Gradisil

by Adam Roberts

Gradisil is a multi-generational story of murder, betrayal and revenge. It is told through the eyes of three characters and against a background where mankind's rush into space has faded away leaving individual pioneers to force their way independently into space after the collapse of the big government space agencies. They ride up into space on the lines of electromagnetic force that flower into space from earth like the mighty Yggradisil - the earth tree of Norse myth. Leaving their weight behind they still carry a cargo of enmities and hatreds.

Roberts has a unique approach to SF and is one of the genre's premier stylists. This is one of his most original novels yet.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Space Opera, Novels

551 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2006

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Adam Roberts (born 1965) is an academic, critic and novelist. He also writes parodies under the pseudonyms of A.R.R.R. Roberts, A3R Roberts and Don Brine. He also blogs at The Valve, a group blog devoted to literature and cultural studies.

He has a degree in English from the University of Aberdeen and a PhD from Cambridge University on Robert Browning and the Classics. He teaches English literature and creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. Adam Roberts has been nominated twice for the Arthur C. Clarke Award: in 2001, for his debut novel, Salt, and in 2007, for Gradisil.

Reviews

[Jason Pettus · Rating 5 out of 5]

(My full review of this book is much longer than Goodreads' word-count limit; find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

Well well, so what do you know; we're finally at the end of a special series of reviews I've been doing here at CCLaP this month, taking a look at eight out of the twelve science-fiction novels nominated this year for either the Hugo or Philip K Dick award, basically two out of the four most prestigious awards in the entire SF community (the others arguably being the Nebula and the Clarke, although I'm sure many would disagree with my assessment -- fanboys, start your hate mail!). And as I've explained here before, this has been an especially interesting exercise for me, in that I was raised on the genre by a dad and uncle who were Silver-Age fanboys themselves, hence me growing up in an environment containing hundreds upon hundreds of SF novels from the '40s, '50s and '60s; in fact, it's almost exclusively what I read until reaching college, at which point I realized that if one simply read contemporary human-interest authors and cutting-edge poets instead, one could get laid a whole lot more than I currently was (which was "never"). And thus it was that the "cyberpunk" movement in the '80s was the last period of SF I followed in any deep way; until this month and the intense re-immersion into the genre that I've done, I had pretty much lost touch with all the latest developments and hottest authors, other than occasionally picking up the latest by the aging William Gibson or Neal Stephenson.

Re-approaching the genre this year, then, now with the kind of sophistication as a reader that I simply could've never achieved as a teen, has made me realize in a much more detailed way than ever what exactly about SF I like, and especially what things within the genre I like the most; for example, in the ensuing years since high school, I've come to realize what a slobbering fan I am of alternative histories and fake histories of future events, and can now see that the majority of the projects I liked the most back in the '80s (Asimov's Foundation, Herbert's Dune, etc) contain these exact types of elaborate fake histories that I'm talking about. So it should be no surprise, then, that here at the very end of my little month-long look at contemporary SF, I should gravitate to Adam Roberts' Gradisil in a deep and profound way that I didn't with any of the other seven nominees; because Gradisil is not just one but two fake histories, related to each other and spanning basically the next hundred years or so of human history, touching on all kinds of important hot-button issues from our own exact times of 2008, written as a supposed oral history by the people surrounding the Ghandi-like figure in the middle of it all (the "Gradisil" of the book's title), looking back on events with outcomes they already know. I can't say in all honesty that it's for every SF fan -- many will find it tedious and politically wonky -- and I can't say that it even deserves to win the PKD Award for which it had been nominated earlier this year; but I can definitively call it my personal favorite of all eight of the nominees I read this month, the kind of book that will make certain people go absolutely gaga with complex narrative excitement.

Like I said, the book is actually two related yet distinct fake histories of the future -- part one covers the funky, libertarian beginnings of humanity's first-ever space colony, while part two details the efforts of this group to fight a revolutionary war against the US and gain independence for itself, the events covered basically lasting around a hundred years altogether, making this essentially a fake history of the entire 21st century. And in fact, Roberts starts the tale with an imminently believable idea, just the tiniest extrapolation from events that are actually happening in our society in this day and age; he starts by imagining a time just thirty or forty years from now, where there are basically now several hundred eccentric people who own their own private spacecraft, most of them bored trillionaire entrepreneurs who believe heavily in libertarian and/or Objectivist ideals. See, it turns out that someone figures out a way to get ships into space at an insanely cheaper cost than the rocket-obsessed NASA ever could; they basically invent a way for a regular plane to "glide" on the massive magnetic waves found in the Earth's magnetosphere, making it essentially free to travel and hover once actually within its borders. And since the magnetosphere actually touches the planet at the north and south poles, getting higher and higher as it reaches the equator, these entrepreneurs figure out that the costs of actually getting that plane into the magnetosphere "stream" is especially cheap when done from the far north, places like Iceland and Norway where the stream hovers just a few hundred feet above the ground itself.

And thus does this chaotic little community start amassing within this magnetosphere, which the "locals" start coming to call the "Uplands;" such people end up owning terrestrial homes in northern Europe for legal purposes and floating homes within the lawless Uplands that they spend more and more time at, coming back to Earth less and less and starting to think of the Uplands as their real home, moving back and forth freely through the use of their tricked-out Cessnas and Learjets and whatnot. And in the meanwhile, see, according to Roberts, by the 2050s or so things between the US and the EU have gotten downright hostile; in Gradisil's fake history, see, the US never does get over its neocon obsession with censorship and torture and perpetual warfare, turning them into a violent "evil empire" in the eyes of most Europeans, igniting a "Second Cold War" that occasionally flares into moments of very real violence. And thus it is that these Uplands "citizens" slowly start becoming more and more of a pawn in this cold war, because of most of these citizens being terrestrially based in northern Europe; the US wants to "take over" the Uplands, the EU doesn't want them too, while the Uplanders themselves mostly want to be left alone, the whole reason they packed up and moved into space in the first place.

I don't think I'm giving too much away by stating that the Uplanders eventually gain their independence, and that a remarkable (almost worshipped) figure named Gradisil turns out to be the catalyst for it all; there are plenty of hints and clues inserted throughout the manuscript to this effect, even from the beginning, making it not very much of a secret in my opinion. And in fact that's one of the many things that makes the novel Gradisil so fascinating, because the character Gradisil isn't even born until a third of the way through; instead, the first third of the novel is simply about the anarchic settling of the Uplands to begin with, as seen through the eyes of Gradisil's eventual mother when she was a young and sexually adventurous "space slacker" herself. And of course this is another remarkable thing about the book, that it's not just a look at these big events and fake history, but ultimately a small story about complex human beings as well, with Gradisil's mom Klara being a perfect example; the daughter of a Romanian hobbyist scientist who helped invent some of this maglev technology, she was one of the first people to live in the Uplands almost full-time without being filthy rich, an optimistic idealist and pessimistic realist at the same time, someone more than happy to exchange her "love" for access to technology she couldn't nearly afford, and especially after the bizarre death of her father and the stealing of her floating home by the Uplands' very first serial killer.

That in a nutshell is what makes Gradisil such a rewarding book -- it examines simultaneously not only this massive fake history of space settlement, not only the precepts behind anarchy and libertarianism and other radical political movements, not only the bizarre culture behind all these real activist billionaires of our actual Web 2.0 times, but also the deeply sociopathic and calculating personality behind this one particular character, the woman who is to eventually give birth to the "Mother of a Nation." And Roberts manages to do with as well with a great mix of humor and drama, knowing winks to real events that he never needs to explicitly state, not to mention a solid and unshowy personal style that makes this 550-page book a breeze to actually get through. (And let's not forget, mind you, everything plot-wise I've been talking about only covers the first third of the book; I haven't even touched on the real meat of this story, of the way this Gradisil woman ends up whipping all these spoiled trillionaires into a nationalistic and revolutionary frenzy, a story so complex that I'm intimidated by the idea of even trying to get into it here.) And in fact that's what makes reviewing this book so frustrating, is that it's actually the combination of a thousand little details that make it such a great read, not just two or three or four big things I can easily mention. I loved this book because of its examination of zero-g pregnancy; I loved it for its concept of "matriotism," which is...

[Jeremy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read the first 180 pages and had to put the book down. It was plodding and dull all around. I did find it funny that the author said he was greatly indebted to Wikipedia for his research. Which probably partially explains why this book wasn't good.

[Eric Lawton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although Roberts' books are full of surprises, they follow a basic pattern of being much more about illuminating social and political ideas than the science fiction universe they are set in.

This is no exception.

I stayed up too late to finish it; for once there isn't a surprise SciFi twist in the last quarter of the book, just a page-turner of an end.


I'm on my third reading of Roberts' books. Increasing my rating because as I pay more attention to the writing and less to the bizarre plots, I realize how good that is; it gives a wonderful impression of the thought processes of the characters who, however literally outlandish, seem very realistic.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked Gradisil up in a used book store on the edge of the University of Pennsylvania campus recently. This is not the sort of space novel that you will find at your neighborhood book store. I really enjoyed reading it. Reading Gradisil reminds me of the first time I read a William Gibson novel. There are so many interesting ideas and thoughts that it introduces that I keep getting distracted and want to talk to people about them. There is a refreshing perspective and striking originality when I compare the book to others. The trans-global character dimensions are also quite refreshing because the author includes perspectives that fall outside of the typical international stereotypical characters (e.g. one from here, one from there, one from that other place everyone expects too).

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sprawling novel in parts that follows three different generations of a family that inhabits the developing community in the orbital space zone of the earth and the tragedies, betrayals and politics that surround them. The three parts hang loosely together linked by a few characters but all have a very different feel. This lack of cohesion and as well as a shortage of sympathetic characters makes the whole seem a little less than the parts but it was still a good read.

[Rinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is yet another hard one to rate. I really love sci-fi, especially high-concept, and the quote on the cover led me to believe this was one of those novels. However, I would describe as more of a low-key sci-fi - it is set not too far into the future, and the technology is not majorly developed. Although people (known as 'Uplanders') are living on the edge of the earth's atmosphere, this is a very rare occurrence; and despite this development in technology, the last manned moon landing was Apollo 17 in 1972, as it is today.

The society in the book doesn't seem too changed from our own. There appears to be more of a continental emphasis, e.g. the countries are called England-EU, Finland-EU etc, but apart from casual space travel it doesn't seem too different. There are so many theories about the definition of 'science fiction' compared with fantasy, but the commonly accepted one seems to be that sci-fi is what could happen, whereas fantasy never could. In that case, I would say that 2050 seems far too early for this casual space travel, but it's really hard to query the plausibility of sci-fi!

Roberts has a very fluid writing style, and the first half of the book (narrated by Gradisil's mother Klara) was an account of her life as an 'Uplander', from her childhood to Gradisil's late teens, and was some very effective world building. Yet as soon as the story switched to Gradisil's half, it became much less interesting; it almost feels as though the two halves could quite easily be two different books. Whilst the eponymous character never provides the narration, we see her from two different sides: as a child and a teenager, from her mother; from a young woman to middle aged by her cuckolded husband. This has the effect of keeping Gradisil at a distance from the reader, as she is to all the loved ones in her life.

Yet for all the effective techniques that Roberts has used, there are some downfalls. The beginning of part two of the book, where narration by Slater (who becomes more and more entwined with the story) begins, was just a complete information dump. Too many facts and figures and information about technology was introduced in a matter of pages, and I quite honestly found all but one or two of Slater's chapters really dull. I don't even think his POV chapters were completely necessary.

The changes in spelling as time progressed, whilst showing changes in society, annoyed me. First it was the dropping of 'c', then 'h', then 'ng' became a strange symbol. I really can't stand this in books, hence why I dropped Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks. It worked for Flowers for Algernon (which is a fantastic book, by the way) because it was a very effective way of portraying Charlie's rapidly increasing IQ. Here, however, it really isn't necessary and just bugged me.

Overall, I did enjoy the book but it honestly felt like it could have been two novels, or perhaps a novella - covering Klara's story - and a novel. The two halves were rather disjointed, and I enjoyed Klara's half more, despite Gradisil barely being in it. It was nice to read some low-key sci-fi though, something a bit more easily imagined.

Originally posted on my former blog, Rinn Reads.

[Ben Thurley · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's no denying the ambition of Roberts' novel – a heady blend of near future sci-fi, family saga, birth-of-a-nation, political/military thriller and revenge tragedy. However, I couldn't escape the feeling that it – unlike its protagonists – couldn't quite achieve lift-off, burdened by over-exposition, clunky satirical elements and characters that never quite reach three-dimensionality.

Telling the story of three generations of the Gyeroffy family, it also tells the story of the birth of a new nation, the Uplands – a loose confederation of bespoke households cludged together from aero-space industry scrap to hang in low earth orbit and peopled by various pioneers, libertarians, exiles and renegades. The story shifts viewpoints across the three generations and the pivot on which the novel hangs is the character Gradisil, the second-generation of the Gyeroffy family and the matriarch and political leader of the Uplands.

Roberts does not attempt to make her (or, indeed, most of his other characters) particularly sympathetic but I don't think he succeeded in making her a recognisably human character either. Her story is told through the voice of her increasingly estranged husband as she seeks to unite the anarchic and freedom-loving Uplands, and steer them through conflict with the powerful nation blocs of Earth, which seek to exploit and tax the new orbital nation. But despite the Paul's repeated avowals of desperate love for Gradi and his attempts to explain the power of her personal magnetism and political persona, I never really got the sense that there was a real person there to love or be drawn to.

Each of the three generational stories is essentially a story of betrayal and revenge. The third story, in which Gradisil's sons seek revenge on their father who betrayed her, is fairly perfunctory and rushed. After 700 pages, the haste to the finish was a bit unsatisfying.

There are various implausibilities in the story as you'd expect, though none are fatal. Sadly, though, Roberts expends far too much energy detailing the mechanics and logistics of building human habitation in space and he should have ditched the satirising of military and political bureaucracy entirely. It wasn't well done and it just didn't fit.

[Micah Sisk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gradisil is the third work I've read by Roberts (the other two being Stone and On), and unfortunately, it is the weakest of the three. It's a very different kind of work than those other two—more hard SF, far less imaginatively speculative—but this is not where its issues reside.

Written from four distinct points of view and spanning three generations, Gradisil describes the birth of the Uplands nation, a nation forged by the will of one woman out of a population of mostly rich and/or eccentric individualists who have colonized low Earth orbit .

The structure of the novel is fine, if somewhat plodding in its pace (especially toward the late middle part of the book where Roberts's penchant for long descriptive passages add nothing to the plot or landscape of the novel). But where the novel really fails is in its characters. The two dominant females in the story are either eccentric and self-centered, or completely cold and sociopathic. Neither is compelling enough to carry the whole narrative, and so much of the book is seen through the eyes of the men who revolve around them. This wouldn't be such a bad thing if these men were interesting well-developed characters. But they're not. They are all consistently weak, incapable, depressed and depressing, or in the case of the third generation sons, two-dimensional to the point of irritation.

Still, the plot is well done and it was interesting to watch the founding of this nation. To Roberts's credit, his decision to focus his hard SF work not on the technology and engineering involved, but rather on the people who do it, the psychology needed, the hardships they must endure, and the tenacity required to overcome those hardships, was the right approach. I only wish those people had been more compelling and nuanced.

[Jim Angstadt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to dislike this book.

The author is a man, telling a story from the point of view of a woman, Klara, initially. That's bad, at least stereo-typically.

But, in practice, at least in the first 70 pages or so, the gender perspective is not a big factor. It may be there, to some small extent, but it is not a significant factor.

Later, the point-of-view changes to others. Now that I am ready for it, the pov change is not a factor.

Minor annoyance: wat, fuk, bak, pek and other non-standard spellings of common words. Yeah, language is a growing thing, but, usually, that means new words or new meaning for old words. This is noise.

This book has turned into a multi-generational story. First is Klara, then her daughter Gradisil, after who the book is named. Then Gradisil's son Hope.

Like other scientific fiction, that I like, there is a good, enjoyable satisfaction seeing how the author paints the future. How has our culture changed? What do future technologies have to offer? How will the future be different? That was well done.

Not so well done: I wanted more character development for all the main characters. How did Gradisil become so intense, insightful, dedicated? Why was Hope such a wimp?

At 547 pages, the author had the chance for a lot more meaningful characters.

[H. Gibson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chronicles of Han Storm Book Club Read (Sci-fi)

There was mixed feelings about this book, with feedback ranging from okay to 'having a tough time' getting through it.

As most of the Club members that reviewed it was seniors, it is up to the more adventurous crowd to read and rate it for themselves.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this last year. So just catching up.

Liked the first half of the book, was thinking a 3.5 Star, but the second half dragged it back to 2.5 star. In the end I was just desperate to finish it and move on. Disappointing.

[M. Grant · Rating 1 out of 5]

Roberts likes to call himself a science fiction author but always has trouble with science. Gradisil is a template, with some absurdly inane and foolish science. While I might have managed to suspend my disbelief in the magnetic levitation, I just couldn't swallow people managing to orbit the earth without ever achieving orbital velocity, not being able to spot house-sized objects in low earth orbit, and of course the infamous air-into-space bit. This is very basic science, I mean really, really simple, fundamental concepts, the sort of elementary stuff even pulp writers in the 1930s somehow managed to get right, even though they didn't have Google at their disposal, unlike Roberts. I wondered if it was perhaps a cunning literary device designed to highlight the contradictions inherent in the ‘hard’ sf genre? Sadly, no.

Trying to write science fiction and being rendered obsolete by the march of progress or missing out on some technological innovation is one thing, but faking it because you're too lazy to do basic research and you know most of your readers won't have the basic knowledge to call you on it is something else altogether.

This preposterous farrago of bad writing was nominated for both the Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick awards in 2007 but not unexpectedly failed to gain any award. However, given the present state of sf, if it was written today it would probably win a Hugo award.

[A.S. Ember · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the retrofitted aircraft that lift the novel’s characters into the magnetosphere above the earth, the prose is a little slow to rise and the first of three distinct generational parts is the weakest of them - though it is by no means weak; its exposition fascinating and compelling. But once the novel really gets going, its expanse of concept and intimacy of perspective provoke and thrill in stunning diction (debatably cheapened, though I found the conceit charming, by the use of developing “newspeak”). Incredibly inventive both conceptually and in its use and voice of character.

[Bonnie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Woah. Count me tf out. As soon as this guy starts talking about the main character (17 years old) having a sexual relationship with multiple pedophiles and then having her go on to say “it was fine, I don’t regret it” is way too close to normalising pedophile behaviour to me. This book needs to come with a fkn content warning. I’m closing this book feeling triggered and disgusted. I shan’t read on. No thank you.

[Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting take on space travel and the means to get there. An entire low-earth orbit society develops. Sort of like a trailer park a few miles high but some of them are super rich as well. It didn't grab me and hold me but it definitely provided me with some cool ideas. Much most like most of Adam Roberts' books.

[Jonathan D McMillan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting concept

The conceit of the book is interesting and poetic -how it reflects the old mythology of a worldtree. Chalk full of politics and gritty realism just don't expect to see any "C's" in the book.

[Pep · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started off OK and just got worse. Distractingly silly typo stylings interspersed boring explanations of nothing much. I don't want to waste any more time reviewing it at any length, as I wasted so much time reading it.

[Allan Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique story in an amazing universe.
We are told early that it is a murder story in three generations, although we don't understand this till the very end.
This is Roberts's first book where he changes the storyteller.
The first part is fantastic, told by Gradisil's mother. She primarily tells her own story and she is hard not to like.
As the storyteller changes to that of Gradisil's husband, the reader has to take sides. The husband does not like the mother and ridicules her. The reader will probably dislike him, as the mother is so likeable.
Brilliant!

[Shara · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all my ramblings, nit-picks, complaints, and curiosities, I really did enjoy this book. It’s not often you get something entertaining that makes you think as well. And I’m looking forward to reading more of Roberts’ work. And I mentioned the “moral” earlier, and for me, I took this away from the book: no matter how optimistic or grand the technology, humans will always find a way to fuck things up.[return][return]That may be pessimistic of me, and I may very well be projecting, but as a reader, I distrust fictional societies where society itself, human nature itself, is ignored in favor of glorifying technology. There is no such glorification here, at least, not by the end. The science of this book was easy enough to follow, even humorous in some places (Part One, how much do I love thee? Let me count the ways…), and Roberts writes with a wonderfully literary style, which I found refreshing, and quite appropriate for the subject matter. It’s a complex, compelling tale of human nature, politics, and what it might mean when we start to colonize the stars. And as Roberts reveals, getting out of Earth’s shadow may not be as easy as we’d like to think.[return][return]I bought this for a friend of mine, by the way, if that tells you anything about my enjoyment of this book. If you’re a fan of SF, and you prefer complex, realistic thought experiments with well-developed characters, you’ve got to give this book a shot.[return][return]For a full review, which may or may not include spoilers, please click here: http://calico-reaction.livejournal.co...

[Mike Grant · Rating 1 out of 5]

Roberts likes to call himself a science fiction author but always has trouble with science. Gradisil is a template, with some absurdly inane and foolish science. While I might have managed to suspend my disbelief in the magnetic levitation, I just couldn't swallow people managing to orbit the earth without ever achieving orbital velocity, not being able to spot house-sized objects in low earth orbit, and of course the infamous air-into-space bit. This is very basic science, I mean really, really simple, fundamental concepts, the sort of elementary stuff even pulp writers in the 1930s somehow managed to get right, even though they didn't have Google at their disposal, unlike Roberts. I wondered if it was perhaps a cunning literary device designed to highlight the contradictions inherent in the ‘hard’ sf genre? Sadly, no.

Trying to write science fiction and being rendered obsolete by the march of progress or missing out on some technological innovation is one thing, but faking it because you're too lazy to do basic research and you know most of your readers won't have the basic knowledge to call you on it is something else altogether.

This preposterous farrago of bad writing was nominated for both the Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick awards in 2007 but not unexpectedly failed to gain any award. However, given the present state of sf, if it was written today it would probably win a Hugo award.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although certainly the exception and not the rule, science fiction is sometimes viewed as little more than the American western set in space. It tends to stem from placing characters with an independent streak as pioneers or settlers in new frontiers. If you imagine this trope placed in the hands of a British professor of 19th century literature, you have a taste of Gradisil .[return][return]To be fair, Adam Roberts invokes and utilizes elements of Oresteia -- a trilogy of Greek tragedies -- as much as the American western. In fact, the book is told in a trilogy form like Oresteia and explores its themes of murder, revenge and justice in society. Yet the setting -- private individual colonization of near earth orbit in the period from the 2050s through the first third of the 22nd century -- is as far from Athens or the American west as you can get. There are no great debates or oratory in the Pnyx just as there is no saloon, school marm or even a sheriff.[return][return]Read remainder of review at http://prairieprogressive.com/?p=1051

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gradisil's a hard sci-fi space opera of a strongly libertarian bent - it's a page-turner but flawed in so many ways. At heart, the author can't work out whether he's writing straight sci-fi or satire - when he attempts the latter he's clunky, and unfortunately a couple of the major plot elements (especially his description of a future legal system) hang on this. Adam Roberts has created a fascinating concept that draws you in - you want it to work - but the implausibilities keep stepping in to wreck things. Even obvious stuff - he portrays how the English language changes over the timeframe of the book - is utterly OTT given the small span of years covered. Three stars, as it does stick with you, but no more than that.

[Rob Adey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent adult-Nicholas-Fisk type account of an early history of Earth-orbit colonisation. A plausible and compelling unpacking of a wealth of scientific, political, emotional and satirical ideas. Adam Roberts creates a vivid and poetic sense of place out of Earth orbit - 'the Uplands' - without resorting to the phrase 'like a blue jewel'.

One complaint - as the years in the book pass, Roberts adds some slight 'language evolution' which in the last 100 pages becomes intrusive enough to snag your reading. I can see why he did it, but I don't think the effect was worth it. But it shouldn't be enough to put you off an unusual and absorbing novel.

[Joey · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are probably better times to read this than during a series of chilly, uncomfortable plane flights, since that's basically its setting. Since it was one of my best reads last year, I'm looking forward to a reread.

---

2012 reread: Was struck this time by the beautiful language, phrases like "the faceted running bulge and dip of the Appalachians". I've read criticism of Adam Roberts that suggests he's subverting or doing something strange with SF. Read it in a more literary mode this time.

[Genevra Littlejohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most surprising murder scene I've ever read; null-g is something that isn't often fully explored even in hard SF, so int was interesting to see it used in such an abrupt fashion.

Also, I'm fond of hard women in fiction, provided they can also be kind, and Gradisil is pretty good at both when she needs to be.

[Peter Gillard-moss · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyable and not too geeky. Some nice ideas presented yet disappointingly lack exploration. Didn't get an amazing depth from the characters or find them terribly believable.

Overall the novel relies too much on convenience to pull the plot, characters and the politics together. There is nothing offensive in the content yet there is nothing challenging either.

[Falbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great space opera with a weak ending.
"There is a difficulty with giving, as I'm sure you can agree. If somebody gives you something, it obligates you to them. If you give them something, then they are obligated to you. No matter how freely and bountifully you intend the gift, the recipient becomes in a small way enslaved to you."

[Edward Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Really enjoyed the scientific, and political aspects of this story. I'm a huge Adam Roberts fan and this was certainly the book that made me into one.

Others will write better, more in-depth reviews, I'll just say I loved it and highly recommend it to anyone that likes an intelligent story that challenges as much as it entertains.

[Billy Abbott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The physics sounds plausible enough to me, even if it turns out not to, and the ideas are great and the writing is strong like usual. I'm not as big a fan of his closer to the present books, but this is still a good read.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't find some of his future spelling conventions terribly plausible (there's a difference in sound and meaning between backing and baking that it's useful to be able to see), but that's my only real complaint.