Rating: 
Summary: read it asap!
Review: i haven't even finished this book yet, but it's already outclassed everything I've read since Distress came out; why isn't greg egan's name up in lights? the description of yatima inhabiting the gleisner body is typical of egan's ability to reverse all our sci-fi expectations - rather than thinking "what would it be like for 'normal' humans to become disembodied immortal intelligences?" he asks "what would it would be like for 'normal' disembodied immortal computer intelligence to become embodied?!"
Rating:
Summary: Hard Sci-Fi at its Best.
Review: Immortality as software. This is a very possible future considering the direction technology is taking today. HAL may be us! Hard Sci-Fi at its best.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Science, Atrocious Fiction
Review: Anything that makes a novel worth reading is entirely absent here. If you think Physical Review Letters is good light reading, than you might enjoy this book. The science is very well thought out indeed, but Egan should explore collaboration with an author that can write convincingly about how the science affects the individuals or the societies.
Rating:
Summary: Deep, dense, thoroughly enthralling
Review: Greg Egan's DIASPORA is what science fiction should be. This book is not for everyone, and even hard core science fiction fans will find parts of it hard to follow and understand. But for those who read it carefully and make the effort to understand its deep and scientifically challenging concepts it will be well worth it. One of the most fantastic possiblites that the book explores is the idea of sentient software which is, I think, very plausible within the next 100 years. Imagine most of the human race transforming itself into beings of pure mathematics within a world of virtual reality. But this is only a small part of the book which could have and should have been much longer.
Rating:
Summary: Best science fiction novel this year
Review: This is probably Egan's best novel so far. I have little doubt that it will be the best science fiction novel published this year. Some reviewers complain "the plot got bogged down at that point where he explained fiber bundles." But the point is that Egan researches his novels so that they are actually about real science and where it might go. If you can't tell good science from bad, you can just watch Star Trek, but if you want to read science fiction that isn't just entertaining nonsense, Greg Egan is what you need!
Rating:
Summary: An exhilerating tour through the future of science and mind
Review: This is my favourite of Greg Egan's novels so far. A beautifully balanced structure, painlessly educational in maths, physics and contemporary theories of consciousness. Philosophically engaging and humane. Like an up to date Jules Verne he takes us on a tour of marvels in the company of characters who really think and feel. An exciting ride and thoroughly satisfying conclusion. Read it! Steven Spielberg or Terry Gilliam, I challenge you to film it!
Rating: 
Summary: I laughed, I cried . . . about computer software.
Review: Watch yourself become emotionally attached to characters which are pure (sentient) software. Watch them be born, watch them learn, watch them be lonely. Egan's hyper-detailed fiction is startling in the degree in which it is grounded in real-world plausiblity. The exponential growth of the power of our current technology beckons his creation off the shelves of "fiction".
Rating:
Summary: not recommended for humans w/ 1000+hr/a tv consumption
Review: author Egan places concepts into human minds which are beyond 1 standard deviation of nominal reality. If reader > 1 s.d. then info-book = exponential idea/fun/enjoyment. Regulars should be wary - BOOK MAY DAMAGE YOUR PRECEPTS!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been great, but it peters out at the end.
Review: Thought it might be another classic like Childhood's end, but the novel got lost in the middle and I was lost by the end.
Rating:
Summary: Great science (maybe a little too good), plot gets lost
Review: This was the first Greg Egan book I'd read - I picked it up 'cause the description sounded interesting. I was both disappointed and not disappointed. Egan spent so much time in the science, I frequently lost track of what was happening in the plot. The "main" character, Yatima, seems interesting at the beginning of the book, but then there is a large gap where we don't hear about "ve" at all. By the time I got near the end, I wasn't sure if I was reading the climax or not. And even though his science and ideas were great, his world-painting was often lacking. Were the polis' orbiting satellites, or were they underground? If you have a degree in physics, this might be good reading. If not, it might be worth a stab, but don't be surprised if you finish it wondering exactly what happened.
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