Spin
by Robert Charles Wilson
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Read in November, 2006
I was so impressed by his work on The Chronoliths that I went right ahead and jumped into this book without hesitation. Of course, I was not disappointed. At least not too much, but I'll get to that later.
It is the near future, as these stories so often are, and one night the stars go out. The night sky goes black, with none of the familiar lights that have guided us throughout human history. Within minutes, the entire network of satelli...more
It is the near future, as these stories so often are, and one night the stars go out. The night sky goes black, with none of the familiar lights that have guided us throughout human history. Within minutes, the entire network of satelli...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone
This is an outstanding book. And difficult to review without spoilers, but totally worth the effort. It's best to be surprised right along with the main characters.
Through our viewpoint character, Tyler Dupree, we get to experience a world-changing what-if scenario. Through his friendships with Diane and Jason Lawton, the other two main characters in the story, we also get to see how two other, very different people experience that what-if.
The What-If happens when the thr...more
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone who likes sci-fi
This is one of those rare science fiction books that lets you wonder and imagine and forget that it's science fiction at all. Many sci-fi authors lean too heavily on the science and speculation and not enough on the fiction, creating interesting premises but characters that are two dimensional. Wilson does not have that problem here. His characters are fully fleshed, flawed and realistic and it is these characters that move Spin along so well.
This is not to say that this book lacks in scien...more
This is not to say that this book lacks in scien...more
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Read in April, 2008
I'm a big fan of science fiction which is set in the modern world. That is, instead of being set way in the future with tons of science-fictiony technology and stuff, I have found that I enjoy books which take the approach of "what if _____ happened today." Maybe the blank is something crazy, but the rest of the plot deals with that invented reality in a recognizable world.
(As a side note, I think this is one reason I liked Orson Scott Card's so-called Shadow series so muc...more
(As a side note, I think this is one reason I liked Orson Scott Card's so-called Shadow series so muc...more
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Read in September, 2007
L’histoire nous est racontée par Tyler Dupree à l’âge adulte. Le récit débute par la fin, sans trop en dire, puis se construit autour de nombreux et longs flashback. Ce qui arrive au Tyler du présent, de l’âge adulte, ne nous est révélé que petit à petit, le narrateur nous raconte l’apparition du Spin, ses conséquences sur le monde et l’Humanité. Le découpage est très habile et agréable, il contribue à entretenir une partie du mystère.
L’auteur spécule sur tous ...more
L’auteur spécule sur tous ...more
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Read in February, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
Sci-fi fans, Stephen King fans who can also handle sci-fi
A rare hard sci-fi novel with human characters that do things you might expect humans to do in a given situation, Spin reads a bit like a Stephen King novel if Stephen King could actually write sci-fi (and which, I suppose, is why they used a King blurb on the cover of the edition I read).
The basic premise is incredibly meaty: three kids (one of whom narrates the novel, while the other two wind up as the novel's most critical characters) are star watching in their back yard one night when su...more
The basic premise is incredibly meaty: three kids (one of whom narrates the novel, while the other two wind up as the novel's most critical characters) are star watching in their back yard one night when su...more
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Spin has, if not the best, certainly one of the coolest, most wow-inducing premises of any sci-fi novel I’ve yet read. For unknown reasons, a shield blankets Earth, modifying the nature of time such that more than three years passes outside the shield for each second that passes on Earth. Aside from giving the novel a juicy mystery to prod the action forward, this proves to be a wonderful way to dramatize astronomical and evolutionary events in extreme fast-forward, which Wilson does exceedi...more
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For those who read Darwinia, the tone and tenor of Spin are similar: a mix of science and fantastic, with a focus on human nature's reaction when faced with the inconceivable. Wilson is a master at it.
On a bright summer evening, three children on the cusp of teenhood witness the impossible: in the blink of an eye, all the stars wink out. Although the sun rises the next morning as usual, the next night the stars don't. Soon, scientists discover that a filtering membrane has been wrapped aroun...more
On a bright summer evening, three children on the cusp of teenhood witness the impossible: in the blink of an eye, all the stars wink out. Although the sun rises the next morning as usual, the next night the stars don't. Soon, scientists discover that a filtering membrane has been wrapped aroun...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone who loves a scifi conspiracy without the campy crap
I loved this book. It was great: full of sci-fi goodness, new ideas, thought provoking space, and pleasant characters.
Sometimes I really just want to ponder the stars without being dragged through character angst and change/development/growth*. The characters aren't super deep but they are believable, not the paper doll cutouts many sci-fi (and fantasy!) stories have. I even liked the explanation of the love letters though I am not sure it was a good move or even necessary. Don't get m...more
Sometimes I really just want to ponder the stars without being dragged through character angst and change/development/growth*. The characters aren't super deep but they are believable, not the paper doll cutouts many sci-fi (and fantasy!) stories have. I even liked the explanation of the love letters though I am not sure it was a good move or even necessary. Don't get m...more
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Read in February, 2008
There's a tension in science fiction between portraying the fantastical and remaining relatable to the reader. The author, Robert Charles Wilson, solves this problem by understanding just how limited the viewpoint of human beings is and how little it will take for our sense of dislocation to be complete. While a lot of other science fiction makes the universe seem like a very small place full of squabbling intelligent life (like the pantheon of ancient Greeks gods), the concept of the Spin sho...more
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Read in June, 2008
This is the kind of science fiction I like to think I am writing--hard sf, but literary (see my Web-published THE IMMORTAL SOCIETY at http://www.karlkindt.com/ ). It finds a page-turning balance between human drama and scientifiction. The plot and characters are equally (and masterfully) well done. Wilson extrapolates something very intriguing: What if the Earth were placed in a protective membrane so that time moved one second on earth but...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone who likes sci-fi or just wants to see what all the fuss is about
This was some of the best science fiction I've read in years. Heck, it was one of the best books I've read in years.
This is the sort of book that I babble about. It's hard to write down what's good about it because everything about it is good. Everything about it is amazing, really, so there's no good starting place. It all just comes out in a rush of Plot/Big Ideas/writing style/characters/character relationships/tragedy/humor/everything.
If you've ever enjoyed a sci-fi book, read it. I...more
This is the sort of book that I babble about. It's hard to write down what's good about it because everything about it is good. Everything about it is amazing, really, so there's no good starting place. It all just comes out in a rush of Plot/Big Ideas/writing style/characters/character relationships/tragedy/humor/everything.
If you've ever enjoyed a sci-fi book, read it. I...more
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Read in December, 2007
Even though the premise of the story is interesting, for me this was not the page-turner I think it should have been. One of the devices that the writer used to build tension - going from the novel's "present day" back to the past, back and forth - really started to annoy me, because you actually knew some of the major things that happened -- it was just that the detail had to be filled in some way down the line.
However, the writer does an excellent job of exploring the idea of ...more
However, the writer does an excellent job of exploring the idea of ...more
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Read in January, 2008
Robert Charles Wilson has been home-run or strikeout with me over the years. This book, The Spin was one of the better ones, but a bit long for my tastes.
On the surface, the concept sounded like the wingnut corner of the science-fiction genre -- the earth is suddenly and mysteriously enclosed in a shroud that slows time such that 3 seconds on earth is something like 1000 years in...more
On the surface, the concept sounded like the wingnut corner of the science-fiction genre -- the earth is suddenly and mysteriously enclosed in a shroud that slows time such that 3 seconds on earth is something like 1000 years in...more
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Read in June, 2008
One of the more interesting science fiction books I've read lately, this book focuses on what would happen if the Earth was suddenly cut off from space, nothing but an artificial sun to provide it with energy. Stars and moon are all gone, and the Earth ecology suffers as a result of not having a moon.
The focus of the book is around a handful of children who were alive when this event occured, and how their lives were shaped by the event. The narrative is fascinating in that the characters ...more
The focus of the book is around a handful of children who were alive when this event occured, and how their lives were shaped by the event. The narrative is fascinating in that the characters ...more
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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So... This book won the Hugo, but in my opinion it had a lot of issues. The MacGuffin was overly complicated and I think sci fi works best with a very simple concept. Because it was so epic a concept, all I really wanted to know about was the how, why and what of the MacGuffin, which would have been fine, but this novel fancied itself a character piece. This also wouldn't have been such a problem, but the characters were flat, underdeveloped, 2 dimensional, and generally unlikable. About hal...more
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This book had an interesting sci-fi premise but couldn't really deliver much for me. I liked that the main characters took different paths in the face of a worldwide event occurring, but I had a problem with the passiveness of the main character. He pined over his childhood friend (their situation very similar to the characters in Atonement) but she became a brainwashed cult member and he didn't evolve throughout his lifetime very much.
The biggest problem was the time shifts to some future...more
The biggest problem was the time shifts to some future...more
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I was really unsure about this book and almost didn't read it, but I am very glad I decided to! I don't normally enjoy science fiction - Star Trek and such holds no interest for me. And while this is definitely science fiction, it is more about the people and society than the latest cool sci fi gadget.
If you've ever wondered how an entire generation would deal with knowing that they would be the last, that the earth would end while they were still alive, then you will be fascinated by this...more
If you've ever wondered how an entire generation would deal with knowing that they would be the last, that the earth would end while they were still alive, then you will be fascinated by this...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.08 (473 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.07 (415 ratings) number of reviews: 111popular shelves
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