Archform: Beauty

Rating:
Summary: One of Modesitt's best
Review: "Archform: Beauty" is a masterpiece.

In "Archform: Beauty," L.E. Modesitt, Jr., manages to do something very, very few other writers have done well. That's to juggle five multiple points of view, and have them interrelate, while solving a mystery at the same time.

In the near future, music has been taken over by "resonance" music, artificial overlays intended to evoke emotion by intent, rather than by the beauty of the design. To make matters worse, in this world, only the middle class on up can afford the health treatment needed to stay alive, as there are now so many genetically engineered virii out there that no doctor or Center for Disease Control can keep up.

So, nanotechnology has taken the place of that, and if you have the money, you can get the treatment. Otherwise, you get the shaft.

So, the music teacher (one of the five viewpoint characters) laments the loss of one of her students, because her student didn't have the money to get treatment for the latest killer disease. (Students, as you may know, are almost always broke by definition.) The ruthless businessman, another character, says things like this are good for business (or at least implies it), and shrugs it off. The newspaper man (another character) says it's horrible and runs statistics. The policeman tries to correlate the stats he has on the illness and on other things, and tries to project crime waves (another nice near-future touch, something similar to the movie "Minority Report") and stop them (or at least mitigate them) before they happen. And the congressmen tries to balance everything, the needs of the many against the needs of the few -- and sees that music *is* necessary to the future after all, not just this new "rez" stuff.

I believe this book is one of Modesitt's best; it's more subtle than the Ecolitan saga, it's more complex than the Soprano Sorceress stuff, and it's a lot more developed than his Recluce series. (All of those are very good seria, btw. Just not as good as this stand alone book in my opinion.)

This book is a very enjoyable read; highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent SF thriller
Review: "Archform: Beauty" is a standalone SF novel set about 4 centuries into the future in the US. The gap between rich and poor has become (even) more pronounced, dividing society in different strata: filch ('filthy rich') and 'sariman' (salarymen, I think) have most of the wealth, 'permies' who have had their personality modified because of past crimes, and so on. The story is told from the first-person perspective of 5 different characters: a music professor, an investigative journalist, a police detective, a senator and a businessman. Modesitt demonstrates his experience by skillfully weaving these 5 very different and initially unconnected stories together towards a very satisfying climax.
One of my favorite aspects of Modesitt's writing is his willingness to show, in great detail, the everyday, almost mundane aspects of life in a science fiction (or fantasy) society. This slows the story down, probably to the point of annoyance for some readers, but at the same time it creates a more fully realized setting, which I really enjoyed.

Rating:
Summary: One of Modesitt's best
Review: "Archform: Beauty" is a masterpiece.

In "Archform: Beauty," L.E. Modesitt, Jr., manages to do something very, very few other writers have done well. That's to juggle five multiple points of view, and have them interrelate, while solving a mystery at the same time.

In the near future, music has been taken over by "resonance" music, artificial overlays intended to evoke emotion by intent, rather than by the beauty of the design. To make matters worse, in this world, only the middle class on up can afford the health treatment needed to stay alive, as there are now so many genetically engineered virii out there that no doctor or Center for Disease Control can keep up.

So, nanotechnology has taken the place of that, and if you have the money, you can get the treatment. Otherwise, you get the shaft.

So, the music teacher (one of the five viewpoint characters) laments the loss of one of her students, because her student didn't have the money to get treatment for the latest killer disease. (Students, as you may know, are almost always broke by definition.) The ruthless businessman, another character, says things like this are good for business (or at least implies it), and shrugs it off. The newspaper man (another character) says it's horrible and runs statistics. The policeman tries to correlate the stats he has on the illness and on other things, and tries to project crime waves (another nice near-future touch, something similar to the movie "Minority Report") and stop them (or at least mitigate them) before they happen. And the congressmen tries to balance everything, the needs of the many against the needs of the few -- and sees that music *is* necessary to the future after all, not just this new "rez" stuff.

I believe this book is one of Modesitt's best; it's more subtle than the Ecolitan saga, it's more complex than the Soprano Sorceress stuff, and it's a lot more developed than his Recluce series. (All of those are very good seria, btw. Just not as good as this stand alone book in my opinion.)

This book is a very enjoyable read; highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: One of Modesitt's best
Review: "Archform: Beauty" is a masterpiece.

In "Archform: Beauty," L.E. Modesitt, Jr., manages to do something very, very few other writers have done well. That's to juggle five multiple points of view, and have them interrelate, while solving a mystery at the same time.

In the near future, music has been taken over by "resonance" music, artificial overlays intended to evoke emotion by intent, rather than by the beauty of the design. To make matters worse, in this world, only the middle class on up can afford the health treatment needed to stay alive, as there are now so many genetically engineered virii out there that no doctor or Center for Disease Control can keep up.

So, nanotechnology has taken the place of that, and if you have the money, you can get the treatment. Otherwise, you get the shaft.

So, the music teacher (one of the five viewpoint characters) laments the loss of one of her students, because her student didn't have the money to get treatment for the latest killer disease. (Students, as you may know, are almost always broke by definition.) The ruthless businessman, another character, says things like this are good for business (or at least implies it), and shrugs it off. The newspaper man (another character) says it's horrible and runs statistics. The policeman tries to correlate the stats he has on the illness and on other things, and tries to project crime waves (another nice near-future touch, something similar to the movie "Minority Report") and stop them (or at least mitigate them) before they happen. And the congressmen tries to balance everything, the needs of the many against the needs of the few -- and sees that music *is* necessary to the future after all, not just this new "rez" stuff.

I believe this book is one of Modesitt's best; it's more subtle than the Ecolitan saga, it's more complex than the Soprano Sorceress stuff, and it's a lot more developed than his Recluce series. (All of those are very good seria, btw. Just not as good as this stand alone book in my opinion.)

This book is a very enjoyable read; highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Well thought out future thriller
Review: In "Archform Beauty" the prolific L.E. Modesitt, master of the plain tale plainly told, opts for something more complicated--an intricate five-voices point of view (a singer, a reporter, a cop, a politician, and a businessman), and a tangled plot line. He resolves everything nicely, as the five protagonists, who don't know each other when the book begins, converge by the end.

While the book is set in the 25th century, it has more of a near-future feel (change the Martian Republic to some rogue state on earth and it's likely the technology described is no more than a generation or two away). People communicate instantly via "linking"; fabricated food is fabricated in "formulators"; cars are electric.

And the author doesn't relish the future he imagines--one in which "resonance" enhances music, and maybe manipulates minds as well. In short, it's a world without beauty, and this irks Mr. Modesitt more than somewhat, and he'll probably get you on his side also.

It's seemlessly written and fast paced. And it's less of a whodunit than it is a "how will they figure it out?" You know what the bad guys are up to before the good guys do and, as Alfred Hitchcock knew well, that is the kind of scenario that creates the most suspense of all.

Notes and asides: Sigh. Like most futuristas, Modesitt feels compelled to make reference to "the holos." But since he actually describes how this tech might work instead of search and replacing "movies" with "holos" after he completed his first draft, I am not deducting any stars. The shortening of city names is disconcerting and not believable and sometime merely silly (Denv for Denver). Paris has been around a long time, and nobody's ever tried to shorten it to Pris.

Rating:
Summary: Well thought out future thriller
Review: In "Archform Beauty" the prolific L.E. Modesitt, master of the plain tale plainly told, opts for something more complicated--an intricate five-voices point of view (a singer, a reporter, a cop, a politician, and a businessman), and a tangled plot line. He resolves everything nicely, as the five protagonists, who don't know each other when the book begins, converge by the end.

While the book is set in the 25th century, it has more of a near-future feel (change the Martian Republic to some rogue state on earth and it's likely the technology described is no more than a generation or two away). People communicate instantly via "linking"; fabricated food is fabricated in "formulators"; cars are electric.

And the author doesn't relish the future he imagines--one in which "resonance" enhances music, and maybe manipulates minds as well. In short, it's a world without beauty, and this irks Mr. Modesitt more than somewhat, and he'll probably get you on his side also.

It's seemlessly written and fast paced. And it's less of a whodunit than it is a "how will they figure it out?" You know what the bad guys are up to before the good guys do and, as Alfred Hitchcock knew well, that is the kind of scenario that creates the most suspense of all.

Notes and asides: Sigh. Like most futuristas, Modesitt feels compelled to make reference to "the holos." But since he actually describes how this tech might work instead of search and replacing "movies" with "holos" after he completed his first draft, I am not deducting any stars. The shortening of city names is disconcerting and not believable and sometime merely silly (Denv for Denver). Paris has been around a long time, and nobody's ever tried to shorten it to Pris.

Rating:
Summary: A Science Fiction Mystery
Review: In an era approximately 400 years in the future ubiquitous nanotechnology has made many items free or very cheap, and lifespans and health have been improved much. But are people truly happier with what technology has provided, more happy than before? And what about artistic creation and the sense of beauty, how has technology impacted it, and have most people lost the creative talent and instead rely on technology for creativity? These are some of the issues L.E. Modesitt Jr. raises in this fascinating novel while writing about the lives of five disparate individuals whose lives become intrinsically connected. The plot is very complex, with many characters involved, there is a mystery to be solved here. However, at times I thought the reading was a bit dull, one star off for that.

Rating:
Summary: Superb Future Thriller from L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
Review: L. E.Modesitt, Jr. explores the nature of art versus commerce in this spellbinding thriller, "Archform: Beauty", which is set four centuries from now, in a world that isn't too radically different from our own. Modesitt explores such issues as bioterrorism and Islamic fundamentalism while keeping his aim squarely on the notion of what exactly is art, successfully interweaving the lives of a classically-trained singer and professor of music, an Internet researcher, a detective, tycoon and politician, as they are plunged unexpectedly into a murder mystery. All of this is told in an engaging, well written thriller which never once lost its suspense or ability to surprise. Modesitt, one of our foremost writers of American science fiction, succeeds in writing a big novel of ideas coupled with engaging characters; this is exactly what excellent science fiction tries to accomplish. This is without question a fascinating exploration of the question, "Is there in truth, no beauty?", and a brilliant commentary on the issues which beset us now in the early 21st Century.

Rating:
Summary: The way near-future novels should be written!
Review: Mr. Modesitt is one of my favorite authors of all time. His character development, focusing on regular people who *influence* history by reacting to situtations they're forced into gives each and every novel a depth and realism not often found.
In Archform: Beauty, Mr. Modesitt follows one timeline, through the eyes and situtations of 5 distinct people. Sometimes, the story is advanced through one person, and a time period, be it hours or days, may pass before the next 'chapter' is begun and the next character picks up the story. Othertimes, you'll be reading a chapter that overlaps with a previous chapter.
Regardless, this book is complex and believable. Futuristic technology that is just a *streach* beyond what we have and know to be possible. Politics that are infinitely believeable, with water disputes, terrorism, new diseases springing up, the 'haves and have-nots', and obtuse threats from the 'third-world' equivalent. And through it all, individuals who are worried about their jobs, families, and finding the money to pay for necessary repairs to their homes. This is *life*, just a bit in the future.

The most impressive thing about this book is simply that Mr. Modesitt presents extra or extraneous situtations and items that you will try desperately to figure out how they all tie in together, until in the last portion of the book you realize the actual thrust of the book, and that the additional items are all just the depth and coloring of the world. Amazing work here.

I gave this book 5 stars, although it is not perfect. Mr. Modesitt often introduces new words to books, and I feel seldom exactly defines them adequately. I tend to appreciate explanations laid out simply and obviously, and in this book there are several new terms presented which you must figure out their intent throughout the book.

I highly recommend this book; it is among the best developed I've read, and an example of the continuing excellence of my favorite author!

Rating:
Summary: The way near-future novels should be written!
Review: Mr. Modesitt is one of my favorite authors of all time. His character development, focusing on regular people who *influence* history by reacting to situtations they're forced into gives each and every novel a depth and realism not often found.
In Archform: Beauty, Mr. Modesitt follows one timeline, through the eyes and situtations of 5 distinct people. Sometimes, the story is advanced through one person, and a time period, be it hours or days, may pass before the next 'chapter' is begun and the next character picks up the story. Othertimes, you'll be reading a chapter that overlaps with a previous chapter.
Regardless, this book is complex and believable. Futuristic technology that is just a *streach* beyond what we have and know to be possible. Politics that are infinitely believeable, with water disputes, terrorism, new diseases springing up, the 'haves and have-nots', and obtuse threats from the 'third-world' equivalent. And through it all, individuals who are worried about their jobs, families, and finding the money to pay for necessary repairs to their homes. This is *life*, just a bit in the future.

The most impressive thing about this book is simply that Mr. Modesitt presents extra or extraneous situtations and items that you will try desperately to figure out how they all tie in together, until in the last portion of the book you realize the actual thrust of the book, and that the additional items are all just the depth and coloring of the world. Amazing work here.

I gave this book 5 stars, although it is not perfect. Mr. Modesitt often introduces new words to books, and I feel seldom exactly defines them adequately. I tend to appreciate explanations laid out simply and obviously, and in this book there are several new terms presented which you must figure out their intent throughout the book.

I highly recommend this book; it is among the best developed I've read, and an example of the continuing excellence of my favorite author!