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Prometheus Road
Unable to resist temptation, Tom journeys into the forbidden zones near the sunken city, bringing down the wrath of the gods, which forces him to travel down a mystical pathway called Prometheus Road, where he must fight for his survival.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 26, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 4, 2019
Some really fun / engaging "what ifs" about our coming AI overlords. Add drug / vision elements worthy of Carlos Castaneda.
Badly let down by the standard Chosen One plot. Could not have followed Basic Quest Storyline 101 more closely if it was on rails: Tom, our young hero, is wrenched from his family only to be guided on a mystic quest (including a trip to the underworld) by a mysterious yet benevolent figure who oversees his training. His goal is to capture the World-Saving MacGuffin (which can only be done by the Chosen One) and he might just win the girl along the way.
Badly let down by the standard Chosen One plot. Could not have followed Basic Quest Storyline 101 more closely if it was on rails: Tom, our young hero, is wrenched from his family only to be guided on a mystic quest (including a trip to the underworld) by a mysterious yet benevolent figure who oversees his training. His goal is to capture the World-Saving MacGuffin (which can only be done by the Chosen One) and he might just win the girl along the way.
February 21, 2020
Starts well as a scifi story set in West USA in the not so distant future. The characters are nicely established and the adventure begins with our hero heading off on an adventure.
As the story progress Tom discovers more and more magical abilities while meeting a group of wizards who are battling the androids.
Eventually, we have battles of fantasy creatures vs android creatures. I never understood where the road or the tree came from.
Still quite readable even if large parts don't make sense.
As the story progress Tom discovers more and more magical abilities while meeting a group of wizards who are battling the androids.
Eventually, we have battles of fantasy creatures vs android creatures. I never understood where the road or the tree came from.
Still quite readable even if large parts don't make sense.
July 17, 2013
I got to page 229 of this 320 page book and gave up. It just got too silly. I tried, I really did, but while I like dystopian novels, this one had odd problems from the beginning. Tom Eliot lives in a agriculture-based commune in the western part of the US which has been blasted by "the gods." San Francisco is now submerged and other cities are now piles of rubble. Tom incurs the wrath of the gods by venturing too far into restricted zones, and Hermes comes and demolishes his family, thus forcing him to flee. He's saved by an old hermit named Magnus, who turns out to be his uncle, and who seemingly knows all. They team up with the Dead Man, a corpse who years previously had created this AI world for DARPA that has now taken over the world, the AIs acting as gods to the idiot populace. This starts reading like The Matrix, as Magnus begins to train Tom for his journey on Prometheus Road so he can defeat the evil AIs and free mankind. Training takes place while Tom's asleep. And it reads kind of like Alice in Wonderland. There's an oracle, Tom turns into a river and a trout, who's actually his dog, speaks to him. It's really kind of weird.
Hermes is on the hunt for Tom, who the AI gods view as a threat. Why? I never found out. I guess the author makes it clear by the end of the book. He better. Tom loses Magnus to Hermes as he travels to Las Vegas to team up with someone there who can help destroy a data center. Meanwhile, the language and imagery just keep getting stranger and stranger. The AIs are in the Stronghold somewhere down Prometheus Road, a virtual road I never figured out. Tom has to find the Stronghold to destroy the AI software the Dead Man built. It's apparently hidden in the "Jewel of Dreaming," which is close to the "Tree of Dreams." Meanwhile, Tom has "vision vine poison" in his system. It just starts to sound silly after awhile. What started out as moderately promising just disintegrates into stupidity. And that doesn't account for his girlfriend, also on the run from the gods after disobeying her strict father who tortured her by shocking her body. She now lives in the Vegas sewers. It's all quite crazy. I enjoyed Balfour's The Digital Dead, for the most part, which is I why I gave this such a lengthy chance, but now I'm just fed up with it and am washing my hands of it. I don't care what happens to Tom. Balfour lost me a long time ago. Not recommended.
Hermes is on the hunt for Tom, who the AI gods view as a threat. Why? I never found out. I guess the author makes it clear by the end of the book. He better. Tom loses Magnus to Hermes as he travels to Las Vegas to team up with someone there who can help destroy a data center. Meanwhile, the language and imagery just keep getting stranger and stranger. The AIs are in the Stronghold somewhere down Prometheus Road, a virtual road I never figured out. Tom has to find the Stronghold to destroy the AI software the Dead Man built. It's apparently hidden in the "Jewel of Dreaming," which is close to the "Tree of Dreams." Meanwhile, Tom has "vision vine poison" in his system. It just starts to sound silly after awhile. What started out as moderately promising just disintegrates into stupidity. And that doesn't account for his girlfriend, also on the run from the gods after disobeying her strict father who tortured her by shocking her body. She now lives in the Vegas sewers. It's all quite crazy. I enjoyed Balfour's The Digital Dead, for the most part, which is I why I gave this such a lengthy chance, but now I'm just fed up with it and am washing my hands of it. I don't care what happens to Tom. Balfour lost me a long time ago. Not recommended.
August 13, 2016
Bruce Balfour is the author of science fiction novels The Forge of Mars, The Digital Dead, and Prometheus Road.
The Forge of Mars (rating: 3/5) concerns mysterious artifacts found in caverns on Mars. I read it in 2004 and noted that while it had a few too many characters to keep track of, I found it interesting that it had so many themes in it, including Navajo culture right alongside virtual reality and AI (artificial intelligence).
Scientist Tau Wolfsinger and archaeologist Kate McCloud, the main characters of The Forge of Mars, also appear in The Digital Dead. "Virtual versions of the dead control the desires of the ones they've left behind." I tried to get interested in The Digital Dead but couldn't, and wound up abandoning it in 2006.
But for some reason I thought I'd give Balfour another chance. I just finished Prometheus Road (rating: 3/5). Like the previous two books, virtual reality and AI play key roles, but this is not Wolfsinger's and McCloud's world. This world is a post-apocalyptic landscape governed by gods with control issues. The lead character, Tom Eliot, must face these "gods" in order to free the land of their control.
Now here's the curious thing. I'm tempted to give The Digital Dead another chance. There's some precedent for that with me. It wouldn't be the first time I've done it.
The Forge of Mars (rating: 3/5) concerns mysterious artifacts found in caverns on Mars. I read it in 2004 and noted that while it had a few too many characters to keep track of, I found it interesting that it had so many themes in it, including Navajo culture right alongside virtual reality and AI (artificial intelligence).
Scientist Tau Wolfsinger and archaeologist Kate McCloud, the main characters of The Forge of Mars, also appear in The Digital Dead. "Virtual versions of the dead control the desires of the ones they've left behind." I tried to get interested in The Digital Dead but couldn't, and wound up abandoning it in 2006.
But for some reason I thought I'd give Balfour another chance. I just finished Prometheus Road (rating: 3/5). Like the previous two books, virtual reality and AI play key roles, but this is not Wolfsinger's and McCloud's world. This world is a post-apocalyptic landscape governed by gods with control issues. The lead character, Tom Eliot, must face these "gods" in order to free the land of their control.
Now here's the curious thing. I'm tempted to give The Digital Dead another chance. There's some precedent for that with me. It wouldn't be the first time I've done it.
July 28, 2011
To start, I'm glad (for once) that I did not read the reviews of fellow Goodread/Amazon.com members of Bruce Balfour's Prometheus Road. Without boring you with the details, I was in Barnes and Noble last weekend and decided to pickup a few sci-fi books at random for a change.
Prometheus Road was the best random choice I've made in buying any science fiction book. The story starts out with the protagonist, Tom Eliot, who lives in a California farm community that is governed by a council of rarely seen AI's (known as the "Gods" to those in the community).
However, Tom Eliot is a flaw in the grand design that the AI's system was designed to prevent.The Dominion want Tom Eliot dead and dead fast, after an escapade to the underwater ruins of San Fransisco, a nanobomb is sent to destroy the Eliot household.
Tom escapes and meets up with an old Hermit named Magnus who guides him and helps him to realize his potential so that he may be the savior of humanity against the oppression of The Dominion.
From start to finish, this books is extremely addicting as I spent most of 6 hours today finishing it off. A neat cross reminiscent of the Matrix and The Lord of the Rings , it is a sci-fi book that I would DEFINITELY recommend picking up.
Prometheus Road was the best random choice I've made in buying any science fiction book. The story starts out with the protagonist, Tom Eliot, who lives in a California farm community that is governed by a council of rarely seen AI's (known as the "Gods" to those in the community).
However, Tom Eliot is a flaw in the grand design that the AI's system was designed to prevent.The Dominion want Tom Eliot dead and dead fast, after an escapade to the underwater ruins of San Fransisco, a nanobomb is sent to destroy the Eliot household.
Tom escapes and meets up with an old Hermit named Magnus who guides him and helps him to realize his potential so that he may be the savior of humanity against the oppression of The Dominion.
From start to finish, this books is extremely addicting as I spent most of 6 hours today finishing it off. A neat cross reminiscent of the Matrix and The Lord of the Rings , it is a sci-fi book that I would DEFINITELY recommend picking up.
June 6, 2011
The book started off in a fairly regular way - dystopian future earth, ruled by robots and AI. From there though, it quickly degenerated into a confused mish-mash of ideas cribbed from several pop culture icons - Star Wars, The Matrix, Dune etc. The relatively quick pace of the book kept me from actually abandoning it though - which was a small plus.
July 12, 2010
This book was a good science fiction book and a poor love story. The ending was predictable. If they stuck to the science fiction part and dropped the love story, the book would have been much beter.
July 21, 2011
The book felt like a combination of The Terminator and Tron with mystical mind over matter thrown in. Hard to figure out what was going on at times but the action did keep me turning the pages. It was enough to make me willing to try at least one more by the same author.
October 7, 2014
What I thought was to be a decent read was anything but that. I started noticing ideas from the later Dune books with the Thinking Machines and hints of the Matrix which really and completely spoiled this novel for me.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews