Rating: 
Summary: Horrifyingly amateur work
Review: I think that the overall idea Mr. Metzger is attempting to acheive is fascinating, however the way he opts to implement his story is unyielding and grating. First, there are far too many asides in the novel to explain in one sentence some fundamental law of physics. Being a scientist, I found rather irritating, as the summaries were glib, and intended to have a hand waving effect to make the scene plausible. Second, the character development is remarkably bad. Most of the characters have one of three major personality quirks: Domineering, histrionic, or obsessive-compulsive. There is very little (if any) depth given to any of the characters. Third: The plot.....??? I like my science fiction to be more science than fiction, but that's a personal choice. All in all, not worth the time. At all. It gets a two star rating for having an idea I would like to see used in a much better novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A Botched Cliche
Review: I was slightly interested in the book at the beginning, but as I read on, I realized that this book wasn't good at all. The science is somewhat belivable, but the book falls into the sci-fi cliche of "here are humans, and the aliens save the humans from stupidity".
The plot would be predictable, if it wasn't so outlandishly ridiculous. The characters are like simple cardboard cut outs, the dialouge is hollow (especially the aliens), and the ending is simply awful! Save yourself some time and money and go find another sci fi book!
Rating: 
Summary: It's Not All Handed To You
Review: If you want to know where the story will end after you read the first chapter, then Picoverse is not for you. If you want your characters to remain forever fixed in space and time, so that the bad guy remains the bad guy, and the hero the hero, then Picoverse is not for you. If you want your Hard Science Fiction to read like a technical paper without elements of the bizarre and plot twists that might rip off your head, then Picoverse is not for you. Not everything is handed to you, everything spelled out, everything chunking from here to there in a nice linear fashion. I won't bother to give a plot synopsis - that's been done above and below. What I will say is that there are more ideas packed into every chapter than you'll find in most entire books, and rather than just dragging you along for the ride, you've got to keep your eyes sharp and put some pieces together. And that's the fun of it. It's not like the last ten SF books you've read, and will not be like the next ten. This one is different. It obviously does not appeal to all. And for that I'm quite happy - it has a unique voice and plot. I look forward to Metzger's next book.
Rating:
Summary: It's Not All Handed To You
Review: If you want to know where the story will end after you read the first chapter, then Picoverse is not for you. If you want your characters to remain forever fixed in space and time, so that the bad guy remains the bad guy, and the hero the hero, then Picoverse is not for you. If you want your Hard Science Fiction to read like a technical paper without elements of the bizarre and plot twists that might rip off your head, then Picoverse is not for you. Not everything is handed to you, everything spelled out, everything chunking from here to there in a nice linear fashion. I won't bother to give a plot synopsis - that's been done above and below. What I will say is that there are more ideas packed into every chapter than you'll find in most entire books, and rather than just dragging you along for the ride, you've got to keep your eyes sharp and put some pieces together. And that's the fun of it. It's not like the last ten SF books you've read, and will not be like the next ten. This one is different. It obviously does not appeal to all. And for that I'm quite happy - it has a unique voice and plot. I look forward to Metzger's next book.
Rating:
Summary: Pulp In The 21st Century
Review: In the golden age of science fiction (1930s-1950), pulp SF generated its "Sense of Wonder" by throwing the heros into a rapid-fire adventure composed of equal doses of scientific marvels, evil forces bent on their destruction, and the need to unravel scientific mysteries just in the nick of time before worlds or even universes came crashing down. Picoverse draws from that same tradition, but updates it using today's science, and extrapolating it to not only the near future, but jumping to far futures, and futures outside our own universe. The story centers around a plasma physics group at the Georgia Institute of Technology (but not quite the one in the readers world - this world is slightly different from ours) that accidently discover during a fusion energy research project that they have generated energy fields high enough to begin to alter regions of space-time. This is a classic pulp SF beginning - a scientific experiment goes wrong and the heros must fix an ever expanding region of damage and disaster. But that is where the old plup approach ends and the 21st pulp approach created by Metzger begins. These scientists create a series of Picoverses (universes that consist only of our solar system, but move at a rate of time one million times faster than ours). Not to spoil the plot, but what happens in these picoverses (as both the heros and bad guys enter into them) runs the range from genetically modified Neanderthals, planets transformed into Black Holes, heavy doses of both chaos and quatum physics, and even trips into the early 20th century, where the physicists of that time (including Einstien) become insturmental in not only trying to save or destroy the Picoverses, but the universe itself (as well as an even greater universe beyond ours - yes, our universe is someone/something elses experiment). The plot races, carrying the reader from one impossible disaster to the next, requiring the reader to remain fully engaged. And the ending not only explains all, but even reaches out into the Reader's Universe to explain our world. Picoverse was a two day marathon read, with only breaks for eating and sleeping, and highly recommended for anyone looking for that Sense of Wonder that SF should have.
Rating: 
Summary: Exciting cerebral SF
Review: In the not too distant future scientists such as Katie McGuire, her ex-husband Horst, and a few other technicians are working hard at the Sonomak project operational. If it works the world could have cold fusion power at their disposable. When it looks like federal funding will fall through, Horst calls in a block-ops agent to see if the military would be interested in funding the project.
The agent's boss Alexandria Mitchell learns about the project. She is over five million years old, a sentient android serving the Makers, the beings whom created our universe. Her job is to make sure that the people of Earth don't rise above a certain level of technology. Alexandria is tired of answering to her masters and intends to take control of the Sonomak project, forcing the scientists to create a PICOVERSE (an alternate universe of our world only much smaller) so she can rid herself of any controls. She gets her wish but even she is surprised at how quickly she becomes dissatisfied, a condition that forces her to deal with Katie and Horst, their son Anthony and Jack Preston, a new player in the game, in this new and unfamiliar realm.
Although PICOVERSE is filled with scientific theories that are difficult for the layman to understand, this no way detracts from the overall enjoyment of the story. The climax is a shocker but the whole novel is based on situations that take one surprising turn after another. Robert A. Metzger makes the implausible seen all to frightening real. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: 2002 Nebula Finalist
Review: It is amazing how polarized the viewpoints are on this book. It seems that some don't like it because it is not what they thought it was going to be. I suppose if you want to know just what you're going to read before you open the book that you shouldn't read this one, because you can never guess what is going to happen next. It starts off with those elements of hard SF - the experiment gone wrong and the scientists trying to figure it out, but from there it moves out in unexpected directions, ranging from a large chunk of alternate history in the 1920-1930s, a future where Jupiter and Saturn have been radically modified, to Neanderthals who are not quite what they seem. And then the ending is great, tying together everything(and even something in the reader's world - don't want to say more and spoil it). And I guess that other people like it too, since I just saw that this book is a finalist on the 2002 Nebula list, along with such books as American Gods and Perdido Street Station. If you want some surprises, give this a read.
Rating:
Summary: A few gems among lots and lots of dross
Review: It starts out as page-turner, I admit, but it's ultimately disappointing... even a chore to read through to the end. It starts out as a rigorous hard-SF story, with events following from a coherent set of rules, but gets increasingly fantastic as events move along, until Metzger evidently feels no need to offer any explanation at all for miraculous powers and events. It starts off with an interesting, fairly believable cast of characters, but betrays their potential as each of them not only behaves in cliched, plot-driven ways, but is endowed with transhuman abilities of one sort or another to keep that plot moving along. And then there's Metzger's writing style, which some reviewers have inexplicably praised. I found it grating, a genuine obstacle to enjoying the story. His grammar and syntax are amateurish from beginning to end (for example, one scene repeatedly refers to an "anti-office" rather than an "ante-office," or merely an outer office), and he regularly shifts viewpoint from one character to another mid-scene and without transition. (What are editors paid for these days?) He also introduces new story elements at a frantic pace with no dramatic set-up, has major events occur offstage (including a crucial rescue scene that seems almost impossible to explain given the scenario's constraints, but which conveniently reunites the characters), and ultimately offers a climax which frankly makes no sense as explained -- we're just asked to accept on faith that it "somehow" happened that way. The concept has potential, but the execution falls short. Metzger's imagination obviously exceeds his sophistication as a writer.
Rating:
Summary: A few gems among lots and lots of dross
Review: It starts out as page-turner, I admit, but it's ultimately disappointing... even a chore to read through to the end. It starts out as a rigorous hard-SF story, with events following from a coherent set of rules, but gets increasingly fantastic as events move along, until Metzger evidently feels no need to offer any explanation at all for miraculous powers and events. It starts off with an interesting, fairly believable cast of characters, but betrays their potential as each of them not only behaves in cliched, plot-driven ways, but is endowed with transhuman abilities of one sort or another to keep that plot moving along. And then there's Metzger's writing style, which some reviewers have inexplicably praised. I found it grating, a genuine obstacle to enjoying the story. His grammar and syntax are amateurish from beginning to end (for example, one scene repeatedly refers to an "anti-office" rather than an "ante-office," or merely an outer office), and he regularly shifts viewpoint from one character to another mid-scene and without transition. (What are editors paid for these days?) He also introduces new story elements at a frantic pace with no dramatic set-up, has major events occur offstage (including a crucial rescue scene that seems almost impossible to explain given the scenario's constraints, but which conveniently reunites the characters), and ultimately offers a climax which frankly makes no sense as explained -- we're just asked to accept on faith that it "somehow" happened that way. The concept has potential, but the execution falls short. Metzger's imagination obviously exceeds his sophistication as a writer.
Rating: 
Summary: Run-of-the-mill
Review: Like a previous reviewer commented, I think Metzger's sense of timing and plot development was off the mark. The passage in which filaments shoot out of Alexandria's forehead and download knowledge into the other character's brains left me baffled. I had problems with suspension of disbelief here. What, aliens in the plot already? Where's the suspense? The novel should have centered on humans making scientific discoveries - aliens should not have been introduced until perhaps near the end of the novel, as in Carl Sagan's Contact. Character descriptions are also a little overwrought. Greg Bear's Blood Music is an example of hard sci-fi that works well. Economic use of language that draws you in.
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