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Title: The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer ISBN: 0-06-105310-4 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 May, 1995 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.32 (56 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Great ideas, conveyed in writing no worse than most sci-fi
Comment: The vitriol displayed in some of the reviews of this book amazes me. While the writing style may not give Updike or Bellow anything to worry about, when compared to some of the so-called giants in this genre, like Asimov, Clarke, and Niven, it holds up quite well.
Yes, there are some lapses such as: about 5 too many Star Trek references; a tendency to take today's media figures and just age them, instead of creating new people; and a lead character that seems a little too much like someone you'd bump into at a sci-fi convention. But some of the criticisms on this page are pretty unfounded. Someone criticised the lack of differences in technology between today and 2011 Just how much do you expect life to change in 14 years? Is your life today hugely different than it was in 1983? I think its great that in this version of the future people aren't riding anti-grav cars on the way to the space elevator. And perhaps the most insulting critique of all is that the book doesn't pay enough attention to the U.S., Europe, Japan. Why, this book even has the audacity to present the idea that a major discovery could be made in Canada! Amazing! How insultingly U.S.-centric is it to demand that Canadian writers set their stories in the U.S.?
This book isn't great literature, but it is very good sci-fi. It is full of fascinating ideas, a propulsive narrative with its share of surprises, and an interesting focus on morality. Don't miss this book because of the cranky comments listed on this page. This one deserved the Nebula it won.
Rating: 3
Summary: Enjoyable, but falls short
Comment: This novel is almost two stories in one. A scientist invents a "Super-EEG" scanning device that clearly shows an electrical field leaving a human body after death. This is quickly dubbed "the soulwave" and is widely accepted as proof of the existence of a soul and life after death. Robert Sawyer delves into meaty philosophical questions... and then veers off into a tepid murder-thriller.
Rather than explore the dramatic impact on society that we could expect from the discovery of the "soulwave", the scientist hero, Peter Hobson, decides to explore life after death by setting up a computer simulation of himself, with the biological sensations edited out. He also creates a simulation of immortality (knowledge of death is edited out) and a control. One of them becomes a killer, and Hobson ultimately has to race to the rescue to solve the mystery.
It's all very briskly told and enjoyable, but I can't help wondering what a writer like Robert Silverberg would have done with the "soulwave" issue. Sawyer raises the questions and then drops them in favor of the much less interesting artificial intelligence mystery.
Some of the characterizations are believable, if not complex; the central character remains somewhat wooden. On the plus side, Sawyer's fast-paced narrative and his willingness to raise hot-button moral issues make this a worthwhile read. I'd recommend this, but I can't help wishing it had taken the initial premise further.
The original title "Hobson's Choice" was better; but the publishers, rather than the author, are likely responsible for the change.
Rating: 3
Summary: Killer of Reader¿s Imagination
Comment: It is easy to understand why this book won the Nebula award: there are many thought-provoking ideas woven into a story that grips the reader up to almost the last page.
The almost is due to what IMHO is this authors cardinal sin: he wants to explain it all and gives his stories more than one ending. So the mystery gets solved, the hero - who BTW is a self-centered, unbearable self-righteous ass - goes on to we now know where.
In the end all of this leaves a stale taste. Could he not have stopped 15 pages earlier? The story-ark was finished and speaking for myself I like to fill a few blank spots from my own imagination. The best sequels are the ones the author never writes but the reader imagines himself. So thank you very much Mr. Sawyer for killing that of.
Since the same already happened in "Calculating God" and "Frameshift" I doubt that I will buy another of his novels soon.
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Title: Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer ISBN: 0812580354 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 15 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Humans by Robert J. Sawyer ISBN: 0765346753 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 15 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer ISBN: 0812580346 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 15 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer ISBN: 0765345005 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 17 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Frameshift by Robert J. Sawyer ISBN: 0812571088 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 15 November, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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