Slant

Rating:
Summary: Complex, slow to start, best for hard-core sci-fi readers
Review: Slant Greg Bear Reviewer: Morgan C. Eldred

Slant is a hard read even for hard core sci-fi readers. However, this in no way means that this is not a good read - it is. If you want to see how the electronic world of the future might be like, this provides a plausible example.

I think that Mr. Bear has reached the enviable position in his career where he can actually write an occasional book which gives us a glimpse of what the near future might be like, instead of writing a strictly commercial novel.

Mr. Bear's future is scary, because like 1984, it is already happening. Due to dependency on electronic media, while our privacy is guaranteed by law, the law folk can obtain audio, visual, and written records of our most intimate moments - 24 hours a day - if you are wealthy. May be a good statement against being too wealthy in the future.

What slows Slant down is the amount of time it takes for the characters and situations to be defined/described before they ever start to interact. If you are a working person who can afford the luxury of 20-40 pages per day after work, house stuff, etc., it literally takes days of reading before the plot even begins to unfold. In fact, if Mr Bear was not the author, I probably would have tossed it into the "not worth the trouble to read" box.

Once the plot began to come together towards the middle of the book, it became interesting and absorbed my attention.

If you are a reader that likes a fast start and a lot of action, steer clear of Slant. If you are a reader who likes thought provoking, though hard to read, sci-fi, grab it. At least it has an end to it, unlike D. Gerrold's unfinished War Against the Chtorr series, which is the closest comparison I can think of in terms of pacing.

Rating:
Summary: Great Sequel
Review: Slant is a great followup to Queen of Angels. I wish I'd known that when I read it. I ended up reading this book first. Even though I read them in the wrong order, they were still great. If I had to choose, I'd have to say that Slant is the better of the two.

Rating:
Summary: This is one of Greg Bear's best works
Review: This book is so prescient it's scary. Greg is dead on in many techno-prophecies, particularly in how technology may change and challenge humans.

Rating:
Summary: Once upon a time Greg Bear was a great writer...
Review: What has happened to Greg Bear? Eon, Blood Music and other novels were the creme de la creme of hard core science fiction. Few other authors had the same breadth of vision and understanding of current trends in science. And now he writes this. Tedious writing about the lives of porn stars, failed marriages and Schwarzenegger style macho men. Who cares about these characters? Where's the up-to-date science fiction gone? All we see is old-fashioned science fiction fare. Maybe if it was cool like the work of Gibson or Stephenson he could get away with old science. What a pity! I hope he gets back to writing the old mind boggling science fiction that he made his name with.