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Jul 13, 2009

Brownbetty rated it:

You can tell a book is ambitious when it takes on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and this book is at least as smart as it is ambitious. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is only one of the threads in the story, but I think it is done justice. In the future, the Strip is irradiated, and the battles are fought on both sides by soldiers piloted by AIs who think they are war-gaming, rebooted whenever they begin to suspect the war has a human cost.

(The soldiers are colloquially refe More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2012

John rated it:

Not since mid to late 1980s William Gibson and Bruce Sterling have I read a book that's nearly as well written and as grandiose in scope with regards to the potential impact that a computer-based technological future may have on humanity. With "Spin Control" Chris Moriarty has written what can be described as the finest post-cyberpunk space opera novel ever written, effortlessly capturing the gritty realism of William Gibson's street-wise "Sprawl" short stories and "Cybe More...

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Nov 20, 2011

Graham rated it:

This is really smart, a lot of ideas with a great understanding of the science and some very clever inversions of sexuality norms. I wish Goodreads had half stars - this was almost a 4. I noticed there was a review here criticising the book for the lack of science - I wish that person would point out the errors - I know a lot about programming simple AI - and I didn't spot any clunckers. Perhaps that reviewer wanted huge info dumps of hard science. I guess that's a matter of taste.I prefer my cy More...

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May 08, 2011

James rated it:

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. It's a good story, sure, and it has some very interesting ideas and it delves deeply into the concept of emergence, which is fascinating, but I remember feeling at the time that while Li is present in the story, it's almost a cameo role compared to Cohen (the AI) and Arkady. The problem is that Li is also the most interesting character in the story, and as she sleepwalks through this novel, we sleepwalk with her.

Aside from this fairly More...

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Feb 07, 2010

Tomhl rated it:

This is set in the same universe as Moriarty's Spin State, but is not a direct sequel. Because I was so completely impressed with the use of current-state physics in Spin State, it took almost half of this book to get over my disappointment that this book is not the same. Sure, there is passing mention of Bose-Einstein and particle entanglement, but that is not part of this story at all. Moriarty here digs into evolutionary informatics, but that didn't engage me as much. However, after I accepte More...

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Aug 29, 2009

Broodingferret rated it:

This book was fun, but, just like Spin State, it seems like Moriarty read a few pop-science books once and then ran off into the wild blue yonder with what he thought he had learned. You know, like those New Age-y types that hear something like "Anything can happen at subatomic levels due to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle" and take that to mean "The crystal power of my third-eye can heal to world's chakras and help to usher in the Pyramid Age, 'cause recent research into qu More...

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Jun 24, 2010

Cathy rated it:

I would never have thought that a story could be spun out of a wild mix of the Arab-Israeli conflict, ants, AIs, clones, water, fertility and space exploration, plus love, loyalty, and more. It kept my interest throughout each switch in perspective or timeframe, and kept my curiosity high to see how each aspect would play out and fit together. Every scene felt vivid and real, from atmosphere or emotion, without being cumbersome or overdone.

I saw somewhere that Moriarty was contracted More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2011

Lorena rated it:

This book takes place three years later and one planet over from the previous book, and has a few of - and my favorite - characters from the previous book. However, I would not necessarily tell you that you must have read the first one in order to understand what is going on; while there are things that will make sense to someone who has read both, the author does a great job of filling in the new reader. Again, this is a mystery wrapped in a cyberpunk thriller, but has culture clash and world h More...

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Oct 08, 2011

Joanna rated it:

Not enough Catherine Li, though we do get interesting glimpses of her from various angles. The focus here is on Cohen the emergent AI, and Arkady, an ant scientist from the society of the Syndicate, an offshoot of humanity that is sort of Marxist and depends on genetwisting and cloning to keep everything going. Like the prequel, Spin State, Spin Control is a mash-up of genres, which to my mind, just makes it more fun. Not for purists, however.

Oh, and Earth is radioactive and arid and i More...

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Apr 07, 2009

John rated it:

This is pretty standard science fiction fare about the struggles among clones, humans, and artificial intelligence units. An ant-expert clone named Arkady comes to earth with a secret that he wants to trade for one of his mates. Lots of bad humans try to figure out what he's up to (he meets a few good ones along the way). A series of flashbacks describe Arkady's mission to explore a planet that inexplicably appears to have been terraformed even though no record exists of the procedure. Some sort More...

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Jan 27, 2010

Zac rated it:

A quite good SF tale, the science being toward the hard end although the tech is not really the focus. Spin Control is the sequel to Spin State, and where the first read as a SF mystery thriller, this is an SF espionage novel. The action takes place mostly on Earth and mostly in the Middle East (yes, 500 years in the future, Israel/Palestine is still a mess, perhaps the most realistic prediction any SF novel has made in years.)
The lead character, Arkady, is defecting from the Syndicates (e More...

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May 13, 2008

Jason rated it:

Ahhhh, much better. I was far more pleased with this than I was with Spin State. I think Betsey was right about Moriarty coming into herself as a writer with Spin Control. It goes a long way to proving just how much the writing can make or break a story. See, Spin State had all the ingredients of a kick ass sci-fi space drama, but it wasn't mixed properly. Spin Control had even less of those ingredients, was set in middle east earth, (I don't know about anyone else but I get tired of the mi More...

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Nov 22, 2007

James rated it:

Ok ... Gay Clones from Outer space... It's like when Harry met Sally, but in outerspace, and Harry's actually meeting an exact genetic copy of himself, they don't settle for the space needle. They're in Outta fuckin' Space!!

Don't worry the gay thing isn't an issue, because, when you're a space clone, you ARE gay. Them's the breaks... There's just no room for babies in outerspace (see: Enemy Mine). The book is a THICK read, definitely for Sci-Fi homos. But honestly, when it c More...

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Oct 21, 2007

Nicholas added it

http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2007/04/the_2007_philip.shtml[return][return]This is a future spy story, a loose sequel to Moriarty's earlier Spin Control; its setting alternates between an unsuccessful research mission by a crew of cloned scientists to the planet Novalis, and the process of selling the secret they discover to the highest bidder in a 26th-century Jerusalem. The two settings are truly memorable, the alien planet - which, as it turns out, is not quite alien enough - with t More...

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May 20, 2008

Jim rated it:

First off, let me just say that I really loved Spin State. Spin Control was the "sequel" although it's one of those sequels that doesn't necessarily require reading the first book. In fact, for the the first few chapters, I was nervous that the main characters from Spin State weren't even going to be in this book. Rest assured, Catherien Li and the venerable Cohen are more than present in the book.

With those fears relieved, I still felt a little let down by this book. Techn More...

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Aug 02, 2008

Isicson rated it:

Well, I liked this book but it was so vastly different from it's prequel that they really don't flow together, and it suffers because of those expectations. As long as you don't read this expecting a similar tone, pace, and approach as the Spin state, you should enjoy it. The pace is much slower & really involves characters talking to each other for the whole book, very little action. Perhaps the author was trying to compensate for the lack of background in Bk.1 and went overboard. Still, so More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Bill rated it:

Interesting mix of normal humans, clones and a 'person' that is an AI collective.

Re-read it after reading the prequel 'Spin State'.
Much better having read 'Spin State' which provides background to three of the characters in 'Spin Control'. Wonderful mix of advanced tech, but seems like it could have used one final edit and some material added. The main character Arkady is supposed to be very bright, but he doesn't ask questions when I would have expected him to. And in order to More...

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Dec 07, 2009

Stargrave rated it:

I liked this book, though not as well as Spin State. I couldn't really get into the factions presented in this book, but I liked the characters, especially the Novalis expedition, and still enjoy the world of these books. I was already planning on reading the next books in this world even before the end but the last bit of the ending was great and now I can't wait to read what happens next.

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Jan 03, 2010

Dennis rated it:

Too much philosophizing. This book should have been edited by a hundred pages or so. Even the action was overly complicated and the ending a bit contrived. The story within the story (Novalis) was the best part.

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Jul 30, 2009

Vamshidhar rated it:

Good, but not as good as Spin State (the earlier book, which is only marginally related to this one through the characters of AI Cohen and Catherine Li). It has an interesting future view of the Middle East conflict as well.

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Jul 24, 2007

Abe rated it:

In this book genetic engineering and artificial intelligence have evolved to a point where plain old humans are nearly extinct. But that's just the backdrop to this really good political thriller that begins far away in the universe and then spends most of its time in futuristic Israel, right here on earth, which has been largely laid to waste and is now in the midst of an ice age. Although sometimes hard to follow, Chris Moriarty has a great imagination and can really write. I think I'll also p More...

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Mar 22, 2008

Constance2u rated it:

I liked Spin State a lot better although I enjoyed this one too. The relationship between Catherine and Cohen was far more complex in Spin State, but it was virtually the only relationship explored. Spin Control has a broader scope. The problem I had with this book is really silly. But one of the linchpins of the book was the lack of water in the Ring. This seemed odd to me since even now water to the space station is supplied by hydrogen fuel cells. You'd think that this future with such More...

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Jul 28, 2009

Keith rated it:

Dense, convoluted, character-driven hard sci-fi complete with AIs, humans, post-humans, and myrmecology. Yay.

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Dec 05, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

I like it so far... It satisfies my scifi addiction without being hokey.

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Sep 19, 2007

Betsey rated it:

Spin Control was a noticeable improvement over Spin State. It didn't feel stilted the way SS did. It had fantastic complexities, both political & personal. I am impressed by Moriarty's ability to weave a story that is interesting on a scientific, political and character level. It's a rare talent! I'm looking forward to her next book.

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Mar 29, 2009

Chet rated it:

This is a sequel to Spin State by the same author. Space faring AI's return to Earth and get involved in the Israel/Palestine conflict. Some inventive ideas were presented, but the religious conflict was emphasized too much.

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Nov 12, 2007

Dick rated it:

More speculative fiction, set 300 years after the 'left behind bomb' that ushered in 300 years of middle east peace, and off world settlements, and bionic people and a repeat of the past.

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May 01, 2008

Uncle added it

Gives more of what the first offered: Impressive array of hard-scifi invention and extrapolation. Gripping and fast-paced. Goes by too fast.
Looking forward to more from this author.

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Jul 24, 2007

Nathanielk rated it:

More cerebral than her first novel. The book channels Le Carre for a sophisticated spy story, as well as very interesting speculations on evolution and complexity theory.

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May 01, 2008

Jason rated it:

Decent sci-fi, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the author's previous work, Spin State. Still, a fun airplane read.

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