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Limit of Vision
A beautiful young scientist lies dead in a top-secret laboratory, a victim of an illegal experiment with the forbidden nanotechnology known as "LoVs" - intelligent organisms that live at the limits of human vision.
In Vietnam's Mekong Delta, a daring journalist probes a mysterious cult rumored to have awesome powers. As factions across the globe race to control this strange creation, in orbit high above Earth, an awesome new stage in evolution is about to begin...
In Vietnam's Mekong Delta, a daring journalist probes a mysterious cult rumored to have awesome powers. As factions across the globe race to control this strange creation, in orbit high above Earth, an awesome new stage in evolution is about to begin...
347 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
101 people are currently reading
401 people want to read
About the author
Linda Nagata
109 books659 followersI'm a writer from Hawaii best known for my high-tech science fiction, including the near-future thriller,
The Last Good Man
, and the far-future adventure series, INVERTED FRONTIER.
Though I don't review books on Goodreads, I do talk about some of my favorite books on my blog and those posts are echoed here. So I invite you to follow me for news of books and many other things. You can also visit my website to learn more about my work, and to sign up for my newsletter.
Though I don't review books on Goodreads, I do talk about some of my favorite books on my blog and those posts are echoed here. So I invite you to follow me for news of books and many other things. You can also visit my website to learn more about my work, and to sign up for my newsletter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
December 31, 2020
10 November 2007 - ****. This book bears some resemblances to Blood Music. In both books, a biologist named Virgil is involved with an artificially intelligent microscopic life-form living within their own body. However, in Limit of Vision, Nagata gives us a thriller that moves into the Mekong delta of a near-future Vietnam. Several innovative technologies and social constructs are explored, the most important being the LOVs themselves. The nanotechnology LOVs take on an entirely alien aspect as they form multi-unit complexities, and learn from their human hosts. The storyline itself is pretty riveting and comes to a conclusion, but unfortunately, Nagata never really closes off the issues raised by the LOVs, the farsights, or Mother Tiger. This is a set-up for a sequel if I ever saw one, but that sequel does not exist.
September 28, 2013
This is the sort of book where it was enjoyable as I was reading it, but I have a feeling that 6 months from now I'll have very few specific memories of it - it was a pretty straightforward thriller; didn't really leave any deep and indelible marks on my consciousness.
A team of scientists is illegally working on a banned project - artifically engineered, diatom-like lifeforms that form colonies, seem to exhibit intelligence, and can be used as a symbiotic neural implant. When one of the scientists drops dead, an investigation reveals the illegal activity.
The scientists, who have 'infected' themselves with these "LOVs," seem to be unnaturally attached to them - but is the appeal the enhanced abilities that the LOVs give them, or is an alien intelligence affecting their minds, seeking to protect itself?
Only one of the scientists, Virgil, escapes the biological ethics committee, and escapes to a Vietnamese jungle, where he meets up with a down-on-her-luck journalist who gets involved, along with a rich businessman and his collection of street kids, who, with the help of a computer AI, he can form into a tribe/cult, as a sociological experiment.
Together, this assortment of people withstand an embargo from the outside world, who regard the LOVs as a biohazard. Are they? Or are they the future of humanity?
The result is a sort of cross between cyberpunk and alien-invasion tale.
Unfortunately, the book doesn't resolve a lot of the issues it brings up.
Nagata seems to want to compare the bio-enhancements of the LOVs with the technological "farsights" (sorta like a PDA, in sunglasses, with an AI assistant on the desktop) - but there's no real discussion of it, except to show that computer AI's can get out of hand too.
The question of whether the LOVs actually make their human symbionts smarter is never answered. The infected characters certainly don't act particularly intelligent.
Are the LOVs self-aware? Do they have an agenda?
What was businessman Nguyen's motive in giving the street kids farsights and hooking them into a network?
What did happen to the sick kids with LOVs who were airlifted out of the jungle?
What is the agenda of the AI known as 'Mother Tiger'?
What will happen next?
It's all a big and rather unsatisfying setup for a sequel... which, as of yet, doesn't seem to exist.
A team of scientists is illegally working on a banned project - artifically engineered, diatom-like lifeforms that form colonies, seem to exhibit intelligence, and can be used as a symbiotic neural implant. When one of the scientists drops dead, an investigation reveals the illegal activity.
The scientists, who have 'infected' themselves with these "LOVs," seem to be unnaturally attached to them - but is the appeal the enhanced abilities that the LOVs give them, or is an alien intelligence affecting their minds, seeking to protect itself?
Only one of the scientists, Virgil, escapes the biological ethics committee, and escapes to a Vietnamese jungle, where he meets up with a down-on-her-luck journalist who gets involved, along with a rich businessman and his collection of street kids, who, with the help of a computer AI, he can form into a tribe/cult, as a sociological experiment.
Together, this assortment of people withstand an embargo from the outside world, who regard the LOVs as a biohazard. Are they? Or are they the future of humanity?
The result is a sort of cross between cyberpunk and alien-invasion tale.
Unfortunately, the book doesn't resolve a lot of the issues it brings up.
Nagata seems to want to compare the bio-enhancements of the LOVs with the technological "farsights" (sorta like a PDA, in sunglasses, with an AI assistant on the desktop) - but there's no real discussion of it, except to show that computer AI's can get out of hand too.
The question of whether the LOVs actually make their human symbionts smarter is never answered. The infected characters certainly don't act particularly intelligent.
Are the LOVs self-aware? Do they have an agenda?
What was businessman Nguyen's motive in giving the street kids farsights and hooking them into a network?
What did happen to the sick kids with LOVs who were airlifted out of the jungle?
What is the agenda of the AI known as 'Mother Tiger'?
What will happen next?
It's all a big and rather unsatisfying setup for a sequel... which, as of yet, doesn't seem to exist.
January 26, 2021
When I read it in 2001, I thought it her best yet.
Here's the author's blurb: https://preview.mailerlite.com/s8v4l6...
As of 1/26/21, it's on sale for $1 (ebook) "for a few days". I wonder if I still have a copy?
Here's the author's blurb: https://preview.mailerlite.com/s8v4l6...
As of 1/26/21, it's on sale for $1 (ebook) "for a few days". I wonder if I still have a copy?
dnf
April 3, 2024This reminded me of Greg Egan’s work crossed with Bacigalupi. Steamy, wet, encroaching dystopia.
February 23, 2020
3.5 stars. I enjoyed this half sci-fi, half adventure story about symbiotic nanotechnology gone out of control. There were a lot of moving parts and characters I was invested in. I actually think it was pretty light in depth on the hard sci-fi parts (ponderings about the sentience of the nanotech didn't really go anywhere), but the well-paced adventure parts made up for it. I do think there were way too many loose ends at the end regarding the fate of the LOVs and remaining characters, the Mother Tiger AI, the political dynamics, etc.
May 17, 2020
Limit of Vision (Kindle Edition) by Linda Nagata
An interesting read that touches on many of today's issues.
Oh sure, let's invent a little, barely sen, widget that helps us in almost everything we do. What could possibly go wrong? Well, how about we start with murder? Then we can explore corporate greed and immorality. But oh wait, let's also think about slavery, in it's many different forms. Toss in at the odd human or three and you've got a book!
An interesting read that touches on many of today's issues.
Oh sure, let's invent a little, barely sen, widget that helps us in almost everything we do. What could possibly go wrong? Well, how about we start with murder? Then we can explore corporate greed and immorality. But oh wait, let's also think about slavery, in it's many different forms. Toss in at the odd human or three and you've got a book!
April 21, 2021
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, it was an interesting story but a few things didn't add up and I had questions towards the end, the ending left me with more and I felt the future of the LOV's and characters could have been explained in more detail.
June 5, 2017
Limit of Vision imagines a game-changing invention of artificial life forms, called LOVs because they're small enough that they exist at the Limit of Vision, tiny sparks of light that organize into neural networks, and where it's possible to implant them in a human to enhance their intelligence (and allow them collaborate and share emotions even more easily than ideas).
They're studied only under the strictest conditions to avoid their spread, but part of the research involves forcing an evolutionary process on the LOVs to make them more effective... but evolution, even forced evolution, doesn't always follow predictable paths. Even more dangerous, a few people involved in the project have already decided to implant LOVs in themselves. When they're discovered, it begins a series of events that lead to the LOVs escaping containment and crashing in an area of Vietnam... where those who want to protect them as intelligent, although different, life forms and those who want to destroy them reach an uneasy standoff... all while the LOVs continue to evolve.
I've been getting particularly into Nagata's work lately, and although I'm not sure this is the best one that I've read, it is quite possibly the most accessible for newer readers of SF. It's a lot simpler than The Bohr Maker or Deception Well, at least, but that doesn't mean it's simplistic. It explores question of the rights of intelligence and of humans to determine their own destiny, of the tendency of people to exploit, the role of emotions in intelligence, and of course, plenty of wonder-inducing concepts of AI and nanotechnology that seem very plausible. One of the most interesting things about the book is that the LOVs aren't the only potentially-sentient AI species in play... just like in the real world, we often converge towards big developments ideas from multiple directions at once. In fact, the interaction between these two elements lead to some of the most compelling bits of the story.
In a lot of ways, this book reminds me of Nexus, which was written more than a decade later... both deal with intelligence-enhancing technologies that some people don't want to spread because of the potential chaos, and explore the questions of whether suppressing it does more damage than it's worth. Both even take place in similar parts of the world (Nexus takes place largely in Thailand, and LoV, although one of the character starts there, it largely takes place in nearby Vietnam).
As far as flaws... I do feel some of the characters weren't quite as fleshed out as I'd like... they're not exactly two-dimensional, but it felt like there was a little something lacking, like they needed a little more grounding before we saw how the LOVs were affecting them. It wasn't bad enough that it seriously hampered my enjoyment of the book, but it might be what separated a good book from a great book.
I was thinking I was going to give this three stars.. but it really kicked into high gear with the ending, which leads me to my second problem... this is a book that ends just when it starts getting its coolest. I wanted more. Which is possibly the best flaw you could ask for in a book. It's not even a cliffhanger ending... it could be read as a satisfying, although somewhat open-ending conclusion that implies the unresolved issues will work themselves out with a little effort, but there's absolutely room to tell those stories.
I think the book, unfortunately, flew under the radar when it released, so maybe a sequel was planned and sales didn't justify it. But in the Internet Age, an unjustly overlooked book can always get new attention and hopefully this review will be some small contribution towards that (and Nagata herself was recently nominated for a Nebula for her novel The Red: First Light, so maybe that'll shine a spotlight on her earlier work). The good news is that even in the more than a decade since the book's release, nothing about it feels particularly dated. It still could exist comfortably in our near future, and I suspect it still could for several years to come. So a theoretical sequel therefore wouldn't be stuck in that weird limbo where you're torn between updating the world and keeping true to the original. I'll keep my fingers crossed the world decides to give the book another look and Nagata decides she might want to return.
They're studied only under the strictest conditions to avoid their spread, but part of the research involves forcing an evolutionary process on the LOVs to make them more effective... but evolution, even forced evolution, doesn't always follow predictable paths. Even more dangerous, a few people involved in the project have already decided to implant LOVs in themselves. When they're discovered, it begins a series of events that lead to the LOVs escaping containment and crashing in an area of Vietnam... where those who want to protect them as intelligent, although different, life forms and those who want to destroy them reach an uneasy standoff... all while the LOVs continue to evolve.
I've been getting particularly into Nagata's work lately, and although I'm not sure this is the best one that I've read, it is quite possibly the most accessible for newer readers of SF. It's a lot simpler than The Bohr Maker or Deception Well, at least, but that doesn't mean it's simplistic. It explores question of the rights of intelligence and of humans to determine their own destiny, of the tendency of people to exploit, the role of emotions in intelligence, and of course, plenty of wonder-inducing concepts of AI and nanotechnology that seem very plausible. One of the most interesting things about the book is that the LOVs aren't the only potentially-sentient AI species in play... just like in the real world, we often converge towards big developments ideas from multiple directions at once. In fact, the interaction between these two elements lead to some of the most compelling bits of the story.
In a lot of ways, this book reminds me of Nexus, which was written more than a decade later... both deal with intelligence-enhancing technologies that some people don't want to spread because of the potential chaos, and explore the questions of whether suppressing it does more damage than it's worth. Both even take place in similar parts of the world (Nexus takes place largely in Thailand, and LoV, although one of the character starts there, it largely takes place in nearby Vietnam).
As far as flaws... I do feel some of the characters weren't quite as fleshed out as I'd like... they're not exactly two-dimensional, but it felt like there was a little something lacking, like they needed a little more grounding before we saw how the LOVs were affecting them. It wasn't bad enough that it seriously hampered my enjoyment of the book, but it might be what separated a good book from a great book.
I was thinking I was going to give this three stars.. but it really kicked into high gear with the ending, which leads me to my second problem... this is a book that ends just when it starts getting its coolest. I wanted more. Which is possibly the best flaw you could ask for in a book. It's not even a cliffhanger ending... it could be read as a satisfying, although somewhat open-ending conclusion that implies the unresolved issues will work themselves out with a little effort, but there's absolutely room to tell those stories.
I think the book, unfortunately, flew under the radar when it released, so maybe a sequel was planned and sales didn't justify it. But in the Internet Age, an unjustly overlooked book can always get new attention and hopefully this review will be some small contribution towards that (and Nagata herself was recently nominated for a Nebula for her novel The Red: First Light, so maybe that'll shine a spotlight on her earlier work). The good news is that even in the more than a decade since the book's release, nothing about it feels particularly dated. It still could exist comfortably in our near future, and I suspect it still could for several years to come. So a theoretical sequel therefore wouldn't be stuck in that weird limbo where you're torn between updating the world and keeping true to the original. I'll keep my fingers crossed the world decides to give the book another look and Nagata decides she might want to return.
March 19, 2021
Actual rating : just below 3 stars. A sluggish and even lugubrious read that I found extremely difficult to connect with in any significant way.
I'll admit that the 'scifi cyberpunk' (or is it 'metafiction' or 'weird fiction'?) sub-genre is not my thing, which typically leaves me with an odd yet persistent headache just behind my eyes. Not so much from the context but more the constant wondering 'why are we writing about this at all?' or particularly 'what should we learn here?' Having said that, at least Nagata's 'LoV' didn't leave me quite as flummoxed as Jeff VanderMeer's ridiculous 'Borne' did, which came across as a narrative about someone's bad acid trip hallucinations. So not that bad (sorry, 'Borne' still angers me for the attention it got / gets) ... but in the end, well, I just didn't relate to 'LoV' nor - to be blunt - really enjoy it, despite the rating here. It was in too many ways quite depressing and dark and even bordered on horror for me. And really in terms of characterizations, everyone just struck me as either being an utter bastard or just pathetic in more ways than I care to describe.
The book is not poorly written, please do not misunderstand, even if ultimately the construction didn't pull me in. I do wish the author had spent more time looking at the (side-)consequences of what develops up to nearly the end- including what seems wound up being the harvesting of LoVs from living (?) children - and not just hinting at same in passing. This was why in large part I found the ending particularly unsatisfying as we're left with no real outcome for any of the players, human or otherwise. Quite clearly, what is happening would only result in massive global upheaval and even war, not only at an economic level but most likely in very literal terms. But that just gets pushed away as we're then left with our 'cameras' focused on other scenes. To me, it ultimately came off more as if the author was saying 'ok here's the set-up, let's see if I sell enough copies to push this towards a sequel or three...'
It is also extremely hard to relate to the material as there is little with which I could identify personally. Yes, that doesn't add up completely for a fan of dystopian fiction and, again, scifi of all makes and ilks, but here it is more the connection with places I can either not relate with, knowing I will never go there, nor with the subject matter, which sways and swerves throughout the book. Being on Earth never felt so alien, which may have been the target of the author in the first place (if so, well done) but it left me floundering as so much takes place in a 9 square km patch of rice, shrimp and other farms.
And while I'm putting all my cards down, not having even a single character be what I would consider truly 'sympathetic' only exacerbated my feeling of disconnection. The mixing of what came across to me as totally unassociated or at best distantly related plot points - from potential cures of mental health issues to the plight of struggling minorities in a far-away land to something akin to 'Google Glass' addiction to goodness knows what else - just made this jumble of a story all that much more difficult to follow. I did see the potential, sure, but in the end, I just didn't feel like it went anywhere. Oh well, affordable and readable, so we tried.
I'll admit that the 'scifi cyberpunk' (or is it 'metafiction' or 'weird fiction'?) sub-genre is not my thing, which typically leaves me with an odd yet persistent headache just behind my eyes. Not so much from the context but more the constant wondering 'why are we writing about this at all?' or particularly 'what should we learn here?' Having said that, at least Nagata's 'LoV' didn't leave me quite as flummoxed as Jeff VanderMeer's ridiculous 'Borne' did, which came across as a narrative about someone's bad acid trip hallucinations. So not that bad (sorry, 'Borne' still angers me for the attention it got / gets) ... but in the end, well, I just didn't relate to 'LoV' nor - to be blunt - really enjoy it, despite the rating here. It was in too many ways quite depressing and dark and even bordered on horror for me. And really in terms of characterizations, everyone just struck me as either being an utter bastard or just pathetic in more ways than I care to describe.
The book is not poorly written, please do not misunderstand, even if ultimately the construction didn't pull me in. I do wish the author had spent more time looking at the (side-)consequences of what develops up to nearly the end- including what seems wound up being the harvesting of LoVs from living (?) children - and not just hinting at same in passing. This was why in large part I found the ending particularly unsatisfying as we're left with no real outcome for any of the players, human or otherwise. Quite clearly, what is happening would only result in massive global upheaval and even war, not only at an economic level but most likely in very literal terms. But that just gets pushed away as we're then left with our 'cameras' focused on other scenes. To me, it ultimately came off more as if the author was saying 'ok here's the set-up, let's see if I sell enough copies to push this towards a sequel or three...'
It is also extremely hard to relate to the material as there is little with which I could identify personally. Yes, that doesn't add up completely for a fan of dystopian fiction and, again, scifi of all makes and ilks, but here it is more the connection with places I can either not relate with, knowing I will never go there, nor with the subject matter, which sways and swerves throughout the book. Being on Earth never felt so alien, which may have been the target of the author in the first place (if so, well done) but it left me floundering as so much takes place in a 9 square km patch of rice, shrimp and other farms.
And while I'm putting all my cards down, not having even a single character be what I would consider truly 'sympathetic' only exacerbated my feeling of disconnection. The mixing of what came across to me as totally unassociated or at best distantly related plot points - from potential cures of mental health issues to the plight of struggling minorities in a far-away land to something akin to 'Google Glass' addiction to goodness knows what else - just made this jumble of a story all that much more difficult to follow. I did see the potential, sure, but in the end, I just didn't feel like it went anywhere. Oh well, affordable and readable, so we tried.
December 19, 2021
Read in 2003; my review from then: First-rate science fiction. Biotechnology gone wild and evolving quickly with a non-human and intriguing sentience, people pushing the limits of their minds and sanity to explore it. Set mostly in Vietnam. Several sympathetic characters, fast-moving plot, fun to read.
April 29, 2022
Strange book. Strange ending. Particularly mystifying, because I was completely against the protagonists and rooting for them to fail.
February 5, 2024
WHEN NANOTECHNOLOGY AND GENETIC ENGINEERING MERGE
Whiz-bang technology leaps from the page in Limit of Vision by Linda Nagata. It’s a suspenseful novel crammed with action. But its main attraction is the artificial life form whose name appears as the novel’s title. LOVs—tiny, genetically engineered life forms just barely within the human “limit of vision”—drive the action, delivering up surprise after surprise.
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH LEADS TO AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS
LOVs are the product of a private company known as EquaSys (Equatorial Systems). Neuroscientists and genetic engineers working for the company developed them to assist cognitively impaired people with a means to communicate using only their minds. They’re only successful up to a point. They don’t enable speech. But LOVs embedded in people’s foreheads help them focus their thinking and calm their emotions.
Sadly, a tragic accident in one of the company’s labs has led to an international outcry against the creation of artificial life forms of any sort. Authorities have forced any further work on LOVs to be conducted on a satellite in Low-Earth Orbit. And scientists at EquaSys have continued to shape their evolution at a distance. But then they take a step too far, defying the prohibition of research on Earth—and setting off a crisis that will dominate the news for months to come.
A FASCINATING CAST OF CHARACTERS
The novel’s principal characters enter the scene gradually as the story unfolds and the scene shifts from Hawaii, where EquaSys is based, to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Dr. Virgil Copeland, head of the three-person LOV team at EquaSys. Dr. Summer Goforth, who spearheaded the LOVs’ creation. Daniel Simkin, Director of the International Biotechnology Commission established to monitor any signs that an artificial life form might get loose on Earth. Ky Xuan Nguyen, a wealthy Vietnamese advertising executive known for his philanthropic work. Eli Suvanatat, a Thai video journalist now at work in the Mekong Delta on an assignment for an environmental group. And the Roi Nuoc (“water puppets”), a large band of wild children who roam the Mekong Delta. As you might imagine, a cast of characters like this might interact in very interesting ways.
PLUS LOTS OF INTRIGUING TECHNOLOGY
The clever technology that underpins this story includes the following:
** Farsights, which are eyeglasses with a very big difference. They enhance vision in long-distance, magnification, and night-vision modes and serve the function of today’s smartphones. By tapping on the frame, the wearer may text, place video calls, enjoy news and other online sources, and connect with their personal AI assistant housed on a distant server.
** The personalized Rosa (ROving Silicon Agent) that everyone possesses, an AI-powered executive assistant with an individual name and a distinctive icon.
** Peepers, which are tiny, transparent bubble-like spy drones that permit authorities to conduct surveillance surreptitiously both indoors and out.
** And, of course, the LOVs themselves, the artificial life form that’s the centerpiece of this story. But you’ll have to read the book to know what marvels they can perform.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Linda Nagata writes science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. including twenty novels published from 1995 to 2021. She has won both the Nebula and the Locus awards. Nagata was born in San Diego in 1960 but moved as a child with her mother to Hawaii, where she has lived ever since. She received her bachelor’s degree in zoology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Nagata and her husband live on Maui. They have two children.
Whiz-bang technology leaps from the page in Limit of Vision by Linda Nagata. It’s a suspenseful novel crammed with action. But its main attraction is the artificial life form whose name appears as the novel’s title. LOVs—tiny, genetically engineered life forms just barely within the human “limit of vision”—drive the action, delivering up surprise after surprise.
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH LEADS TO AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS
LOVs are the product of a private company known as EquaSys (Equatorial Systems). Neuroscientists and genetic engineers working for the company developed them to assist cognitively impaired people with a means to communicate using only their minds. They’re only successful up to a point. They don’t enable speech. But LOVs embedded in people’s foreheads help them focus their thinking and calm their emotions.
Sadly, a tragic accident in one of the company’s labs has led to an international outcry against the creation of artificial life forms of any sort. Authorities have forced any further work on LOVs to be conducted on a satellite in Low-Earth Orbit. And scientists at EquaSys have continued to shape their evolution at a distance. But then they take a step too far, defying the prohibition of research on Earth—and setting off a crisis that will dominate the news for months to come.
A FASCINATING CAST OF CHARACTERS
The novel’s principal characters enter the scene gradually as the story unfolds and the scene shifts from Hawaii, where EquaSys is based, to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Dr. Virgil Copeland, head of the three-person LOV team at EquaSys. Dr. Summer Goforth, who spearheaded the LOVs’ creation. Daniel Simkin, Director of the International Biotechnology Commission established to monitor any signs that an artificial life form might get loose on Earth. Ky Xuan Nguyen, a wealthy Vietnamese advertising executive known for his philanthropic work. Eli Suvanatat, a Thai video journalist now at work in the Mekong Delta on an assignment for an environmental group. And the Roi Nuoc (“water puppets”), a large band of wild children who roam the Mekong Delta. As you might imagine, a cast of characters like this might interact in very interesting ways.
PLUS LOTS OF INTRIGUING TECHNOLOGY
The clever technology that underpins this story includes the following:
** Farsights, which are eyeglasses with a very big difference. They enhance vision in long-distance, magnification, and night-vision modes and serve the function of today’s smartphones. By tapping on the frame, the wearer may text, place video calls, enjoy news and other online sources, and connect with their personal AI assistant housed on a distant server.
** The personalized Rosa (ROving Silicon Agent) that everyone possesses, an AI-powered executive assistant with an individual name and a distinctive icon.
** Peepers, which are tiny, transparent bubble-like spy drones that permit authorities to conduct surveillance surreptitiously both indoors and out.
** And, of course, the LOVs themselves, the artificial life form that’s the centerpiece of this story. But you’ll have to read the book to know what marvels they can perform.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Linda Nagata writes science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. including twenty novels published from 1995 to 2021. She has won both the Nebula and the Locus awards. Nagata was born in San Diego in 1960 but moved as a child with her mother to Hawaii, where she has lived ever since. She received her bachelor’s degree in zoology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Nagata and her husband live on Maui. They have two children.
June 29, 2025
Loved this book. Unlike so many of the factory-produced "techno-thrillers" which tend to be neither, this one took care to develop an interesting technical idea, tell it through the eyes of believable characters, and place it in compelling, well-described settings. In particular, the long segment of the book taking place in the rain-soaked Mekong Delta lowlands was set so richly that you could absorb the changes of the seasons and feel the mud underfoot in a place you've likely never been.
The limited world-building needed to tell the story was done artfully, introducing a term, then resolving your "what the hell is that" question gracefully within a paragraph of two.
The characters were believable and fully rounded, with none of the "oh come on" moments that mar a lot of sci-fi.
So great read all around, and while it is set up to have a sequel, apparently it didn't sell well enough to merit it. So c'mon people: buy the damn book so we can enjoy the follow-up.
The limited world-building needed to tell the story was done artfully, introducing a term, then resolving your "what the hell is that" question gracefully within a paragraph of two.
The characters were believable and fully rounded, with none of the "oh come on" moments that mar a lot of sci-fi.
So great read all around, and while it is set up to have a sequel, apparently it didn't sell well enough to merit it. So c'mon people: buy the damn book so we can enjoy the follow-up.
June 30, 2021
Techno thriller!
The lovs are an interesting concept to contemplate, I reckon if this biotech came to fruition it would not be for everyone, in fact, I would not partake in the experience, however, I could think of a lot of people who could. I wish the ragtag of lovs hybrids had made better use of them, for instance I would have created some weapons instead of just sit and wait to be caught and taken away by the antagonist or better yet, cloaking technology to slip out and disappear right under their noses. Anyway, all in all, the story held its own I just felt it needed a little more zest on the side of the LOVs protectors.
The lovs are an interesting concept to contemplate, I reckon if this biotech came to fruition it would not be for everyone, in fact, I would not partake in the experience, however, I could think of a lot of people who could. I wish the ragtag of lovs hybrids had made better use of them, for instance I would have created some weapons instead of just sit and wait to be caught and taken away by the antagonist or better yet, cloaking technology to slip out and disappear right under their noses. Anyway, all in all, the story held its own I just felt it needed a little more zest on the side of the LOVs protectors.
September 24, 2015
_Limit of Vision_ by Linda Nagata is an interesting relatively near future science fiction thriller, one that was a little slow going and perhaps even choppy at first, with disparate storylines and at least at first with characters fairly light on detail, but about a quarter of the way into the book became a riveting narrative with a brisk pace, great tension, and a wonderful sense of escalation. Though at least one of the main characters remained to me at least not as well formed as I would have liked and I thought the opening was a bit too open-ended, revolving some but not all (or even most) of the story's problems, it was all in all an enjoyable book.
What is it about? I will try to avoid spoilers, but here goes. At first, we have two entirely unconnected storylines. The first plotline introduces the reader to two daring young researchers (so daring in fact that they are conducting experiments in violation of international law). These two men, Randall Panwar and Virgil Copeland, employees of a company called EquaSys based in Honolulu, are illegally experimenting with something called an LOV (acronym for limit of vision), a tiny symbiotic synthetic species that is basically comprised of an artificially-created neuron called an asterid housed in a transparent silicate shell (the shell not only protecting the asterid but also permitting optical communication, as the colonial asterids communicate with pulses of visible light). Originally developed to be transplanted onto humans (where they would be visible on the host's head - generally the forehead - as glowing gemlike structures, easily concealed in a person's hair) who suffered from unbalanced brain chemistries, the LOVs would help stabilize the neurochemistry and emotions of those that possess them. It was found however that the semi-sentient LOVs could mutate and produce unwanted results, including deadly ones. After a mysterious event which we never learn anything about (referred to as the "Van Nuys Incident"), the LOVs were confined to a low-earth-orbit research facility called the _Hammer_ so that they could not escape into the environment and possibly pose a threat to people or animals.
Unfortunately, Panwar, Virgil, and their friend Gabrielle Villanti illegally removed some LOVs and transplanted them on to their persons. Conducting experiments in secret, they are discovered when Gabrielle dies (this happens during the first few pages of the book so I am not giving away any big secret here). Though I thought it quite remarkable that their bosses did not recognize the LOVs that they implanted on themselves (later this is explained away by the fact that Panwar, Virgil, and Gabrielle worked in a very loose administrative environment with fairly minimal supervision), the reader is not given much time to ponder this as their actions set into event a chain of events that includes the public discovery of LOVs on Earth, knowledge of a mutation of an LOV colony on the station to something approaching real sentience, and its escape from the station to avoid destruction.
The second plot thread at first seemed to have nothing to do with the one involving the LOVs, Virgil, Panwar, etc. The reader meets Elsa Suvanatat, a roving freelance Thai reporter, connected to a distant agent online (Else, like nearly everyone else in the setting, uses a sunglasses-shaped and sized item of headgear called a farsight, a device that allows one to be online all the time, pull up large amounts of information, make use of a personalized nearly sentient and individually customized computer program called a ROving Silicon Agent or ROSA, and even see in the dark). Virtually broke, she comes across a strange story covering a cult-like, locally feared group of kids in Vietnam called the Roi Nuoc (a Vietnamese name that means "Water Puppets"). The Roi Nuoc are a group of orphans and street kids who are fiercely independent, leery of authority, nonviolent but not exactly working within the law, united by a ROSA that is both motherly and aggressive by the name of Mother Tiger. Elsa also meets an another important individual in the book, a Vietnamese man by the name of Ky Xuan Nguyen, a locally influential businessmen who she thinks is either the head of (or a head of) the Roi Nuoc or possibly one of their members grown into adulthood (as apparently all Roi Nuoc members are kids and teens).
I don't think I am giving away too much when I say that the escaping LOV colony ends up in Vietnam and the events surrounding it entangle the Roi Nuoc, Elsa, and Ky. At this point in the book the separate plot threads unite and the story becomes fast and very interesting.
All in all a pretty good book. As I mentioned, I don't think all of the story elements were resolved and while it doesn't necessarily beg for a sequel, it did have an unfinished feel to it at the end. The LOVs themselves are very interesting and it was fun to read about their evolution. I also liked the fact that the book was set in Vietnam, not exactly a common locale for science fiction stories. I also like the title, which on one level simply mentioned the subject of the book, the artificial lifeforms, but at another level addressed the main problem of the authorities and the powers that be of the book's setting; their limited vision of the potential uses and benefits of the LOVs as well asan appreciation for the LOVs for their own sake.
What is it about? I will try to avoid spoilers, but here goes. At first, we have two entirely unconnected storylines. The first plotline introduces the reader to two daring young researchers (so daring in fact that they are conducting experiments in violation of international law). These two men, Randall Panwar and Virgil Copeland, employees of a company called EquaSys based in Honolulu, are illegally experimenting with something called an LOV (acronym for limit of vision), a tiny symbiotic synthetic species that is basically comprised of an artificially-created neuron called an asterid housed in a transparent silicate shell (the shell not only protecting the asterid but also permitting optical communication, as the colonial asterids communicate with pulses of visible light). Originally developed to be transplanted onto humans (where they would be visible on the host's head - generally the forehead - as glowing gemlike structures, easily concealed in a person's hair) who suffered from unbalanced brain chemistries, the LOVs would help stabilize the neurochemistry and emotions of those that possess them. It was found however that the semi-sentient LOVs could mutate and produce unwanted results, including deadly ones. After a mysterious event which we never learn anything about (referred to as the "Van Nuys Incident"), the LOVs were confined to a low-earth-orbit research facility called the _Hammer_ so that they could not escape into the environment and possibly pose a threat to people or animals.
Unfortunately, Panwar, Virgil, and their friend Gabrielle Villanti illegally removed some LOVs and transplanted them on to their persons. Conducting experiments in secret, they are discovered when Gabrielle dies (this happens during the first few pages of the book so I am not giving away any big secret here). Though I thought it quite remarkable that their bosses did not recognize the LOVs that they implanted on themselves (later this is explained away by the fact that Panwar, Virgil, and Gabrielle worked in a very loose administrative environment with fairly minimal supervision), the reader is not given much time to ponder this as their actions set into event a chain of events that includes the public discovery of LOVs on Earth, knowledge of a mutation of an LOV colony on the station to something approaching real sentience, and its escape from the station to avoid destruction.
The second plot thread at first seemed to have nothing to do with the one involving the LOVs, Virgil, Panwar, etc. The reader meets Elsa Suvanatat, a roving freelance Thai reporter, connected to a distant agent online (Else, like nearly everyone else in the setting, uses a sunglasses-shaped and sized item of headgear called a farsight, a device that allows one to be online all the time, pull up large amounts of information, make use of a personalized nearly sentient and individually customized computer program called a ROving Silicon Agent or ROSA, and even see in the dark). Virtually broke, she comes across a strange story covering a cult-like, locally feared group of kids in Vietnam called the Roi Nuoc (a Vietnamese name that means "Water Puppets"). The Roi Nuoc are a group of orphans and street kids who are fiercely independent, leery of authority, nonviolent but not exactly working within the law, united by a ROSA that is both motherly and aggressive by the name of Mother Tiger. Elsa also meets an another important individual in the book, a Vietnamese man by the name of Ky Xuan Nguyen, a locally influential businessmen who she thinks is either the head of (or a head of) the Roi Nuoc or possibly one of their members grown into adulthood (as apparently all Roi Nuoc members are kids and teens).
I don't think I am giving away too much when I say that the escaping LOV colony ends up in Vietnam and the events surrounding it entangle the Roi Nuoc, Elsa, and Ky. At this point in the book the separate plot threads unite and the story becomes fast and very interesting.
All in all a pretty good book. As I mentioned, I don't think all of the story elements were resolved and while it doesn't necessarily beg for a sequel, it did have an unfinished feel to it at the end. The LOVs themselves are very interesting and it was fun to read about their evolution. I also liked the fact that the book was set in Vietnam, not exactly a common locale for science fiction stories. I also like the title, which on one level simply mentioned the subject of the book, the artificial lifeforms, but at another level addressed the main problem of the authorities and the powers that be of the book's setting; their limited vision of the potential uses and benefits of the LOVs as well asan appreciation for the LOVs for their own sake.
February 6, 2021
Works like this perpetuate SF as a literary ghetto. Silly. Philosophically confused, ordinary, devoid of genuine human sensibility. Boring; should have been a short story. Consistently unbelievable. The characters and narrative are slightly oppressed by naively optimistic pro-transhumanist ideology.
November 21, 2020
Engaging, and an interesting take on what makes us human, and how enhancing cognitive thought through technology could be actioned on a more realistic and understandable scale. Ending felt rushed, and almost unfinished.
March 4, 2021
Heck of a good read
Very good book. I read it in just a few days, finding out very hard to put down at times. As always, this author dies not disappoint. Can't wait for the next book.
Very good book. I read it in just a few days, finding out very hard to put down at times. As always, this author dies not disappoint. Can't wait for the next book.
April 5, 2024
Bioengineered human neurons give Virgil and his scientific collaborators enhanced cognitive abilities. But then things start going wrong and Virgil slips away from the authorities in pursuit.
Soon Virgil and the world find that the technology doesn't want to be contained.
Soon Virgil and the world find that the technology doesn't want to be contained.
November 10, 2017
Fascinating vision of a possible future
April 19, 2019
Intense speculative nanohumanism.
April 7, 2020
Very good and interesting sci do loved that the entire book wasn't focused on first world countries.
May 25, 2022
3.5. The premise was good and the story had momentum until the very end when it seemed to just peter out. However, having said that, it did suit the storyline, it was just anticlimactic.
May 30, 2022
What happens when the lab experiment goes awry? Is it the beginning or the end. Really good?
April 24, 2020
Two young scientists combat a plot to gain control of mind-altering bio-engineered neurons.
March 26, 2012
In the not-too-near future, nanotechnologist Virgil Copeland and his team are on the frontier of AI development. They've created a near-microscopic new species called LOVs, because "they exist at the limit of human vision." LOVs form a symbiotic link with their human host's brain. Because of this link and the potential power LOVs have over their hosts, they have been deemed unsafe and banished to a ship orbiting earth. But Virgil's team have rescued some LOVs from their exile, and using themselves as hosts, study the effects. The book opens as Virgil's team's misconduct is detected after a team member dies inexplicably. Her connection to the LOVs is blamed, and Virgil ends up on the run. Meanwhile, the LOVs in orbit, fearing for their survival, separate themselves from the rest of the ship and fall to earth, landing off the Vietnamese coast. Ela Suvanatat, a freelance journalist, dives to investigate the crash site, not knowing the political and martial whirlwind her actions will unleash.
Limit of Vision characterizes the speculative nature of science fiction: it not only shows readers an interesting new world, but it asks "what if..." In this case, the question is: what if artificial intelligence ceases to be artificial? Virgil, Ela, and a cult of Vietnamese youngsters called Roi Nuoc all ask this question, and the answer they come up with is at odds with the rest of the scientific community and the powers that be. Stimulating developments ensue.
While I can't say I liked this book as much as Memory, I found it just as easy to read and finish. It wasn't always riveting, especially in the second half, but the characters and the plight of the LOVs kept me at it until I closed the book with satisfaction. I'm going to contine reading Linda Nagata.
To read more of my reviews, visit my blog, StarLit.
Limit of Vision characterizes the speculative nature of science fiction: it not only shows readers an interesting new world, but it asks "what if..." In this case, the question is: what if artificial intelligence ceases to be artificial? Virgil, Ela, and a cult of Vietnamese youngsters called Roi Nuoc all ask this question, and the answer they come up with is at odds with the rest of the scientific community and the powers that be. Stimulating developments ensue.
While I can't say I liked this book as much as Memory, I found it just as easy to read and finish. It wasn't always riveting, especially in the second half, but the characters and the plight of the LOVs kept me at it until I closed the book with satisfaction. I'm going to contine reading Linda Nagata.
To read more of my reviews, visit my blog, StarLit.
March 2, 2020
Eine junge Wissenschaftlerin wird nach einem Experiment tot aufgefunden. Es geht um geheimnisvolle LOVs (Limit of Vision, auch der Originaltitel des Buches), sehr kleine Teilchen die mit dem Menschen eine Symbiose eingehen können und die Emotionen intensivieren. Außerdem steigert sich die Wahrnehmung und man vermutet, dass die Menschen inteligenter werden. Nach einem Zwischenfall in der Vergangenheit wurde es aber verboten, LOVs auf die Erde zu bringen. Offensichtlich ist dieses Gesetz gebrochen worden und eine extra dafür geschaffene Organisation, die IBC, macht sich auf die Jagd nach dem verbliebenen Wissenschaftler und einer Journalistin, die ebenfalls in Kontakt mit den LOVs gerät.
Das Buch beginnt sehr flüssig und spannend. Die LOVs wirken geheimnisvoll, die Handlung spielt zum größten Teil in Vietnam (exotisch!) und es gibt einige interessante Ideen, die man gerne weiterspinnt. Leider ist der Mittelteil weniger gelungen, die Handlung verliert jegliche Spannung und die Charaktere werden einfach zu oberflächlich behandelt. Die Motivation bleibt dadurch z.T. völlig im Hintergrund und man kann die Handlungsweisen nicht wirklich nachvollziehen. Die LOVs werfen ebenfalls einige Fragen auf, die man gerne beantwortet hätte. Zum Ende hin wird es wieder spannender so dass der Gesamteindruck insgesamt positiv ist, vom Hocker reißen konnte mich das Buch aber nicht.
Eine interessante Erfindung sind die Farsights. Dabei handelt es sich um brillenähnliche Geräte, in der eine KI arbeitet, die mit dem Internet verbunden ist und somit die Kommunikation übernehmen kann, aber auch so hochbegabt ist, dass sie Analysen durchführt und die Wünsche des Benutzers "errät". Eine wirklich tolle Sache!
Das Buch beginnt sehr flüssig und spannend. Die LOVs wirken geheimnisvoll, die Handlung spielt zum größten Teil in Vietnam (exotisch!) und es gibt einige interessante Ideen, die man gerne weiterspinnt. Leider ist der Mittelteil weniger gelungen, die Handlung verliert jegliche Spannung und die Charaktere werden einfach zu oberflächlich behandelt. Die Motivation bleibt dadurch z.T. völlig im Hintergrund und man kann die Handlungsweisen nicht wirklich nachvollziehen. Die LOVs werfen ebenfalls einige Fragen auf, die man gerne beantwortet hätte. Zum Ende hin wird es wieder spannender so dass der Gesamteindruck insgesamt positiv ist, vom Hocker reißen konnte mich das Buch aber nicht.
Eine interessante Erfindung sind die Farsights. Dabei handelt es sich um brillenähnliche Geräte, in der eine KI arbeitet, die mit dem Internet verbunden ist und somit die Kommunikation übernehmen kann, aber auch so hochbegabt ist, dass sie Analysen durchführt und die Wünsche des Benutzers "errät". Eine wirklich tolle Sache!
April 15, 2016
Right off the bat, I'm going to complain about the cover art chosen for this book! Ridiculous! First, it's a spoiler. Second, they don't get that big. Third, at first glance, it looks like the man poling the boat is fighting off the thing, which it apposite to the story so is misleading.
There was a lot to like about this book but also some frustrating aspects. It felt like it should have been a much larger book. Due to absolutely minimum "world-building", it was hard to glean the context in which the political and scientific arenas made their decisions. There seemed to be a lot of misplaced vehemence among the antagonists.
One particular aspect which interested me greatly was, I felt, under-described. And considering how intrinsic it was to the story, this is a shame. What exactly did these LOVS do for their hosts? It was repeatedly emphasized how much the people liked having them but aside from some rather flat examples, I never got a very good sense of what, exactly, they did for people. Even later in the book when interaction with the LOVS was intensified, very few attempts at descriptions were made.
It's funny; although I enjoyed it while I was reading it, I'm getting aggravated with the book while trying to review it!
Nonetheless, this writer has some really good ideas and I will continue to read more of her work!
There was a lot to like about this book but also some frustrating aspects. It felt like it should have been a much larger book. Due to absolutely minimum "world-building", it was hard to glean the context in which the political and scientific arenas made their decisions. There seemed to be a lot of misplaced vehemence among the antagonists.
One particular aspect which interested me greatly was, I felt, under-described. And considering how intrinsic it was to the story, this is a shame. What exactly did these LOVS do for their hosts? It was repeatedly emphasized how much the people liked having them but aside from some rather flat examples, I never got a very good sense of what, exactly, they did for people. Even later in the book when interaction with the LOVS was intensified, very few attempts at descriptions were made.
It's funny; although I enjoyed it while I was reading it, I'm getting aggravated with the book while trying to review it!
Nonetheless, this writer has some really good ideas and I will continue to read more of her work!
November 17, 2015
I've been sitting on this review for a while. Not sure what to say about this book. The characters are a little murky, their motivations counter-productive at best, and the entire thing seems to set up for a sequel that clearly never came. But they are sympathetic, and striking, and unique, and even though politically/morally i found myself rooting against them, I liked them enough as people to continue to support them.
The book is about nanomachines, and trans-humanism, and embracing the future where technology and humanity are one. Personally I find that future abjectly terrifying, but Nagata manages to present it in a warm way. Towards the end, it gets a little "plotty" - it showed us what could be a transformative, striking, unique world and of course it all boils down to some medical executive trying to get rich.
But where it stumbles, it shines in pure ambition. The future hasn't been treated with this much deft and grace since Clarke's heyday. This is where science fiction needs to go to keep up with the future.
The book is about nanomachines, and trans-humanism, and embracing the future where technology and humanity are one. Personally I find that future abjectly terrifying, but Nagata manages to present it in a warm way. Towards the end, it gets a little "plotty" - it showed us what could be a transformative, striking, unique world and of course it all boils down to some medical executive trying to get rich.
But where it stumbles, it shines in pure ambition. The future hasn't been treated with this much deft and grace since Clarke's heyday. This is where science fiction needs to go to keep up with the future.
May 23, 2012
This was an interesting concept and was fun for awhile. But I failed to see how these little LOVs that were supposed to amplify human intelligence ever actually did. None of the characters ever really did anything abnormally intelligent. In fact, they seemed kind of resigned to fate most of the time. There were a few "f" words.
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