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Ed
Ed MacPherson is your college whiz-kid hyper-scientist: wormholes, time travel, heavy stellar engineering. When the aliens attack and you need a giant robot to fight them, he's your guy. When a galaxy goes missing, he's the one who misplaced it.
But there's something wrong in the dark layers of Ed's universe... and the problem might just be Ed himself...
But there's something wrong in the dark layers of Ed's universe... and the problem might just be Ed himself...
126 pages, ebook
First published October 27, 2013
117 people are currently reading
836 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
March 10, 2025
Giant mechs, alien invasions, time travel, wormholes, asteroids, nanoassemblers, momentum cannons, AI and a sentient Amiga 500.
It's a short, fast paced action packed read. Really enjoyed it.
I love the way Qntm writes, you get what you need. No fluff. No filler.
Shout to the idiot who stopped reading after the geek girl sentence. And the snowflake whose experience was "soured." How these people get through a day, let alone life is beyond me.
It's a short, fast paced action packed read. Really enjoyed it.
I love the way Qntm writes, you get what you need. No fluff. No filler.
Shout to the idiot who stopped reading after the geek girl sentence. And the snowflake whose experience was "soured." How these people get through a day, let alone life is beyond me.
December 12, 2021
Shallow and sexist
I've been impressed by other books by this author which makes this more disappointing.
I was willing to keep going until I got to "Jen was more geeky than most girls. Not geeky enough to write her own operating system...."
This kind of stupid pointless sexism adds nothing and continues the worst parts of geek culture.
I suppose maybe there's a redemption arc for the character but honestly the plot wasn't good enough to make it worth finding out.
I've been impressed by other books by this author which makes this more disappointing.
I was willing to keep going until I got to "Jen was more geeky than most girls. Not geeky enough to write her own operating system...."
This kind of stupid pointless sexism adds nothing and continues the worst parts of geek culture.
I suppose maybe there's a redemption arc for the character but honestly the plot wasn't good enough to make it worth finding out.
April 24, 2021
Almost awesome.
What a fun, wonderful book. It reminds me of the way I felt reading Asimov as a kid.
My one quibble is the perfectly accurate, perfectly, wildly offensive description of the geek girl. Everything else is super cool. That one line, that one character, really sours the rest for me though.
What a fun, wonderful book. It reminds me of the way I felt reading Asimov as a kid.
My one quibble is the perfectly accurate, perfectly, wildly offensive description of the geek girl. Everything else is super cool. That one line, that one character, really sours the rest for me though.
October 14, 2020
A SIMPLE MAN'S REVIEW:
Meh. It starts out as a series of short stories about a super-genius, named Ed, and then the stories become chapters in an overarching plotline. There are entertaining parts but, at the end, it just doesn't feel like you've read a cohesive sci-fi story. And, because of the format, the technology side of the story doesn't really have time to be explored. In fact, there are several times where "magic" is used as the explanation for how it works as a way to say, "It's too complicated to explain".
Skip it!
Meh. It starts out as a series of short stories about a super-genius, named Ed, and then the stories become chapters in an overarching plotline. There are entertaining parts but, at the end, it just doesn't feel like you've read a cohesive sci-fi story. And, because of the format, the technology side of the story doesn't really have time to be explored. In fact, there are several times where "magic" is used as the explanation for how it works as a way to say, "It's too complicated to explain".
Skip it!
January 12, 2023
a product of its time and super messy. one of the funnest parts of science fiction as a genre is taking difficult theoretical problems and turning them over in your hand and trying for a solution, even if it isn't nessisarily a realistic one. and this is something qntm is keenly aware of as an author!! yet over and over his stories start by positing fun scenarios and hypotheses before just giving up on it entirely halfway through and falling back onto space magic. all of qntm's books (barring ra) reach a point where you feel like you're somehow being tricked. like you cannot trust the story anymore because it's gone from generally very thoughtful and clever discussions around tricky concepts to I Developed An FTL Craft In A Day Also Here Are Ultra Hyper Advanced Aliens From Another Galaxy With Infinite Energy For Our Time Travel. ironically this author's book about literal space magic is more internally consistent and considered then all his other longform stories.
August 9, 2018
A fun, easy read. Marrying adventure, silliness, and hard sci-fi concepts successfully, comparisons to Rick and Morty are inevitable, but not quite right. It's less crass, for one. It also gets more serious as it goes, and its sci-fi is a bit harder. But the comparison is a helpful one to give you a broad idea.
The short chapters at the start feel self-contained, and I initially wondered if it was a collection of short stories and I hadn't realised. It isn't, it just takes a few chapters for the plot arc to become clear.
Fun, short, and enjoyable, but not meaty enough to rate a four.
The short chapters at the start feel self-contained, and I initially wondered if it was a collection of short stories and I hadn't realised. It isn't, it just takes a few chapters for the plot arc to become clear.
Fun, short, and enjoyable, but not meaty enough to rate a four.
May 26, 2025
150 Seiten, kein Todlauf, auf jeder Seite passiert was.
December 18, 2024
reminded me a bit of rick and morty - a fun read
February 13, 2022
After seriously enjoying “There Is No Anti-Memetics Division” and “Fine Structure”, I’ve returned to read one of the oldest stories published in book format by qntm called “Ed”. The titualar figure is a physics genius. His university buddy, Sam, tells the story of how Ed repeatedly has pulled humanity out of some serious hot water, usually involving alien invasions. Ultimately it is the story of how to use physics to cover up your mistakes —or events not in your favor— because, well, there’s no such thing as truly traveling back and changing the events in the timeline. It’s the story of chasing your own tail that you may not have realized you had. At least until a group of alien survivors show up from the now missing Andromeda galaxy to tell you what’s really happened and how badly you fucked up. A brisk 150 pages, written in their efficient but detailed manner; the reader is offered the opportunity to enjoy large doses of humor as well as soak in some legitimately heady concepts. I think “Anti-Memetics” remains their most ground-breaking work, but this was a fun to read too.
May 2, 2025
This is the definitive scholarly biography of Dr. Eduardo MacPherson—mathematician, physicist, and accidental civilizational pivot—meticulously compiled by his long-suffering assistant, Samuel Hughes. The tone is appropriately dry, as one would expect from a text straddling biography, theoretical physics, and post-singularity anthropology. Still, it's refreshingly readable for anyone with a working knowledge of tensor calculus and the sociopolitical implications of recursive ontologies.
The work truly shines when detailing Dr. MacPherson’s lesser-known contributions, such as his protocol for negotiating with self-aware malware and his brief but impactful campaign against linear time. Especially insightful are the footnotes on early mech deployment, and the appendices on drone diplomacy after the First Contact Fiasco.
A must-read for scholars, survivalists, and those wondering why they woke up in a slightly different version of their apartment this morning.
The work truly shines when detailing Dr. MacPherson’s lesser-known contributions, such as his protocol for negotiating with self-aware malware and his brief but impactful campaign against linear time. Especially insightful are the footnotes on early mech deployment, and the appendices on drone diplomacy after the First Contact Fiasco.
A must-read for scholars, survivalists, and those wondering why they woke up in a slightly different version of their apartment this morning.
January 3, 2023
Deliciously digestible scifi. Qntm is the only author whose books I can ever read the last chapter of. There are glimpses of medium hard scifi too, but I'm just delighted by how /fun/ it has been to engage with this one. The characters are simple, normal dudes (despite the fact that they are savant level post-college scientists) which made the first half a bit hard to get through. Once the ball gets rolling though? Holy. Shit.
August 14, 2021
Fun, and includes a time travel bit that refreshingly the author actually thought through.
April 10, 2025
Asimov categorised science fiction with three different genres: Gadget, Adventure, and "Social".
Any good fiction has a mix of all three elements, ultimately using the first two as plot device for the last one.
This book has a little bit too much of the first two and not enough of the last one. It is, at its core, a book about Gadgets and Adventures. It is, to be perfectly fair, a very fun book, but one in which it's more important to have a good gadget to show than to really think about it.
We meet Ed, an impossibly and implausibly brillant college physicist who invents supermech warriors to save the world, time-travel, find the backdoor to the key parameters of the universe, and some more which I will discuss at the end.
The story is quite interesting in that it starts off as a set of almost disconnected, independant chapters implying a vague continuity between them. It is only as the story builds up and develops itself that a big picture story starts to emerge.
Unfortunately, although the story does develop and eventually comes to an interesting and satisfying climax, the characters or the world in which the action takes place do not. Ed should be understood as a series of sketches developing a particular wacky idea with a deliberate (and welcome) unseriousness. In many cases it is lampshaded: Ed calls some of his inventions "magic" as an obvious joke. Some of the ideas being developped ARE genuinely interesting, such as the so-called "layer theory", a secret backdoor to the universe, or the play on the idea of time travel. Others are more conventional: mechs, incredibly advanced aliens, teleportation, sentient AI robots...
All these elements are used and reused incredibly quickly, to get the feeling of a fast-paced action movie or show which wants to feature as many cool elements as possible, without space for the characters or quiet time, and with even some quips or jokes thrown in here.
The actual story itself is quite conventional, but well executed and with enough build up and tension.
In summary, this book is a bit like a pulp superhero comic book for science fiction. It's here to entertain and to give you some fantasies rather than to actually make you think. The author DOES have books better suited for that purpose, though.
Any good fiction has a mix of all three elements, ultimately using the first two as plot device for the last one.
This book has a little bit too much of the first two and not enough of the last one. It is, at its core, a book about Gadgets and Adventures. It is, to be perfectly fair, a very fun book, but one in which it's more important to have a good gadget to show than to really think about it.
We meet Ed, an impossibly and implausibly brillant college physicist who invents supermech warriors to save the world, time-travel, find the backdoor to the key parameters of the universe, and some more which I will discuss at the end.
The story is quite interesting in that it starts off as a set of almost disconnected, independant chapters implying a vague continuity between them. It is only as the story builds up and develops itself that a big picture story starts to emerge.
Unfortunately, although the story does develop and eventually comes to an interesting and satisfying climax, the characters or the world in which the action takes place do not. Ed should be understood as a series of sketches developing a particular wacky idea with a deliberate (and welcome) unseriousness. In many cases it is lampshaded: Ed calls some of his inventions "magic" as an obvious joke. Some of the ideas being developped ARE genuinely interesting, such as the so-called "layer theory", a secret backdoor to the universe, or the play on the idea of time travel. Others are more conventional: mechs, incredibly advanced aliens, teleportation, sentient AI robots...
All these elements are used and reused incredibly quickly, to get the feeling of a fast-paced action movie or show which wants to feature as many cool elements as possible, without space for the characters or quiet time, and with even some quips or jokes thrown in here.
The actual story itself is quite conventional, but well executed and with enough build up and tension.
In summary, this book is a bit like a pulp superhero comic book for science fiction. It's here to entertain and to give you some fantasies rather than to actually make you think. The author DOES have books better suited for that purpose, though.
June 9, 2025
What a weird ride. I enjoyed the beginning, it was starting to feel like a bunch of short stories about a genius named Ed. Ed would wake up one day and just start building something amazing, and Ed's friend followed along, sometimes helping those ideas come to fruition. Slowly the mini stories started to piece together and form a real plot, a good plot. You started to understand the foundation that was being laid, and the action started picking up as well. You read with gripping curiosity on what can happen next, new science, new technology, new worries about the usage.
Then the story should have ended ... but it didn't.
There was an attempt at a self-righteous monologue about how this particular group and how they found Utopia, how they are not cruel, yet empathetic and beyond the evils. BUT, its directly contradicted by the hacking of the sentient spaceship to hurl a meteor to kill an entire planet as revenge by a sub-faction of people. A people who knew only 1 person was responsible for what happened to them yet was also willing to commit planetwide genocide. This was not very well thought out.
Jump a chapter ahead after they leave, and they come back because Ed wanted to make peace or atone. The entire whim of a galaxy of aliens opened its doors because Ed wanted to atone for what our planet did simply by discovering a means of communication. Sure, we are aware we beam signals into space, but I am sure we are not the first and only. So ... how do we block the radio waves? We have technology to do that now, and instead of creating a larger version of that technology, we are instead creating a giant universe sized punch bowl for them to play in ... This reminds me of The Three Body Problem in the sense that its magical technology that doesn't make sense in application.
Never mind that, back to issue 1, the utopian Andromedans are back looking for revenge. The utopian species, and all the other deemed worthy, are clustered around earth for MURDER, it's a murder party. These species who were all so offended by our murder and famine and chaos, traveled to earth to join in or bare witness, like a crowd around the gallows.
This story started shaky, a series of short stories pulled into a rather good quick and cohesive read. Then in the same vein as every Neal Stephenson book I have ever read, it went on ... and on ... and on for a few more chapters that took apart everything it was attempting to do at the end. You have to know when to stop writing.
I had other Qntm stories queued up, but this felt so amateurish, I just don't know.
Then the story should have ended ... but it didn't.
There was an attempt at a self-righteous monologue about how this particular group and how they found Utopia, how they are not cruel, yet empathetic and beyond the evils. BUT, its directly contradicted by the hacking of the sentient spaceship to hurl a meteor to kill an entire planet as revenge by a sub-faction of people. A people who knew only 1 person was responsible for what happened to them yet was also willing to commit planetwide genocide. This was not very well thought out.
Jump a chapter ahead after they leave, and they come back because Ed wanted to make peace or atone. The entire whim of a galaxy of aliens opened its doors because Ed wanted to atone for what our planet did simply by discovering a means of communication. Sure, we are aware we beam signals into space, but I am sure we are not the first and only. So ... how do we block the radio waves? We have technology to do that now, and instead of creating a larger version of that technology, we are instead creating a giant universe sized punch bowl for them to play in ... This reminds me of The Three Body Problem in the sense that its magical technology that doesn't make sense in application.
Never mind that, back to issue 1, the utopian Andromedans are back looking for revenge. The utopian species, and all the other deemed worthy, are clustered around earth for MURDER, it's a murder party. These species who were all so offended by our murder and famine and chaos, traveled to earth to join in or bare witness, like a crowd around the gallows.
This story started shaky, a series of short stories pulled into a rather good quick and cohesive read. Then in the same vein as every Neal Stephenson book I have ever read, it went on ... and on ... and on for a few more chapters that took apart everything it was attempting to do at the end. You have to know when to stop writing.
I had other Qntm stories queued up, but this felt so amateurish, I just don't know.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 28, 2025
Okay, so this starts off reading like old web-comics from the early 00s. Think like what you'd see in MegaTokyo, UserFriendly, the first run of Krakow Comics and whatever the comic the guy behind ThreePanelSoul was called. I think it was something like "Mac Hall" or something. Somewhat sad that the first run of Krakow Comics has been somewhat scrubbed from the Internet. That comic was such a formative influence on me--and honestly, it has aged just fine. It did not age like Milk or Wine... it aged like Twinkies. Maybe that is why the creator scrubbed it? "No--why is this not looking super cringe! IT IS UNNATURAL! xD"
The book goes on, taking its initial "lol mad science webcomic" vibes... and then does a pretty standard CerebusSyndrome move that those sort of webcomics were inclined towards doing. Well... kindof inclined towards doing. Like... half-way towards that
A great fun little sci-fi romp in which atypical temporal mechanics is used to restore the existence of the Andromeda Galaxy. Highly recommend
Also, in continuation of my last review of qntm's books--I ran into his social media, and he seems to be decent and reasonable. His book "Precious Humans in Transit and other Stories" was hard to pin down how to handle it, after this current whole AI-Grift nonsense. He is not on the TechBro side--which allows for confirmation on how to read that set of short stories
But yeah, this novel is pretty much "quirky 00s webcomics, the novel" and it is very enjoyable because of this
The book goes on, taking its initial "lol mad science webcomic" vibes... and then does a pretty standard CerebusSyndrome move that those sort of webcomics were inclined towards doing. Well... kindof inclined towards doing. Like... half-way towards that
A great fun little sci-fi romp in which atypical temporal mechanics is used to restore the existence of the Andromeda Galaxy. Highly recommend
Also, in continuation of my last review of qntm's books--I ran into his social media, and he seems to be decent and reasonable. His book "Precious Humans in Transit and other Stories" was hard to pin down how to handle it, after this current whole AI-Grift nonsense. He is not on the TechBro side--which allows for confirmation on how to read that set of short stories
But yeah, this novel is pretty much "quirky 00s webcomics, the novel" and it is very enjoyable because of this
March 2, 2023
A quick and fun sci-fi read that fails to have a cohesive narrative. The first half of the book consists of several bite-sized stories about "Ed" and his college roommate. These stories are quirky little vignettes that usually toy with 1 or 2 gear-grinding sci-fi concepts. If the whole book would have kept up with that formula this would be a 4+ star rating for me.
Unfortunately the concept starts to fall apart when an overarching narrative is shimmed between chapters. While the chapters are still relatively encapsulated, there are a number of macguffins and messy story points that sort of kill the magic present in the first half in my opinion.
There is also a weirdly sexist description of a "geek girl" that the main characters are friends with. That entire chapter could be taken out or rewritten and the book would be better for it; it soured the experience for me.
I've read most of QNTMs other work and this is my least favorite so far. It's still a quick and fun read but it won't stick with me like Ra or VHIT have.
Unfortunately the concept starts to fall apart when an overarching narrative is shimmed between chapters. While the chapters are still relatively encapsulated, there are a number of macguffins and messy story points that sort of kill the magic present in the first half in my opinion.
There is also a weirdly sexist description of a "geek girl" that the main characters are friends with. That entire chapter could be taken out or rewritten and the book would be better for it; it soured the experience for me.
I've read most of QNTMs other work and this is my least favorite so far. It's still a quick and fun read but it won't stick with me like Ra or VHIT have.
May 9, 2025
If Greg Egan didn't take himself too seriously...
If Isaac Asimov got a little more ambitious with the bromance of Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw...
If Stanislaw Lem acknowledged just a teeny weeny bit of anthropocentrism with aliens (it's not so bad after all)...
If Liu Cixin did more drugs...
If Freddie Mercury wrote "Bohemian Rhapsody" with a scifi angle...
If Adrian Tchaikovsky rewrote the "Independence Day" movie, but as a Lego movie...
If Douglas Adams emulated Jules Verne and revised "2001: A Space Odyssey", or if Arthur C. Clarke emulated Jules Verne and revised "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"... (wait, I'm confused now too 😵💫 ...if William Gibson emulated Marvel Comics and revised "The Stars My Destination"...)
I thought I've read all the first contact science fiction I ever needed to read, but then there's this ...a hilariously dizzying, but unique contemporary hard scifi pulp! Not for everyone due to the dense amount of advanced physics/science/astroengineering concepts, but I encourage anyone to give this a go!
If Isaac Asimov got a little more ambitious with the bromance of Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw...
If Stanislaw Lem acknowledged just a teeny weeny bit of anthropocentrism with aliens (it's not so bad after all)...
If Liu Cixin did more drugs...
If Freddie Mercury wrote "Bohemian Rhapsody" with a scifi angle...
If Adrian Tchaikovsky rewrote the "Independence Day" movie, but as a Lego movie...
If Douglas Adams emulated Jules Verne and revised "2001: A Space Odyssey", or if Arthur C. Clarke emulated Jules Verne and revised "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"... (wait, I'm confused now too 😵💫 ...if William Gibson emulated Marvel Comics and revised "The Stars My Destination"...)
I thought I've read all the first contact science fiction I ever needed to read, but then there's this ...a hilariously dizzying, but unique contemporary hard scifi pulp! Not for everyone due to the dense amount of advanced physics/science/astroengineering concepts, but I encourage anyone to give this a go!
January 29, 2022
Ed MacPherson is a funny dude.
Broad stroke, in medias res start, funky buildup and really great conclusion - storytelling in this book is on point.
Hard core scifi crossover with dynamic and simple writting style works really well - getting it to almost rick and morty style of playfulness.
In reality, it is a bit of chaotic work, with really free form, or lack of it - I enjoyed every bit. It is almost as someone took a blog and published it.
"You are not alone. Nor are you rare, nor even unusual; you're so common as to be insignificant. You are small, weak, and stupid. Your lives are meaningless and shorter than an eyeblink. You have achieved nothing. On the universal scale you are nothing."
Broad stroke, in medias res start, funky buildup and really great conclusion - storytelling in this book is on point.
Hard core scifi crossover with dynamic and simple writting style works really well - getting it to almost rick and morty style of playfulness.
In reality, it is a bit of chaotic work, with really free form, or lack of it - I enjoyed every bit. It is almost as someone took a blog and published it.
"You are not alone. Nor are you rare, nor even unusual; you're so common as to be insignificant. You are small, weak, and stupid. Your lives are meaningless and shorter than an eyeblink. You have achieved nothing. On the universal scale you are nothing."
June 8, 2022
This short novella length book is the first offering from the remarkable qntm, whom I regard as possibly the most original SciFi talent currently writing. Written in a cartoon like, almost 'Rick'n'Morty' style, we see the origin of all of qntm's preoccupations with wild science and outrageous technologies completely to the fore, with very little effort put into characterisation. The result is good fun, cosmic slapstick. Nothing like as head bending to keep track of as the subsequent 'mature' works. If you are wary of Primer-level twisted plot-lines with jumps between multiple realities and timelines, sometimes too fast to spot, then you might want to start with this relatively straightforward tale before hazarding qntm's increasingly demanding subsequent works. If, like me, you like things to be overwhelmingly weird then this is one to mop up after you've tackled the later, more 'serious' books.
Four stars simply because compared to the later books this is a whimsical afterthought.
Four stars simply because compared to the later books this is a whimsical afterthought.
January 26, 2025
My first 5/5 for 2025, thank you qntm! When I started reading, I had to check the publication date, and, as Ed came before, I was convinced that Dan Harmon must have read this prior to coming up with Rick and Morty. By the end, though, Ed far surpassed any plotline I've seen on that show and stood, excellently, alone. Well done, and how hard sci fi should be (fascinating and exciting versus dry). This was my third read by qntm (AKA Sam) and I look forward to more.
The bookclub I run is currently reading Antimemetics V1 and looking forward to comparing and contrasting with Antimemetics V2 later this year. Congrats on your publishing deal!
The bookclub I run is currently reading Antimemetics V1 and looking forward to comparing and contrasting with Antimemetics V2 later this year. Congrats on your publishing deal!
August 23, 2019
Setting presentation, design and originality (how cool is the setting?): 2
Setting verisimillitude and detail (how much sense does the setting make?): 5
Plot design, presentation and originality (How well-crafted was the plot, in the dramaturgic sense?): 4
Plot and character verisimillitude (How much sense did the plot and motivations make? Did events follow from motivations?): 4
Characterization and character development: 3
Character sympatheticness: 3
Prose: 3
Page turner factor: 5
Mind blown factor: 5
Final (weighted) score: 4.1
Setting verisimillitude and detail (how much sense does the setting make?): 5
Plot design, presentation and originality (How well-crafted was the plot, in the dramaturgic sense?): 4
Plot and character verisimillitude (How much sense did the plot and motivations make? Did events follow from motivations?): 4
Characterization and character development: 3
Character sympatheticness: 3
Prose: 3
Page turner factor: 5
Mind blown factor: 5
Final (weighted) score: 4.1
December 18, 2020
Interesting
In bits very interesting. But in an attempt to be frenetic - Rick and Morty style - it just ends up too slap-dashed and thin. Whole galactic civilisations get a few lines. Towards the end it’s just scattered all over the place. Was this written in just a couple of coffee fuelled nights? Still, very promising and worth a quick read. At double the length and quadruple the depth and much more highly polished it could be very good.
In bits very interesting. But in an attempt to be frenetic - Rick and Morty style - it just ends up too slap-dashed and thin. Whole galactic civilisations get a few lines. Towards the end it’s just scattered all over the place. Was this written in just a couple of coffee fuelled nights? Still, very promising and worth a quick read. At double the length and quadruple the depth and much more highly polished it could be very good.
June 22, 2022
This is undoubtedly the strangest buddy comedy I've ever read.
Of all of Qntm's books, I liked this one the least. Like his previous books, we don't get a great understanding or explanation of the sci-fi elements, and this can sometimes make it difficult to read. I simply found this book to be too short—by the time the story was set up, I was already half way through. Still, I loved the overall plot and his writing style—even if he does need an editor.
Of all of Qntm's books, I liked this one the least. Like his previous books, we don't get a great understanding or explanation of the sci-fi elements, and this can sometimes make it difficult to read. I simply found this book to be too short—by the time the story was set up, I was already half way through. Still, I loved the overall plot and his writing style—even if he does need an editor.
June 17, 2023
i know this was written in 2004 but the sexism is so sudden and obnoxious that it would be comical if it wasn't disappointing. also the Fuck You Space Magic trope would be less annoying if it didn't feel like the author gave up trying to make up explanations halfway through. despite this there's a good sci-fi story in here under the trappings of early-2000s schlock, it's still pretty entertaining overall
December 29, 2024
This was a fun, lighthearted and creative bit of sci-fi. Different in tone to the previous work by qntm that I'd read previously - I will keep an eye out for more, since I enjoyed both bits so far. There is a racing pace and a deliberate, concentrated cognitive overload in the style which actually works in favour when combined with the humour and the type of sci-fi.
Would recommend to those that enjoy sci-fi.
Would recommend to those that enjoy sci-fi.
December 25, 2025
Ed is a genius. If you need a giant space robot to tackle alien invaders, he's your man. Time travel takes a day or so. But the longer you hang around Ed, the more you realise he's actually quite dangerous.
There is the feel of a patchwork novel about this short book, but don't be deceived. qntm carefully builds this story, complete with Sam and Ed's failings (including an unhealthy dose of sexist attitudes which feel out of place), to achieve an homage to the golden age of Sci Fi.
There is the feel of a patchwork novel about this short book, but don't be deceived. qntm carefully builds this story, complete with Sam and Ed's failings (including an unhealthy dose of sexist attitudes which feel out of place), to achieve an homage to the golden age of Sci Fi.
October 24, 2021
A short sci-fi romp with an interesting payoff. On the whole a bit amateurish, a bit of a frantic pace, could have done with a little more characterization, and definitely a little cheeky about its own cleverness, but none of those things detract from the entertaining ride enough to not recommend it.
August 5, 2022
If you mix Rick and Morty with Rudy Rucker's Master of Space and Time and a dash of Cixin Liu's epic scale SF, Ed might fall out of the other end of the blender. Ed's adventures are fast, cheap, and out of control; they start as disconnected, short, fun chapters that are later tied together with gonzo advanced-SF-indistinguishable-from-magic strings.
October 10, 2024
Astonishing
Millennial science fiction is a gift from the gods. We are so transitional as a group that the ideas we develop are at times absurd but truly engaging and fun. You will enjoy the antics of this story and the consistently unique additions to the potentials of the world around us that it will convey.
Millennial science fiction is a gift from the gods. We are so transitional as a group that the ideas we develop are at times absurd but truly engaging and fun. You will enjoy the antics of this story and the consistently unique additions to the potentials of the world around us that it will convey.
February 24, 2025
Well, at least it was short and light. After that, it does not matter that the “scientific” details of the plot were not too easy to follow, the language is average and there is no philosophy in the book. That leads to the average rating, unlike the other books of this author with the bizarre plots.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews