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Lockstep
When seventeen-year-old Toby McGonigal finds himself lost in space, separated from his family, he expects his next drift into cold sleep to be his last. After all, the planet he’s orbiting is frozen and sunless, and the cities are dead. But when Toby wakes again, he’s surprised to discover a thriving planet, a strange and prosperous galaxy, and something stranger still—that he’s been asleep for 14,000 years.
Welcome to the Lockstep Empire, where civilization is kept alive by careful hibernation. Here cold sleeps can last decades and waking moments mere weeks. Its citizens survive for millennia, traveling asleep on long voyages between worlds. Not only is Lockstep the new center of the galaxy, but Toby is shocked to learn that the Empire is still ruled by its founding family: his own.
Toby’s brother Peter has become a terrible tyrant. Suspicious of the return of his long-lost brother, whose rightful inheritance also controls the lockstep hibernation cycles, Peter sees Toby as a threat to his regime. Now, with the help of a lockstep girl named Corva, Toby must survive the forces of this new Empire, outwit his siblings, and save human civilization.
Karl Schroeder's Lockstep is a grand innovation in hard SF space opera.
Welcome to the Lockstep Empire, where civilization is kept alive by careful hibernation. Here cold sleeps can last decades and waking moments mere weeks. Its citizens survive for millennia, traveling asleep on long voyages between worlds. Not only is Lockstep the new center of the galaxy, but Toby is shocked to learn that the Empire is still ruled by its founding family: his own.
Toby’s brother Peter has become a terrible tyrant. Suspicious of the return of his long-lost brother, whose rightful inheritance also controls the lockstep hibernation cycles, Peter sees Toby as a threat to his regime. Now, with the help of a lockstep girl named Corva, Toby must survive the forces of this new Empire, outwit his siblings, and save human civilization.
Karl Schroeder's Lockstep is a grand innovation in hard SF space opera.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published March 25, 2014
70 people are currently reading
3298 people want to read
About the author
Karl Schroeder
95 books383 followersKarl Schroeder is an award-winning Canadian science fiction author. His novels present far-future speculations on topics such as nanotechnology, terraforming, augmented reality and interstellar travel, and have a deeply philosophical streak. One of his concepts, known as thalience, has gained some currency in the artificial intelligence and computer networking communities.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 291 reviews
December 16, 2014
About halfway through Lockstep, I realized that I wasn't smart enough to understand it. That makes it sort of hard to review.
The whole Lockstep system was totally confusing to someone with my limited brain power. See, the people on these planets hibernate for X amount of years (30 or so, I think), and then thaw out. They live their lives normally for about a month or so before jumping into a hibernation bed again.
Wash. Rinse Repeat.
But the problem comes when you add in the planets that don't operate on that same Lockstep. Maybe they only stay asleep of 10 years before they thaw out. Or (like what happens in the story) a planet is punished, and their systems are reset so that they wake faster than everyone else in the galaxy. So now they are aging faster than friends and family that are on a planet that isn't as fast. And then some of the ships get set to a different frequency as a double punishment.
So they are aging faster? Slower? What?!
And then there's Fast planets that just kind of go on without Locksteps.
I couldn't keep up with the numbers, quite frankly.
And here's where my brain started making this Pop! Pop! Fizz! noise.
I'm just not that good at all that Math stuff. I'm one of the few 'Homemakers' that I know that isn't in charge of the family finances, if that tells you anything.
Stand down Feminists friends!
It's not that my husband is a neanderthal that thinks he's better at that stuff than me simply because he's a man.
He thinks he better at that stuff than me...because he REALLY is better at that stuff than me.
He went to a training thing out of state for a few months...
And I found out that there's no such thing as 'Kinda Sorta Right' when it comes to balancing a checkbook.
Love you, Hon!
So.
The story itself was ingenious! Or at least it seemed that way to me.
'Cause lets face it, I may not exactly be the best judge of that.
But the world-building was really fantastic and detailed.
Although, I tend to skim that sort of thing.
Zzzzzzzzzzzz...
Anyway. The part of the story that I did understand was the family problems between Toby and his siblings.
Well. Actually, I'm an only child. So. Yeah, I don't have any personal experience with siblings.
But at least I could add up how many people were in his immediate family, damn it!
Ha! So there!
This isn't a series, so the ending wraps things up nicely. I actually really appreciated that.
Because now I can move on and read something that doesn't make my grey matter all ouchie.
I'd recommend this one for people who are much smarter than me, and like stories that end well.
Thank you NetGalley for a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
The whole Lockstep system was totally confusing to someone with my limited brain power. See, the people on these planets hibernate for X amount of years (30 or so, I think), and then thaw out. They live their lives normally for about a month or so before jumping into a hibernation bed again.
Wash. Rinse Repeat.
But the problem comes when you add in the planets that don't operate on that same Lockstep. Maybe they only stay asleep of 10 years before they thaw out. Or (like what happens in the story) a planet is punished, and their systems are reset so that they wake faster than everyone else in the galaxy. So now they are aging faster than friends and family that are on a planet that isn't as fast. And then some of the ships get set to a different frequency as a double punishment.
So they are aging faster? Slower? What?!
And then there's Fast planets that just kind of go on without Locksteps.
I couldn't keep up with the numbers, quite frankly.
And here's where my brain started making this Pop! Pop! Fizz! noise.
I'm just not that good at all that Math stuff. I'm one of the few 'Homemakers' that I know that isn't in charge of the family finances, if that tells you anything.
Stand down Feminists friends!
It's not that my husband is a neanderthal that thinks he's better at that stuff than me simply because he's a man.
He thinks he better at that stuff than me...because he REALLY is better at that stuff than me.
He went to a training thing out of state for a few months...
And I found out that there's no such thing as 'Kinda Sorta Right' when it comes to balancing a checkbook.
Love you, Hon!
So.
The story itself was ingenious! Or at least it seemed that way to me.
'Cause lets face it, I may not exactly be the best judge of that.
But the world-building was really fantastic and detailed.
Although, I tend to skim that sort of thing.
Zzzzzzzzzzzz...
Anyway. The part of the story that I did understand was the family problems between Toby and his siblings.
Well. Actually, I'm an only child. So. Yeah, I don't have any personal experience with siblings.
But at least I could add up how many people were in his immediate family, damn it!
Ha! So there!
This isn't a series, so the ending wraps things up nicely. I actually really appreciated that.
Because now I can move on and read something that doesn't make my grey matter all ouchie.
I'd recommend this one for people who are much smarter than me, and like stories that end well.
Thank you NetGalley for a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
September 9, 2016
This was one of my most anticipated books for 2014. I enjoyed the read but I was not wowed as I had hoped to be.
What I Like
+ the world building
The world building confused me, which I should have expected because the book was hard science fiction. It wasn’t till the middle of the book that I finally understood what lockstep was, and I felt giddy when I did. It took some time but it was worth it. I was amazed by how sophisticated and creative the world building was.
It was very interesting reading a world where human civilization had expanded into the endless outer space yet they didn’t have superluminal travel. I must confess; I was resistant to the idea because I really do believe one day — in the far-off future — humanity will have superluminal travel, and I didn’t like reading something that would challenge that belief. Now that I have read this book, I’m not greatly resistant to idea of a world where superluminal might never be possible. I could perfectly imagine how people can live on the same timeline despite the immense distance between worlds, the different planetary cycles, and other forces of time.
One of the things that surprised me was the underlying environmental theme. There is a saying that “money runs the world.” In this distant future, resources run the world — all of the worlds. No matter how far human civilization may have expanded into outer space, the message in the book says we will always be restricted by natural resources and we will fight amongst ourselves over them.
Another thing that surprised me was how there were robots yet humans still had to do menial labor, and some of them, specifically the very poor, even worked for the robots. The idea of lazy robots outsourcing their jobs made me chuckle. It reminded me of the robots in Futurama but without the sassy personalities.
The only thing about the world building that left me thinking was the fate of trillionaires left on Earth. What happened to them after the McGonigals took over? The book never really did say.
+ the main character
I liked Toby. For someone who woke up fourteen THOUSANDS years into the future, discovered he was the heir of an empire and a Jesus-like figure of the empire’s religion, and slapped with the fact that his once-loving family wasn’t too keen on reuniting with him to put it nicely, the guy had a level head on his shoulder. He did panic of course, but he didn’t go into a mood and give up on life. He fought as befitting of his role.
I was very grateful to follow a main character who commanded common sense and caution. I liked the fact that even though he began to have feelings for Corva, he didn’t automatically think what was best for her would be best for him and follow her like a puppy, doing whatever she wanted. In other words, he didn’t think with his dick. The fact that he was careful in whom to place his trust gave me a book erection.
What Could Have Been Better
+ the main character’s father
For someone who played a pivotal role, he was rarely talked about. I recall only three times, and two of those times were very brief. Say what? I would have thought with certainty that the reader would get to learn what happened to him after the rift with his family. All the reader learned was that he remarried and nothing after that. Whether he had other children or if his second wife was still alive, we never know. I still didn’t really understand how everyone else in his first family was still alive, yet he wasn’t, or why his family was famous with a religion built around them, yet he faded into obscurity. Carter McGonigal was a major character, but the book inappropriately treated him like a minor character. It fell into the trap where just because a character is dead a long time ago, it doesn’t mean he’s not important to the story and his influence on the other characters should be any less than a stranger.
+ the ending
It was kind of flat, emotion wise. I liked the happy ending and the reconciliation, but considering what had happened, how human civilization was at stake, and the bad feelings and trade of threats among the characters, the ending felt too neat to be real. I found it hard to believe the revolution happened without bloodshed.
Conclusion
I rate Lockstep 3-stars for I like it. The book description led me to believe the story would be on epic scale, but the only thing truly epic about book was the setting. When I take away the fancy setting, the book is about a broken family. A missing son; a traumatized little brother who grows up to be a tyrant; a typical middle child of a sister whose life became all about her brothers; a grieving mother and an absent workaholic father. The plot was about Toby finding his way, trying to make things right, and saving his family, even if some of them wanted him dead. It’s almost like a literary fiction.
The book was a good read, and I do recommend it but with the caveat that the reader check their high expectations.
What I Like
+ the world building
The world building confused me, which I should have expected because the book was hard science fiction. It wasn’t till the middle of the book that I finally understood what lockstep was, and I felt giddy when I did. It took some time but it was worth it. I was amazed by how sophisticated and creative the world building was.
It was very interesting reading a world where human civilization had expanded into the endless outer space yet they didn’t have superluminal travel. I must confess; I was resistant to the idea because I really do believe one day — in the far-off future — humanity will have superluminal travel, and I didn’t like reading something that would challenge that belief. Now that I have read this book, I’m not greatly resistant to idea of a world where superluminal might never be possible. I could perfectly imagine how people can live on the same timeline despite the immense distance between worlds, the different planetary cycles, and other forces of time.
One of the things that surprised me was the underlying environmental theme. There is a saying that “money runs the world.” In this distant future, resources run the world — all of the worlds. No matter how far human civilization may have expanded into outer space, the message in the book says we will always be restricted by natural resources and we will fight amongst ourselves over them.
Another thing that surprised me was how there were robots yet humans still had to do menial labor, and some of them, specifically the very poor, even worked for the robots. The idea of lazy robots outsourcing their jobs made me chuckle. It reminded me of the robots in Futurama but without the sassy personalities.
The only thing about the world building that left me thinking was the fate of trillionaires left on Earth. What happened to them after the McGonigals took over? The book never really did say.
+ the main character
I liked Toby. For someone who woke up fourteen THOUSANDS years into the future, discovered he was the heir of an empire and a Jesus-like figure of the empire’s religion, and slapped with the fact that his once-loving family wasn’t too keen on reuniting with him to put it nicely, the guy had a level head on his shoulder. He did panic of course, but he didn’t go into a mood and give up on life. He fought as befitting of his role.
I was very grateful to follow a main character who commanded common sense and caution. I liked the fact that even though he began to have feelings for Corva, he didn’t automatically think what was best for her would be best for him and follow her like a puppy, doing whatever she wanted. In other words, he didn’t think with his dick. The fact that he was careful in whom to place his trust gave me a book erection.
What Could Have Been Better
+ the main character’s father
For someone who played a pivotal role, he was rarely talked about. I recall only three times, and two of those times were very brief. Say what? I would have thought with certainty that the reader would get to learn what happened to him after the rift with his family. All the reader learned was that he remarried and nothing after that. Whether he had other children or if his second wife was still alive, we never know. I still didn’t really understand how everyone else in his first family was still alive, yet he wasn’t, or why his family was famous with a religion built around them, yet he faded into obscurity. Carter McGonigal was a major character, but the book inappropriately treated him like a minor character. It fell into the trap where just because a character is dead a long time ago, it doesn’t mean he’s not important to the story and his influence on the other characters should be any less than a stranger.
+ the ending
It was kind of flat, emotion wise. I liked the happy ending and the reconciliation, but considering what had happened, how human civilization was at stake, and the bad feelings and trade of threats among the characters, the ending felt too neat to be real. I found it hard to believe the revolution happened without bloodshed.
Conclusion
I rate Lockstep 3-stars for I like it. The book description led me to believe the story would be on epic scale, but the only thing truly epic about book was the setting. When I take away the fancy setting, the book is about a broken family. A missing son; a traumatized little brother who grows up to be a tyrant; a typical middle child of a sister whose life became all about her brothers; a grieving mother and an absent workaholic father. The plot was about Toby finding his way, trying to make things right, and saving his family, even if some of them wanted him dead. It’s almost like a literary fiction.
The book was a good read, and I do recommend it but with the caveat that the reader check their high expectations.
March 26, 2014
3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum: http://bibliosanctum.blogspot.com/201...
My brain does not feel fully equipped to handle Lockstep. Obviously, this is not a criticism of the book; rather it is one on my limitations in spatial-temporal thinking. For you see, the whole book revolves around a fascinating but sometimes confusing concept of coordinated hibernation cycles. With no warp drives and light-years between colonized planets, it's the most efficient way to keep a civilization going in a huge galaxy.
In this Lockstep system, worlds are carefully timed on a "sleep-and-wake" schedule, and this also allows travelers to lie dormant during long trips between planets. Whole populations can go into cold sleeps for decades while only waking for a few weeks, but even after many cycles it could feel like hardly any time has passed at all. So in essence, there's "real time" and then there's "Lockstep time". The main character Toby experiences this the hard way, having gone to sleep after being lost in space, then waking up 14,000 years later in real time. But in Lockstep time however, only about four decades have passed.
I've been noticing a lot more books featuring wild and innovative ideas dealing with space and time in recent years, and I think it's totally awesome! The concept behind the Lockstep Empire is one of the best and most original yet. In spite of this, the book is not without its problems and for me they mainly stem from the confusing execution of those ideas.
First of all, the Lockstep system by itself is not a very difficult one to grasp, but the book will keep throwing factors into the mix making the story a lot more complicated. Take for instance, worlds that don't operate on the Lockstep schedule, or are set at different intervals. Or how about different characters in different contexts, popping up with their ages all over the place relative to Toby and his friends'. Whenever the author states how much time has passed (presumably in Lockstep time) or whenever a character goes to sleep and wakes up again during space travel, I would always wonder when I actually am.
The creative plot line and world building notwithstanding, I also only felt lukewarm towards the story. I was drawn by the ideas in this novel and the intrigue of Toby's messed up family, but I was never made to feel truly excited about where the book was going. I also won't deny this might have played into my overall uncertainty of the Lockstep premise. It pretty much mirrors my experience with hard sci-fi. While I don't really consider myself a big fan, I wouldn't mind hard sci-fi novels as long as they "hook" me in some way, making it easier for me to wrap my head around technobabble and the more complicated ideas. I think the same can be applied to Lockstep, but in this case the storytelling, while ambitious and inventive, just didn't really do it for me.
To sum things up, this book has lots of great ideas and world building, worth reading just to be hit with the awesomeness of the Lockstep system and learn about its ins-and-outs. The story could have been written in a way to make it easier to understand, but the concept is still nothing short of incredible. My main issue with the book isn't so much that I found the Lockstep system confusing (like I said, that's my problem, not the book's) but the fact the story itself did not excite me. I enjoyed it, but could it have been more? I think so. Still, not bad, not bad at all.
My brain does not feel fully equipped to handle Lockstep. Obviously, this is not a criticism of the book; rather it is one on my limitations in spatial-temporal thinking. For you see, the whole book revolves around a fascinating but sometimes confusing concept of coordinated hibernation cycles. With no warp drives and light-years between colonized planets, it's the most efficient way to keep a civilization going in a huge galaxy.
In this Lockstep system, worlds are carefully timed on a "sleep-and-wake" schedule, and this also allows travelers to lie dormant during long trips between planets. Whole populations can go into cold sleeps for decades while only waking for a few weeks, but even after many cycles it could feel like hardly any time has passed at all. So in essence, there's "real time" and then there's "Lockstep time". The main character Toby experiences this the hard way, having gone to sleep after being lost in space, then waking up 14,000 years later in real time. But in Lockstep time however, only about four decades have passed.
I've been noticing a lot more books featuring wild and innovative ideas dealing with space and time in recent years, and I think it's totally awesome! The concept behind the Lockstep Empire is one of the best and most original yet. In spite of this, the book is not without its problems and for me they mainly stem from the confusing execution of those ideas.
First of all, the Lockstep system by itself is not a very difficult one to grasp, but the book will keep throwing factors into the mix making the story a lot more complicated. Take for instance, worlds that don't operate on the Lockstep schedule, or are set at different intervals. Or how about different characters in different contexts, popping up with their ages all over the place relative to Toby and his friends'. Whenever the author states how much time has passed (presumably in Lockstep time) or whenever a character goes to sleep and wakes up again during space travel, I would always wonder when I actually am.
The creative plot line and world building notwithstanding, I also only felt lukewarm towards the story. I was drawn by the ideas in this novel and the intrigue of Toby's messed up family, but I was never made to feel truly excited about where the book was going. I also won't deny this might have played into my overall uncertainty of the Lockstep premise. It pretty much mirrors my experience with hard sci-fi. While I don't really consider myself a big fan, I wouldn't mind hard sci-fi novels as long as they "hook" me in some way, making it easier for me to wrap my head around technobabble and the more complicated ideas. I think the same can be applied to Lockstep, but in this case the storytelling, while ambitious and inventive, just didn't really do it for me.
To sum things up, this book has lots of great ideas and world building, worth reading just to be hit with the awesomeness of the Lockstep system and learn about its ins-and-outs. The story could have been written in a way to make it easier to understand, but the concept is still nothing short of incredible. My main issue with the book isn't so much that I found the Lockstep system confusing (like I said, that's my problem, not the book's) but the fact the story itself did not excite me. I enjoyed it, but could it have been more? I think so. Still, not bad, not bad at all.
September 6, 2018
3.5 stars. The basis for the far future human civilization in this book is fascinating; hibernate for years at a time while bots mine, process manufacture, plant, etc, so that when you wake, goods are available. In this future, humans have moved past Pluto (sorry, bud, you're not becoming a planet again), colonizing nomad planets. Mars, other solar system planets and other rocks are also colonized. All sorts of human experiments happened, with a variety of settlements and even civilizations rising and falling in the fourteen thousand years since Toby McGonigal went missing on a trip to establish a claim to Sedna. After his loss, his family spent years looking for him, all the while developing a very effective hibernation technique. This technique allowed for very long sleeps and successful awakening. As resources were scarce as humans expanded further and further, the hibernation technique was firmly adopted by an increasing number of colonies. The McGonigals established a system to keep colonies’ awake and hibernation periods in synch across the very great distances by coordinating sleep periods, "wintering" as it was called, to ensure sufficient goods for colonies, but also to set up reliable trade and commerce and travel between planets. The Lockstep civilization was born, and it's into this that Toby's hibernating body is found and resuscitated. After, he has to figure out who he is in this weirdly far future, but also in a civilization that's still somewhat familiar, as his family is still alive, thanks to the lockstep system. And their family's ridiculous wealth.
Toby is used by multiple individuals who have issues with the McGonigal family and their civilization-wide policies. Toby just wants to be reunited with his family (he was 17 when lost) and now his younger brother and sister are older than him and seem less than enthused by his recent emergence. There's a whole religion that's grown up around Toby, as the progenitor of the lockstep civilization; unfortunately, the presence of the actual young man just complicates his brother's and sister's plans and control. Toby goes on the run and travels from world to world, before finally confronting his siblings over their bullying of a particular planet.
I found there were so many great ideas in this book, from the method to control scarce resources while expanding into space, the weird religion around Toby, the far future tech, the use of bots, the wonderful, heavily genetically modified denners that offered an alternative to conventional lockstep wintering. I liked the book for all this. I did keep getting confused at how the various lockstepped planets (not all followed the same long McGonigal schedule, though they all did have certain time periods that met up) did stay in synch. After a while, I just figured the characters got their math right and stopped trying to figure it out with them.
I found the characterization a little flat, and was surprised by how quickly the end was resolved with the McGonigals.
Toby is used by multiple individuals who have issues with the McGonigal family and their civilization-wide policies. Toby just wants to be reunited with his family (he was 17 when lost) and now his younger brother and sister are older than him and seem less than enthused by his recent emergence. There's a whole religion that's grown up around Toby, as the progenitor of the lockstep civilization; unfortunately, the presence of the actual young man just complicates his brother's and sister's plans and control. Toby goes on the run and travels from world to world, before finally confronting his siblings over their bullying of a particular planet.
I found there were so many great ideas in this book, from the method to control scarce resources while expanding into space, the weird religion around Toby, the far future tech, the use of bots, the wonderful, heavily genetically modified denners that offered an alternative to conventional lockstep wintering. I liked the book for all this. I did keep getting confused at how the various lockstepped planets (not all followed the same long McGonigal schedule, though they all did have certain time periods that met up) did stay in synch. After a while, I just figured the characters got their math right and stopped trying to figure it out with them.
I found the characterization a little flat, and was surprised by how quickly the end was resolved with the McGonigals.
September 12, 2018
this is YA, so it's fair to say I'm not the target market, but I have no idea why this is so popular. DNF on page 175. I didn't even make it halfway. The premise is expanded from Dayworld, which is cool, but the characters' stories so far are all "no time to explain," followed by a wordbuilding infodump. Repeat. And the MC has no inner life. I simply do not care about Toby, and as yet I have no idea what the love interest/side kick's goal is. Right now she is literally giving the MC the silent treatment, so I'm not about to learn her backstory any time soon.
I am out, baby.
I am out, baby.
November 16, 2016
Toby Wyatt McGonigal is only an ordinary, if extremely smart, 17-year-old boy. He was morosely flying his ship out to comet Rockette under orders of his father one day, when disaster struck. The hull of his ship was holed by a speck of rock. The automatic mechanics and bots of his ship had taken over while Toby was in deep sleep in a Cicada. The bots fixed the damage while Toby stayed in deep sleep. Toby's parents had bought the hibernation beds and had vastly improved their technology. But now, with power critically low, the ship woke him. After getting the AI powered up, Toby learns he is not orbiting either Sedna or Rockette. It is an unknown earth-size frozen world with dead cities!
Toby is lost.
His family had left earth and was homesteading the dwarf planet Sedna with about a hundred volunteer hires and bots, far beyond the solar system. Sedna is an orphan planet, cold and not part of any sun's system. The rules of homesteading meant the family of five, Carter and Cassandra McGonigal, with their children Toby, Peter and Evayne, had to claim all of the world's moons by a McGonigal family member. He last remembers climbing into the Cicada on his way to Rockette, and now he is waking up from cold sleep orbiting a frozen orphan planet in the outer reaches of space beyond his knowledge, and the power of his ship is almost depleted. Toby knows he is a dead man. All he can do is return to the Cicada and hope he is found before his ship loses all power.
When he next opens his eyes, he is snuggled deep in a four-poster bed where an amber sunrise light is pouring in a window lighting a nice bedroom. Is it a simulation? Then, a dressing-bot is at the foot of the bed. He definitely isn't on Sedna, where accommodations are rudimentary. He gets up and looks out the window. There are towers, vehicles, trees and people. The sound of a voice behind him -
""Ah! So you're awake.""
This is an amazing brain-candy hard science-fiction novel. I absolutely loved it. I think, though, it won't be interesting for many unless hard science concept plots which explore a society based on a spectacularly speculative innovation, along with a intricate PG-13 space opera plot, is fascinating enough to hold your interest. There is suspense, but the plot is heavy with technology and many changes of scenery, combined with a slow mystery. Toby is a nice guy, but he seemed a little flat as a character, as do most of the others whether friendlies or enemies. The single exception is a very darling cat/otter called a denner, Orpheus, who saves Toby's life a number of times.
The denner is a designed animal whose powers of activating a human's internal hibernation implants will allow the two to go into deep sleep without a Cicada bed. It is a very useful adaptation when one must run from the authorities and try to keep from being captured. All of the Cicadas are remotely monitored, so the only way to travel and live secretly on what turns out to be an empire of thousands of orphan worlds and systems is a denner and implants.
Why does Toby have to run and hide? Well, it turns out he was in cold sleep for 14,000 years, and a lot of unexpected things happened after the family upgraded the old hibernation technology, one of which was to make the McGonigal family very powerful. It also turns out the rest of Toby's family is still alive - they are the dictators of this empire. For some reason, siblings Pete and Evayne want Toby dead. He doesn't have a clue why....
I have not revealed the really fun idea behind the McGonigal empire, gentle reader. But I will say I was gobsmacked. If I was to rate the novel on this innovation and how the author played it into the story, this book would be an easy five stars. However, the characters were a little too cardboard cutout and the ending was terribly off-center and flat. So, a three-star story with a five-star concept.
Toby is lost.
His family had left earth and was homesteading the dwarf planet Sedna with about a hundred volunteer hires and bots, far beyond the solar system. Sedna is an orphan planet, cold and not part of any sun's system. The rules of homesteading meant the family of five, Carter and Cassandra McGonigal, with their children Toby, Peter and Evayne, had to claim all of the world's moons by a McGonigal family member. He last remembers climbing into the Cicada on his way to Rockette, and now he is waking up from cold sleep orbiting a frozen orphan planet in the outer reaches of space beyond his knowledge, and the power of his ship is almost depleted. Toby knows he is a dead man. All he can do is return to the Cicada and hope he is found before his ship loses all power.
When he next opens his eyes, he is snuggled deep in a four-poster bed where an amber sunrise light is pouring in a window lighting a nice bedroom. Is it a simulation? Then, a dressing-bot is at the foot of the bed. He definitely isn't on Sedna, where accommodations are rudimentary. He gets up and looks out the window. There are towers, vehicles, trees and people. The sound of a voice behind him -
""Ah! So you're awake.""
This is an amazing brain-candy hard science-fiction novel. I absolutely loved it. I think, though, it won't be interesting for many unless hard science concept plots which explore a society based on a spectacularly speculative innovation, along with a intricate PG-13 space opera plot, is fascinating enough to hold your interest. There is suspense, but the plot is heavy with technology and many changes of scenery, combined with a slow mystery. Toby is a nice guy, but he seemed a little flat as a character, as do most of the others whether friendlies or enemies. The single exception is a very darling cat/otter called a denner, Orpheus, who saves Toby's life a number of times.
The denner is a designed animal whose powers of activating a human's internal hibernation implants will allow the two to go into deep sleep without a Cicada bed. It is a very useful adaptation when one must run from the authorities and try to keep from being captured. All of the Cicadas are remotely monitored, so the only way to travel and live secretly on what turns out to be an empire of thousands of orphan worlds and systems is a denner and implants.
Why does Toby have to run and hide? Well, it turns out he was in cold sleep for 14,000 years, and a lot of unexpected things happened after the family upgraded the old hibernation technology, one of which was to make the McGonigal family very powerful. It also turns out the rest of Toby's family is still alive - they are the dictators of this empire. For some reason, siblings Pete and Evayne want Toby dead. He doesn't have a clue why....
I have not revealed the really fun idea behind the McGonigal empire, gentle reader. But I will say I was gobsmacked. If I was to rate the novel on this innovation and how the author played it into the story, this book would be an easy five stars. However, the characters were a little too cardboard cutout and the ending was terribly off-center and flat. So, a three-star story with a five-star concept.
November 1, 2024
In case you haven’t already guessed, I love science fiction. One thing that frustrates me is the stigma that comes with the genre – it’s geeky, it’s nerdy, it’s for people with no lives. Which is all a load of rubbish, and since YA sci-fi has become increasingly more common, I hope it’s a stereotype that will soon disappear. One thing I have noticed though, is that the majority of YA science fiction tends to be on the ‘lighter’ side, and I’ve been looking for something a little ‘heavier’. And Lockstep fits the bill quite nicely.
The story of a teenager who finds himself fourteen thousand years in the future after a malfunction with his ship, Lockstep really explores the idea of space and time travel (or at least the ‘freezing’ of time). The title of the book comes from a system called the Lockstep, where all inhabitants within hibernate on the 360/1 system – asleep for thirty years, awake for one month. Robots and A.I. systems maintain the cities and settlements during hibernation, as well as producing food – leaving less work for the people to do when they wake, and meaning they have more free time. It also means that people live for thousands of years – and is also a clever way of getting around the fact that there is no faster than light transport. Cargo ships may have to travel out to planets thousands of years away – but the Lockstep system ensures that the people aboard do not outlive or outage their relatives. It seems for all accounts and purposes like a perfect system.
Toby, our protagonist, soon discovers that things are not quite what they seem (when are they ever?!), and ends up with a ragtag group of friends who introduce him, and the reader, to this futuristic world. Schroeder has invented some wonderful technologies for the book, for example the Denners – cat-like creatures that seem part organic, part machine, and who will support a human through hibernation. There’s also a partial virtual reality element to the book, that may appeal to fans of Ready Player One – Toby and his younger brother build a virtual reality world together, known as Consensus – and Peter has brought Consensus to life in creating the Lockstep. Some parts of the book, such as Toby’s brother and sister, also reminded me of Ender’s Game.
There were a few parts of the book that I felt let it down. Toby’s reaction, for one, on learning that he is now fourteen thousand years in the future. His life, his family, his home – all gone, ancient history. Sure, he freaks out – but not for long, not to the extent that you would expect someone to after learning that everything they once knew and loved is now dust. Of course, his family are still alive – but he doesn’t learn that until later on. This brings me onto the point that this fact was given away by the blurb, but when revealed in the book it feels like it should have been a surprise – which it mostly definitely isn’t to the reader. I also feel that perhaps some more flashbacks of life before Toby set out on the journey would have been beneficial – the reader doesn’t have that much in order to compare young Peter and Peter the Tyrant, so it’s hard in places to understand Toby’s shock. And finally, the ending was a complete anti-climax for me. I loved the story up until that point – it felt like the easy way out, like a build up to a massive action scene and then… nothing.
Despite the disappointing ending, I really did enjoy this book. It is a brilliant introduction to heavier science fiction for those perhaps a little wary of diving straight into the genre – advanced technology and the more ‘typical’ elements of heavy sci-fi, whilst still keeping the feel of a Young Adult book. Schroeder has built up a fascinating universe, which makes it all the more a shame that this is not going to be a series! And also, as previously mentioned: a definite recommendation for fans of books such as Ender’s Game and Ready Player One.
I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Originally posted on my book blog, Rinn Reads.
The story of a teenager who finds himself fourteen thousand years in the future after a malfunction with his ship, Lockstep really explores the idea of space and time travel (or at least the ‘freezing’ of time). The title of the book comes from a system called the Lockstep, where all inhabitants within hibernate on the 360/1 system – asleep for thirty years, awake for one month. Robots and A.I. systems maintain the cities and settlements during hibernation, as well as producing food – leaving less work for the people to do when they wake, and meaning they have more free time. It also means that people live for thousands of years – and is also a clever way of getting around the fact that there is no faster than light transport. Cargo ships may have to travel out to planets thousands of years away – but the Lockstep system ensures that the people aboard do not outlive or outage their relatives. It seems for all accounts and purposes like a perfect system.
Toby, our protagonist, soon discovers that things are not quite what they seem (when are they ever?!), and ends up with a ragtag group of friends who introduce him, and the reader, to this futuristic world. Schroeder has invented some wonderful technologies for the book, for example the Denners – cat-like creatures that seem part organic, part machine, and who will support a human through hibernation. There’s also a partial virtual reality element to the book, that may appeal to fans of Ready Player One – Toby and his younger brother build a virtual reality world together, known as Consensus – and Peter has brought Consensus to life in creating the Lockstep. Some parts of the book, such as Toby’s brother and sister, also reminded me of Ender’s Game.
There were a few parts of the book that I felt let it down. Toby’s reaction, for one, on learning that he is now fourteen thousand years in the future. His life, his family, his home – all gone, ancient history. Sure, he freaks out – but not for long, not to the extent that you would expect someone to after learning that everything they once knew and loved is now dust. Of course, his family are still alive – but he doesn’t learn that until later on. This brings me onto the point that this fact was given away by the blurb, but when revealed in the book it feels like it should have been a surprise – which it mostly definitely isn’t to the reader. I also feel that perhaps some more flashbacks of life before Toby set out on the journey would have been beneficial – the reader doesn’t have that much in order to compare young Peter and Peter the Tyrant, so it’s hard in places to understand Toby’s shock. And finally, the ending was a complete anti-climax for me. I loved the story up until that point – it felt like the easy way out, like a build up to a massive action scene and then… nothing.
Despite the disappointing ending, I really did enjoy this book. It is a brilliant introduction to heavier science fiction for those perhaps a little wary of diving straight into the genre – advanced technology and the more ‘typical’ elements of heavy sci-fi, whilst still keeping the feel of a Young Adult book. Schroeder has built up a fascinating universe, which makes it all the more a shame that this is not going to be a series! And also, as previously mentioned: a definite recommendation for fans of books such as Ender’s Game and Ready Player One.
I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Originally posted on my book blog, Rinn Reads.
February 14, 2014
I've read (and loved) quite a few of Karl Schroeder's books, but this was the first to be marketed as YA, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I found it better than I expected!
Toby McGonigal is a near-future teen, obsessed with playing simulation video games, a loving brother and son. His family are pioneers, among the first to leave the solar system and lay claim to a rogue planet. In order to cement the ownership claim, the family must physically visit all the bodies in the system - but on an expedition to a remote asteroid, something goes wrong - and Toby doesn't come out of coldsleep until an unfathomable amount of time has passed - and the world has changed around him. Toby has left behind everything he ever knew - or has he? Either way, he'll need to make new friends, and take a gamble on who to trust, if he is to survive.
Discovering the new future world - and its technicalities and politics - is a delight for the reader. The plot has all the charm and adventure of classic Andre Norton, but with snappy writing, and, most significantly, truly original, clever ideas. Although the plot will probably appeal most to teens, the social setup of Lockstep (and the exploration of the ramifications of the situation Schroeder creates) are enough to fascinate any hard sci-fi fan.
Copy provided by NetGalley and Tor/Forge Books. Thanks!
Toby McGonigal is a near-future teen, obsessed with playing simulation video games, a loving brother and son. His family are pioneers, among the first to leave the solar system and lay claim to a rogue planet. In order to cement the ownership claim, the family must physically visit all the bodies in the system - but on an expedition to a remote asteroid, something goes wrong - and Toby doesn't come out of coldsleep until an unfathomable amount of time has passed - and the world has changed around him. Toby has left behind everything he ever knew - or has he? Either way, he'll need to make new friends, and take a gamble on who to trust, if he is to survive.
Discovering the new future world - and its technicalities and politics - is a delight for the reader. The plot has all the charm and adventure of classic Andre Norton, but with snappy writing, and, most significantly, truly original, clever ideas. Although the plot will probably appeal most to teens, the social setup of Lockstep (and the exploration of the ramifications of the situation Schroeder creates) are enough to fascinate any hard sci-fi fan.
Copy provided by NetGalley and Tor/Forge Books. Thanks!
November 2, 2015
The synopsis for Lockstep sounded really interesting, but unfortunately it turned out to be rather dull. It took me far longer to read this than I thought it would and I really pushed myself not to DNF it a couple of times. What I did like about the book was the concept of the Lockstep worlds where people who had colonized different planets slept for 30 years at a time in a frozen state, and were awake for only a month at a time. This allowed them to live for thousands of years and to travel to far off places. That's the main reason I gave this 2 stars instead of 1.
This being a space opera I was expecting adventure and excitement, but instead there was mostly a lot of talking, sleeping, waking up, philosophizing (a lot of which annoyed me), and hiding. There was also a lot of telling instead of showing. The characters could have been a lot more fleshed out. Mostly they felt pretty cardboard. The little romance in the story left me feeling nothing. There was no real spark between the characters, it was like they decided they cared for each other, but none of the feelings were written on the page, we were just told they did. Also lets find a new reason for people to have left Earth to explore new worlds other than some giant corporations took over the world and global warming damaged or destroyed it.
This being a space opera I was expecting adventure and excitement, but instead there was mostly a lot of talking, sleeping, waking up, philosophizing (a lot of which annoyed me), and hiding. There was also a lot of telling instead of showing. The characters could have been a lot more fleshed out. Mostly they felt pretty cardboard. The little romance in the story left me feeling nothing. There was no real spark between the characters, it was like they decided they cared for each other, but none of the feelings were written on the page, we were just told they did. Also lets find a new reason for people to have left Earth to explore new worlds other than some giant corporations took over the world and global warming damaged or destroyed it.
April 14, 2014
Toby McGonical's family has escaped from Earth and its super rich dominated society to settle Sedna, a planet many miles away. The McGonical family has altered a hibernation bed - a cicada bed- which was previously invented to treat the incredibly sick, into a device which freezes the passengers of star ships enabling them to fly incredible distances before waking up the crew. Since they are hibernating they do not age.
When Toby is out on a mission to claim an asteroid for his family his ship is damaged. Toby goes into the cicada bed and is finally woken up 14,000 years in the future by people intent on using him for their own ends, but he escapes their captivity and learns a lot about his new time. The people who help Toby escape want Toby to help them change the system that controls the planets.
The universe is a vastly different place. There are 70,000 settled worlds. It could be a good place to explore human alien contact since there are so many different worlds. But instead, Karl Schroeder's focus is on time travel, revolution, the economics of space travel and justice. Apparently the invention of the cicada bed has made trade possible between star systems, but not every planet is a great fit for human colonization. A planet system may have terrible atmosphere or scant resources to feed all of its inhabitants. Since it takes such a long time to travel between star systems, people on planets have voluntarily agreed to a period of self hibernation. The result is that planets can husband their scant resources for when the inhabitants are awake and trade can go forward. The most common form of self hibernation is the 360/1 planets, which is 360 months of cold sleep and one month awake. Its an ingenious idea, and Schroeder builds his whole novel around it.
Because the ruling strata of the 70,000 planet system still controls the cicada beds, they can control trade and the self hibernation system. Moreover they can punish a planet by making some people hibernate shorter period than others - thus prematurely aging some people.
Although Toby's quest to try to overthrow the system has some rewards, ultimately its a questions whether one believes that people would adapt a system where they slept for 30 years and lived for one month even if it was a great month. Schroeder writes a good tale of quiet revolution and family struggle, but its hard to believe in this world system.
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When Toby is out on a mission to claim an asteroid for his family his ship is damaged. Toby goes into the cicada bed and is finally woken up 14,000 years in the future by people intent on using him for their own ends, but he escapes their captivity and learns a lot about his new time. The people who help Toby escape want Toby to help them change the system that controls the planets.
The universe is a vastly different place. There are 70,000 settled worlds. It could be a good place to explore human alien contact since there are so many different worlds. But instead, Karl Schroeder's focus is on time travel, revolution, the economics of space travel and justice. Apparently the invention of the cicada bed has made trade possible between star systems, but not every planet is a great fit for human colonization. A planet system may have terrible atmosphere or scant resources to feed all of its inhabitants. Since it takes such a long time to travel between star systems, people on planets have voluntarily agreed to a period of self hibernation. The result is that planets can husband their scant resources for when the inhabitants are awake and trade can go forward. The most common form of self hibernation is the 360/1 planets, which is 360 months of cold sleep and one month awake. Its an ingenious idea, and Schroeder builds his whole novel around it.
Because the ruling strata of the 70,000 planet system still controls the cicada beds, they can control trade and the self hibernation system. Moreover they can punish a planet by making some people hibernate shorter period than others - thus prematurely aging some people.
Although Toby's quest to try to overthrow the system has some rewards, ultimately its a questions whether one believes that people would adapt a system where they slept for 30 years and lived for one month even if it was a great month. Schroeder writes a good tale of quiet revolution and family struggle, but its hard to believe in this world system.
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November 15, 2019
3.5 Stars
This was pretty fun science fiction novel that explored some unique ideas. I found the concept of Lockstepping to be very fascinating and enjoyed learning how these hypernation cycles affected every aspect of their society. The characters felt a bit weak and the plot began to drag, but overall I enjoyed this one for the tidbits of hard science.
This was pretty fun science fiction novel that explored some unique ideas. I found the concept of Lockstepping to be very fascinating and enjoyed learning how these hypernation cycles affected every aspect of their society. The characters felt a bit weak and the plot began to drag, but overall I enjoyed this one for the tidbits of hard science.
September 26, 2014
Karl Schroeder's Lockstep is that comparative rarity, at least among the books I've been reading lately: a standalone work, without (apparent) intent to become a neverending "saga." That's extremely refreshing, but in this case it's also (almost) a shame, because the setting for Lockstep is complex and unusual, with a lot of potential for rich storytelling.
This is the setup: given a slower-than-lightspeed universe (just like the one we seem to be stuck with in reality), a universe where even the nearest stars are decades if not centuries away using any realistic mode of propulsion, then if you have robots that you can trust absolutely, and cryogenic suspension technology that you can also trust absolutely (and yes, those are both very big ifs)... then your society can live much more sustainably—and you can leverage the time between those slow trips from star to star much more effectively—if you just go to sleep for years at a time, waking up again only at widely separated intervals, after your robots have slowly and carefully harvested enough material to keep you in luxury for a month or two. And since it's usually much more fun to visit a planet where the people are awake and moving around, it makes a lot of sense to synchronize schedules across the light-years so your settlements are all waking up and going down at matching intervals. A synchronous network of widely-separated planetary settlements, all in... lockstep.
And, in turn (as it were—heh), keeping everyone in lockstep is much easier if one single entity (say, the Cicada Corporation that owns hibernation technology) controls exactly how long you sleep.
Enter teenager Toby McGonigal. Toby was on his way out to a little ball of ice in the Solar System's Kuiper Belt to settle a family property claim when he got... lost. For a long time—fourteen thousand years. A lot can happen in that kind of time, but when he's finally found and awakened, not as much has changed as one might expect. The people Toby meets speak the same language that he does; the clothing they wear and the technology they use is oddly recognizable. And Toby himself is oddly recognizable to them...
Sound contrived? It sure is—but it's also a great gimmick for a story, and Schroeder anticipates most of the objections to this scenario and answers them somewhere within the text. He's a thoughtful writer, and this is no slapped-together future. It's actually a pretty interesting tale, and it's one that (see above) Karl Schroeder actually wraps up within the scope of this book. There are definitely more potential stories to tell within the Lockstep Empire, but Lockstep itself comes to a seriously satisfying conclusion.
Lockstep turned out to be a very good science fiction tale as well. Schroeder sets up its rules and then plays by them. I admire that.
One small caveat, I suppose: those readers (and I know you're out there) who are averse to anything flavored with Young-Adultness may have trouble with this book. Fourteen millennia of cold sleep didn't mature 17-year-old Toby at all, strangely enough; he is—at least to start with—a remarkably callow protagonist. But he learns quickly. And so do we.
Recommended.
This is the setup: given a slower-than-lightspeed universe (just like the one we seem to be stuck with in reality), a universe where even the nearest stars are decades if not centuries away using any realistic mode of propulsion, then if you have robots that you can trust absolutely, and cryogenic suspension technology that you can also trust absolutely (and yes, those are both very big ifs)... then your society can live much more sustainably—and you can leverage the time between those slow trips from star to star much more effectively—if you just go to sleep for years at a time, waking up again only at widely separated intervals, after your robots have slowly and carefully harvested enough material to keep you in luxury for a month or two. And since it's usually much more fun to visit a planet where the people are awake and moving around, it makes a lot of sense to synchronize schedules across the light-years so your settlements are all waking up and going down at matching intervals. A synchronous network of widely-separated planetary settlements, all in... lockstep.
And, in turn (as it were—heh), keeping everyone in lockstep is much easier if one single entity (say, the Cicada Corporation that owns hibernation technology) controls exactly how long you sleep.
Enter teenager Toby McGonigal. Toby was on his way out to a little ball of ice in the Solar System's Kuiper Belt to settle a family property claim when he got... lost. For a long time—fourteen thousand years. A lot can happen in that kind of time, but when he's finally found and awakened, not as much has changed as one might expect. The people Toby meets speak the same language that he does; the clothing they wear and the technology they use is oddly recognizable. And Toby himself is oddly recognizable to them...
Sound contrived? It sure is—but it's also a great gimmick for a story, and Schroeder anticipates most of the objections to this scenario and answers them somewhere within the text. He's a thoughtful writer, and this is no slapped-together future. It's actually a pretty interesting tale, and it's one that (see above) Karl Schroeder actually wraps up within the scope of this book. There are definitely more potential stories to tell within the Lockstep Empire, but Lockstep itself comes to a seriously satisfying conclusion.
Lockstep turned out to be a very good science fiction tale as well. Schroeder sets up its rules and then plays by them. I admire that.
One small caveat, I suppose: those readers (and I know you're out there) who are averse to anything flavored with Young-Adultness may have trouble with this book. Fourteen millennia of cold sleep didn't mature 17-year-old Toby at all, strangely enough; he is—at least to start with—a remarkably callow protagonist. But he learns quickly. And so do we.
Recommended.
March 14, 2014
*3,5 stars* I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!
Reviewing Lockstep proves to be very hard for me. There were so many things that I loved about the book but in the end it couldn't completely convince me of its grandness, unfortunately. I've come to realize that I'd read books of any genre as long as the characters appeal to me. I like to feel what they feel and the best books are those who best describe human emotions. So, I try to have a great variety of books and genres on my blog which is also part of the reason why I wanted to read this book.
Toby has been in hibernation for 1400 years and discovers that his world has changed tremendously. The young McGonigal's past is already set in our future, so the book is absolutely hard SciFi. Toby's family was trying to settle on Sedna, a tiny planet near Neptune. Now, hundreds of years later, he has to learn that not only did they succeed in transforming Sedna into a thriving civilization, but also they have created the Lockstep world.
I thought the idea of the Lockstep universe was absolutely brilliant. I loved Schroeder's world-building! It was totally convincing that people would hibernate for thirty years to live for a month and return to hibernation. This way it's impossible for humans to run down a planet's ecosystem because it can recover regularly. And people can spend the years they need to travel between planets which are many lightyears away from each other sleeping rather than aging.
Schroeder's writing was engaging and very entertaining. I soaked up all the details of his world. I was drawn in by the idea and it was great reading about it. BUT and here's my big "but", I couldn't really get warm with the characters. Actually I can say that I didn't care about any of them. I asked myself why that was the case. And, well, it's the emotions... as always. The way Toby reacted to being awakened after 1400 freaking years of hibernation wasn't very authentic. The only aspect that made him likeable to me was his relationship with his denner, Orpheus. Those little animals were so cute and they're essential for the stowaways during hibernation because they need them to wake up.
I've already read this in some other review but still I have to say that some details reminded me of other books, like the Consensus virtual world that Peter and Toby created that sounded a lot like the virtual reality of Ready Player One.
Overall, I'm a tiny bit disappointed because this book could have been grand, truly epic! But it wasn't because some essential parts were missing, like memorable characters, deep emotion and other aspects that make the reader care and share the thrills of the protagonists.
Reviewing Lockstep proves to be very hard for me. There were so many things that I loved about the book but in the end it couldn't completely convince me of its grandness, unfortunately. I've come to realize that I'd read books of any genre as long as the characters appeal to me. I like to feel what they feel and the best books are those who best describe human emotions. So, I try to have a great variety of books and genres on my blog which is also part of the reason why I wanted to read this book.
Toby has been in hibernation for 1400 years and discovers that his world has changed tremendously. The young McGonigal's past is already set in our future, so the book is absolutely hard SciFi. Toby's family was trying to settle on Sedna, a tiny planet near Neptune. Now, hundreds of years later, he has to learn that not only did they succeed in transforming Sedna into a thriving civilization, but also they have created the Lockstep world.
I thought the idea of the Lockstep universe was absolutely brilliant. I loved Schroeder's world-building! It was totally convincing that people would hibernate for thirty years to live for a month and return to hibernation. This way it's impossible for humans to run down a planet's ecosystem because it can recover regularly. And people can spend the years they need to travel between planets which are many lightyears away from each other sleeping rather than aging.
Schroeder's writing was engaging and very entertaining. I soaked up all the details of his world. I was drawn in by the idea and it was great reading about it. BUT and here's my big "but", I couldn't really get warm with the characters. Actually I can say that I didn't care about any of them. I asked myself why that was the case. And, well, it's the emotions... as always. The way Toby reacted to being awakened after 1400 freaking years of hibernation wasn't very authentic. The only aspect that made him likeable to me was his relationship with his denner, Orpheus. Those little animals were so cute and they're essential for the stowaways during hibernation because they need them to wake up.
I've already read this in some other review but still I have to say that some details reminded me of other books, like the Consensus virtual world that Peter and Toby created that sounded a lot like the virtual reality of Ready Player One.
Overall, I'm a tiny bit disappointed because this book could have been grand, truly epic! But it wasn't because some essential parts were missing, like memorable characters, deep emotion and other aspects that make the reader care and share the thrills of the protagonists.
May 6, 2014
Karl Schroeder produces a classic early-80s hard-SF adventure novel. Or do I mean early-90s? Heck, it could be early-70s, depending on whether I want put it in the genre of _Ringworld_ or _Fire Upon the Deep_.
_Lockstep_ is not as gargantuan as either of those, but it *is* a genuinely new idea for a hard-SF civilization. I didn't think any of those were left. Come to think of it, the last one was Schroeder's _Permanence_, unless it was Schroeder's Virga books. I guess he's chosen a metier.
I will not describe The Gimmick. It's not a book-length secret (it's explained in chapter 2) but if I get into it I'll derail into a discussion of how clever and/or plausible it is, and so what. I think it's very clever and mostly plausible. Totally plausible enough for 70s or 80s or 90s wacky-idea SF.
The story is intertwined with The Gimmick, but it's not a gimmick story. It's a story about a kid named Toby McGonigal, caught out of time by a hibernation accident, trying to survive in a world gone mad. (From his point of view.) (Okay, when people start worshipping him as the Emperor of Time, that's pretty mad by anybody's standard.) I originally wrote "boy hero Toby McGonigal", but that's wrong; he's an ordinary kid forced to cope with circumstances. Like I said -- classic. Carried off perfectly well. I liked it.
Looking back, I can say that that this book has a better-structured plot than the Virga series, a better ending than _Lady of Mazes_, and the Big Idea is solid. This makes it Schroeder's best book overall, even if I can name individual scenes in earlier books that I enjoyed more.
_Lockstep_ is not as gargantuan as either of those, but it *is* a genuinely new idea for a hard-SF civilization. I didn't think any of those were left. Come to think of it, the last one was Schroeder's _Permanence_, unless it was Schroeder's Virga books. I guess he's chosen a metier.
I will not describe The Gimmick. It's not a book-length secret (it's explained in chapter 2) but if I get into it I'll derail into a discussion of how clever and/or plausible it is, and so what. I think it's very clever and mostly plausible. Totally plausible enough for 70s or 80s or 90s wacky-idea SF.
The story is intertwined with The Gimmick, but it's not a gimmick story. It's a story about a kid named Toby McGonigal, caught out of time by a hibernation accident, trying to survive in a world gone mad. (From his point of view.) (Okay, when people start worshipping him as the Emperor of Time, that's pretty mad by anybody's standard.) I originally wrote "boy hero Toby McGonigal", but that's wrong; he's an ordinary kid forced to cope with circumstances. Like I said -- classic. Carried off perfectly well. I liked it.
Looking back, I can say that that this book has a better-structured plot than the Virga series, a better ending than _Lady of Mazes_, and the Big Idea is solid. This makes it Schroeder's best book overall, even if I can name individual scenes in earlier books that I enjoyed more.
April 24, 2014
I had picked this up thinking it was a foray into YA sci-fi in a way that was sorely lacking. Having never read a Karl Schroeder book before, I was happy to find a good (albeit sometimes draggy) science fiction tale even if it's not really young adult.
The story is really about Toby, who wakes up 14000 years after being put in a frozen state. He quickly learns that his family pioneered a form of interstellar travel/cooperation called the Lockstep, which involved timing states of sleep/suspended animation and using robots to do the standard work along the way. The interesting point is a bit of a curveball that I don't want to give away, but it sets the stage for what quickly becomes a fairly epic story.
The book itself is good. It's hard sci-fi written in a pretty accessible way, and it has a lot of fun concepts. I loved the idea of the Lockstep and really enjoyed a lot of the science that went into this.
The story itself could be a little tighter, and I wonder if part of that is because it might have had young adult intentions (and the marketing at least suggests as such) and just fails to balance itself completely on that line.
Overall, a good science fiction read, my favorite in a while. Worth a look.
The story is really about Toby, who wakes up 14000 years after being put in a frozen state. He quickly learns that his family pioneered a form of interstellar travel/cooperation called the Lockstep, which involved timing states of sleep/suspended animation and using robots to do the standard work along the way. The interesting point is a bit of a curveball that I don't want to give away, but it sets the stage for what quickly becomes a fairly epic story.
The book itself is good. It's hard sci-fi written in a pretty accessible way, and it has a lot of fun concepts. I loved the idea of the Lockstep and really enjoyed a lot of the science that went into this.
The story itself could be a little tighter, and I wonder if part of that is because it might have had young adult intentions (and the marketing at least suggests as such) and just fails to balance itself completely on that line.
Overall, a good science fiction read, my favorite in a while. Worth a look.
February 1, 2014
I loved the world, I am a huge sucker for good world building and if you do that, you halfway have me as a reader. The characters were both good and bad, the main I enjoyed, the rest as a whole were not as developed to me as Toby, the hero.
It's a interesting story, and will draw you in, if you are a fan of hard science fiction and want to try some young adult, this is the book for you. I'm a fan and look forward to future tales.
Apologize for the shortness, I decided to get to the point on a few reviews today since I plan on writing several at once.
It's a interesting story, and will draw you in, if you are a fan of hard science fiction and want to try some young adult, this is the book for you. I'm a fan and look forward to future tales.
Apologize for the shortness, I decided to get to the point on a few reviews today since I plan on writing several at once.
August 6, 2016
*I received a free ARC of Lockstep from Macmillan / Tor/Forge via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*
The start of Lockstep is very slow, but once I got into the story, I was completely hooked!
The start of Lockstep is very slow, but once I got into the story, I was completely hooked!
November 18, 2017
2.5 stars
This review is based on an ARC received for free from NetGalley. I am not being paid to review this book and what I write here is my own opinion. My rating scale is below.
brief
After spending fourteen thousand years adrift in space, Toby McGonigal wakes to find himself in a future where most people spend thirty years asleep for every month spent awake, and that these cycles are controlled by his despotic brother and sister.
full review
Let me preface by saying that this is not a bad book. It is, however, a very slow-starting book. It took more than a hundred pages of reading before I was able to figure out where the author was going with the plot, and which characters I ought to care about (other than Toby, of course, though caring about him didn't come easily either). I would like to pretend that the bewilderment and feeling of having no clue where everything was going was deliberate on the author's part, a device to put the reader into the protagonist's mind, but it would be difficult to prove one way or another.
The premise of this story is interesting. Fourteen thousand years after Toby McGonigal's personal space ship vanishes, it reappears and he wakes up to find himself in a future where the majority of people operate on a 360/1 cycle wherein for every month they spend awake, they spend thirty years asleep in the cicada beds his family created millennia ago. Living in this manner is known as being part of lockstep, and it is up to individual settlements whether to take part or not. The author could have explained this concept in a less convoluted manner than he did, and so despite grasping the fact that it happened, it took longer than it needed to for the implications of such a system to occur to me as a reader.
Toby's brother and sister, as the owners of the technology that allows the lockstep lifestyle, have become impossibly powerful through their control of all the cicada beds and their virtual immortality. This control has made them more than a little despotic, and when Toby's reappearance is discovered his siblings take steps to eliminate him. During his absence, a religion grew up around Toby, who became the Lord of Time, and his arrival is supposed to herald a change to the system which they find understandably upsetting.
Toby is woken and runs away from the people who woke him because he thinks they will allow him to be killed. Soon he finds refuge with professional stowaways who use adorable catlike creatures to take part in lockstep without using McGonigal cicada bed technology. Among these people is an intriguing girl named Corva who, like everybody else in the universe, wants something from him, and after a while Toby decides to help her out. His involvement in her plans make it impossible for him to live under his siblings' radar any longer, and so he is forced to move against them or be destroyed.
Throughout the book there are occasional flashbacks to Toby's past. Usually these occur when he is asleep in a hibernation period, but sometimes they just happen. Whenever they do, the reader can be certain that whatever he's recalling will relate directly to the next bit of present-day action. The additional information is welcome, but it makes it too easy to predict when something important is going to take place in the narrative, and what sort of something it will be.
So I didn't dislike this book. There were parts of it that I liked a great deal, but it had the potential to be so much more than it was, I found the actual product disappointing. This may not be fair, but I doubt I will be the only reader who compares the book-as-it-is to the book-as-it-could-have-been and comes away disappointed by the gap between the former and the latter.
rating scale
1 star - I was barely able to finish it. I didn't like it.
2 stars - It was okay. I didn't dislike it.
3 stars - I liked it. It was interesting.
4 stars - It was excellent. I really liked it.
5 stars - OMG I WANT TO STALK THIS AUTHOR!
This review is based on an ARC received for free from NetGalley. I am not being paid to review this book and what I write here is my own opinion. My rating scale is below.
brief
After spending fourteen thousand years adrift in space, Toby McGonigal wakes to find himself in a future where most people spend thirty years asleep for every month spent awake, and that these cycles are controlled by his despotic brother and sister.
full review
Let me preface by saying that this is not a bad book. It is, however, a very slow-starting book. It took more than a hundred pages of reading before I was able to figure out where the author was going with the plot, and which characters I ought to care about (other than Toby, of course, though caring about him didn't come easily either). I would like to pretend that the bewilderment and feeling of having no clue where everything was going was deliberate on the author's part, a device to put the reader into the protagonist's mind, but it would be difficult to prove one way or another.
The premise of this story is interesting. Fourteen thousand years after Toby McGonigal's personal space ship vanishes, it reappears and he wakes up to find himself in a future where the majority of people operate on a 360/1 cycle wherein for every month they spend awake, they spend thirty years asleep in the cicada beds his family created millennia ago. Living in this manner is known as being part of lockstep, and it is up to individual settlements whether to take part or not. The author could have explained this concept in a less convoluted manner than he did, and so despite grasping the fact that it happened, it took longer than it needed to for the implications of such a system to occur to me as a reader.
Toby's brother and sister, as the owners of the technology that allows the lockstep lifestyle, have become impossibly powerful through their control of all the cicada beds and their virtual immortality. This control has made them more than a little despotic, and when Toby's reappearance is discovered his siblings take steps to eliminate him. During his absence, a religion grew up around Toby, who became the Lord of Time, and his arrival is supposed to herald a change to the system which they find understandably upsetting.
Toby is woken and runs away from the people who woke him because he thinks they will allow him to be killed. Soon he finds refuge with professional stowaways who use adorable catlike creatures to take part in lockstep without using McGonigal cicada bed technology. Among these people is an intriguing girl named Corva who, like everybody else in the universe, wants something from him, and after a while Toby decides to help her out. His involvement in her plans make it impossible for him to live under his siblings' radar any longer, and so he is forced to move against them or be destroyed.
Throughout the book there are occasional flashbacks to Toby's past. Usually these occur when he is asleep in a hibernation period, but sometimes they just happen. Whenever they do, the reader can be certain that whatever he's recalling will relate directly to the next bit of present-day action. The additional information is welcome, but it makes it too easy to predict when something important is going to take place in the narrative, and what sort of something it will be.
So I didn't dislike this book. There were parts of it that I liked a great deal, but it had the potential to be so much more than it was, I found the actual product disappointing. This may not be fair, but I doubt I will be the only reader who compares the book-as-it-is to the book-as-it-could-have-been and comes away disappointed by the gap between the former and the latter.
rating scale
1 star - I was barely able to finish it. I didn't like it.
2 stars - It was okay. I didn't dislike it.
3 stars - I liked it. It was interesting.
4 stars - It was excellent. I really liked it.
5 stars - OMG I WANT TO STALK THIS AUTHOR!
March 20, 2014
*Genre* Science Fiction
*Rating* 3.0
*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
*My Thoughts*
For Seventeen year old Toby McGonigal, a supposed quick trip to a comet called Rockette to file a claim on it in behest of his family, ends in a 14,000 year journey thanks to a major malfunction with his ship, and ends profoundly changing his life, while putting him directly into confrontation with the siblings that he left behind.
I am pretty sure that if you follow any of my reviews, you know that I'm a science fiction fan, and addicted to shows like Lost Girls, Bitten, Warehouse 13, etc. Sometimes the stories I read blow me away, other times they let me wanting more. Lockstep is a STANDALONE story that is filled with awesome world building and characters that you can't help but like. The whole concept behind Lockstep actually blew me away, and my poor wittle brain had a bit of an overload trying to figure it all out.
Lockstep is an interesting futuristic ability where entire planets sleep (hibernate) for a decades at a time in order to save on resources, and allow for others to trade with planets further away. Robots and other intelligent (AI's) creations maintain the planet while the population is asleep. There are planets that sleep for decades, while being awake for only a month at a time. The idea created first by Toby in a virtual reality game called Consensus, was later expanded by his brother Peter and sister Evayne who are truly evil tyrants, is that people now have the ability to live longer, and travel to different worlds without leaving your family behind to grow old, or vanish entirely.
I will say that I was shocked, in a way, to learn that Lockstep is a STANDALONE, and not part of a series. I find it refreshing when authors write stories that mostly tie up all loose ends, and you don't have to wait around for another year to find out what happens next. Personally, I would like to see more of Toby and his journey, but will be happy to know that most everything works out in the end.
Lockstep secondary characters in Jaysir, Shylif, and Corva Keishion add an additional layer to the story, as do the tyrants known as Toby's siblings Peter and Evie. You'll be surprised to learn that this is a science fiction story not based on any twisted insta-lust romance. I do, however, believe that the relationship between Corva and Toby is more of a friendship than any sexual derivative.
Lockstep is filled with political intrigue, twists, surprises, and is definitely recommended for those who enjoy pure science fiction.
*Recvd 01/14/2014 via NetGalley* Expected publication: March 25th 2014 by Tor Books
*Rating* 3.0
*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
*My Thoughts*
For Seventeen year old Toby McGonigal, a supposed quick trip to a comet called Rockette to file a claim on it in behest of his family, ends in a 14,000 year journey thanks to a major malfunction with his ship, and ends profoundly changing his life, while putting him directly into confrontation with the siblings that he left behind.
I am pretty sure that if you follow any of my reviews, you know that I'm a science fiction fan, and addicted to shows like Lost Girls, Bitten, Warehouse 13, etc. Sometimes the stories I read blow me away, other times they let me wanting more. Lockstep is a STANDALONE story that is filled with awesome world building and characters that you can't help but like. The whole concept behind Lockstep actually blew me away, and my poor wittle brain had a bit of an overload trying to figure it all out.
Lockstep is an interesting futuristic ability where entire planets sleep (hibernate) for a decades at a time in order to save on resources, and allow for others to trade with planets further away. Robots and other intelligent (AI's) creations maintain the planet while the population is asleep. There are planets that sleep for decades, while being awake for only a month at a time. The idea created first by Toby in a virtual reality game called Consensus, was later expanded by his brother Peter and sister Evayne who are truly evil tyrants, is that people now have the ability to live longer, and travel to different worlds without leaving your family behind to grow old, or vanish entirely.
I will say that I was shocked, in a way, to learn that Lockstep is a STANDALONE, and not part of a series. I find it refreshing when authors write stories that mostly tie up all loose ends, and you don't have to wait around for another year to find out what happens next. Personally, I would like to see more of Toby and his journey, but will be happy to know that most everything works out in the end.
Lockstep secondary characters in Jaysir, Shylif, and Corva Keishion add an additional layer to the story, as do the tyrants known as Toby's siblings Peter and Evie. You'll be surprised to learn that this is a science fiction story not based on any twisted insta-lust romance. I do, however, believe that the relationship between Corva and Toby is more of a friendship than any sexual derivative.
Lockstep is filled with political intrigue, twists, surprises, and is definitely recommended for those who enjoy pure science fiction.
*Recvd 01/14/2014 via NetGalley* Expected publication: March 25th 2014 by Tor Books
April 1, 2014
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I seem to be on a run lately of reading weaker books by authors that I like. I ended up skimming this book after the first hundred pages.
While I loved the Virga series, many of the strengths of those books were not apparent in this one.
One: imagery: Virga was a really cool steampunk/singularity cross, with airships, gear-cities, and other great images. I didn't really get any of that with Lockstep.
Character has not been one of Schroeder's big strengths, and here his main character, Toby, seems to have almost no personality of his own. He's got problems, sure- he has ended up 14,000 years further forward in time! But really, he's the eyes through which the reader learns about the coolest part of the book- the Lockstep.
It turns out that on developing planets with limited resources, it makes the most sense for humans to cryogenically sleep for periods while machines work and make resources to make the planet more habitable. The ability to stockpile these resources makes the planets who use this technique richer than those that don't, to the point that everybody wants to do this if they possibly can. Lockstep societies can also avoid the aging-with-long-space-travel problem that means that a long journey is essentially a one-way affair, with those who cryogenically sleep the journey away remaining younger than those who stay behind. Lockstep means that everybody, traveling or not, is frozen for about 360 days and up for about one month, no matter which planet they are on. Those who can't afford lockstep are left behind in time and in resources.
So, a very interesting idea. There's just not a good story about it. And some holes in the idea: what if a technological breakthrough is made while the Locksteppers are sleeping? Or a singularity occurs? Or why can't people break in to the Locksteppers and simply take what they want?
There is a very cute otter-cat creature called a denner, which can help humans wake up from cryogenic sleep. They're very adorable. Denners, and the fact that Toby is seventeen, seem to be what makes this a teen book. But I'm not sure that most teens are going to have a lot of patience with this sophisticated Lockstep idea. I myself lost patience with the lack of plot progression and the "keep the main character in the dark about what's happening" thing to keep suspense- one of my greatest pet peeves.
I seem to be on a run lately of reading weaker books by authors that I like. I ended up skimming this book after the first hundred pages.
While I loved the Virga series, many of the strengths of those books were not apparent in this one.
One: imagery: Virga was a really cool steampunk/singularity cross, with airships, gear-cities, and other great images. I didn't really get any of that with Lockstep.
Character has not been one of Schroeder's big strengths, and here his main character, Toby, seems to have almost no personality of his own. He's got problems, sure- he has ended up 14,000 years further forward in time! But really, he's the eyes through which the reader learns about the coolest part of the book- the Lockstep.
It turns out that on developing planets with limited resources, it makes the most sense for humans to cryogenically sleep for periods while machines work and make resources to make the planet more habitable. The ability to stockpile these resources makes the planets who use this technique richer than those that don't, to the point that everybody wants to do this if they possibly can. Lockstep societies can also avoid the aging-with-long-space-travel problem that means that a long journey is essentially a one-way affair, with those who cryogenically sleep the journey away remaining younger than those who stay behind. Lockstep means that everybody, traveling or not, is frozen for about 360 days and up for about one month, no matter which planet they are on. Those who can't afford lockstep are left behind in time and in resources.
So, a very interesting idea. There's just not a good story about it. And some holes in the idea: what if a technological breakthrough is made while the Locksteppers are sleeping? Or a singularity occurs? Or why can't people break in to the Locksteppers and simply take what they want?
There is a very cute otter-cat creature called a denner, which can help humans wake up from cryogenic sleep. They're very adorable. Denners, and the fact that Toby is seventeen, seem to be what makes this a teen book. But I'm not sure that most teens are going to have a lot of patience with this sophisticated Lockstep idea. I myself lost patience with the lack of plot progression and the "keep the main character in the dark about what's happening" thing to keep suspense- one of my greatest pet peeves.
February 18, 2015
[4 Stars] Video Review Here: http://youtu.be/BzvfUJxvVjI
I will start off this review by saying that I hardly ever read hard science fiction, particularly space opera. That being said, it is a genre which has always intrigued me. Space opera operates at such a grand epic scale with characters jumping from planet to planet and entire empires unfolding before your very eyes. In all honesty, the idea of reading a book about the vast uncharted empire of space was quite intimidating to me. I hoped Lockstep would be the "gateway book," the book which finally made me more comfortable with reading hard science fiction, and on those accounts it definitely delivered. However, the story has its ups and downs: aspects I thoroughly enjoyed and aspects which really disappointed me.
The World Building.
World building is where Lockstep truly shines. I have not read another book by Karl Schroeder. If his other books, however, are as thoroughly and ingeniously built as this one, I may have to change that.
The Lockstep Empire is a stretch of space approximately 5 light years between Pluto and Alpha Centauri (from what I recall). This stretch of space reveals planets nearly entirely frozen over, places which most would deem uninhabitable. Advanced hibernation technology, however, has made these planets not only sustain life, but thrive because of it. Cities within the Lockstep empire hibernate at a 360/1 ratio meaning people are awake for one month and then hibernate for 30 years. This system allows bots to gather resources while the entire empire is asleep and also allows for better systems of trade. Essentially people travel during hibernation periods allowing them to move quickly through the system without moving too far ahead in time. You can go to a system, for example, that would normally take you 20 years to travel to and come back with only a month or two of "real time" passing in between. It seems like the perfect system, but obviously the main characters learn that it really isn't.
At parts throughout the book I found myself confused. It is difficult to keep track of the way the Lockstep Empire manipulates time, and what exactly is happening throughout the book. Once you finally understand how Lockstep works, the entire book seems to click into place. It is absolutely ingenious, and unlike anything I have ever read before. I also really enjoyed the descriptions of the various places Toby goes throughout the book. The descriptions of the planets was so intriguing and something entirely new to me. Karl Schroeder has carefully constructed such an intriguing Empire, and though the entire story's scale didn't prove to be quite as epic as I wanted it to be, the scope of the empire Schroeder has created is just mind boggling. Everything from the religious cults to the fabricated histories to the economy and black market, everything is just so unique and interesting. I found myself wishing there were other books written in this empire so I could experience the world in a different way once more.
The Characters.
This is where I had my main problems with Lockstep. First off, I thought Toby acted like a different character at the beginning of the book than at the end of the book. I know he undergoes character development, but I mean a change which is far more jarring than that. He is an extremely intelligent young man, and his actions at the start of the book seem to be very well… "wishy washy" is the only way I would put it. Toby and his brother, Peter, had built an imaginary game world for themselves called Consensus and together they tested out various world and empire scenarios. The Toby who would have gone into consensus with Peter is not the same character we see at the beginning of the book.
Another main character is Corva who I was almost entirely unconvinced by. I enjoyed her interaction with Toby and I appreciated how their relationship was not entirely built upon affection and lust and instead there were barriers of trust both had to break through to really get to know each other. That being said, I felt their relationship was a little strained and I felt Corva was a character I hardly knew.
Perhaps the most interesting character, Peter, Toby;s younger brother, was hardly explored at all. We got glimpses of Toby's past with Peter and Peter's past, but I felt like we never truly got to know him. His trauma and past experiences molded him in such an intrigued way and I would have liked to know more. He also strangely reminded me of Peter from Ender's Game and throughout the book I couldn't stop comparing Toby to Ender, Peter to Peter, and Evayne to Valentine. I also felt like I saw glimpses of Crake from Oryx and Crake in Peter. Evayne was another character I wish I knew more about, particularly her childhood.
Overall I wasn't entirely convinced by the characters. Particularly considering that if you take away the hard science, this is really a story about a broken family who built an entire empire on their shattered hopes and dreams.
The Plot.
I expected the plot to be fast paced, thrilling, and over ally just epic. This is not what Lockstep was. Lockstep is a slow moving story largely concerned with its world building and its political maneuvering. At times these political maneuverings went straight over my head, but when I understood them I thought it was extremely fascinating. That being said, I do think the politics at the end of the book were rather forced and the entire story did fall a little flat. It seemed like all the slow paced world building and the politics would come together with an explosive ending, which something that really was epic and grand in its scale. I was unfortunately let down.
If you have ever read Xenocide by Orson Scott Card, I would equate its ending to Lockstep, but only the way they both feel. It just seemed to convenient or too unbelievable. I enjoyed the way things actually wrapped up, but I felt like it left so many questions. It seemed like the broken family aspect of the plot was resolved, but the question of Lockstep as an empire was still unsolved for me.
The Writing.
This is another aspect of the book I quite enjoyed. Though Schroeder's writing is not floury or lyrical, and is instead quite blunt at times, I thought it was perfectly suited to Lockstep. There were definitely some beautiful passages and descriptions, but overall this story and its writing is quite easy to follow. Some of the technicalities of the science fiction are difficult to grasp at first, but the writing itself is no obstacle to such.
Overall.
I quite enjoyed Lockstep. I am a lover of books which are heavily invested in world building, and on those fronts this book definitely delivered. I recommend this for people who want to dip their toes into hard science fiction, but are not quite sure where to start. I don't think the characters were as developed as they could have been or the plot as dynamic as it could have been, but I think this ingenious empire of Lockstep that Schroeder has created makes up for that.
Lockstep by Karl Schroeder gets a firm 3.75 stars out of 5 stars.
This copy was provided by NetGalley and Tor/Forge Books in exchange for an honest review. Thanks so much!
I will start off this review by saying that I hardly ever read hard science fiction, particularly space opera. That being said, it is a genre which has always intrigued me. Space opera operates at such a grand epic scale with characters jumping from planet to planet and entire empires unfolding before your very eyes. In all honesty, the idea of reading a book about the vast uncharted empire of space was quite intimidating to me. I hoped Lockstep would be the "gateway book," the book which finally made me more comfortable with reading hard science fiction, and on those accounts it definitely delivered. However, the story has its ups and downs: aspects I thoroughly enjoyed and aspects which really disappointed me.
The World Building.
World building is where Lockstep truly shines. I have not read another book by Karl Schroeder. If his other books, however, are as thoroughly and ingeniously built as this one, I may have to change that.
The Lockstep Empire is a stretch of space approximately 5 light years between Pluto and Alpha Centauri (from what I recall). This stretch of space reveals planets nearly entirely frozen over, places which most would deem uninhabitable. Advanced hibernation technology, however, has made these planets not only sustain life, but thrive because of it. Cities within the Lockstep empire hibernate at a 360/1 ratio meaning people are awake for one month and then hibernate for 30 years. This system allows bots to gather resources while the entire empire is asleep and also allows for better systems of trade. Essentially people travel during hibernation periods allowing them to move quickly through the system without moving too far ahead in time. You can go to a system, for example, that would normally take you 20 years to travel to and come back with only a month or two of "real time" passing in between. It seems like the perfect system, but obviously the main characters learn that it really isn't.
At parts throughout the book I found myself confused. It is difficult to keep track of the way the Lockstep Empire manipulates time, and what exactly is happening throughout the book. Once you finally understand how Lockstep works, the entire book seems to click into place. It is absolutely ingenious, and unlike anything I have ever read before. I also really enjoyed the descriptions of the various places Toby goes throughout the book. The descriptions of the planets was so intriguing and something entirely new to me. Karl Schroeder has carefully constructed such an intriguing Empire, and though the entire story's scale didn't prove to be quite as epic as I wanted it to be, the scope of the empire Schroeder has created is just mind boggling. Everything from the religious cults to the fabricated histories to the economy and black market, everything is just so unique and interesting. I found myself wishing there were other books written in this empire so I could experience the world in a different way once more.
The Characters.
This is where I had my main problems with Lockstep. First off, I thought Toby acted like a different character at the beginning of the book than at the end of the book. I know he undergoes character development, but I mean a change which is far more jarring than that. He is an extremely intelligent young man, and his actions at the start of the book seem to be very well… "wishy washy" is the only way I would put it. Toby and his brother, Peter, had built an imaginary game world for themselves called Consensus and together they tested out various world and empire scenarios. The Toby who would have gone into consensus with Peter is not the same character we see at the beginning of the book.
Another main character is Corva who I was almost entirely unconvinced by. I enjoyed her interaction with Toby and I appreciated how their relationship was not entirely built upon affection and lust and instead there were barriers of trust both had to break through to really get to know each other. That being said, I felt their relationship was a little strained and I felt Corva was a character I hardly knew.
Perhaps the most interesting character, Peter, Toby;s younger brother, was hardly explored at all. We got glimpses of Toby's past with Peter and Peter's past, but I felt like we never truly got to know him. His trauma and past experiences molded him in such an intrigued way and I would have liked to know more. He also strangely reminded me of Peter from Ender's Game and throughout the book I couldn't stop comparing Toby to Ender, Peter to Peter, and Evayne to Valentine. I also felt like I saw glimpses of Crake from Oryx and Crake in Peter. Evayne was another character I wish I knew more about, particularly her childhood.
Overall I wasn't entirely convinced by the characters. Particularly considering that if you take away the hard science, this is really a story about a broken family who built an entire empire on their shattered hopes and dreams.
The Plot.
I expected the plot to be fast paced, thrilling, and over ally just epic. This is not what Lockstep was. Lockstep is a slow moving story largely concerned with its world building and its political maneuvering. At times these political maneuverings went straight over my head, but when I understood them I thought it was extremely fascinating. That being said, I do think the politics at the end of the book were rather forced and the entire story did fall a little flat. It seemed like all the slow paced world building and the politics would come together with an explosive ending, which something that really was epic and grand in its scale. I was unfortunately let down.
If you have ever read Xenocide by Orson Scott Card, I would equate its ending to Lockstep, but only the way they both feel. It just seemed to convenient or too unbelievable. I enjoyed the way things actually wrapped up, but I felt like it left so many questions. It seemed like the broken family aspect of the plot was resolved, but the question of Lockstep as an empire was still unsolved for me.
The Writing.
This is another aspect of the book I quite enjoyed. Though Schroeder's writing is not floury or lyrical, and is instead quite blunt at times, I thought it was perfectly suited to Lockstep. There were definitely some beautiful passages and descriptions, but overall this story and its writing is quite easy to follow. Some of the technicalities of the science fiction are difficult to grasp at first, but the writing itself is no obstacle to such.
Overall.
I quite enjoyed Lockstep. I am a lover of books which are heavily invested in world building, and on those fronts this book definitely delivered. I recommend this for people who want to dip their toes into hard science fiction, but are not quite sure where to start. I don't think the characters were as developed as they could have been or the plot as dynamic as it could have been, but I think this ingenious empire of Lockstep that Schroeder has created makes up for that.
Lockstep by Karl Schroeder gets a firm 3.75 stars out of 5 stars.
This copy was provided by NetGalley and Tor/Forge Books in exchange for an honest review. Thanks so much!
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April 14, 2021The lockstep is the weirdest concept I have ever come across. By hibernating, the population of a far flung colony can exist on almost nothing but the power required for the deep sleep modules. While they slumber, bots tend the day to day activities, harvesting and harbouring resources to sustain the colony when it wakes, and to fuel a journey across the stars to another colony for the purpose of trade. If they sleep on the ship, they can awaken at that other colony, having travelled multiple light-years ‘overnight’. If that other colony hibernated at the same time they did, then they, too, would have years of harvested materials to trade and the resources for their own journey elsewhere. Sleeping planets in a wide network become linked by a schedule of hibernation that allows trade and faster travel. But what happens to all the years falling away in between?
That was the question that poked me throughout Lockstep. Karl Schroeder expends quite a bit of effort toward explaining the theory and the math and I sort of got it. I understood the concept enough to take it as given, so I could get on with reading the story. But a sense of urgency gripped me as years floated away between periods of hibernation. On many of the planets, folks ‘wintered-over’ or hibernated for thirty years at a stretch. They’d wake for a month, burn through their gathered resources and then go to sleep again. Even though I understood it, it felt like just another night to them, I could not get over the wasted time, the years that went by unchecked. I missed them on their behalf.
When years hit the ratio of fourteen thousand real-time to forty actually lived, I had to cast myself adrift from the loss. It was too impossible to contemplate.
‘But what is the book about?’ I hear you ask. Well, it’s about a boy who is lost to time. Toby McGonigal set out to claim a moon. Once he put a metaphorical stamp on the rock, his family of intra-galactic homesteaders would have successfully mapped the portion of space surrounding the planet Sedna and could rightfully call it all theirs. An accident tosses him off course and out of time. He wakes over a dark planet, figures out he is lost and decides to hibernate again, for the last time. He is surprised to wake up again and even more surprised to find that fourteen thousand years have passed. Then he learns about the lockstep and the lockstep worlds. Hint: Toby grasped the concept more easily than I did. I think he felt the passage of years as keenly, however.
Toby is not simply a boy out of time, however. He soon discovers he has a legacy, one that has had thousands of years to germinate. He is a legend awakened, the emperor of time. Who seeded the myths? His grieving family. Their search for him and the wait for his return, started the trend of hibernation, creating the lockstep. Toby is the heir to that and all it entails. But not all of his family are happy to see him. In fact, they seem bent on his destruction. Why? Answering that question would be giving up the plot of the book.
Lockstep is pretty unique, as far as far future Science Fiction goes. The concept is really out there. The world-building matches the insane passage of time, though. Periods of enforced hibernation mean people can live in really bizarre circumstances on worlds perhaps only Karl Schroeder can dream about. I enjoyed learning about these different worlds, from concept to creation, and how different life could be in space. The genetic advancements were fascinating. The denners, cat-like creatures that served as an alternate hibernation system, were really cute. I want one. Of course, if I woke up tomorrow to find thirty years had passed, I might want my money back.
As expected, the inhabitants of these worlds have some strange ideas. Here’s where having a boy out of time as the narrator really works. The reader experiences these differences with Toby, which allows the author to insert small chunks of exposition that might otherwise feel heavy. Schroeder doesn’t dump all over the page, though. The explanations are in small, digestible portions that integrate seamlessly with the story.
Toby is an interesting mix of boy and man. He’s believably smart and reasonably sympathetic. At seventeen, his thoughts often felt immature. His lapses in judgment are easily forgiven; he’s lost a near unfathomable amount of time and forty years with his family. The universe is full of strangers living strange lives. Of his new friends, I think I liked Shylif the most. His story really bridged the gap between ‘fast worlds’ and the ‘lockstep’ worlds, fast worlds being those that exist fully in real time without hibernating.
I’ve read Karl Schroeder before, and have admired his imagination before. I love that for every twenty authors out there writing the regular space opera, which I need regular doses of, there is another guy dreaming up the impossible. If he writes another time-bending novel, I’ll check my anxiety at the front cover and leap right in.
Reviewed for SFCrowsnest.
That was the question that poked me throughout Lockstep. Karl Schroeder expends quite a bit of effort toward explaining the theory and the math and I sort of got it. I understood the concept enough to take it as given, so I could get on with reading the story. But a sense of urgency gripped me as years floated away between periods of hibernation. On many of the planets, folks ‘wintered-over’ or hibernated for thirty years at a stretch. They’d wake for a month, burn through their gathered resources and then go to sleep again. Even though I understood it, it felt like just another night to them, I could not get over the wasted time, the years that went by unchecked. I missed them on their behalf.
When years hit the ratio of fourteen thousand real-time to forty actually lived, I had to cast myself adrift from the loss. It was too impossible to contemplate.
‘But what is the book about?’ I hear you ask. Well, it’s about a boy who is lost to time. Toby McGonigal set out to claim a moon. Once he put a metaphorical stamp on the rock, his family of intra-galactic homesteaders would have successfully mapped the portion of space surrounding the planet Sedna and could rightfully call it all theirs. An accident tosses him off course and out of time. He wakes over a dark planet, figures out he is lost and decides to hibernate again, for the last time. He is surprised to wake up again and even more surprised to find that fourteen thousand years have passed. Then he learns about the lockstep and the lockstep worlds. Hint: Toby grasped the concept more easily than I did. I think he felt the passage of years as keenly, however.
Toby is not simply a boy out of time, however. He soon discovers he has a legacy, one that has had thousands of years to germinate. He is a legend awakened, the emperor of time. Who seeded the myths? His grieving family. Their search for him and the wait for his return, started the trend of hibernation, creating the lockstep. Toby is the heir to that and all it entails. But not all of his family are happy to see him. In fact, they seem bent on his destruction. Why? Answering that question would be giving up the plot of the book.
Lockstep is pretty unique, as far as far future Science Fiction goes. The concept is really out there. The world-building matches the insane passage of time, though. Periods of enforced hibernation mean people can live in really bizarre circumstances on worlds perhaps only Karl Schroeder can dream about. I enjoyed learning about these different worlds, from concept to creation, and how different life could be in space. The genetic advancements were fascinating. The denners, cat-like creatures that served as an alternate hibernation system, were really cute. I want one. Of course, if I woke up tomorrow to find thirty years had passed, I might want my money back.
As expected, the inhabitants of these worlds have some strange ideas. Here’s where having a boy out of time as the narrator really works. The reader experiences these differences with Toby, which allows the author to insert small chunks of exposition that might otherwise feel heavy. Schroeder doesn’t dump all over the page, though. The explanations are in small, digestible portions that integrate seamlessly with the story.
Toby is an interesting mix of boy and man. He’s believably smart and reasonably sympathetic. At seventeen, his thoughts often felt immature. His lapses in judgment are easily forgiven; he’s lost a near unfathomable amount of time and forty years with his family. The universe is full of strangers living strange lives. Of his new friends, I think I liked Shylif the most. His story really bridged the gap between ‘fast worlds’ and the ‘lockstep’ worlds, fast worlds being those that exist fully in real time without hibernating.
I’ve read Karl Schroeder before, and have admired his imagination before. I love that for every twenty authors out there writing the regular space opera, which I need regular doses of, there is another guy dreaming up the impossible. If he writes another time-bending novel, I’ll check my anxiety at the front cover and leap right in.
Reviewed for SFCrowsnest.
July 24, 2014
More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/
Upon initial evaluation, Lockstep sounds like your typical YA: young protagonists engaging in a soppy romance while navigating a loopy plot with staggeringly bad logic and science.
But that is not this book.
What we have is an intelligent, well written, and thoroughly grounded hard sci fi with a surprisingly warm heart at the core. Originally published in parts in Analog magazine, the story provides a realistic method by which decades spanning space travel can be achieved without resorting to deus ex machina speculative light year technology.
Plot: Toby awakens from a routine stasis flight to claim an asteriod - only to find that something terrible has happened while he slept. His ship never awakened him and he finds himself in a future that has both greatly changed - and yet oddly stayed the same. Now Toby must navigate the new politics of the human race - a politics heavily influenced by his own family and the emergence of a new technology. With the help of a local girl and a genetically modified cat companion, Toby will have to survive long enough to find out why his own family is so desperate to kill him off.
The conceit of the book is using long hibernation periods in order to lower resource usage and synch the long travel time between worlds to trade/sell/buy resources (e.g., a trader can leave his wife at home and travel the 100 years to do a trade run and return to her being the same age). This process, called lockstep, typically could mean sleeping up to 30 years and then being awake for a month at a time. Admittedly, the math of trying to figure out how to match up the locksteps (many operating on different sleep/awake ratios), was difficult to track.
Author Schroeder doesn't sugar coat or resort to info dumps/telling - he's all show and so this is a book that you don't skim through lightly. Casual scientific references/concepts are dropped subtly and without fanfare - here's an author who knows his stuff but doesn't have to show off that knowledge every other sentence. As with all science fiction, you don't need reality in concepts and can take them on face value - so if you don't know the science the author is using, you can continue reading without losing the story. But those with a strong science background will get more depth and nuance from the story (e.g., knowing the additive color theory will explain why someone can point three lasers (one red, one gree, one blue) and create a white sun).
But at the same time, although this is a hard science, this is not a gritty, cynical, dystopian with cold heart. Rather, what we have is a warm center of humanity and a world created with ideals at heart. Toby and all the characters are rich with hope and decency, acting with intelligence and admirable goals. At its core, this is a story of family and Toby seeking to find out what happened to his sister and brother to so change them while he slept - and also to come to terms with actions taken by his mother and father.
There are a lot of treats in the book - beyond the science to also include cultural references. E.g, Toby has a hard time not smirking every time he hears that Mars has been renamed to Barsoom and has creatures on it called Tharks.
If you take away the hard science, this is very much a YA story. Young boy, young girl, their friends, operating at the fringes of society and each with goals, motivations, and reasons to betray each other. The addition of genetically and technically modified cat pets called denners give more personality and heart to the story.
Though demanding, Lockstep is a clean read - no sex, swearing, drugs, violence, overt evilness, etc. It may seem a bit sanitized compared to what we see in a lot of today's literature and pop culture but it does work here in the world that Schroeder has created. As Toby evades and plans, we have a lot of adventure and adventurous circumstances to keep the read interesting. As well, there is a lightly played romance that is appropriate for the story. But that science is always there too - it can be jarring to read of Toby casually mentioning that to get from one chapter to the next, he was asleep for 30 years.
So, in all, highly recommended. Very well written, very well thought out, with warm characters, and interesting plot full of adventure and politics, and at its heart the story of the importance of family.
Reviewed from an ARC.
April 27, 2014
Let's start with the obvious and work our way back from that (trust me that sentence is very funny after you read the book). I am not a science person. String theory or time travel is about my limit, everything else inhabits a hazy sort of nebulous region of "Well it sounds plausible". I thought a lot of Star Trek sounded plausible and real so that's the level of scientific gullibility I have. LOCKSTEP requires you to really think about what you're reading--not just the characters or their motivations, but how the world itself is configured.
This isn't a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination. Because I had to think so hard to keep in step with what came innately to the characters I felt more immersed in the world. While Schroeder does explain the Lockstep program, the characters themselves (for the most part) live it so they discuss it in the same offhand manner someone discusses chewing gum. The idea, and implementation of, Lockstep is curious and new. Its not just a means of surviving in a universe where worlds crumble and decay so rapidly, its a religion, economic trade, punishment and political.
Toby was a surprise. Toby's family was a surprise, mostly in how that all turned out. The synopsis is being a little disingenuous and taking some of what's going on out of context for Toby's family. Toby was rational, level-headed and did not let his emotions cloud his thinking. Its not that he didn't feel, or he didn't react badly or never made a misjudgement, but he thought about everything before he made a choice. Who to talk to, who to trust, who not to trust. Toby did a lot of thinking even as he was misled.
Toby's family, as you come to find out, is a complicated mess that stems as much from time being almost a play thing as it does from the fact that those involved lack communication almost completely. Small petty things that in time work themselves out are magnified when one person thinks its been a couple months and the other has had years to stew over it. When you can't hash it out with someone it just festers and these people raised it to practically a religion.
This probably isn't a book for everybody. From a anthropological perspective this is fascinating and for hard science fiction fans the tech here is well worth pouring over. Those who don't want to keep notes on who is when and where is when, not to mention the tangled religion that gets worst the further you read, this will probably frustrate them.
This isn't a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination. Because I had to think so hard to keep in step with what came innately to the characters I felt more immersed in the world. While Schroeder does explain the Lockstep program, the characters themselves (for the most part) live it so they discuss it in the same offhand manner someone discusses chewing gum. The idea, and implementation of, Lockstep is curious and new. Its not just a means of surviving in a universe where worlds crumble and decay so rapidly, its a religion, economic trade, punishment and political.
Toby was a surprise. Toby's family was a surprise, mostly in how that all turned out. The synopsis is being a little disingenuous and taking some of what's going on out of context for Toby's family. Toby was rational, level-headed and did not let his emotions cloud his thinking. Its not that he didn't feel, or he didn't react badly or never made a misjudgement, but he thought about everything before he made a choice. Who to talk to, who to trust, who not to trust. Toby did a lot of thinking even as he was misled.
Toby's family, as you come to find out, is a complicated mess that stems as much from time being almost a play thing as it does from the fact that those involved lack communication almost completely. Small petty things that in time work themselves out are magnified when one person thinks its been a couple months and the other has had years to stew over it. When you can't hash it out with someone it just festers and these people raised it to practically a religion.
This probably isn't a book for everybody. From a anthropological perspective this is fascinating and for hard science fiction fans the tech here is well worth pouring over. Those who don't want to keep notes on who is when and where is when, not to mention the tangled religion that gets worst the further you read, this will probably frustrate them.
February 3, 2015
What if we jump off the wagon train of humanity hurtling towards singularity and skipped a few decades at a time, would we become effectively immortal or just outdated? For a YA science fiction novel, Lockstep poses some very adult questions. Well, at least, the book gives this senior reader some pause for thought.
The story of Lockstep itself is very YA: a teenager trapped in hibernation on his way to claim a comet for his newly-colonial family wakes to find a burgeoning civilization that is simultaneously millenia old but with his family having aged only decades. His younger brother is now the Chairman whose first direct act towards him is to order him killed. A mysterious young woman who was stalking him from when he awoke saves him from imminent death, and brings him together with a band of vagabonds who live on the periphery of society. A workbot, said to be dormant for many years, awakens to his spoken command. And the stage is set for a series of SF-laced adventures that is author Karl Schroeder's vehicle for unfolding his conception of the Lockstep universe.
This is an intriguing tale that at times comes close to unraveling as the implications of the initial premise undermine the story thread and challenge belief. Perhaps, being told in YA form saves the book from having to deal with the more tricky "what-if" permutations, such as this review's opening question. But it did make me wonder how much more the author may have been able to do with the novel if he had not set the main character as a teenager, presumed lacking in both training and life experience to tackle more complex issues, or to be able to look beyond the immediate hormonal response.
Anyway, a good read, my first from this author. I'll look for his other SF work, perhaps Ventus which has favorable reviews on Goodreads.
The story of Lockstep itself is very YA: a teenager trapped in hibernation on his way to claim a comet for his newly-colonial family wakes to find a burgeoning civilization that is simultaneously millenia old but with his family having aged only decades. His younger brother is now the Chairman whose first direct act towards him is to order him killed. A mysterious young woman who was stalking him from when he awoke saves him from imminent death, and brings him together with a band of vagabonds who live on the periphery of society. A workbot, said to be dormant for many years, awakens to his spoken command. And the stage is set for a series of SF-laced adventures that is author Karl Schroeder's vehicle for unfolding his conception of the Lockstep universe.
This is an intriguing tale that at times comes close to unraveling as the implications of the initial premise undermine the story thread and challenge belief. Perhaps, being told in YA form saves the book from having to deal with the more tricky "what-if" permutations, such as this review's opening question. But it did make me wonder how much more the author may have been able to do with the novel if he had not set the main character as a teenager, presumed lacking in both training and life experience to tackle more complex issues, or to be able to look beyond the immediate hormonal response.
Anyway, a good read, my first from this author. I'll look for his other SF work, perhaps Ventus which has favorable reviews on Goodreads.
April 29, 2014
Lockstep by Karl Schroeder is a space opera sci-fi novel which tells the story of Toby McGonigal who wakes up after a drift into cold sleep to be confronted with a new and confusing world. He must learn about the lockstep and his place within this new society. I was given a free copy by Tor/McMillan to review. I should point out straight off the bat that sci-fi/space opera is not a genre with which I am very familiar. In some ways that is a good thing; I am not so clued in to the standard tropes of the genre, as I am with contemporary fantasy, which means I can approach the story with perhaps fresher eyes. On the other hand, I freely admit some of Schroeder’s subtleties may have been lost on me.
What I liked
The lockstep concept. Because I am not so familiar with the genre, it took me a little time to get my head around the lockstep concept, but once I did get the general picture I could really appreciate what Schroeder did. I’m not going to try to explain it – go read the book. What I did like about it was the narrative tension it introduced for the characters. Being a part of the lockstep or not is a decision that you cannot go back on. I also felt that the concepts behind lockstep were very interesting; resource management and technological advancement.
The denners. Orpheus, Toby’s pet/plot device, is just so darned cute, especially when Toby gets the glasses and app allowing Orpheus to communicate with him in emoticons. I really want one of those apps for my cat. Mind you, I’m pretty sure Isis’s emoticon would be a pretty constant “feed me.”
The ending. Perhaps it was a little cheesy and too easy, but I loved it. I finished the book with a smile on my face. In all fairness, though, I do believe the way Peter’s and Evayne’s characters were developed that it was earned.
What I didn’t like
The love interest angle. I really didn’t buy the Toby/Corva relationship. It felt rather forced to me, given that both of them were dealing with a whole lot of other urgent issues during the book.
Other than that, I would recommend Lockstep and gave it four stars out of five.
What I liked
The lockstep concept. Because I am not so familiar with the genre, it took me a little time to get my head around the lockstep concept, but once I did get the general picture I could really appreciate what Schroeder did. I’m not going to try to explain it – go read the book. What I did like about it was the narrative tension it introduced for the characters. Being a part of the lockstep or not is a decision that you cannot go back on. I also felt that the concepts behind lockstep were very interesting; resource management and technological advancement.
The denners. Orpheus, Toby’s pet/plot device, is just so darned cute, especially when Toby gets the glasses and app allowing Orpheus to communicate with him in emoticons. I really want one of those apps for my cat. Mind you, I’m pretty sure Isis’s emoticon would be a pretty constant “feed me.”
The ending. Perhaps it was a little cheesy and too easy, but I loved it. I finished the book with a smile on my face. In all fairness, though, I do believe the way Peter’s and Evayne’s characters were developed that it was earned.
What I didn’t like
The love interest angle. I really didn’t buy the Toby/Corva relationship. It felt rather forced to me, given that both of them were dealing with a whole lot of other urgent issues during the book.
Other than that, I would recommend Lockstep and gave it four stars out of five.
April 2, 2014
Toby is the seventeen-year-old scion of the McGonigal family, which is in the process of colonizing Sedna, one of the countless unclaimed orphan planets that can be found in interstellar space, far beyond Pluto but light years away from the next-nearest star. To secure ownership of the planet, the McGonigals must also claim every single one of its moons, so when a distant satellite of the planet is discovered, Toby is dispatched to go claim it for the family. But then something goes horribly wrong…
When Toby wakes up from coldsleep, he makes a number of startling discoveries. For one, his ship has been drifting through space for 14,000 years. In that time, humanity has spread out across the mostly lifeless universe, populating 70,000 or so planets that are now collectively known as the “Lockstep Empire.” And, somehow, his own family is at the center of all of this: his brother Peter is the tyrant-like figure known as the Chairman.
So begins Lockstep, the newest standalone science fiction novel by Canadian author Karl Schroeder.
Read the entire review on my site Far Beyond Reality!
When Toby wakes up from coldsleep, he makes a number of startling discoveries. For one, his ship has been drifting through space for 14,000 years. In that time, humanity has spread out across the mostly lifeless universe, populating 70,000 or so planets that are now collectively known as the “Lockstep Empire.” And, somehow, his own family is at the center of all of this: his brother Peter is the tyrant-like figure known as the Chairman.
So begins Lockstep, the newest standalone science fiction novel by Canadian author Karl Schroeder.
Read the entire review on my site Far Beyond Reality!
March 21, 2014
3.5 stars
The first half of the book was a definite 4 stars, but the last half was more like 3 stars. So I split the difference and give it 3.5 stars. I am obsessed with space novels, and fortunately for me there seem to be a lot being published right now. This one was unique and in-depth in its world building. The character development was well done. I felt like the last half explained the lockstep system repeatedly. I just wanted the story, but the explanation kept getting in the way. The premise of the book was phenomenal,and I found myself wishing I could visit some of the planets in the book. The romance was sweet and didn't take center stage which I appreciated. Loved the denners and wish that they were real so I could go to the pet store and buy one. I thought the novel was engaging, and the world vividly painted and well thought out.
The first half of the book was a definite 4 stars, but the last half was more like 3 stars. So I split the difference and give it 3.5 stars. I am obsessed with space novels, and fortunately for me there seem to be a lot being published right now. This one was unique and in-depth in its world building. The character development was well done. I felt like the last half explained the lockstep system repeatedly. I just wanted the story, but the explanation kept getting in the way. The premise of the book was phenomenal,and I found myself wishing I could visit some of the planets in the book. The romance was sweet and didn't take center stage which I appreciated. Loved the denners and wish that they were real so I could go to the pet store and buy one. I thought the novel was engaging, and the world vividly painted and well thought out.
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August 9, 2016I'm afraid this is a did not finish for me. The idea of hibernating planets across the universe is interesting, and I liked the plight of our main character with how his family is involved and , but after around the scene with the cat purchase, I realized I didn't care enough about the plot to keep reading. Lots of details, not enough engagement on what will happen.
November 18, 2016
A cool new take on the hibernation/deep freeze/human Popsicle/cryogenic freezing idea. I have thought on it several times because of Alastair Reynold's use of the trope, but this was a clever use of it.
The narration was really good.
Rant: Okay, Denners was the best name the author could come up with? I got hungry every time they were mentioned in the audiobook (Dinners)
The narration was really good.
Rant: Okay, Denners was the best name the author could come up with? I got hungry every time they were mentioned in the audiobook (Dinners)
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