Hyperthought

Rating:
Summary: I've added this one to my growing collection of sci-fi!
Review: The more sci-fi "ages", the more new authors with great books appear to tantalize and terrorize us with possible futures. In this case, it's a little of both in the 22nd Century where Earth is toxic and masses of people have gone underground while those who are corporation-level Coms live in the Northern Hemisphere near the pole. Fantastic reading. Just as are many other sci-fi books as "Ilium", "Broken Angels", "Spin State", "Newton's Wake", "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Neuromancer", "Snow Crash", "Cyber Hunter" and so forth. Read them all!

Rating:
Summary: Worth reading
Review: There's a very good book in here struggling to get out. It very nearly makes it.

To readers of this sort of literature (that is, dystopian cyber-nanotech-SF), the world of this novel will be familiar in feel if not in detail: the northern part of the world is under the control of corporate .Coms, who lord it over the working classes, and the southern part is free, though living underground in the aftermath of some sort of destructive conflagration.

Jolie Sauvage is an engaging enough heroine as far as she goes. A young guide who takes rich aristos on tours of the uninhabitable surface, she surprises herself by falling for Jin, a northern actor and the son of a major .Com exec. Her narrative can be a bit taxing at times; she knows about six French phrases and uses them repeatedly throughout the novel. But she's a pleasant enough companion.

There's a good idea lurking in this "hyperthought" stuff, too. It never quite comes out where we can see it (and evaluate it), but it's there and it works for dramatic purposes.

The timbre of the novel reminds me of Octavia Butler (which I mean to be a good thing; Butler is a very powerful writer). If you liked _Parable of the Sower_, you'll probably be drawn into M.M. Buckner's aesthetic sensibilities as well.

This is a fine debut novel. Here's hoping Buckner follows it up with something even better.

Rating:
Summary: Mindboggling!
Review: This book came crashing into my placid mind like a runaway freight train. Breathtaking in its surrealistic scope;, yet entirely believable. "Hyperthought" sprang from a far-seeing and fertile mind. My congratulations to M.M. Buckner for a first class piece of entertainment! J.R. "Model-T" Tate, author of "Walkin' on the Happy Side of Misery: A Slice of Life on the Appalachian Trail".

Rating:
Summary: Mindboggling!
Review: This book came crashing into my placid mind like a runaway freight train. Breathtaking in its surrealistic scope;, yet entirely believable. "Hyperthought" sprang from a far-seeing and fertile mind. My congratulations to M.M. Buckner for a first class piece of entertainment! J.R. "Model-T" Tate, author of "Walkin' on the Happy Side of Misery: A Slice of Life on the Appalachian Trail".

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: This is a very fast paced book with lots of action. At under 200 pages it is a very fast read. I do think that the breivity of the book does sacrifice character development. The only character we get to know is Jolie and we only get a small glimpse into her past. I was never sure what made her tick and the character (not unlike real women) seemed inconsistent. I would have liked to have a more indepth look into the characters and into how society had transformed from present day into the bleak future Buckner paints. This is a good sign though. My idea of a good book is one that leaves you wanting more and yet there is no sequel to ruin the mystique.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: This is a very fast paced book with lots of action. At under 200 pages it is a very fast read. I do think that the breivity of the book does sacrifice character development. The only character we get to know is Jolie and we only get a small glimpse into her past. I was never sure what made her tick and the character (not unlike real women) seemed inconsistent. I would have liked to have a more indepth look into the characters and into how society had transformed from present day into the bleak future Buckner paints. This is a good sign though. My idea of a good book is one that leaves you wanting more and yet there is no sequel to ruin the mystique.