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Les Affinités
Adam Fisk s’est installé à Toronto pour suivre des études de graphisme que lui finance sa grand-mère. Là, il s’est inscrit à un programme payant pour déterminer à laquelle des vingt-deux Affinités il appartient. Adam est un Tau, une des cinq plus importantes de ces nouvelles familles sociales théorisées par le chercheur Meir Klein. Quand la grand-mère d’Adam, diminuée par une attaque, est placée dans une maison de retraite, le jeune homme n’a plus les moyens de suivre ses études. Mais être un Tau confère des avantages qu’il va vite découvrir : travail rémunérateur, opportunités sexuelles, vie sociale pleine et satisfaisante. Tout est trop beau, trop facile. Tout va très vite pour Adam… et il en est de même pour le reste du monde, car le modèle social des Affinités est en train de s’imposer. Malheureusement, dans l’histoire de l’Humanité, aucun changement radical ne s’est fait sans violence.
336 pages, Paperback
First published April 21, 2015
78 people are currently reading
3172 people want to read
About the author
Robert Charles Wilson
96 books1,683 followersI've been writing science fiction professionally since my first novel A Hidden Place was published in 1986. My books include Darwinia, Blind Lake, and the Hugo Award-winning Spin. My newest novel is The Affinities (April 2015).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 413 reviews
April 28, 2015
3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2015/04/28/b...
My thoughts on The Affinities in a nutshell: Loved loved loved the idea, but not so keen on the execution. Social science fiction is an enjoyable subgenre for me, but when the socio-political part of that equation gets lost in the narrative, I confess having trouble getting into the story. Nevertheless, there are a lot of interesting themes in here, many of which can be gleaned from the general description of the novel itself.
The book begins with an introduction to our narrator, Adam Fisk. At loose ends with his life and career, one day he decides to sign up for Affinity testing, the newfangled social phenomenon that has taken the continent by storm. That decision will change his life forever. Adam’s results ends up qualifying him for entrance into the Tau Affinity, one of twenty-two exclusive social groups whose membership is determined by a complex battery of personality tests. Tau becomes Adam’s new family. His fellow members don’t need to know him to understand him or to be his friend; they’re all Tau too. It’s “Tau telepathy”, everybody just gets everybody else.
Yet as the years go by and Affinities become more entrenched in our societies, new problems start to manifest themselves. The people in the twenty-two Affinities are happy with their new friends and new lives, but what of the people who don’t want to join an Affinity or whose tests don’t qualify them for any of them? And because members within an Affinity are so adept at working with each other, it is inevitable that the bigger and more influential Affinities begin to accumulate real political and financial power – Affinities like Tau and Het, whose differences eventually lead them to war against each other.
It’s all very fascinating, and indeed, I enjoyed the first hundred pages or so of the book immensely. Alas, around the halfway mark is when things started unraveling. While I liked the concept of Affinities, we don’t get near enough of the science or technology behind it. I felt like I was expected to just roll with the punches, ignore the implausibilities and just move on, so to speak. Which would have been fine with me if the story had been more satisfying on the social commentary front. But it wasn’t either, not particularly. With regards to the book’s topics, it felt like the author was biting off more than he could chew, resulting in limited implementation of the main idea when its potential in fact demands so much more. While reading The Affinities, I frequently caught the sense of the story crying out, begging to be a lot bigger, but it nonetheless fails to break out of the superficial plot that confines it.
Granted, writing stories that explore human behavior is always tricky. What Wilson endeavored to do here is admirable, but in the end I think the concept he put forward was treated too simplistically. Perhaps this is because we only focus on a single affinity, Tau, and didn’t get to see much of what happens within the others. I didn’t feel much of the “affinity-sympathy” between members of Tau, and instead felt more of the differences between the people associated with Affinities versus those who were not. The first group unfortunately came across as a bunch of insouciant, promiscuous pot-smoking shallow snobs, while those against the Affinities were portrayed as stuffy, bigoted, corporate-machine-loving ignorant right-wingers (most notably illustrated by Adam’s family). I don’t think this was the point of the novel, but that was a strong impression it gave off. Our main protagonist is neither of these two extremes but ends up being a rather passive entity caught in the middle, which in some ways made his character even more irksome.
Perhaps what excited me most about this novel was its setting. Toronto is my hometown and I loved that Robert Charles Wilson (who resides there) did it plenty of justice by illustrating what a vibrant city it is, made up of diverse neighborhoods filled with diverse people. It is also Canada’s largest city and economic powerhouse. Arguably, its qualities make it the perfect milieu for stories like The Affinities to take place, because it has all the necessary ingredients.
In the end, I don’t want to sound overly critical or make you think that I didn’t enjoy the book, because I did. There is a very interesting story here; when I wasn’t frustrated by it, I actually really liked it,. Notably, the plot picked up again in Part Three as Tau wages war with their rival, Het Affinity. It becomes a more direct and intimate story at that point, bringing suspense and even a few thrills into the picture. Unfortunately though, whatever comment this book hoped to make about society was lost in the hustle and bustle. Still, there are many things this book does right, and it’s worth reading.
My thoughts on The Affinities in a nutshell: Loved loved loved the idea, but not so keen on the execution. Social science fiction is an enjoyable subgenre for me, but when the socio-political part of that equation gets lost in the narrative, I confess having trouble getting into the story. Nevertheless, there are a lot of interesting themes in here, many of which can be gleaned from the general description of the novel itself.
The book begins with an introduction to our narrator, Adam Fisk. At loose ends with his life and career, one day he decides to sign up for Affinity testing, the newfangled social phenomenon that has taken the continent by storm. That decision will change his life forever. Adam’s results ends up qualifying him for entrance into the Tau Affinity, one of twenty-two exclusive social groups whose membership is determined by a complex battery of personality tests. Tau becomes Adam’s new family. His fellow members don’t need to know him to understand him or to be his friend; they’re all Tau too. It’s “Tau telepathy”, everybody just gets everybody else.
Yet as the years go by and Affinities become more entrenched in our societies, new problems start to manifest themselves. The people in the twenty-two Affinities are happy with their new friends and new lives, but what of the people who don’t want to join an Affinity or whose tests don’t qualify them for any of them? And because members within an Affinity are so adept at working with each other, it is inevitable that the bigger and more influential Affinities begin to accumulate real political and financial power – Affinities like Tau and Het, whose differences eventually lead them to war against each other.
It’s all very fascinating, and indeed, I enjoyed the first hundred pages or so of the book immensely. Alas, around the halfway mark is when things started unraveling. While I liked the concept of Affinities, we don’t get near enough of the science or technology behind it. I felt like I was expected to just roll with the punches, ignore the implausibilities and just move on, so to speak. Which would have been fine with me if the story had been more satisfying on the social commentary front. But it wasn’t either, not particularly. With regards to the book’s topics, it felt like the author was biting off more than he could chew, resulting in limited implementation of the main idea when its potential in fact demands so much more. While reading The Affinities, I frequently caught the sense of the story crying out, begging to be a lot bigger, but it nonetheless fails to break out of the superficial plot that confines it.
Granted, writing stories that explore human behavior is always tricky. What Wilson endeavored to do here is admirable, but in the end I think the concept he put forward was treated too simplistically. Perhaps this is because we only focus on a single affinity, Tau, and didn’t get to see much of what happens within the others. I didn’t feel much of the “affinity-sympathy” between members of Tau, and instead felt more of the differences between the people associated with Affinities versus those who were not. The first group unfortunately came across as a bunch of insouciant, promiscuous pot-smoking shallow snobs, while those against the Affinities were portrayed as stuffy, bigoted, corporate-machine-loving ignorant right-wingers (most notably illustrated by Adam’s family). I don’t think this was the point of the novel, but that was a strong impression it gave off. Our main protagonist is neither of these two extremes but ends up being a rather passive entity caught in the middle, which in some ways made his character even more irksome.
Perhaps what excited me most about this novel was its setting. Toronto is my hometown and I loved that Robert Charles Wilson (who resides there) did it plenty of justice by illustrating what a vibrant city it is, made up of diverse neighborhoods filled with diverse people. It is also Canada’s largest city and economic powerhouse. Arguably, its qualities make it the perfect milieu for stories like The Affinities to take place, because it has all the necessary ingredients.
In the end, I don’t want to sound overly critical or make you think that I didn’t enjoy the book, because I did. There is a very interesting story here; when I wasn’t frustrated by it, I actually really liked it,. Notably, the plot picked up again in Part Three as Tau wages war with their rival, Het Affinity. It becomes a more direct and intimate story at that point, bringing suspense and even a few thrills into the picture. Unfortunately though, whatever comment this book hoped to make about society was lost in the hustle and bustle. Still, there are many things this book does right, and it’s worth reading.
October 2, 2022
My first RCW which I can't say I enjoyed. What I love most in his stories is the warmth that radiates from the characters even in the grimmest situations.
However, this seemed to me a cold account of events by the main character, Adam. So very different from Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America's Adam, which is one of my favorite narrators ever.
He and the other characters are very well developed, but I disliked them all, including the idea of the Affinities, which turned out to be almost creepy in my view.
All in all, it was a very well written book (couldn't have been anything less), but I enjoyed very little of it.
However, this seemed to me a cold account of events by the main character, Adam. So very different from Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America's Adam, which is one of my favorite narrators ever.
He and the other characters are very well developed, but I disliked them all, including the idea of the Affinities, which turned out to be almost creepy in my view.
All in all, it was a very well written book (couldn't have been anything less), but I enjoyed very little of it.
August 11, 2016
Two stars for the story. It lost one story when it made the psycho chick bipolar and a cutter. It absolutely infuriates me because people can be psycho without being mentally ill! It feeds the stereotype, which this idiot author apparently shares. It was particularly frustrating because there was absolutely no need of an explanation for her behavior. He could have just made her psycho and walked away from saying why.
Even aside from that, this was a boring book. The story sounds really cool with the idea of neurotesting that allows people to be put into small groups of people who are similar... but this is weird because it never really explains how exactly they're the same? So they're in this group with people of unknown similarities that are so similar in whatever that they look at each other and just know each other and can read each other exceptionally well - because they all share that same whatever. But... oh, to hell with it. It's a lame story and there isn't even enough to the story for me to write anything. I'm babbling instead! Which I *ahem* never do.
For the friends who just read Spin with me, a lot of the issues that were brought up in that book were also present in this. Confusing timelines, a main character that lacked personality or presence and was rather apathetic, a sometimes-requited-sometimes-not romance, and a total asshole of a father. That last was a character rather than a "problem" but the rest were definitely issues and when they show up in two books they'll most likely show up in more.
God, I'm glad that's over with!
Even aside from that, this was a boring book. The story sounds really cool with the idea of neurotesting that allows people to be put into small groups of people who are similar... but this is weird because it never really explains how exactly they're the same? So they're in this group with people of unknown similarities that are so similar in whatever that they look at each other and just know each other and can read each other exceptionally well - because they all share that same whatever. But... oh, to hell with it. It's a lame story and there isn't even enough to the story for me to write anything. I'm babbling instead! Which I *ahem* never do.
For the friends who just read Spin with me, a lot of the issues that were brought up in that book were also present in this. Confusing timelines, a main character that lacked personality or presence and was rather apathetic, a sometimes-requited-sometimes-not romance, and a total asshole of a father. That last was a character rather than a "problem" but the rest were definitely issues and when they show up in two books they'll most likely show up in more.
God, I'm glad that's over with!
August 29, 2015
3.5 stars
The Affinities is one science fiction book that isn't far off from reality. It's set in a world that is essentially our own, where people can opt to be tested into one of 22 Affinities, much like the Meyers-Briggs social categorization groups. You might not fit into any of the 22 groups, which, in that case, would mean you go on living your life like normal. If you make it into an Affinity, like our narrator Adam Fisk, then you gain a whole new group of friends that understand you on an almost subconscious level.
Adam tests into the Tau affinity, and it is a welcome escape from his rather unpleasant family. He makes new friends, family really, gets a job, and most importantly, feels at home in this new place. From there, we go on a politically-motivated adventure as the Affinities grow and begin to affect the social and political climate of the world.
I expected a much broader novel from the description. I anticipated a story covering something across all of the Affinity groups. But instead we focus solely on Adam's story in the Tau affinity. I didn't dislike the book for that smaller scale focus, but I do wish we had gotten some more world-building. It would have been more believable and more interesting if we had been able to see inside the different Affinity groups at some point to fully understand the world, as well as enhance the plot and tension that the author expects you to understand.
Adam is a likeable enough guy. I appreciated how he was compassionate towards people who might otherwise be neglected. He has conflicting emotions that are tested by his Affinity too. The novel raises questions of utopia and whether it is possible or not, how you can't choose your family but in a way you can create a new one, and who you must be loyal to in turn.
It's a quite interesting premise that I just felt was a bit underdone. But if you enjoy alternate reality, sci-fi stories that have the feeling of a Stephen King novel, you might like this one.
The Affinities is one science fiction book that isn't far off from reality. It's set in a world that is essentially our own, where people can opt to be tested into one of 22 Affinities, much like the Meyers-Briggs social categorization groups. You might not fit into any of the 22 groups, which, in that case, would mean you go on living your life like normal. If you make it into an Affinity, like our narrator Adam Fisk, then you gain a whole new group of friends that understand you on an almost subconscious level.
Adam tests into the Tau affinity, and it is a welcome escape from his rather unpleasant family. He makes new friends, family really, gets a job, and most importantly, feels at home in this new place. From there, we go on a politically-motivated adventure as the Affinities grow and begin to affect the social and political climate of the world.
I expected a much broader novel from the description. I anticipated a story covering something across all of the Affinity groups. But instead we focus solely on Adam's story in the Tau affinity. I didn't dislike the book for that smaller scale focus, but I do wish we had gotten some more world-building. It would have been more believable and more interesting if we had been able to see inside the different Affinity groups at some point to fully understand the world, as well as enhance the plot and tension that the author expects you to understand.
Adam is a likeable enough guy. I appreciated how he was compassionate towards people who might otherwise be neglected. He has conflicting emotions that are tested by his Affinity too. The novel raises questions of utopia and whether it is possible or not, how you can't choose your family but in a way you can create a new one, and who you must be loyal to in turn.
It's a quite interesting premise that I just felt was a bit underdone. But if you enjoy alternate reality, sci-fi stories that have the feeling of a Stephen King novel, you might like this one.
April 30, 2015
engaging despite that its subject is not one that usually interests me, but the narrator voice works very well and kept me turning the pages till the end; the disjointness of the novel and the rushed and somewhat pointless ending take it down two notches
overall, better than i expected based on subject but quite far from the author's top work and like with Burning Paradise, his last novel, (similar feeling - fast moving, not to be put down, great potential and then everything falling apart at the end) lacking coherence and a satisfactory ending - a better ending would have done wonders for the reading quality, this way the book felt almost - not quite, but still - like a waste a time
overall, better than i expected based on subject but quite far from the author's top work and like with Burning Paradise, his last novel, (similar feeling - fast moving, not to be put down, great potential and then everything falling apart at the end) lacking coherence and a satisfactory ending - a better ending would have done wonders for the reading quality, this way the book felt almost - not quite, but still - like a waste a time
August 9, 2020
The Affinities
Robert Charles Wilson is, without a doubt, an excellent writer. His characters are well developed, they speak and interact well with each other. I've read several of his works (the “Spin Trilogy”, “Bios”, “The Chronoliths” amongst others) and for the most part, his work is flawless.
With “The Affinities” while the premise of groups of people with similar interests and aptitudes find each other via a system based on algorithms: the forming several “Affinities” of which one becomes a more than a mere member, but rather, identified as so. However, as the novel advances, it seems that events and situations begin to overly dictate the outcome, and I felt, for the first time, this author had to struggle a bit to make everything work out. It felt, at times, a bit forced.
I ought have referred to some examples, to better make this point but it was more an overall feeling than simply isolated instances.
However, he manages to go on and show how all utopian ideas, eventually fall apart and yet, a new generation takes an idea and makes it their own and so on...
In the end, the novel is above pare and really was a worthwhile and enjoyable read.
Robert Charles Wilson is, without a doubt, an excellent writer. His characters are well developed, they speak and interact well with each other. I've read several of his works (the “Spin Trilogy”, “Bios”, “The Chronoliths” amongst others) and for the most part, his work is flawless.
With “The Affinities” while the premise of groups of people with similar interests and aptitudes find each other via a system based on algorithms: the forming several “Affinities” of which one becomes a more than a mere member, but rather, identified as so. However, as the novel advances, it seems that events and situations begin to overly dictate the outcome, and I felt, for the first time, this author had to struggle a bit to make everything work out. It felt, at times, a bit forced.
I ought have referred to some examples, to better make this point but it was more an overall feeling than simply isolated instances.
However, he manages to go on and show how all utopian ideas, eventually fall apart and yet, a new generation takes an idea and makes it their own and so on...
In the end, the novel is above pare and really was a worthwhile and enjoyable read.
July 21, 2015
Mon avis en Français
My English review
When I saw the summary of the novel, I admit that I was immediately very attracted. I did not really have the opportunity to read a story highlighting social networks but I admit that I was intrigued by the idea. Moreover, even if the author goes far in his ideas, to things that do not yet exist, there is a possibility of this to happen one day, especially when we see what internet is gradually becoming.
We discover a world as we know it but where a company has created a program that seems to become more and more important. Indeed, there are 22 different groups or Affinities where we can classify people by tests so they can bind and create a network while being around people alike. Yet it is not open to everyone to enter into a category and only some lucky ones are among the most popular Affinities. It is in this environment that our hero Adam Fisk decides to experiment and eventually ends up being part of the larger Affinity: Tau. For some, this program looks like a cult, for others it is liberation and a great opportunity. I think that at the end it’s a bit of a mixture of both. Each class is very elitist and does not mix with the others, while trying to make their members important.
Adam will then end up around people who will completely change his life but will also give him a new purpose. Alas, nothing is ever very rosy and people are always in search of power regardless of the Affinity in which they exist. But in addition to this, our hero finds himself in the heart of conspiracies and must make choices that are becoming increasingly difficult.
It’s pretty easy to understand Adam, his need for this circle, because of the loneliness he feels and his feelings mainly when he realizes he just found some people who appreciate him and are there for him like family. Besides, I enjoyed discovering his family too, they are all so different but his autistic brother really touched me and I loved him a lot and I was curious to see what he became over the years.
I do not know the exact feelings I had after my reading but I had in any case a good time with the whole story. In fact, the novel is sometimes a bit complicated at times but the whole is still very interesting.
My English review
When I saw the summary of the novel, I admit that I was immediately very attracted. I did not really have the opportunity to read a story highlighting social networks but I admit that I was intrigued by the idea. Moreover, even if the author goes far in his ideas, to things that do not yet exist, there is a possibility of this to happen one day, especially when we see what internet is gradually becoming.
We discover a world as we know it but where a company has created a program that seems to become more and more important. Indeed, there are 22 different groups or Affinities where we can classify people by tests so they can bind and create a network while being around people alike. Yet it is not open to everyone to enter into a category and only some lucky ones are among the most popular Affinities. It is in this environment that our hero Adam Fisk decides to experiment and eventually ends up being part of the larger Affinity: Tau. For some, this program looks like a cult, for others it is liberation and a great opportunity. I think that at the end it’s a bit of a mixture of both. Each class is very elitist and does not mix with the others, while trying to make their members important.
Adam will then end up around people who will completely change his life but will also give him a new purpose. Alas, nothing is ever very rosy and people are always in search of power regardless of the Affinity in which they exist. But in addition to this, our hero finds himself in the heart of conspiracies and must make choices that are becoming increasingly difficult.
It’s pretty easy to understand Adam, his need for this circle, because of the loneliness he feels and his feelings mainly when he realizes he just found some people who appreciate him and are there for him like family. Besides, I enjoyed discovering his family too, they are all so different but his autistic brother really touched me and I loved him a lot and I was curious to see what he became over the years.
I do not know the exact feelings I had after my reading but I had in any case a good time with the whole story. In fact, the novel is sometimes a bit complicated at times but the whole is still very interesting.
May 14, 2015
Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy
Lost in a crowd? Need to find yourself? A place where you just belong? THE AFFINITIES introduces a wonderful/scary world where finding your place in the world is simply an inexpensive test away; and if you don't fit into any of the 22 standard profiles, or affinities, you even get your money back!
THE AFFINITIES was scientifically and socially interesting; I loved seeing how the different categories of people worked together (and against each other). There was also a good portion of the story concerned with the people who didn't make the cut, some of whom are very angry about not being allowed in the “clubs”. I enjoyed how the different theories and ideologies were explained seriously, but without being so wordy as to bore or lose me. Several non-professional characters had some amazing things to say, both about the affinities and our world in general.
Adam, the protagonist, is almost boring but not quite. He is a nearly blank slate that we can project ourselves onto, but he still manages to have very human characteristics that make you feel for him. His relationships, both with people in his affinity and outside of it, were sometimes strange and sometimes wonderful.
There are 7 and 11 year jumps between the different parts of the book, and Adam only knows as far as the end of that part, which kept the suspense up throughout the book. Although the narrator could tell us about what had just happened, he, like us, had no idea what the future would bring. In a setting so physically similar from our own and yet so socially different, it felt as if anything could happen between the different parts of the book.
The ending was powerful, at the same time sad and hopeful. A must read for sociology nerds and lovers of “science-fiction” that could be just a few years away.
Lost in a crowd? Need to find yourself? A place where you just belong? THE AFFINITIES introduces a wonderful/scary world where finding your place in the world is simply an inexpensive test away; and if you don't fit into any of the 22 standard profiles, or affinities, you even get your money back!
THE AFFINITIES was scientifically and socially interesting; I loved seeing how the different categories of people worked together (and against each other). There was also a good portion of the story concerned with the people who didn't make the cut, some of whom are very angry about not being allowed in the “clubs”. I enjoyed how the different theories and ideologies were explained seriously, but without being so wordy as to bore or lose me. Several non-professional characters had some amazing things to say, both about the affinities and our world in general.
Adam, the protagonist, is almost boring but not quite. He is a nearly blank slate that we can project ourselves onto, but he still manages to have very human characteristics that make you feel for him. His relationships, both with people in his affinity and outside of it, were sometimes strange and sometimes wonderful.
There are 7 and 11 year jumps between the different parts of the book, and Adam only knows as far as the end of that part, which kept the suspense up throughout the book. Although the narrator could tell us about what had just happened, he, like us, had no idea what the future would bring. In a setting so physically similar from our own and yet so socially different, it felt as if anything could happen between the different parts of the book.
The ending was powerful, at the same time sad and hopeful. A must read for sociology nerds and lovers of “science-fiction” that could be just a few years away.
November 22, 2023
Robert Charles Wilson is an author who works with stunning concepts. As I LOVE a good concept novel he has quickly become someone whose new works I gobble up.
Last Year, his story of interdimensional time-tourism/exploitation, set entirely in 19th century America is one of my favorite SF novels of the last two years, and Bios, one of his earlier books, is a very memorable and poignant story of a uniquely hostile world and the people trying to survive on it.
The Affinities is another such concept driven novel, inspired it seems by the question 'What if the tribalism of social media was replicated in the real world, among large groups of similarly minded people'?
Adam Fisk is a young man at a bit of a loose end. His domineering father is about to cut off family support for his university fees, he's in a relationship that is going nowhere, and has no real idea what to do with his life. (His dad is a little bit of a conservative-asshole-father cliche, but hey, those people do exist, in numbers, sadly)
Adam has heard of the Affinities, new groups based on shared mental outlooks that have been variously described as either cults of the next and greatest step for human cooperation.
Adam takes the patented Affinity test, and finds himself eligible to join the most prestigious of the groups- a faction full of motivated movers and shakers known as Tau.
Almost immediately, Adam's life is changed.
His new connections in Tau find him work, a place to live, friends, lovers and a driving purpose in life.
Much like the old Freemason societies were rumored to work - members would always help a fellow Mason - the people of Tau look after each other.
Of course, while these groups are great for their members, their existence threatens both established political power bases and all of the people whose in-affinity precludes them from joining.
Add to this the corporate ownership of the tests that bring people into the Affintites, and a tendency towards militarism and violence in one of Tau's rivals and the story is set for conflict, tension and societal change.
And so it goes.
Wilson knows how to craft a story. He knows how to write a compelling voice. And he knows how to tie it all together, so The Affinities is pacey, engaging read. It's fairly short too, so it isn't going to cut a massive slab out of your reading time.
The story ends a little abruptly for my taste, and with an indeterminate and uncertain ending that will frustrate some, but this is otherwise a solid novel exploring an interesting concept - pure Robert Charles Wilson as I've come to love him. It doesn't threaten Last Year as my favorite of his books, but it's a fine read nonetheless.
Three and a half irritatingly clique-y, "OMG, we are so all on the same page, bro!" social groups out of five.
Last Year, his story of interdimensional time-tourism/exploitation, set entirely in 19th century America is one of my favorite SF novels of the last two years, and Bios, one of his earlier books, is a very memorable and poignant story of a uniquely hostile world and the people trying to survive on it.
The Affinities is another such concept driven novel, inspired it seems by the question 'What if the tribalism of social media was replicated in the real world, among large groups of similarly minded people'?
Adam Fisk is a young man at a bit of a loose end. His domineering father is about to cut off family support for his university fees, he's in a relationship that is going nowhere, and has no real idea what to do with his life. (His dad is a little bit of a conservative-asshole-father cliche, but hey, those people do exist, in numbers, sadly)
Adam has heard of the Affinities, new groups based on shared mental outlooks that have been variously described as either cults of the next and greatest step for human cooperation.
Adam takes the patented Affinity test, and finds himself eligible to join the most prestigious of the groups- a faction full of motivated movers and shakers known as Tau.
Almost immediately, Adam's life is changed.
His new connections in Tau find him work, a place to live, friends, lovers and a driving purpose in life.
Much like the old Freemason societies were rumored to work - members would always help a fellow Mason - the people of Tau look after each other.
Of course, while these groups are great for their members, their existence threatens both established political power bases and all of the people whose in-affinity precludes them from joining.
Add to this the corporate ownership of the tests that bring people into the Affintites, and a tendency towards militarism and violence in one of Tau's rivals and the story is set for conflict, tension and societal change.
And so it goes.
Wilson knows how to craft a story. He knows how to write a compelling voice. And he knows how to tie it all together, so The Affinities is pacey, engaging read. It's fairly short too, so it isn't going to cut a massive slab out of your reading time.
The story ends a little abruptly for my taste, and with an indeterminate and uncertain ending that will frustrate some, but this is otherwise a solid novel exploring an interesting concept - pure Robert Charles Wilson as I've come to love him. It doesn't threaten Last Year as my favorite of his books, but it's a fine read nonetheless.
Three and a half irritatingly clique-y, "OMG, we are so all on the same page, bro!" social groups out of five.
August 9, 2023
(Update: It really is pretty bland but I love the concept so much and I keep revisiting this book in my head, so I'm bumping it to 5.)
A social-science fiction novel. A new subgenre, perhaps?
In the near future, a company develops a method (personality testing, brain mapping, and complex algorithm) for grouping people behaviorally and socially into "Affinities". It's a little like a dating service but an Affinity is comprised of people that trust each other naturally and cooperate extremely effectively. The Affinities tells the story of the creation, heyday, and collapse of the Affinities through the eyes of one early joiner.
It's a fascinating concept, the idea that all this social power is out there just waiting to be tapped. But Wilson goes a step further by addressing the implications of such a phenomenon, events that might logically follow the rise of powerful, hyper-collaborative yet naturally exclusionary social units. Affinity-oriented financial institutions. Successful, landless virtual-states, as family and national loyalty are trumped by Affinity loyalty. Inter-Affinity warfare. I love this stuff.
It doesn't have a happy ending, exactly, and yet there's an air of optimism about the future. Wilson doesn't offer any specific answers to global warming, overpopulation, poverty, or any of the other great world problems. But he does provide kind of a blurry outline of what a solution might look like. It's neat.
Bland writing and a certain ineptitude for action scenes kept this from being a 5 star read for me. But I'm glad I read it.
A social-science fiction novel. A new subgenre, perhaps?
In the near future, a company develops a method (personality testing, brain mapping, and complex algorithm) for grouping people behaviorally and socially into "Affinities". It's a little like a dating service but an Affinity is comprised of people that trust each other naturally and cooperate extremely effectively. The Affinities tells the story of the creation, heyday, and collapse of the Affinities through the eyes of one early joiner.
It's a fascinating concept, the idea that all this social power is out there just waiting to be tapped. But Wilson goes a step further by addressing the implications of such a phenomenon, events that might logically follow the rise of powerful, hyper-collaborative yet naturally exclusionary social units. Affinity-oriented financial institutions. Successful, landless virtual-states, as family and national loyalty are trumped by Affinity loyalty. Inter-Affinity warfare. I love this stuff.
It doesn't have a happy ending, exactly, and yet there's an air of optimism about the future. Wilson doesn't offer any specific answers to global warming, overpopulation, poverty, or any of the other great world problems. But he does provide kind of a blurry outline of what a solution might look like. It's neat.
Bland writing and a certain ineptitude for action scenes kept this from being a 5 star read for me. But I'm glad I read it.
August 4, 2015
THE AFFINITIES is a fascinating idea incompletely realized. The MacGuffin is a scientific theory of social interaction that can sort people into groups (affinities) most likely to cooperate based on intuitive understanding, i.e., the 'it's like you've known me all my life' feeling. In all, 22 affinities are formed (along with a substantial percentage of the population that can't be sorted), leading to the creation of social groups knit together closer than many families. But the implications of this idea spiral out of control as it turns that loyalty to your affinity is more powerful than loyalty to family or country, hollowing out other institutions.
This is a fascinating idea, but RCW's need to tell an action-packed story is a limiting factor. The implications, it seems to me, are primarily political and social, and it's a shame that this story isn't more interested in politics or social mores. If large populations could intuitively understand each other's points of view despite the legacy of racism and misogyny, that would have revolutionary implications. Similarly, the rise of self-organizing socialist groups would shake the economy to the core. The idea that affinities would go to war seems like one of the least interesting developments you could posit.
The strongest aspect of the book is grounded in the emotional--how it would feel to be a lonely 22 year old meeting your family-by-choice for the first time, or the conflict between loyalty to your family-by-choice and to those you grew up with. I wish THE AFFINITIES had been confident enough to build off of that.
This is a fascinating idea, but RCW's need to tell an action-packed story is a limiting factor. The implications, it seems to me, are primarily political and social, and it's a shame that this story isn't more interested in politics or social mores. If large populations could intuitively understand each other's points of view despite the legacy of racism and misogyny, that would have revolutionary implications. Similarly, the rise of self-organizing socialist groups would shake the economy to the core. The idea that affinities would go to war seems like one of the least interesting developments you could posit.
The strongest aspect of the book is grounded in the emotional--how it would feel to be a lonely 22 year old meeting your family-by-choice for the first time, or the conflict between loyalty to your family-by-choice and to those you grew up with. I wish THE AFFINITIES had been confident enough to build off of that.
August 4, 2015
This book felt like homework. High school homework. It was lecturey, annoying, occasionally pedantic and worst of all, it wasn't entertaining. I stuck with it because of all the blurbs on the book praising it.
The political stereotypes are hopelessly and offensively juvenile. Republicans are wife-beating bad guys. Conservatives (the Het affinity)are mean-spirited,brutally authoritarian and need a dictator to tell them what to do and will kill you if necessary. Progressives are represented by the Tau affinity, and they are wonderful, broadminded,accepting and loving but with a tendency to think if you aren't a Tau you're a loser. And if they screw up, that's okay, because they meant well, unlike those other meanies.
Avoid this book if you're an adult. If you're a young teen, you might like it. Then again, it might just feel like homework.
The political stereotypes are hopelessly and offensively juvenile. Republicans are wife-beating bad guys. Conservatives (the Het affinity)are mean-spirited,brutally authoritarian and need a dictator to tell them what to do and will kill you if necessary. Progressives are represented by the Tau affinity, and they are wonderful, broadminded,accepting and loving but with a tendency to think if you aren't a Tau you're a loser. And if they screw up, that's okay, because they meant well, unlike those other meanies.
Avoid this book if you're an adult. If you're a young teen, you might like it. Then again, it might just feel like homework.
June 29, 2018
This book is based on an interesting idea, but it's a snooze-fest. I hate to say that about a book by one of my favorite authors, but they can't all be home runs. A company has found a way to study people's brains and group people into categories with groups of people who get along well and think alike. Groups of these people have bonded together and created their own groups with ties stronger than their families. Eventually, the groups start fighting each other. I'm not really sure why. There are lots of general and political blah blahs in the middle which heads toward a so-so ending. It's just not anything special.
November 20, 2016
I am really sick of lazy authors who don't think through the implications of their stories. And a lot of this book had the same problems Daughters of the North had. Like always, spoilers abound.
1. Style
From a technical level, this book is mostly correct in its use of English. However, much like Daughters of the North, I got the impression of the author thumbing through a thesaurus to find some sort of word to make himself sound smarter than he is. It's pretentious.
It also has severe pacing problems. Eleven years pass from the start of the story to the end before the epilogue. Major chunks of time are skipped over so we're instead given exposition of what happened in the interim. Instead of, you know, being shown what happened and having to assume the narrator character is being entirely truthful.
2. Focus and lack thereof
A big problem I have with certain kinds of bad stories has to do with where the focus of the story is. In the story, we get all sorts of minutia about Adam Fisk's life and the lives of his friends, but the main conflicts of the story (relating to a war involving India, China, and Pakistan, and the conflicts amongst Affinities) are glossed over. This makes me frustrated, because I would much rather read a book about those in depth than them barely mentioned and the focus being on someone who's a whiny hypocrite.
3. Worldbuilding and exposition problems
The issue with any science fiction or speculative fiction is that the audience needs to be brought up to speed with what is going on. Direct exposition can work, but it's generally preferable for an author to weave it into the story more naturally, such as through dialogue between characters, a character who is an audience stand-in who doesn't know things, and a character's internal narration.
However, despite how important the Affinities are in terms of the inter-Affinity conflict, we barely know anything about how the different groups function aside from very rough sketches of how they act. The Affinities essentially act like cults and the government wants to regulate them, but we're given only crude and frustratingly vague information about how some law would regulate them out of existence. There's also random flashbacks to give exposition and some of it was just strange ("is the world old or young?" scene in particular).
The other problem is that the Affinities often act like a cross between tribes, gangs, and cults. We're also not really shown nearly anything about the direct conflict between the Affinities, so I have no investment whatsoever.
4. Never, ever spell out your message so directly.
It makes you look like you think your audience is full of complete idiots.
5. Lack of research
The author seems to be under the impression that every power grid and other electronic device across the world is interconnected. And connected to the Internet and able to be attacked by random malware to the point of being completely nonfunctional across the whole world. This is so patently ludicrous it hurts.
Other, more minor bits include how someone at a hospital reveals information that would be protected under HIPAA for no reason and how the way sexual orientation is handled is weird.
6. The Devil's in the Details, Or "Think through your implications, for goodness sake."
The Affinities are treated as being an ethnicity or race.
But the story is constantly going on and on about how people within one Affinity only truly get people of the same Affinity. Affinity testing includes a genetic component, so it's considered almost biologically hardwired. And that peoples' Affinities have a clear and direct influence on their behavior.
So, connecting the dots, the implications of the story in that regard are:
1. People should only stay within their race.
2. People outside of one's race are scary, dangerous, and a direct threat to your race.
3. It's alright to discriminate at a hospital or treatment center on the basis of race because certain treatment techniques work better on people of a given race.
4. Being within one's own race is the most joyous feeling in the world and it makes people abandon their families who aren't the same race as them.
5. People of the same race share certain psychological traits that are determined in part by genetics, so they will act certain ways because of their race.
This message throughout the story sounds fucking racist when put like that, now doesn't it?
However, I doubt that Wilson is a dyed to the wool Nazi KKK member, despite the hanging implications of the story.
It's far more likely that, like Marie Lu's setting acting like major war crimes are perfectly acceptable, he was being incredibly lazy and didn't want to explore the ideas he'd put on the page. It bothers me because this laziness betrays the author's carelessness toward the story. And if they're that careless about their own story, why the hell should anybody else give a damn about the book?
1. Style
From a technical level, this book is mostly correct in its use of English. However, much like Daughters of the North, I got the impression of the author thumbing through a thesaurus to find some sort of word to make himself sound smarter than he is. It's pretentious.
It also has severe pacing problems. Eleven years pass from the start of the story to the end before the epilogue. Major chunks of time are skipped over so we're instead given exposition of what happened in the interim. Instead of, you know, being shown what happened and having to assume the narrator character is being entirely truthful.
2. Focus and lack thereof
A big problem I have with certain kinds of bad stories has to do with where the focus of the story is. In the story, we get all sorts of minutia about Adam Fisk's life and the lives of his friends, but the main conflicts of the story (relating to a war involving India, China, and Pakistan, and the conflicts amongst Affinities) are glossed over. This makes me frustrated, because I would much rather read a book about those in depth than them barely mentioned and the focus being on someone who's a whiny hypocrite.
3. Worldbuilding and exposition problems
The issue with any science fiction or speculative fiction is that the audience needs to be brought up to speed with what is going on. Direct exposition can work, but it's generally preferable for an author to weave it into the story more naturally, such as through dialogue between characters, a character who is an audience stand-in who doesn't know things, and a character's internal narration.
However, despite how important the Affinities are in terms of the inter-Affinity conflict, we barely know anything about how the different groups function aside from very rough sketches of how they act. The Affinities essentially act like cults and the government wants to regulate them, but we're given only crude and frustratingly vague information about how some law would regulate them out of existence. There's also random flashbacks to give exposition and some of it was just strange ("is the world old or young?" scene in particular).
The other problem is that the Affinities often act like a cross between tribes, gangs, and cults. We're also not really shown nearly anything about the direct conflict between the Affinities, so I have no investment whatsoever.
4. Never, ever spell out your message so directly.
It makes you look like you think your audience is full of complete idiots.
5. Lack of research
The author seems to be under the impression that every power grid and other electronic device across the world is interconnected. And connected to the Internet and able to be attacked by random malware to the point of being completely nonfunctional across the whole world. This is so patently ludicrous it hurts.
Other, more minor bits include how someone at a hospital reveals information that would be protected under HIPAA for no reason and how the way sexual orientation is handled is weird.
6. The Devil's in the Details, Or "Think through your implications, for goodness sake."
The Affinities are treated as being an ethnicity or race.
But the story is constantly going on and on about how people within one Affinity only truly get people of the same Affinity. Affinity testing includes a genetic component, so it's considered almost biologically hardwired. And that peoples' Affinities have a clear and direct influence on their behavior.
So, connecting the dots, the implications of the story in that regard are:
1. People should only stay within their race.
2. People outside of one's race are scary, dangerous, and a direct threat to your race.
3. It's alright to discriminate at a hospital or treatment center on the basis of race because certain treatment techniques work better on people of a given race.
4. Being within one's own race is the most joyous feeling in the world and it makes people abandon their families who aren't the same race as them.
5. People of the same race share certain psychological traits that are determined in part by genetics, so they will act certain ways because of their race.
This message throughout the story sounds fucking racist when put like that, now doesn't it?
However, I doubt that Wilson is a dyed to the wool Nazi KKK member, despite the hanging implications of the story.
It's far more likely that, like Marie Lu's setting acting like major war crimes are perfectly acceptable, he was being incredibly lazy and didn't want to explore the ideas he'd put on the page. It bothers me because this laziness betrays the author's carelessness toward the story. And if they're that careless about their own story, why the hell should anybody else give a damn about the book?
December 5, 2016
Loneliness.
It's the signature malaise of our time: solitude we did not choose for ourselves, the loneliness that gets manufactured for us when we're surrounded by devices for which we care, instead of people for whom we care. Some call it "atomistic individualism," a phrase libertarians seem to hate (which to me is just more confirmation that there's something to it). Whatever you call it, though, I think it's hard to deny that most of you reading these words, most of us, find it harder than ever these days to meet and keep true friends, people who want to be with you, who can be in the same room with you, breathing the same air (literally, con-spirators). We should count ourselves lucky if we know one such person. To have more than one true friend is wealth beyond measure.
But what if... what if there were some way, any way, maybe even using the same technology that in other contexts has been so terribly effective at driving us apart, a way to find nearby people who belong together, and then to bring them together? To bring us together. Any "us." A complex battery of tests, physical and psychological, which can reliably locate those faces in the crowd with whom you will share, not irrelevant external characteristics like age or skin color, but a real and deep affinity?
That's the hook—and it's a brilliant one—in Robert Charles Wilson's novel The Affinities: a perfectly plausible science-fictional extrapolation, replete with implications both positive and negative... implications from which Wilson does not flinch.
The Affinities made an excellent companion to (and contrast with) Claire North's The Sudden Appearance of Hope, the novel I read just before this one. Unlike the Perfection app in that book, Affinities don't depend so much on devices. They don't necessarily try to run your life, they don't perform continuous surveillance, and they aren't focused on individual advancement. There is a test, yes (the intellectual property of the InterAlia company—and that's an issue Wilson recognizes, in and of itself), and if you pass then you're put in touch with nearby people in the same Affinity, but after that you're more or less on your own. Affinities have their problems, sure, but they're much better than Perfection. Their members' strength comes from numbers, from synergy, from banding together, rather than arising from isolated self-aggrandizement.
Affinities are something you want to work. Wilson knows that—but he's not going to let us get away with wishful thinking, either. The more powerful and cohesive Affinities become, the more attention they attract... and the harder it gets to keep everything and everyone together.
Ultimately, The Sudden Appearance of Hope felt less hopeful to me than The Affinities, which goes through some dark developments, but doesn't leave us hanging quite as desperately. Wilson's novel is a warm, heartfelt, heart-full story, and I liked it more than I've liked almost anything of his since Gypsies.
Recommended.
It's the signature malaise of our time: solitude we did not choose for ourselves, the loneliness that gets manufactured for us when we're surrounded by devices for which we care, instead of people for whom we care. Some call it "atomistic individualism," a phrase libertarians seem to hate (which to me is just more confirmation that there's something to it). Whatever you call it, though, I think it's hard to deny that most of you reading these words, most of us, find it harder than ever these days to meet and keep true friends, people who want to be with you, who can be in the same room with you, breathing the same air (literally, con-spirators). We should count ourselves lucky if we know one such person. To have more than one true friend is wealth beyond measure.
But what if... what if there were some way, any way, maybe even using the same technology that in other contexts has been so terribly effective at driving us apart, a way to find nearby people who belong together, and then to bring them together? To bring us together. Any "us." A complex battery of tests, physical and psychological, which can reliably locate those faces in the crowd with whom you will share, not irrelevant external characteristics like age or skin color, but a real and deep affinity?
That's the hook—and it's a brilliant one—in Robert Charles Wilson's novel The Affinities: a perfectly plausible science-fictional extrapolation, replete with implications both positive and negative... implications from which Wilson does not flinch.
We're the most cooperative species on the planet—is there anything you own that you built entirely with your own hands, from materials you extracted from nature all by yourself? And without that network of cooperation we're as vulnerable as three-legged antelopes in lion territory. But at the same time: what a talent we have for greed, for moral indifference, for wars of conquest on every scale from kindergarten to the U.N. Who hasn't longed for a way out of that bind? It's as if we were designed for life in some story-book family, in a house where the doors are never locked and never need to be. Every half-baked utopia is a dream of that house. We want it so badly we refuse to believe it doesn't or can't exist.
—pp.26-27
The Affinities made an excellent companion to (and contrast with) Claire North's The Sudden Appearance of Hope, the novel I read just before this one. Unlike the Perfection app in that book, Affinities don't depend so much on devices. They don't necessarily try to run your life, they don't perform continuous surveillance, and they aren't focused on individual advancement. There is a test, yes (the intellectual property of the InterAlia company—and that's an issue Wilson recognizes, in and of itself), and if you pass then you're put in touch with nearby people in the same Affinity, but after that you're more or less on your own. Affinities have their problems, sure, but they're much better than Perfection. Their members' strength comes from numbers, from synergy, from banding together, rather than arising from isolated self-aggrandizement.
Affinities are something you want to work. Wilson knows that—but he's not going to let us get away with wishful thinking, either. The more powerful and cohesive Affinities become, the more attention they attract... and the harder it gets to keep everything and everyone together.
Ultimately, The Sudden Appearance of Hope felt less hopeful to me than The Affinities, which goes through some dark developments, but doesn't leave us hanging quite as desperately. Wilson's novel is a warm, heartfelt, heart-full story, and I liked it more than I've liked almost anything of his since Gypsies.
Recommended.
June 10, 2015
Robert Charles Wilson has long been one of the most skilled craftsman in science fiction, and the ease with which he demonstrates his skills are enviable. He can develop characters that are complex, sympathetic, flawed individuals quickly and convincingly. Building suspense is second nature, and he is a master at dropping an unexpected whammy on a reader. Best of all, he delivers the science in his science fiction very economically, without lecturing or cramming his research down your throat.
If he has one major flaw as a writer, it's that his skill at stitching together a well-paced plot becomes a little too transparent over the course of his novels. By the time I got to the final act of The Affinities, I began to notice how tidy the various machinations of the plot were, how conveniently things were fitting together. I had this same problem with his last novel, Burning Paradise, as well. That book ended rather abruptly, as did The Affinities, and as a result I felt as if I'd read a good novel that wasn't ambitious enough to be a great one.
My reaction to The Affinities can be termed as such: Five stars for the first act of the book, which establishes its fascinating premise and wonderful characters with style and panache; Three stars for the middle section, which is thrilling at times, but jumps too far ahead in time, leaving some of the more interesting developments from the first act to be explained away through exposition; Two stars for the final act, which ties everything together neatly and convincingly and kind of boringly.
If he has one major flaw as a writer, it's that his skill at stitching together a well-paced plot becomes a little too transparent over the course of his novels. By the time I got to the final act of The Affinities, I began to notice how tidy the various machinations of the plot were, how conveniently things were fitting together. I had this same problem with his last novel, Burning Paradise, as well. That book ended rather abruptly, as did The Affinities, and as a result I felt as if I'd read a good novel that wasn't ambitious enough to be a great one.
My reaction to The Affinities can be termed as such: Five stars for the first act of the book, which establishes its fascinating premise and wonderful characters with style and panache; Three stars for the middle section, which is thrilling at times, but jumps too far ahead in time, leaving some of the more interesting developments from the first act to be explained away through exposition; Two stars for the final act, which ties everything together neatly and convincingly and kind of boringly.
January 12, 2016
When I finished this book I seriously thought about throwing it across the room. With the exception of one character who was peripheral, every last character in this book was selfish and despicable.
The social dynamics and the science behind it where interesting. So was the political ramifications of the affinities. When I started reading it, I thought wow that's pretty awesome. I thought it would be pretty great to find a group of people that just get you and can help you to reach your goals and to reach greater collaborative goals. But the more I read on the less I carried that line of thinking through the book. It became clearer as the plot developed and became political, just how something like this could really handicap a society and cause the world to be one big high school with cliques who only care about their own.
By the end of the book I was absolutely OVER these selfish, thoughtless, assholes. Like seriously. This book inspired ACTUAL rage in me. And if I say any more I'll spoil the hell out of this book... and also just devolve into a string of curse words.
The social dynamics and the science behind it where interesting. So was the political ramifications of the affinities. When I started reading it, I thought wow that's pretty awesome. I thought it would be pretty great to find a group of people that just get you and can help you to reach your goals and to reach greater collaborative goals. But the more I read on the less I carried that line of thinking through the book. It became clearer as the plot developed and became political, just how something like this could really handicap a society and cause the world to be one big high school with cliques who only care about their own.
By the end of the book I was absolutely OVER these selfish, thoughtless, assholes. Like seriously. This book inspired ACTUAL rage in me. And if I say any more I'll spoil the hell out of this book... and also just devolve into a string of curse words.
April 16, 2015
Adam Fink was just another graphic art student in Toronto before he took InterAlia’a affinity test. The affinity test examines a person’s genes, brain patterns, and behavior and sorts people into one of twenty-two affinities (or into none of them). InterAlia has an algorithm that’s sort of like online dating, but it looks like they got it right this time.: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
The Affinities are still new when Adam takes the test. Not a lot is widely known about them, but there are twenty-two Affinity groups. The Taus might be the largest Affinity, and though it’s wrong to generalize, their members tend to smoke pot, they tend to enter open relationships, and they tend to prefer decentralized groups to hierarchical leadership. The Hets, meanwhile, are extremely hierarchical and deeply concerned with power and dominance. Given that Read More
The Affinities are still new when Adam takes the test. Not a lot is widely known about them, but there are twenty-two Affinity groups. The Taus might be the largest Affinity, and though it’s wrong to generalize, their members tend to smoke pot, they tend to enter open relationships, and they tend to prefer decentralized groups to hierarchical leadership. The Hets, meanwhile, are extremely hierarchical and deeply concerned with power and dominance. Given that Read More
January 24, 2016
While the idea of social networks developing into distinct societies is an interesting one (and timely, I suppose), this book doesn't live up to the potential of that idea or to what the book hints at.
After an introduction into the concept of Affinities, I expected the scale of the story to expand as the novel progressed. But what happens is a personal story of the main character. There are hints of the Affinities having larger affects on the world (in info dumps) but these are just the back drop of the character story. Also, I'm sure the ending could divide readers due to where the characters and world end up.
After an introduction into the concept of Affinities, I expected the scale of the story to expand as the novel progressed. But what happens is a personal story of the main character. There are hints of the Affinities having larger affects on the world (in info dumps) but these are just the back drop of the character story. Also, I'm sure the ending could divide readers due to where the characters and world end up.
July 31, 2017
A real science fiction author's take on something akin to Divergent factions or tribes or clans. Or Harry Potter style houses. And kind of a nod towards Foundation's Psychohistory. This book was a quick short read. It jumped forward a bit, a technique that I don't like a whole lot. And I'm not sure that I agree with the author's choice of protagonist. But the idea is a good one and it was pretty well done. We definitely should be able to test for something like affinity groups, and I hope it works out better than it does in this book.
June 3, 2015
A great, fun idea that turned out rather boring and even unimaginative. 22 Affinities, and there are only 2 at all fleshed out? Read it if you want, but I can't recommend this.
June 7, 2020
Full review soon on www.tor.com and www.farbeyondreality.com
December 14, 2025
The Affinities is a social science fiction novel in the sense that it was inspired by the author reading a book on teleodynamics and wildly extrapolating from its insights. An Affinity is sort of like if the admission process to joining a co-ed Greek letter organization was a battery of psychometric and biometric tests. There's no way to know whether someone has the same Affinity as you unless they've undergone testing. That means a person's assignation isn't in any way decided by them. It also means there's no way to be certain that someone has the same affinity, at least until a mobile testing device is developed. The whole thing is basically a shared group delusion where once a person has been determined to be part of the ingroup, their empathy instantly reaches a maximum level for others in their ingroup and near zero for those in the outgroup. This requires almost as much of a suspension of disbelief for the reader as it does for the characters. These sort of groups exist, but nowhere to the extent described in this book. Some examples are: sports teams; ideological groups; website fans; corporate supporters; entertainment fans; stan culture; parasocial members; religious institutions. Basically any grouping where a shared identity makes the people predisposed to liking you more. The Affinities take it to the extreme where they're meant to be a replacement for literally everything and everyone else in your life. This may superficially seem like the found family trope, but it'd be more accurate to call it an arranged family.
Unfortunately, its premise is also its greatest failing. Because it relies so much on the suspension of disbelief, the narrative tries to minimize the strain on credulity by mostly only having situations where ingroup members are involved. The first person protagonist is very passive. He's very happy to have somewhere to belong and just goes with the flow. He's not a true believer, but he can get caught up in the fervor at times in wanting to believe he's one. Ultimately this is more his story than anything else, especially as it comes to an end. I'm conflicted about that because while I would've like to Affinities to be used in a far greater way, it also probably would've been too ridiculous to do any serious way. Too Like The Lightning, which came out the next year, is somewhat similar with its Hives, though it sidesteps these problems by being in a far future setting where society has been entirely rearranged already.
Despite all these problems and limitations, I liked it. This is the first book that I've been interested enough to finish by the author since Spin, which I rated 5 stars. I tried reading a lot of Wilson's other novels, but none of them drew me in. The sympathy I felt for the protagonist and my agreement with the resolution went a long way with me. Those who prefer the opposite will probably feel the opposite way.
Rating: 3.5/5
Unfortunately, its premise is also its greatest failing. Because it relies so much on the suspension of disbelief, the narrative tries to minimize the strain on credulity by mostly only having situations where ingroup members are involved. The first person protagonist is very passive. He's very happy to have somewhere to belong and just goes with the flow. He's not a true believer, but he can get caught up in the fervor at times in wanting to believe he's one. Ultimately this is more his story than anything else, especially as it comes to an end. I'm conflicted about that because while I would've like to Affinities to be used in a far greater way, it also probably would've been too ridiculous to do any serious way. Too Like The Lightning, which came out the next year, is somewhat similar with its Hives, though it sidesteps these problems by being in a far future setting where society has been entirely rearranged already.
Despite all these problems and limitations, I liked it. This is the first book that I've been interested enough to finish by the author since Spin, which I rated 5 stars. I tried reading a lot of Wilson's other novels, but none of them drew me in. The sympathy I felt for the protagonist and my agreement with the resolution went a long way with me. Those who prefer the opposite will probably feel the opposite way.
Rating: 3.5/5
September 13, 2019
Me gustan las novelas de este autor. ¿Y si los humanos pudieran mapear el cerebro y descifrar con 100% de veracidad las afinidades entre los humanos? ¿Y si estas afinidades fueran mas fuertes que las opiniones politicas o religiosas? ¿O fueran un reflejo mas veraz de las mismas? ¿Y si el mundo se empezara a balcanizar porque los humanos tienden a unirse mas a sus grupos de afinidad que a todo lo demas? Interesante propuesta que desafortunadamente se queda a medias, pues siento que el autor la pudo haber llevado al exceso y hubiera sido mas placentero el desmadre.
September 21, 2024
I liked the idea of this story, I liked the voice, and I liked a few of the plot points. Unfortunately this book just lacked finesse. The politics, the social commentary, the characters—all of them were just a little stereotypical or surface level.
September 23, 2023
It's kinda confusing
July 21, 2015
Here’s the premise of the novel: assume that besides just taking the Myers Briggs test or an eHarmony test or that “Which Disney Princess Are You” online quiz, you actually decided who you would associate with based on the results. You wouldn’t just date people who scored like you, you would base your entire social and work life around these people. Assume, in addition, that a personality test was created that ensured that you and the people who scored like you could form a “hyper-collaborative” community. Your fellow Affinity members would support you in all the ways you would want, and all of you together become a whole that is greater than the parts.
What you get is a community (the book sometimes refer to it as a “pseudo-ethnicity”) that starts to threaten traditional communities --- in particular, families and nations. I really like sociological science fiction, and this is a great example of the subgenre. In fact, aside from the idea of the Affinities, there are no other science fiction ideas. Our setting is the modern day world or slightly in the future, with some geopolitical events that seem plausible.
I’ve only read one other Wilson (Spin), but this book has much the same feel. The story is told through the eyes of one person, Adam Fisk, who has problematic family issues and joins an Affinity after an experience of urban violence. While the story gets grand in scope, much of that scope is off-screen, with the major focus being Adam’s relationships and his movement towards and away from his fellow Taus (Tau being the Affinity Fisk tested into). As a result, this is much more a personal novel than a “wide screen” event.
That emphasis led to some of my disappointment with the work. We are told there are twenty-two Affinities, but we really only get to know two: Tau and Het. (Note that Het here refers to a letter of the Phonecian alphabet, not het as in straight.) And we mainly get to know Tau, with Het filling in the role of adversary Affinity, for reasons that we hear about, but don’t really see (more off-screen action).
The book is quite readable, but I felt let down by its narrow focus. In many ways, it’s more of a traditional thriller than a science fiction novel, and its ending was more conservative than I expected. I’m giving it four stars, but I think it’s more like 3.5 stars.
What you get is a community (the book sometimes refer to it as a “pseudo-ethnicity”) that starts to threaten traditional communities --- in particular, families and nations. I really like sociological science fiction, and this is a great example of the subgenre. In fact, aside from the idea of the Affinities, there are no other science fiction ideas. Our setting is the modern day world or slightly in the future, with some geopolitical events that seem plausible.
I’ve only read one other Wilson (Spin), but this book has much the same feel. The story is told through the eyes of one person, Adam Fisk, who has problematic family issues and joins an Affinity after an experience of urban violence. While the story gets grand in scope, much of that scope is off-screen, with the major focus being Adam’s relationships and his movement towards and away from his fellow Taus (Tau being the Affinity Fisk tested into). As a result, this is much more a personal novel than a “wide screen” event.
That emphasis led to some of my disappointment with the work. We are told there are twenty-two Affinities, but we really only get to know two: Tau and Het. (Note that Het here refers to a letter of the Phonecian alphabet, not het as in straight.) And we mainly get to know Tau, with Het filling in the role of adversary Affinity, for reasons that we hear about, but don’t really see (more off-screen action).
The book is quite readable, but I felt let down by its narrow focus. In many ways, it’s more of a traditional thriller than a science fiction novel, and its ending was more conservative than I expected. I’m giving it four stars, but I think it’s more like 3.5 stars.
March 20, 2018
i didn't finish this book, and in fact didn't get past his trip home. partly because one of the first sentences of the book uses the word quixotic, partly because of descriptions of his neighbor and his step-mother. one is a "retired librarian that was grateful" when he gave her his ex-roommate's kitty. and the other insisted on doing all of the housework and cooking, etc. by herself, but she was proud of it and knew that everyone appreciated her for it.
PLEASE will someone tell these men writing these scifi books to get their heads out of their Uranuses and write believable female characters? no Madonnas, no whores, no mothers. ugh!
PLEASE will someone tell these men writing these scifi books to get their heads out of their Uranuses and write believable female characters? no Madonnas, no whores, no mothers. ugh!
March 27, 2016
This is really 3 1/2 but I'm not giving it 4 because it kind of petered out at the end. An interesting idea--people are analyzed and put into Affinity groups with others similar in some essential way to them giving them instant friends who become closer than family. Eventually, the Affinity groups grow too powerful and go to war amongst themselves. It follows one youngish guy estranged from his family who finds friends, love and success with his Affinity group. And it takes an interesting twist at the end which isn't really explored. Still an engaging story.
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