Null-A Continuum

Null-A

by John C. Wright

Grandmaster A. E. van Vogt was one of the giants of the Golden Age of classic SF, the 1940s. Of his masterpieces, The World of Null-A is perhaps most influential. It was the first major trade SF hardcover ever, in 1949, and has been in print ever since. The careers of Philip K. Dick, Keith Laumer, Alfred Bester, Charles Harness, and Philip Jose Farmer were created or influenced by The World of Null-A. It is required reading for anyone who wishes to know the canon of SF classics.And so John C. Wright was inspired to write a sequel to the two novels of Null-A (the second was The Players of Null-A). To do this, he trained himself to write in the pulp style and manner of van Vogt. So return again to the Null-A future, in which the man with two brains, Gilbert Gosseyn, now discovers his third brain and travels through heretofore unimaginable distances in space and in time to fend off the death of the Universe and the extermination of human life as humanity reaches the peak of evolution millions of years in the future.

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fiction

Unknown Binding

First published May 13, 2008

About the author

John C. Wright (John Charles Justin Wright, born 1961) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy novels. A Nebula award finalist (for the fantasy novel Orphans of Chaos), he was called "this fledgling century's most important new SF talent" by Publishers Weekly (after publication of his debut novel, The Golden Age).

Reviews

[Zachary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had my expectations high because, well, this is John C. Wright. After picking up the pieces of my brain, which exploded somewhere in the latter third of the book trying to wrap my head around the mere concepts Wright was using, I can honestly say that he exceeded any expectations I had for the book.

This is a continuation of A.E. Van Vogt's World of Null-A and Players of Null-A. I never even read the other book in the Null-A series by Vogt because it was much derided as not really following the quality or heart of the first two.

That being said, Wright does an excellent job of pulling in all of the first two books (as well as certain events/elements from the third) and fitting them all into a meta-narrative which manages to eclipse the vision of them all - in a good way. Wright always likes to up the anty, and he ups it about as far as one could in this novel.

As far as writing style and movement, Wright did his best to duplicate the pulp fiction style of Vogt. And for the early part of the novel he hits it dead center, but by the middle he's drifting conceptually beyond where Vogt was in his first two novels (though I have no doubt Vogt would have loved where Wright decided to take the storyline). But throughout the novel the pace is quick and doesn't really relent much until the last page.

All in all, an excellent read. A must-read for any fan of Wright or Vogt. A must read for any fans of science-fiction in general. I do highly recommend you read first World of Null-A and then Players of Null-A before diving into this because I think it will help you enjoy the world, characters, and story even more (never fear, you can snag a kindle edition of each for $1 each!). If you just want to read Wright's book, though, he has a very solid summary of all the books which precede his in this Null-A series at the beginning of his book.

In two words: Read it!!!!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I re-read The World of Null-A, The Players of Null-A, and Null-A three, by A.E. van Vogt in preparation for reading johncwrights Null-A Continuum. Obviously, the first book in the series is the best, and nothing which follows can quite rise to its level. That said, I think the next best of the books is Wright's - van Vogt had a habit of tossing dozens of ideas into a page, and then only exploring a couple of them. Wright has much of the same galactic/universal scope of van Vogt, but he seems a bit more concerned with making sure that it ends up making sense upon reflection. His work basically treats Null-A Three the way that most sf fans treat Highlander 2 ("what movie?"), but this is not a fault - Three is by a long margin the least of the books. I would say that this is a case where Wright's work can bridge space to join van Vogt's (this makes sense if you've read the books, and if you haven't, then I think you've got some reading to go do). The right sequence to read these is World, Players, and Continuum. And when you're done, go read The Weapon Shops of Isher, and maybe a few more of van Vogt's brilliant works.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, this was Wright's best yet. The wildly differing rankings here and at Amazon suggest that this book is not for everyone, though.

I never read the original Null-A books, because I disliked Van Vogt's writing style. Still, I have read and enjoyed a lot of older science fiction, so Wright's superior prose styling underlying Van Vogt's pulpishness is a good combination for me.

I am also a big fan of Alfred Korzybski and general semantics. I got my introduction to this powerful pattern of thinking via Robert Anton Wilson's Quantum Psychology, which I also highly recommend.

Finally reading a Wright novel that is only one book long is a supreme pleasure. This one is even more condensed as it retells the story of the 3 original Van Vogt books from a meta narrative as part of its plot.

Things get a bit thick and thorny with multiple streams of reality and the action occuring at all points and scales of the meta-universe. This is great intellectually engaging big pulp science fun, if you like that sort of thing.

My only complaint is that the ending lacks a little punch. Getting there was so much fun that this is easily forgiven.

[Michael Hirsch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. I suppose if I really liked the original, or was in love with the Golden Age style, this book would be okay. But there is something about knowing this is written by a modern author that makes the old style of writing intolerable.

The Golden Age writing wasn't so much good as it was new. But nowadays, science is old hat and writing with such naivete about it just doesn't cut it. The protagonist is the best at everything. Scientific breakthroughs take a couple of days. All the women at extremely attractive...

Yuck. Read Wright's other books. He's quite good when he writes in his own voice.

[Max More · Rating 5 out of 5]

Complicated, amazing

A brilliant follow-up to van Vogt, outdoing the master. Incredible in scope, with the very best parts of 40s and 50s pulp SF.

[A Delestre · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had an effect on me I have seldom experienced before... confusion and frustration. But beneath that lies a compulsion to try to decipher what Wright really wants to accomplish in his sequel to his predecessor's theme.

Reading it was reminiscent of some anatomy/physiology theses I had been subjected to during my early college years, writing that required such a detailed knowledge of concepts that it became tedious to progress from page to page without pausing to consult reference sources. Such was the same experience reading this work. Except there is no reference library available to form the necessary bridges needed for digestion.

Perhaps I should have majored in physics to understand time-space and the interelationships of matter and electromagnetic forces. Not that it would have done much good in a fantasy that seems to set its own rules on the fly.

The peculiar thing is that, perhaps by a personal idiosyncrasy on my part, it seemed to draw me in to understand the concepts purported. Hence, there were an number of rereads over the years because I couldn't admit that there was no hidden sinew that would result in enlightment. For that aspect, if that was the intent of the writer, it was cleverly conceived and I was the pawn.

If you don't mind having your mind blown and tested to make some sense of exotic ideas way beyond the realm of a scifi genre... read this one. But not when you are weary.

[Sheppard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to thank John Wright for reintroducing me to A.E. Van Vogt, a writer from the "Golden Age of Scifi" starting in the 1940's - early 60's. While I had browsed his books, I had generally avoided the 1940's scifi , with the exception of Assimov's Foundation Series. I had found that the books of this time were light on character, were often simplistic in characterizing alien intent, and rendered female characters as maiden's in distress. A.E. Van Vogt's World of Null A apparently had a profound influence on writers such as Arthur C. Clarke and Phillip K. Dick. It was also retroactively awarded a Hugo Award.
John Wright, who was influenced by the World of Null-A wrote this sequel to Van Vogt's 3 Null-A books and actually tied another thematic Van Vogt book titled "The Book of Ptath" to it.
Wright crafted a very twisted plot to complete this journey, tying many ideas for the 1st 3 books and while adding the modern perspective of science discoveries in cosmology and other areas to the mix. You need patience to read this because there is some jumping between parallel time streams, but overall I feel this book was worth the effort. It was a visual ride and a nice wrap up, I will now read the Book of Ptath as a result.

[Andreas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am still reading the book but I don't enjoy it as much as I would like to. To be honest, I have expected something different. Taking the best of the setting and turning it into a modern story.

Unfortunately John C. Wright emulates the style of A.E. van Vogt too much. People are thrown in (I hope you remember the first two Null-A books well!), tell long stories and at the end of the chapter Gosseyn teleports somewhere else. This is pulp at its best and after just finishing 2 [Author:Gene Wolfe] books simply trash and not even entertaining.

[Joanne G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am, sadly, unfamiliar with Vogt. Therefore, I was totally unfamiliar with the precept and character. I'm sure I would have enjoyed this more if I had some background and familiarity with the story.

[Liviu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some books are better left alone so you get to keep happy memories of them

[Darrell isnor · Rating 3 out of 5]

More science than fiction but the science is unique and thought provoking. Very interesting.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was occasionally out of style from AE Van Vogt but those instances are brief. I enjoyed the story.