Rating: 
Summary: A whirling ride through the metaphysics of physics!
Review: Metzger is a madman! Incredible plotline/sub/counterplots, character development...a whirling ride through the metaphysics of physics! Reminded me of Philip K. Dick with a touch of Sturgeonesque humor. Great use of dynamics of theoretical physics, keeping in mind that today's science is tomorrow's witchcraft. Particularly enjoyed the action sequences, dialogue-handling, descriptive passages, exposition, and his use of language -- it's so damned rare to find someone who actually has writing skills these days!!! I'm looking forward to his next novel!
Rating:
Summary: It's a Sci-Fi Mystery
Review: Okay - not a mystery in the traditional sense that the butler did it, but a mystery in the sense that characters and situations are not what they seem. And the true nature of the characters get revealed when something really tough comes along. A few reviewers have complained about this. I don't understand why. That's how mysteries work - it's even how real life works. If a character is hiding something, chances are it will only be revealed when circumstances demand it - and that's just what happens in Picoverse. It's hard sci-fi, but not the typical stuff. There is layer after layer in this book. And I think that is Metzger's design. The science idea in this book is the creation of what are called picoverses - smaller universes nestled within larger universes - layers within layers. This sets up a THEME for this book. There are things within things, layers beneath layers. This goes for the physical structure of the universe in this story, but also applies to the characters - they are creatures with many different skins, each one being peeled away to get closer and closer to what they really are. And this can even be taken a step further. The nature of the characters (good/bad, human/alien) not only change in the course of the book as demanded by the plot, but change depending on the perspective of the viewpoint examining them - one person's alien is another person's human, and one person's villian is another person's hero. In fact, a few of the characters - in particular Jack, peels himself back as the story evolves and is as surprised by what he finds as is the reader. So while this is a sci-fi story, it also has many of the basic elements of a mystery - there are surprises, things happening that were not expected. I consider this a good thing when reading a book, not wanting to know where it will end until I get to the end. I for one am looking forward to Metzger's next book. And besides all this, the science ideas just fly in this book - a really intense imagaination fills these pages
Rating:
Summary: It's a Sci-Fi Mystery
Review: Okay - not a mystery in the traditional sense that the butler did it, but a mystery in the sense that characters and situations are not what they seem. And the true nature of the characters get revealed when something really tough comes along. A few reviewers have complained about this. I don't understand why. That's how mysteries work - it's even how real life works. If a character is hiding something, chances are it will only be revealed when circumstances demand it - and that's just what happens in Picoverse. It's hard sci-fi, but not the typical stuff. There is layer after layer in this book. And I think that is Metzger's design. The science idea in this book is the creation of what are called picoverses - smaller universes nestled within larger universes - layers within layers. This sets up a THEME for this book. There are things within things, layers beneath layers. This goes for the physical structure of the universe in this story, but also applies to the characters - they are creatures with many different skins, each one being peeled away to get closer and closer to what they really are. And this can even be taken a step further. The nature of the characters (good/bad, human/alien) not only change in the course of the book as demanded by the plot, but change depending on the perspective of the viewpoint examining them - one person's alien is another person's human, and one person's villian is another person's hero. In fact, a few of the characters - in particular Jack, peels himself back as the story evolves and is as surprised by what he finds as is the reader. So while this is a sci-fi story, it also has many of the basic elements of a mystery - there are surprises, things happening that were not expected. I consider this a good thing when reading a book, not wanting to know where it will end until I get to the end. I for one am looking forward to Metzger's next book. And besides all this, the science ideas just fly in this book - a really intense imagaination fills these pages
Rating:
Summary: INCREDIBLE SCIENTIFIC ADVENTURE
Review: PICOVERSE IS A NOVEL THAT STARTS OUT WITH AGOOD PREMISE AND GRABS YOU AND NEVER LETS GO. THE IDEA OF PARALLEL UNIVERSE IS SO WELL EXPLORED AND THE DEPTH OF THE CHARACTERS MAKE YOU FELL FOR THEM. THE LAST ONE HUDRED PAGES CARRIES YOU TO AN AMAZING CLIMAX THAT WRAPS UP EVERYTHING IN A INCREDIBLE AND EXITING WAY. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK
Rating: 
Summary: Alice in the Multiverse
Review: Picoverse is one of those multiple universe books that takes the reader from one alternate Earth to another in a fairy entertaining and competent fashion. (notice, I'm not a book seller-see above reviews! So I'm not brown-nosing to sell more books.) Robert Metzger uses some nice plasma physics to support his ideas, although some of the science is pretty sketchy and has some obvious flaws. (If you're interested to know what is messed up, email me.) His characters are development nicely, suffering just a little from histrionics. Now, if he just hadn't head-hopped with his characters' point of view, I would have been able to enjoy the story a lot more. Metzger obviously doesn't realize how confusing it is to be in one character's point of view and then another's without any transition. I have to ask why his editor didn't ask him to fix this. Other than that very annoying problem, I found the story well paced and the plot complete with some nice twists. I think I'll buy his next book, but only after reading a sample chapter to make sure the POV problem isn't repeated.Jeff
Rating:
Summary: Grabbed Me
Review: This book has a bit of everything in it. I like that. It has alternate universes, alternate histories, aliens, cyborgs, Neanderthals, time travel, space travel, black holes, Einstein, solar sails and so on. Because it covers a lot of SF ground it moves really fast and you need to pay attention so you don't get lost. I really enjoy a wild SF read, where you aren't really sure what will happen next and things are tossed about like puzzle pieces. If a lot of twists and turns are your thing then you will like the book. But if you prefer a sort of moving from point A to point B in a straight line sort of story this may not be the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Attractive!
Review: This book is very attractive, I can't put it down once I started to read it. The author uses the physics theory and his imagination to make this novel sounds real.The languages are simple and humerous. I can't help laughing, when I saw the words like" Clinton resigned in 1997", "if you can do research, do research; if you can't do research, do teach;if you can't teach, be a committee chair". And as a Georgia Tech student, when I read those familiar names, Van-leer building, 14th street, and even some korean names, it's very funny to me. I have recommended it to my friends, and they like it too. I gave it five stars, for the story and the language.
It's not a perfect book though. I want to read more love stories as a female reader (yes, not only male readers like sci-fi), instead of Jack and Katie thought they had met before at the first look; then afer that, they just fell in love. Only great love can make a book marvellous. This book tells more about the love between a mother and son.
And unavoidable, it is trapped into some time-machine story, you either have to go back to the history or have to get into future. Once none of this works, you have to erase it from the beginning.
I think the first part is great,it's definietely different from the other sci-fi stories.But in the second part, when you found you were one a time machine, it becomes an old story,though you'll meet different people and changed different part of history.
Anyway, I am waiting for the second book to see where it will starts ( maybe NC this time?) and where it takes us to.
Rating:
Summary: If you like Brin, Benford, Bear, or Sawyer, BUY THIS BOOK!
Review: This book is what science fiction *should* be: wildly imaginative ideas that just might be tomorrow's headlines; characters that live and breathe and have a good reason for being there in the first place; and a plot that grabs you by the throat and won't let go. If you claim to like your SF so hard it clanks, BUY THIS BOOK! (Before Kevin Costner options it and turns it into an awful movie.)
Rating:
Summary: Ignore the Complaints. This is good stuff!
Review: This is a good book. It's Metzger's second book and if this is his starting off point, I can't wait to see where things go from here. There are more ideas packed in these pages than many others get into four novels. Ignore the complaints. There are good characters, good ideas, and a lot of fun. The reviewer upset about aliens in the plot -- well, there are and if you can't accept it, then that's your problem. It works in this book. In fact, it's essential. Without them, the story unravels and is pointless.
Rating:
Summary: One way or another you will remember this one...
Review: This novel succeeds on many, many levels. As hard science fiction. As pulp. And I am sure, as a classic. It succeeds in developing complex and sympathetic characters. It also succeeds in pushing the limits of narrative in general: how to tell a story where the structure of it takes the narrative (or the narrative takes the structure) into alternate universes that all present different histories, landscapes and technologies? The narrator took me through no less than half a dozen of these universes and instead of getting lost and confused, I found myself in the front seat of an amazing ride, eager to see what was around the next bend. And while the narrator drew me in thanks to interesting characters, what kept me involved in the story was the development of the science, the physics, used in the novel. I am not a physicist, and for all I know, the science described in the novel was as factual as a front page of a grocery tabloid, but that did not matter. The narrator took great pains to describe his physics to me. And the development of those physics offered me a literary tool that not only spanned space and time, but the distance between what a character was and what he is now, what he once fought over, and what he now finds himself running from. Admittedly, I wonder if all of the novel was necessary; a scene or two, a couple of minor characters, and maybe a science lesson or two might not have contributed to the strength of the book. But I will not complain about this dilution. It just gave me a little more time to enjoy the ride.
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