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The Chronoliths

3.63 of 5 stars 3.63 · rating details · 1,737 ratings · 150 reviews

Scott Warden is a man haunted by the past-and soon to be haunted by the future.

In early twenty-first-century Thailand, Scott is an expatriate slacker. Then, one day, he inadvertently witnesses an impossible event: the violent appearance of a 200-foot stone pillar in the forested interior. Its arrival collapses trees for a quarter mile around its base, freezing ice out of

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Paperback, 320 pages

Published June 17th 2002 by Tor Science Fiction (first published 2001)

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May 03, 2011 Daniel Roy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf

At the time I read this book, it was, quite simply, one of the best SF books I had ever read. This book made Wilson my favorite SF author.

It starts with an intriguing SF concept: what if a giant pillar appeared in Bangkok, marking the victory of a future warlord? What would be its impact on society? How could such an event come about and why must people in the future send mementos to the past?

On this premise, The Chronoliths fully deliver in intrigue, surprise twists and clever, thoughtful SF. B...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Laura Rainbow Dragon rated it 5 of 5 stars

As a people immersed in a unidirectional chronology, we have often dreamed of breaking that barrier and travelling at will throughout time. With those dreams have come the inevitable questions: What happens to us if we alter our own past? If you cause events to occur which prevent your own birth, do you cease to exist? If you do, how could you have travelled into your past to prevent your birth? Thus our linear conception of time is knotted up in an impossible circular logic which many sci-fi wr...more As a people immersed in a unidirectional chronology, we have often dreamed of breaking that barrier and travelling at will throughout time. With those dreams have come the inevitable questions: What happens to us if we alter our own past? If you cause events to occur which prevent your own birth, do you cease to exist? If you do, how could you have travelled into your past to prevent your birth? Thus our linear conception of time is knotted up in an impossible circular logic which many sci-fi writers have avoided by giving their time-travelling heroes rules designed to prevent altering the past.

Robert Charles Wilson employs no such safety net in The Chronoliths but turns the usual question of the effects of non-linear temporal incursions on its head by asking not how does time travel into the past affect the "current" timeline but how does a temporal incursion from the future affect the present.

It's 2001 and Scott Warden is a slacker living on a beach in Thailand. Trained as a software engineer, he stayed on in Thailand after his contract ended, partying and sampling illicit drugs with other American expatriates, sending his life into a downward spiral of poverty, spurred on by apathy. A cycle which is broken by an event so preposterous and yet so real that it irrevocably alters not only Scott's life but that of the entire human race: A massive pillar composed of indeterminable material "arrives" in the middle of the forest of inland Chumphon. The "chronolith" as it comes to be called, bears an inscription in two current human languages, marking the conquest of the region by an entity named only as "Kuin" on December 21, 2021.

Could this strange pillar really be a monument from the future, sent back through time to foretell the mysterious Kuin's victory? If it is from the future, is its presence proof that the future which it predicts must come to pass or does knowledge of this possible future give the inhabitants of current time the ability to avoid it? Thus Wilson expertly weaves the questions of time travel into those much older but equally familiar questions of fate and destiny. As more and more chronoliths begin to apear, first throughout Asia but later spreading to the rest of the world, and a new branch of science is birthed to study this strange phenomenon, the characters of The Chronoliths are driven to try, as Oedipus did, to avoid their foretold destiny. Can they prevent the rise of Kuin, or are the pillars' successful incursions into the past the events which assure the validity of their own predictions?

The Chronoliths is a tense read from start to finish. Full of adventure, emotion, and life throughout. Wilson gives nothing away but keeps the reader turning page after page, intimately involved in this story which is narrated in the first person, told by Scott directly to the reader. ("Really, there are only two of us here. Me. And you. Whoever you are.") Ultimately, The Chronoliths is a novel of great heart which asks us to have courage in the face of disaster and hope in the face of despair; to stand with its hero and proclaim with him:

"Today we believed in the possibility of a future."(less)

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Dec 28, 2008 Lightreads rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

In our near future, the chronoliths start arriving out of thin air across the world – enormous, destructive monuments to conquests that, according to the engravings, won’t occur for twenty more years. Scott writes his memoir, telling of his presence at the arrival of the first chronolith in Thailand and the set of extraordinary experiences that keep his life entwined with the mystery and the slim hope of averting global disaster. The chronoliths arrive from the future, and they bring with them a...more In our near future, the chronoliths start arriving out of thin air across the world – enormous, destructive monuments to conquests that, according to the engravings, won’t occur for twenty more years. Scott writes his memoir, telling of his presence at the arrival of the first chronolith in Thailand and the set of extraordinary experiences that keep his life entwined with the mystery and the slim hope of averting global disaster. The chronoliths arrive from the future, and they bring with them a bending of reality, a shift of the rules of time and coincidence and destiny that has very intimate consequences for Scott and his family.

Dude! It’s a proto Spin! Seriously – we’ve got the fictionalized memoir style, the near future setting and focus on the global sociological response to disaster, the blend of abstract theory and intense character work. Not as good as Spin, as you might expect if we assume this really was Wilson’s warm-up book – the memoir style is unfocussed and a bit wobbly here, the drama yanked a bit too taut in places, some shiny theory of the temporal physics of coincidence used to justify some otherwise indefensible plot devices without actually illuminating those devices as it could have. I also saw the endgame coming quite far off.

But if you ask me, ‘not as good as Spin’ is still saying a whole lot. Wilson has a real flare for both sink-your-teeth-in science and for compelling, personal character work. Unusual for the genre, sad to say. He also deals with big sociological change in impressive, detailed ways. And I just like his books. They make sense to me; they work on a rhythm I’m naturally tuned to, intellectually and emotionally. The puzzles appeal to the philosopher in me, and the writing feels comfortable and right (not coincidentally, I think, Wilson and I have a congruent prose style).

Time has an arrow, Sue Chopra once told me. It flies in one direction. Combine fire and firewood, you get ashes. Combine fire and ashes, you don't get firewood.

Morality has an arrow, too. For example: Run a film of the Second World War backward and you invert its moral logic. The Allies sign a peace agreement with Japan and promptly bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nazis extract bullets from the heads of emaciated Jews and nurse them back to health.

The problem with tau turbulence, Sue said, is that it mingles these paradoxes into daily experience.

In the vicinity of a Chronolith, a saint might be a very dangerous man. A sinner is probably more useful.
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Mar 21, 2013 Henrik rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you are a science-fiction fan, you know how hard it is to find good sci-fi. Much of it is barely worth reading, much less keeping. Chronoliths is an exception, which is why I'm writing this review.

It is an interesting, intelligently written story. It takes place in the 2020s, and the author has given us a near future which is plausible: there is enough continuity with the past that we can relate to it, and yet there are new elements of technology and geopolitics introduced that are believable...more

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Mar 26, 2012 Josh rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

In The Chronoliths, the world is rocked by the sudden arrival of massive obelisks, or "chronoliths," which appear to be a future conqueror's monuments to battles that have not yet occurred. As the chronoliths continue to appear, the world descends into economic and social chaos. Robert Charles Wilson is a brilliant writer and this is standard fare for him: a character story involving normal people caught up in major, world-altering preternatural events.

While The Chronoliths has an interesting pr...more

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Jul 01, 2011 Al Swanson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi

This review focuses on the Kindle version of the book if that matters to you.

The Chronoliths is one of a group of sci-fi that I've found myself reading lately. True to my style, I won't review plot or characters or do spoilers. Not my thing. I'm not a critic, I'm just reviewing what I liked or didn't like, about a book.

Sci-fi used to be, in my teens, my main genre of interest. I read a little history, even back in those tender years, but sci-fi held my interest most. It's been thirty five or so...more This review focuses on the Kindle version of the book if that matters to you.

The Chronoliths is one of a group of sci-fi that I've found myself reading lately. True to my style, I won't review plot or characters or do spoilers. Not my thing. I'm not a critic, I'm just reviewing what I liked or didn't like, about a book.

Sci-fi used to be, in my teens, my main genre of interest. I read a little history, even back in those tender years, but sci-fi held my interest most. It's been thirty five or so years since I read a lot of it, and I find I still - or again - enjoy it. My interest has always been more on the SCI side. I've never really liked fantasy, though I read the "Rings" trilogy, of course. Kind of obligatory at that age. Fantasy has no rules, which is why I prefer science or 'hard science' fiction. I like that, at least on some level, it must conform to rules. Even if the author makes 'em up. Most of the time, they'll spend some time explaining their new rules and even that part can be informative or at least interesting.

So it was with this book. From tau turbulence to chronolith construction to human behavior in the face of a future that's been pre-determined, the science was indeed interesting. The writing was pretty much down the middle of the road - not overly flowery or abstracted so that you have to both take in the story and try to figure out what the heck the author is talking about, but not so clinical you had trouble getting lost in the story. I enjoyed it, in other words.

Since you can get plot clues from Amazon or the web, you don't need those from me. Rather, let me say that if you like sci-fi, you'll probably like this. Like music, books are intensely personal. While one person might love song 1-5 off an album but hate the rest, even if they love the band, the guy sitting next to him, also loving the band might hate those same songs. Books are the same way. And sci-fi, like any genre, has fans for specific types of stories. This one is based on our Earth, near our time and has little violence or weapon talk and no spaceships or aliens. It has some time elements, but no one time-travels. So I nailed it down for ya right there. Right?

It's quick, interesting and enjoyable. Really, do you need to know more? Jump in.(less)

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Feb 20, 2010 Adrienne rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-count-2010, science-fiction

In 2021, a gigantic memorial appears out of nowhere in the middle of Thailand. The text on the memorial refers to a great battle fought there and a victorious general "Kuin" and gives a date: December 21, 2041 - 20 years in the future. How did the memorial get there? Who is this Kuin? Can he really send objects through time?

Robert Charles Wilson's The Chronoliths is a dystopian fiction with elements of time travel (heavily) thrown in. It's a fascinating premise, and the picture Wilson paints of...more

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Aug 07, 2009 Tom rated it 5 of 5 stars

Excellent read. This was my first book by Wilson, and it looks like he writes in the same vien as Robert Sawyer--what I call Social Sci-fi. Instead of focusing on science or technology itself, Wilson instead writes about the -impact- that tech and related events have on average people's lives. So not only does Wilson create fully-realized characters with depth (and plenty of flaws), he manages to breathe life into the world, society and situations they inhabit. I found the pacing of the novel to...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Brenda rated it 3 of 5 stars

It helps, I think, to consider the Chronoliths of the book's title -- giant blue glass edifices projected back in time from the future -- as MacGuffins, and to ignore them. Sure, their appearance spreads over the world with the news from the future of victory followed by victory, each capped with a memorialization of the conqueror Kuin thrust into the past.

We're told early on in the book that in their version of the universe, time is immutable. We know the Kuin chronoliths are their own reason f...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Bradley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, science-fiction

The Chronoliths was a book I may never have read were it not for the rise of the eBook. This novel caught my attention long ago, but couldn't be found on local bookshelves, and had to be ordered, if I wanted to read it. So it got added to my wishlist, and eventually was released for Kindle. Naturally, I bought it. And I'm glad I did.

Robert Charles Wilson has quickly become one of my favorites, and The Chronolithsis yet another of his fantastic works. His books are subtle, and yet marvelously co...more The Chronoliths was a book I may never have read were it not for the rise of the eBook. This novel caught my attention long ago, but couldn't be found on local bookshelves, and had to be ordered, if I wanted to read it. So it got added to my wishlist, and eventually was released for Kindle. Naturally, I bought it. And I'm glad I did.

Robert Charles Wilson has quickly become one of my favorites, and The Chronoliths is yet another of his fantastic works. His books are subtle, and yet marvelously complex.

The synopsis for The Chronoliths:

Scott Warden is a man haunted by the past-and soon to be haunted by the future.

In early twenty-first-century Thailand, Scott is an expatriate slacker. Then, one day, he inadvertently witnesses an impossible event: the violent appearance of a 200-foot stone pillar in the forested interior. Its arrival collapses trees for a quarter mile around its base, freezing ice out of the air and emitting a burst of ionizing radiation. It appears to be composed of an exotic form of matter. And the inscription chiseled into it commemorates a military victory--sixteen years in the future.

Shortly afterwards, another, larger pillar arrives in the center of Bangkok-obliterating the city and killing thousands. Over the next several years, human society is transformed by these mysterious arrivals from, seemingly, our own near future. Who is the warlord "Kuin" whose victories they note?

Scott wants only to rebuild his life. But some strange loop of causality keeps drawing him in, to the central mystery and a final battle with the future.

As always, Wilson does an amazing job of bringing the reader into a world that's fully-realized, and incredibly detailed. It's a world that's bleak, gritty, and--unfortunately--entirely believable. It's an America that certainly could exist, though thankfully does not--yet. The author reveals details off-handedly, as if it were already obvious to the reader; it's really handled perfectly, with information doled out at just the right moment--sometimes revealing crucial tidbits the reader wasn't even aware they were waiting to learn. The Chronoliths is an engrossing read from the very first page.

The characters are deeply flawed, and each have their role to play. From the unwilling viewpoint character, to the obligatory shady character, to the heroine with all the answers. Despite these flaws, they're excellent characters, with complex roles to play.

Most intriguing about this book is that it seeps into the reader's consciousness. One begins reading, and suddenly finds they can't wait to find out what happens next. It's a subtle but involving read.

By the end of the book, it's clear that events have taken on a life of their own, and we're just along for the ride. Still, it's a pretty fantastic ride.(less)

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Jun 12, 2011 Pat rated it 2 of 5 stars

Robert Charles Wilson is very good at what he does. He is great at creating believable and fully rounded characters; it’s very easy to like Scott, the main character, and to identify with him and the troubles he is experiencing. The same is true for Sue, Ashlee, and the rest of the cast.

Wilson is amazing at creating compelling “what if…” scenarios, which he then uses at the center of the novel. The Chronoliths is no different: one day a monolith appears out of thin air. On the bottom, written i...more Robert Charles Wilson is very good at what he does. He is great at creating believable and fully rounded characters; it’s very easy to like Scott, the main character, and to identify with him and the troubles he is experiencing. The same is true for Sue, Ashlee, and the rest of the cast.

Wilson is amazing at creating compelling “what if…” scenarios, which he then uses at the center of the novel. The Chronoliths is no different: one day a monolith appears out of thin air. On the bottom, written in English, it states that the site where it appeared is a victory marker of the warlord ‘Kuin’ over the indigenous population. The date of the marker is 20 years into the future. Soon, more monoliths start appearing. Wilson then begins to explore the questions on everyone’s mind: Just who is this Kuin, and what does the future hold for the world? And he takes the answers to these questions into very believable territories. Set in the not to distant future, in a world that is experiencing a great economical and political decline, it is no wonder that groups of people—at first small, but as it gets worse and worse the crowds become bigger and bigger—believe that this unknown Kuin might be a savior figure. Wilson explores all of this while crafting a great and interesting story around them.

And finally, Wilson is a very talented writer. So talented, in fact, that it’s hard to notice the gaps in the story that he tells. It did not occur to me until after the end of the novel that I actually found the story somewhat lacking, and that is an incredible feat. Whereas he does a wonderful job in explaining what the characters go through during the odd twenty years or so of the narrative, there are numerous questions that remain or were only vaguely answered in the process. It is as if Wilson decided, “here are my thoughts about belief, why it is important to believe in something—the achievements, progress, and sense of well-being belief can bring—and here is why belief can be a bad thing—fervor, fundamentalism, etc.”, and the moment he was done saying what he had to say, he just ended the novel.

Ultimately, an interesting read but somewhat lacking. Go for one of his other novels instead.

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Mar 11, 2012 Alice rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-read-for-school, sf, books-i-disliked

On the positive side, this book did have interesting ideas. It unfolded nicely over a span of several years, cataloging changes and effects -- showing economic downturn, how people's way of living changed. There were moments when I was engaged, and interested in what was going to happen next.

But I found these moments were few and far between. I couldn't stand the narrator -- the kind of guy who screws up his first marriage, and manages to shakily repair his relationship with his daughter, barrin...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Christopher rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a great example of the type of sci-fi novels I enjoy -- it had an intriguing premise, it was well written, and the plot was good enough to keep me up late at night wanting to read what would happen next. Without giving too much away (this is how it starts), the protagonist, Scott, is a witness to the appearance of a gargantuan monument that appears out of thin air commemorating a battle that hasn't happened yet (it's dated 20 years into the future). With any time travel plot, I'm sure on...more

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Mar 08, 2012 Richelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not too far in the future here on Earth, giant blue glass edifices begin appearing out of nowhere with engravings on them memorializing a yet-to-occur future war victory in that region by the conquerer Kuin. Depending on where they arrive, these Kuin stones can be very destructive to a city and its inhabitants. Told from the point a view of Scott, an American who is living in Thailand at the time of the first stone's arrival, the story mainly follows his interactions and relationships during the...more

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Feb 11, 2011 Michael Burnam-fink rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

Really creative sci-fi is rare these days, and The Chronoliths is one of those rare pleasures. "Software designer Scott Warden is living with his family in early twenty-first century Thailand after his latest contract has ended. He and his friend Hitch Paley are among the first to find an enormous monolith which appears out of nowhere in the jungle. On closer examination, it is found to be a monument made of a mysterious, indestructible substance. It bears an inscription commemorating a military...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Halsted rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Halsted by: FunkyPlaid

As a newbie to the brain of Robert Charles Wilson -- of his other novels, I've only read Darwinia -- I was prepared for big questions with few answers. I was not disappointed. The story here is not one of overt heroics or melodramatic clashes but rather the quiet, bewildering moments of humanity as our collective "buckets of grief." We grieve for the world as it was, the world as it could be, and eventually the world as it is: infrastructure crumbling, paranoia swelling, violence reigning.

Not th...more

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Apr 06, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Kuinists, slackers on the beach in Thailand

Shelves: science-fiction, near-future, time-travel, audiobook

This is a fine mix of Big Idea SF with human drama on a much smaller scale. The Big Idea is a conqueror from the future named "Kuin" who is somehow able to send massive monuments to his victories back in time, where they stand invulnerable and ominous over the lands he is destined to conquer. The first ones are in Thailand, but over the next few years they appear all over Asia. Some materialize in relatively unpopulated areas, but some appear in the middle of cities, flattening them with shockwa...more This is a fine mix of Big Idea SF with human drama on a much smaller scale. The Big Idea is a conqueror from the future named "Kuin" who is somehow able to send massive monuments to his victories back in time, where they stand invulnerable and ominous over the lands he is destined to conquer. The first ones are in Thailand, but over the next few years they appear all over Asia. Some materialize in relatively unpopulated areas, but some appear in the middle of cities, flattening them with shockwaves. Scientists determine (using hand-wavey physics) that these "chronoliths" are indeed from the future, which means Kuin really is going to conquer all of Asia in about twenty years. This sets off global turmoil. Some prepare to fight; others begin urging accommodation or outright capitulation. By the time Kuin's chronoliths are appearing outside of Asia, there are entire "Kuinist" militias and organizations, and of course innumerable warlords in the now-devastated Asian warring states claiming to be Kuin.

This is the backdrop of the story, which is really about Scott Warden and his family. Scott is a kind of mediocre husband and father slacking off in Thailand when the first chronolith appears there. Being one of the first witnesses to the first appearance of the chronoliths inescapably binds him to the events that follow over the next few decades. As he is told by Sulasmith Chopra, the scientist who studies the chronoliths and believes that Kuin can be stopped, "there are no coincidences." Scott goes through a divorce, his ex-wife marries a Kuin accommodationist, his daughter, as a teenager, hooks up with a young Kuinist ideologue who turns out to be a psychopath, which brings Scott together with the psychopath's mother. His drug-dealing friend from his time in Thailand reappears, as do all the other characters we meet over the course of the book.

It's Scott's interactions with his family and friends that are the heart and soul of this book. The characters are not all vivid or interesting, but they are distinct and they each have a purpose in the story, and Scott narrates a compelling story as he weathers a long, brutal economic downturn that turns even the U.S. into an impoverished country, works for Sulasmith Chopra trying to understand who Kuin is and what the chronoliths represent, travels to Mexico to save his daughter from Kuinists who have gone on a "haj" to see the manifestation of the first chronolith in North America, and finally, goes to meet his destiny in a climactic confrontation in Wyoming.

"Kuin" is basically a MacGuffin; ultimately, it doesn't really matter who he is or if he even exists. It's what he represents that drives all the world events. With the rules of time travel Wilson establishes in this book, cause and effect are looped together, so we are finally able to understand why all the small human dramas Scott was involved in add up to something of greater significance at the end. Wilson's take on time travel is intelligent and subtle, and by keeping Kuin a mysterious off-screen presence whose very existence remains in doubt, he makes the whole thing plausible without having to deal with paradoxes, parallel universes, and the like. Wilson has thought through all the implications, and if the end of the story seems like a bit of an anti-climax, it's also one that makes perfect sense.

Wilson's writing is straightforward but occasionally he waxes almost poetic. He's one of those writers who likes to show off his vocabulary, yet even the tech and time travel physics infodumps were brief and clear.

Although this wasn't the most wonderful book in recent memory or a true masterpiece, it's definitely a hidden gem of high quality, and I came very close to giving it 5 stars. Given the eloquent but clear writing, it's a science fiction novel that a non-sci-fi fan might well enjoy, since the time travel and near-future history is only background for the characters and the plot which drive the story. I give it 4.5 stars; it's very good, I just didn't quite find it unique or mindblowing or the characters memorable enough to make it awesome.(less)

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Aug 17, 2010 Rob McMinn rated it 5 of 5 stars

In The Chronoliths, giant monuments appear out of nowhere, apparently sent back through time to celebrate a military victory some years in the future. Brilliant premise. So the whole of the human race then becomes obsessed with how this future war comes to take place, who wins, and how the monuments are sent back. More and more arrive, and the world descends into convincing chaos. The narrative voice is that of a sorry (as in he feels sorry) slacker, who spends his life trying to compensate for...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Larry rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really like R.C.Wilson. For hard sci-fi this is the guy. Great ideas treated realistically and with characters, that although they are subordinate to the plot, are not the Hardy Boy types you often come across in Sci-Fi. A page turner for sure.

Wilson really works with the how his idea, that mysterious monuments of some future dictators triumphs begin appearing all over the planet. Although governments are arming themselves for the unknown, there are hippies that worship the monuments and those...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Elena rated it 4 of 5 stars

”Timpul în sine este un fel de amplificator. Fenomenul se numeşte dependenţă senzitivă. Un eveniment mare este frecvent un eveniment mic amplificat în timp. Aşteptările noastre modelează viitorul şi aceia dintre noi care erau expuşi turbulenţelor tau extreme îl puteau influenţa într-o măsură mai mare decât majoritatea.”. E un roman care, lăsând deoparte latura SF, numeroasele teorii de fizică cuantică pe care majoritatea dintre noi nu le cunosc, te face să te gândeşti serios, să te întrebi dacă...more

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May 24, 2010 Servius Heiner rated it 3 of 5 stars

3 1/2 It was a great concept, and a good book despite all it's short comings. I didn't find the population responding in a realistic way to the events as they unfolded. Ask yourself... If you are sitting on you back porch and you see a monolith in your back yard the size of a sky scraper that wasn't there yesterday How would you respond? How would the media respond? Wilson made a point in saying that the media lost interest after a few days and went back to reporting on more pressing matters (an...more

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Nov 01, 2012 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

The Chronoliths, a truly interesting read, is both beautifully written and solidly organized. This would be an excellent gateway novel into the more "science" science fiction; the approach remains realistic and understandable throughout. The science is challenging enough for the average reader without becoming overwhelming, and I suspect it's smart enough for those more versed in causal theory than I am. What's more, the plot itself remains rooted in the characters, so even those who aren't foll...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Brent Dyer rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was out of print for several years. Finally, after looking for it in vain in used bookstores everywhere, it was released on Kindle.

This book is not action packed, which (I gather) some reviewers find disappointing. A little more action would have been nice, but it might have detracted from the central themes of the book.

What I found especially interesting was how this book, which was written in 2001, describes a dystopian near-future that seems eerily accurate and even more likely 12 y...more

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Mar 28, 2009 Eric added it

The worst thing about "The Chronoliths," is that it isn't three times longer. The length feels right for the story, but I just wanted to stay with this reality and these characters for a much longer time than Wilson gave me.

There is one glaring question that is never answered, but as much of me that wants to know the answer, there's just as much who prefers the mystery.

Mostly, I'm disappointed that there wasn't more to read. They say "always leave them wanting more," and Wilson has certainly don...more

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Nov 29, 2011 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, science-fiction

When I first started this book, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. I had read several negative reviews that indicated the book left too many unanswered questions. While I agree that the reader is left with much to think about, I think these reviewers missed the point of the story. This is not about where the Chronoliths come from and what their purpose is. Rather it's a story about the effect they have on our society and whether they ultimately change the future from which they were sent o...more

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Apr 28, 2013 Terry Quirke rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the second of Wilson's books that I have read, and whilst I enjoyed this it certainly isn't as good as teh first (Spin). Wilson approaches the story from a social aspect, and explores the impact that the science fiction element has upon the culture. Also, like Spin, these effects are explored over the 20+ years of their impact upon youths growing up under this evolving new cultural phenomena.

This isn't for those who like their action sequences blow-by-blow or their science defined like a...more

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Feb 05, 2010 Ronya rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

When I picked up RCW's Spin a few years back, I enjoyed it. A lot. Since then I've been working backwards, reading other RCW books (and also forwards, reading the sequel to Spin). So far, the only one that has come close to Spin is Blind Lake.

The Chronoliths, from 1999, covers a huge amount of time in its pages. It's not hard to keep up with, but the end wasn't as, pardon the expression, earth-shattering as I wanted it to be. However, as science fiction goes, as a portrait of an ordinary man ob...more

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Oct 26, 2012 Natasha Hurley-Walker rated it 3 of 5 stars

Beginning to get the hang of Wilson's books: big, world-changing Event happens. No one understands it. Characters attempt to pursue ordinary lives but are inevitably drawn into playing key roles in understanding and eventually changing The Event. At the end, you find out what The Event was, and everything knits together neatly. A slight feeling of disappointment ensues.

I enjoyed this more than Darwinia, but not quite as much as Spin. Well-written, well-paced, and likeable characters. Also paints...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Brad rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi

Every so often you come across that rare book that just hooks you into the story right from the beginning and sustains your interest until the very end. This book is one such book.

It's not an action novel, not space opera, there are no aliens, space battles etc. This is more of a literary sci-fi novel. The story unfolds at a slow pace as the character lives his life, dealing with the artifacts of the future as they affect his life.

There are a lot of intriguing ideas in here about time, technolog...more

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May 15, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not a review: I picked this up yesterday because I needed a break from The Magus and ended up finishing it this afternoon. I found it unexpectedly shared some themes with Dan Simmons Flashback and was as equally bleak in many respects, although part of that was due to the dysfunctional family dynamic, which depressed me no end.
The narrative itself is typical Wilson: fast-paced and full of cutting-edge science explained very well.
Reading this in light of the current economic situation was disturb...more

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About Robert Charles Wilson

Born in California, Robert Charles Wilson lives in Toronto. Darwinia won Canada's Aurora Award, The Chronoliths won the John W. Campbell Award, and Blind Lake is a New York Times Notable Book. All three were Hugo finalists. Spin won the Hugo for best novel.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/robert...

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“Children wear their natures like brightly-colored clothes; that's why they lie so transparently. Adulthood is the art of deceit.” — 6 people liked it

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