Vast

Rating:
Summary: too far-out for me
Review: I love books like this, and thought I would love Vast (my first Nagata). But I had to put it down after about 25% of the way through. The characters were all so alien, that I couldn't relate to any of them. The "hard-science" was so futuristic, that it wasn't even plausible -- and no attempt to explain it. I can't recommend this book, but I will try other books by Nagata and hope this was just a fluke. :-)

Rating:
Summary: Well worth the effort
Review: I lumbered through Deception Well in order to read this book. I didn't really enjoy that, to be honest (see my review of that book for more). But this one was worth the trouble.

I needed to have the background from the previous book for this one to make any sense, but, once I had it, this one was a real gem. Nagata is among the more imaginative and detail-driven authors now publishing (in this or any genre). Sometimes, yes, she gets off the track of keeping the humanity of her characters the central principle (and their humanity is very much at issue) and she still tends to assume too much. But my biggest complaint with Deception Well has been more than adequately corrected here: she doesn't just tell us that a character feels or thinks a certain way and then assert that this makes sense without any support - she genuinely shows it and makes the reader see it.

This is not a simple book. It is dense and it requires far more work to read and understand than 99% of the pulp on the shelves. As such, it was a real treat, and well worth the time and trouble required to get the most out of it.

Rating:
Summary: not a hackneyed plot device in sight!
Review: I sought out this title after an annoying run of 2-dimensional, flat science fiction. You know the type - guy must solve riddle, shag the chick and win fame in his own life-time whilst eluding the bad guys! And all in teenage nerd prose. This can be fun if it's well-written, but very boring otherwise.

'Vast' is not one of those books. Read 'Vast' if you are searching for some characters with a bit of meat on them and you don't mind a bit of vertigo.

The setting is far in the future, the human race is all but extinct. The reader travels on the Null Boundary, a ship whose captain and passengers are seeking answers about the Chenzeme, a long-extinct race whose automated weapons still search space for intelligent life in order to wipe it out. Each character has brought along their personal demons, which the reader glimpses in the confinement aboard Null Boundary. In contrast to the yawning vacuum the ship travels through, this setting is enough to make both claustrophobes and agorophobes squirm.

Ms Nagata does not patronise the reader by keeping the plot simple, nor are the motives of the characters clear. Her books "The Bohr Maker" and "Deception Well" are well worth reading in advance as they set the scene for Vast, though this book stands alone in its story.

If you want something original, imaginative and substantial, then 'Vast' is well worth the read. I'd recommend this book for those who liked Peter Hamilton's imagination, but found his male characters irritating. Also worth checking out if you're a fan of Iain Banks' science fiction. Of course - I loved it!

Rating:
Summary: A good book where there are neither good or bad guys...
Review: I started reading this book, and was caught by its theme. It is a lot better than the first part. When I finished it, at first I tought I disliked it, but then I realized the reason I found it a little weird was that Nagata takes the reader along with the characters, and there is neither good or bad, nor a definitive truth no one can deny. It is an interesting book.

Rating:
Summary: A big drawn out, but way cool situation
Review: I was impressed by Nagata's "The Bohr Maker," and started "Vast" with high expectations. I was rewarded in the sense that the author set up a very interesting post-human, neuvo space opera situation quite different than the standard SF future. It's a bit more humanistic than Egan's "Diaspora," which helps. (I found his software people hard to sympathize with.)

I was very disappointed when I discovered that this is a sequel. There's enough information to pick up on what's a-happening, but I still felt that I was missing out on something.

I was also a bit put off by the length of the book. Like a lot of current day novels, It shows signs of bloat.

If the interface allowed me to use half stars, this one would rate 2 1/2; add a half star if you're coming to it from the prequel ("Deception Well.")

Rating:
Summary: very interesting storyline, lots of hard science
Review: I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. Plenty of hard science. A very good far future story with ideas from complexity theories. Read "Complexity" it discusses ideas from which some of this book is based on.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry, but...
Review: I'm going to do something that I hate other people doing and that is to write a review of a book I have not finished. Not being able to finish a book makes you feel like you haven't been able to perform sexually - this has never happened to me before, honest! You almost feel like it MUST be your fault. So I sat back, tried again, but I couldn't do it.

I normally love novels that deal with massive cosmic concepts, with post-humanity, and with enormous scales of time and space. It was the title that got me: 'Vast' suggested all of these things, it tantalised and teased me in all the right ways. A title like that and I'm anyone's.

But unfortunately I was disappointed. The characters were wooden and uninvolving, the feel of the plot was dreary and the ideas were just boring. I just could not make it to the end.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not you fault, it happens to everyone."

"But it's never happened to me before."

"We'll try again later."

And maybe we will - if it works out, I can rewrite this review, and my shame will be over. But maybe Vast and I just aren't compatible.

*I'll try not to rate Vast if Amazon will let me - rating would not be fair... but Amazon won't let me get away with it - I guess an undecided 3 stars would be as reasonable as I can be.

Rating:
Summary: A treat and suprise
Review: It is about time we started seeing women writers enter into the genre with 'balls to the wall'. I am sorry that I didn't read Deception Well first. My only complaint is in the character development but was mollified by the technical aspects of NULL BOUNDRY. I am hoping that DW brings the characters into focus.

Rating:
Summary: mind expanding
Review: Linda gives a feel for a future barely limited by time and physical presence. i was full of wonder imagining the possibilities. as other reviewers have said, more hard science then opera.

Rating:
Summary: Different, hard, fascinating
Review: One of the great things about SF is how it gives you new concepts to think about. You know, spice-giving sandworms (Dune), a sea of grass (Hyperion), a cylindrical sea (Rama). This one has spun a world around communicating with chemicals. There are others concepts too - humans genetically adapted to life in a vaccum, minds uploaded to machines with multiple instantiations ("ghosts"). It's good hard SF. Sometimes a bit too hard, but I found it well-worth the read. I will probably also read Deception Well soon.