Kuin to send his messages into the past, yet he quits that job to be near his daughter. Instead, Wilson writes on a smaller and more personal scale. Warden is important and, because they are important to him, his daughter and second wife are important. Combining a fascinating near-future history with a highly sympathetic character makes for a compelling read. Highly recommended. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title
Rating:
Summary: History in reverse
Review: "The Chronoliths" opens with a stunner - a 200-foot stone pillar appears in a nearby forest, flattening trees and freezing ice from the air. An inscription commemorates the conquest of Thailand - 20 years in the future. Protagonist Scott Warden, a 21st-century American neglecting his wife and daughter for the life of an expatriate beach bum in Thailand, is one of the first on the spot. A second Chronolith destroys Bangkok but by then Scott is back in the US, working as a software designer, trying to regain his family. As the march of Chronoliths continues across Asia, celebrating the future victories of the mysterious Kuin and causing widespread destruction, it triggers economic collapse, panic and the rise of fanatical groups. Scott joins up with his former teacher, Sue Chopra, an experimental physicist who believes the slim connections between Scott, herself and the Chronoliths are not coincidence but part of some temporal loop. Scott is a somewhat annoying character, leaving the project to stay close to his daughter - who won't have much of a future if the Chronolith predictions cannot be changed. But as the paradoxes and connections mount, Wilson ("Darwinia") paints a dark and vivid picture of a world society succumbing to the promise of future defeat, making this detailed disintegration a catalyst for the novel's action.
Rating:
Summary: none
Review: Once again, Wilson has managed to write a book chockful of mystery, suspense, and the alienness of being human. Robert Charles Wilson is one of SF's best writers, and best kept secrets, and with "Chronoliths" it's time to let the secret out...Gary S. Potter Author/Poet
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