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Title: Acts of Conscience by William Barton ISBN: 0-446-67251-3 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.71 (14 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: WOW
Comment: I am sitting at my desk with my just finished copy of William Barton's Acts OF Conscience. After completing my first Barton book and I walked from my reading chair to my computer to buy any book I could find from him, been a long time since I have done that!
First let me say that I have read a lot of science fiction (a lot of science fiction) and many of the problems that I see brought up by the reviewers here plague science fiction as a whole, poor characters, overt sexuality, plot holes, on and on. To me the idea of science fiction is not to create high art such as Shakespeare or Hemingway but to ask the question "what if". I have seen this question raised by so many poor sci-fi authors again and again, mediocre stories with no point or plot. Acts of Conscience asks "what if" we can get through the next 600 years without imploding?? Will we still face the same problems as individuals? As a society? Will we still have the same flaws and shortcomings, and the same dreams? This is a dirty, gritty, dark, depressing and thought provoking spin on "what if". It is a great look at ourselves and the problems we are facing now.
Just as Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451of the 50's, Heinlein with Starship Troopers in the 60's or David Brin's Earth of the early 90's Acts of Conscience looks at where we are now as a race. Is acts of conscience as groundbreaking as the above mentioned classics you ask?? No, it is not that good. But I feel that Barton is heading in the right direction, one of his books someday may be of that caliber.
When I wish to read high art I will read Shakespeare or Hemingway not Barton. When I wish to read Good Science Fiction I will definitely include Barton on my list.
Rating: 5
Summary: Definitely an intruiging though odd book
Comment: This was the first book by William Barton I read -- and the back most definitely did not prepare me for the sexual content. I took a break of a day or two sometimes from the book due to the character of the narrator etc. It wasn't as bad as Alpha Centauri in that respect (I pity Genny of that book) but even so it shocked me.
However, once I got past the amount of erotica in the book, the philosophical notions and Barton's views on the human future got me. Less optimistic than many writers, but maybe more honest that most because of that. Barton created a masterpiece with this book: Gaetan is entirely human, often disturbingly so.
All you really need to know about Barton is that I read MORE of his works after reading this one -- the philosophy, combined with the sense that the characters are real, drew me into his books, even though there are few people I would reccomend them to, sadly enough.
I know it's said that humans think of sex every minute or so, but do the characters in his novels have to THAT often?! Maybe they do in order to be fully "human" (a fact that says a lot about humanity in itself)but the only thing I would wish for would be a little less erotica in his writing.
Rating: 3
Summary: Difficult, but good
Comment: I was impressed with When Heaven Fell, although the brutality in it, while not gratuitous, isn't easy to read. I appreciate the story line and characterization in Acts of Conscience, but there is even more brutality and cruelty than the other Barton book I've read. Again, it's not gratuitous, but I find it a bit painful to get through. Since it's not a film, it's less painful that watching Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer or Reservoir Dogs, but you get the idea.
What kept me reading was Barton's plot and his genuinely likeable, if flawed, protagonist. Acts of Conscience describes the book beautifully. This isn't space opera, and although the protagonist is somewhat of a prisoner of his hormones, it isn't one of those teenage boy fantasy-type scifi novels, with lots of pointless sex that's incidental to the plot. Barton's book will actually make you think seriously about what it means to do the right thing. How often can one say this of a science fiction novel? If you can get through the ugly scenes, I recommend it. However, I wouldn't require it of any of my students.
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