Rating: 
Summary: The book suceeds despite the first half
Review: This is my first exploration of Greg Egan's writing. I have to say, the first half was bad reading. It was Egan playing around with what kind of technology and software the future will have in 50+ years. It is done from a completely computer programmer's point of view, which was interesting enough, but tedious. Another reviewer of a different Egan book said it was like a detective story where the main character is sneaking into a building to get clues and sees a bit of paper and goes into the history of paper production since its inception and what it will be like in the future. The information is irrelevant to the story and actually detracts rather than enhances. Despite this however, I was really glad to get past this and into the 2nd half of the book. Egan gives a feeling of what true immortality might be like and what real loneliness is. I don't know if he intended to, but that's what I took away from this book. With a new type of virtual processor tucked away into its own little universe, untouchable by anyone, the virtual people can live forever, not just until the end of our universe, but really and truely forever. I've never seen it explored before, and find it a great idea. Even someone scared of death must be a little hesitant about the offer of true immortality, not just no aging, not just outliving your friends, but outliving everything in the universe. Billions and billions of years. Forever is a long time and I found it a bit daunting. Another idea that I really liked in the book was concerning loneliness. What's it like to be really alone. Well, some of the characters find this out as they sneak into the artificial universe created for other characters, but they can never interact with it. No one can ever see them or talk to them. They are cut off not only from the world, the universe, but also the only other people who might understand their situation. I can't imagine the utter aloneness of their situation. Sure, they can create anything they want in their simulations of the world, but really - how far can your own imagination go? How much can you create without getting bored? This is a good book that could have been great if it were re-mixed with the right concentration of existing ideas. It's worth reading for the ideas alone. I hear that other Egan books are similar, so if you read this one, I can only imagine that you'd enjoy other Greg Egan books. I will certainly be reading more of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Shockingly Good
Review: This is perhaps the finest work of Computer Science based Science Fiction ever written. The most stunning thing here is that Greg Egan actually knows what he's talking about, and isn't afraid to stick to it, in exactly the way that so many "cyber" writers... don't. He actually understands recursion and virtualization, not just throwing words out to sound cool. He doesn't retreat into literary silliness or ridiculous anthropomorphic characterization in a feeble attempt to be some sort of artsy novelist. He keeps it believable, and extremely good. This is the book I would have written, if I had time (and ability!) to write a novel about recursion and artificial life.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't swallow the deus ex machina
Review: This was an enjoyable enough read, I suppose, and it certainly contains some cool ideas (e.g. the concept of a cellular automaton rich enough to support a simple biochemistry). However, the bulk of the plot hinges on a deus ex machina that I found impossible to swallow, and this tainted my enjoyment of the book henceforth. Also, the characters were totally flat, not that this is unusual in "hard" SF.
Rating:
Summary: A glimpse of immortality
Review: What a delight to find this gem in a pile of used paperbacks we inherited! This is one of the best works I've come across exploring the nature of consiousness, reality, and immortality. (What, exactly does it mean for something to be 'REAL' anyway?) This is a futuristic work of fiction is set in a time when people can actually inhabit computers. A virtual reality simulation of consiousness might be more accurate. This book is spellbinding and thought-provoking. If they ever do invent such computers -- I want in! Don't worry about somebody telling you the ending -- you have to read the entire journey for it to have any meaning anyway. And what a journey it is! Throughout the book I was constantly wondering 'what in the world is going to happen next?' in very much the same sense as in WATERSHIP DOWN. The introduction is interesting and the pace picks up from there and never slows down. There is only one short scene which might jostle the squeamish and it doesn't impact the story line at all. As befits a book about immortality I was still hungry for more when I finished it but the book wraps up nicely and leaves one with a lot to ponder. I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Thought provoking, mind bending, typical Greg Egan
Review: Wow, Egan can sure throw out the BS with the best of them, and then make it all sound quite plausible. This book will cause you to think about the nature of reality itself. Egan is great with the concepts, merely OK with the characterizations, but I found the book quite enjoyable overall.
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking, mind bending, typical Greg Egan
Review: Wow, Egan can sure throw out the BS with the best of them, and then make it all sound quite plausible. This book will cause you to think about the nature of reality itself. Egan is great with the concepts, merely OK with the characterizations, but I found the book quite enjoyable overall.
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