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To Hold Infinity
Devastated by her husband’s death, Earth-based biologist Yoshiko Sunadomari journeys to the paradise world of Fulgar to see her estranged son in the hope of bridging the gulf between them. But Tetsuo is in trouble. His expertise in mu-space technology and family links with the mysterious Pilots have ensured his survival — so far. Now he’s in way over his head — unwittingly caught up in a conspiracy of illegal tech-trafficking and corruption, and in the sinister machinations of one of Fulgar’s ruling the charismatic Luculentus, Rafael Garcia de la Vega. When his home is attacked, Tetsuo flees to the planet’s unterraformed wastes, home to society’s outcasts and eco-terrorists.So Yoshiko arrives on Fulgar to discover Tetsuo gone ... and wanted for murder. Ill at ease in this strange, stratified new world seething with social and political unrest but desperate to find her son and clear his name, she embarks on a course of action that will bring her face to face with the awesome, malevolent mind of Rafael.
529 pages, Paperback
First published April 2, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 11, 2014
I'd never read John Meaney until he was guest of honour at Satellite 4 (the 2014 Eastercon), where I attended a few panels/talks/interview that he did and was very impressed with the man. I found several of his books, including this one (which he very kindly signed for me in the bar, later), cheap in the dealers' room and it was the first out of the (newly enlarged) book pile after the con.
This was quite a fun space opera, with interesting stuff about transhumanism and what augmentation means, especially if it can be applied to a society unequally. Tetsuo Sunadomari is an immigrant to the planet Fulgar from Earth, and is struggling to keep up with the cybernetically enhanced upper class of the world, the Luculentae. He discovers something that he doesn't quite understand and suddenly finds himself on the run, into the unterraformed wastes of the planet, accused of murder. Meanwhile, his mother, Yoshiko, is coming to Fulgar to try and meet her son, while still grieving over the death of her husband. She gets thrown into the search for her son, as well as local politics and a plot that could affect Fulgar society forever.
That plot summary barely covers the bones of the book. Yoshiko is a great protagonist -- much moreso, in my opinion, than her son -- and it's rare these days to find an older woman to be the focus of a book in this way. She's also interesting for her effect on other people, the ability to get people working with her and on her side, but without manipulating them in any way.
The technology of the Luculentae is interesting, as they implant neural connections to their world-wide information network (the 'Skein'), but the focus is on what this means for the human condition, and the sharp divide between the upper-class Luculentae, who have access to this technology, and the rest of the inhabitants. The way that this elite can communicate, sharing not just text and voice, but building multimedia messages in the most basic sense of the word: messages that include senses of smell, touch and taste as much as sight and sound.
In the midst of all this, there is Yoshiko, trying to understand this world she's fallen into while also trying to find out what happened to her son, and dodge the maniacal serial killer who is currently stalking Luculentae society.
A very strong first novel, and I look forward to reading the other Meaney books that I picked up at the same time.
This was quite a fun space opera, with interesting stuff about transhumanism and what augmentation means, especially if it can be applied to a society unequally. Tetsuo Sunadomari is an immigrant to the planet Fulgar from Earth, and is struggling to keep up with the cybernetically enhanced upper class of the world, the Luculentae. He discovers something that he doesn't quite understand and suddenly finds himself on the run, into the unterraformed wastes of the planet, accused of murder. Meanwhile, his mother, Yoshiko, is coming to Fulgar to try and meet her son, while still grieving over the death of her husband. She gets thrown into the search for her son, as well as local politics and a plot that could affect Fulgar society forever.
That plot summary barely covers the bones of the book. Yoshiko is a great protagonist -- much moreso, in my opinion, than her son -- and it's rare these days to find an older woman to be the focus of a book in this way. She's also interesting for her effect on other people, the ability to get people working with her and on her side, but without manipulating them in any way.
The technology of the Luculentae is interesting, as they implant neural connections to their world-wide information network (the 'Skein'), but the focus is on what this means for the human condition, and the sharp divide between the upper-class Luculentae, who have access to this technology, and the rest of the inhabitants. The way that this elite can communicate, sharing not just text and voice, but building multimedia messages in the most basic sense of the word: messages that include senses of smell, touch and taste as much as sight and sound.
In the midst of all this, there is Yoshiko, trying to understand this world she's fallen into while also trying to find out what happened to her son, and dodge the maniacal serial killer who is currently stalking Luculentae society.
A very strong first novel, and I look forward to reading the other Meaney books that I picked up at the same time.
May 8, 2022
Confusing. A couple of well-done characters are developed. But, the author throws in lots of pseudo-code gibberish which frankly is unnecessary, and just clutters the narrative.
September 22, 2015
I read this because I had met John Meaney at the 2014 Eastercon in Glasgow where he was Guest of Honour and liked his personal style. I have put off actually getting a copy of one of his books because I didn't want to be disappointed in books which may not measure up to the man. In fact this is a excellent first novel which goes into detail (in some minor places perhaps too much) of what trans-humanism may be like and how it would impact against the existing base humans in a transhuman lead society. There is an interesting mix of nano technology and bio-tech with some brain programming thrown in throughout. It has a hunt for a lost son, a voyage of discovery (for both main characters) a serial killer, interesting side and supporting characters, all of who are filled out and none are ciphers. In fact you could even say that there were a voyage of discoveries for the main, fairly elderly, very strong and capable female lead who also manages to show how vulnerable people can be which confronted with unexpected events (such as a mugging). I felt that it moved a bit into fantasy towards the end of the book which took the edge off of the hard tech novel for me, but that's probably just me. I recommend it and I will be reading his later novels soon.
July 17, 2020
Sure I have read this before!
December 21, 2022
This is a simple story, an inverse detective story, although the 'detective' is a mother looking for a son, and simultaneously a serial killer. Why the authorities aren't looking for a serial killer is anyone's guess.
A lot of shit happens, but none of it really matters. Most of the book is from the mother's perspective. Whenever the son shows up, it was like the author felt the need to inject some action, and he's always running around, jumping on things, climbing things. I don't really know why.
This book is unnecessarily obtuse. Sentences become clogged up with made-up words. This is a HARD SCI-FI SIN. To waffle on, pornographically depicting every last detail of technology. EVEN THE SODDING MEANINGLESS CODE!
It doesn't make it 'more realistic' if you include made up words and detail. Here's a good comparison. 'Mu-space'. Subspace? Hyperspace? No, no, this is the REAL THING. No, it isn't. It's still made up shit.
There's some internet-y thing going on. I use that word, because I'll get jumped on for using 'network', or 'net', or a simple word.
There's no particular reason why the son is missing or why the mother is looking. He could, like, drop her a Tweet or something. (Techy enough?)
The perspective of the serial killer was the only bit that wasn't soporifically uneventful. The concept of 'mind rape', which this clearly is, because all the victims are women, so it's clearly sexual, although this is never explicitly stated, as if the author hadn't noticed. That concept was an interesting by-product of 'what if our minds could connect to...an internet-y thing'?
There is about one important scene in about the middle, perfectly placed to get me over the hump and to the end of this mission of a read, as if I was still kidding myself that something, anything, was gonna happen.
The end... Oh man, the end. A forced way to be grand when the whole thing is done through the mind.
There are some explosions and some flying things. It doesn't even matter that this story is on a different planet. The author waffles on with grand descriptions of science fiction-y places. The very definition of filler - sometimes, filler will tell you something important to the story. This doesn't tell you anything. But it all amounts to absolutely nothing, and forgets what it truly is, a simple reverse detective mystery.
On the rare occasions it stays on point, it is obscured my hard sci-fi bullshit (you don't need this much made up detail!). Most of the time, the plot ineptly moves from one bunch of meaningless nothing to another.
A lot of shit happens, but none of it really matters. Most of the book is from the mother's perspective. Whenever the son shows up, it was like the author felt the need to inject some action, and he's always running around, jumping on things, climbing things. I don't really know why.
This book is unnecessarily obtuse. Sentences become clogged up with made-up words. This is a HARD SCI-FI SIN. To waffle on, pornographically depicting every last detail of technology. EVEN THE SODDING MEANINGLESS CODE!
It doesn't make it 'more realistic' if you include made up words and detail. Here's a good comparison. 'Mu-space'. Subspace? Hyperspace? No, no, this is the REAL THING. No, it isn't. It's still made up shit.
There's some internet-y thing going on. I use that word, because I'll get jumped on for using 'network', or 'net', or a simple word.
There's no particular reason why the son is missing or why the mother is looking. He could, like, drop her a Tweet or something. (Techy enough?)
The perspective of the serial killer was the only bit that wasn't soporifically uneventful. The concept of 'mind rape', which this clearly is, because all the victims are women, so it's clearly sexual, although this is never explicitly stated, as if the author hadn't noticed. That concept was an interesting by-product of 'what if our minds could connect to...an internet-y thing'?
There is about one important scene in about the middle, perfectly placed to get me over the hump and to the end of this mission of a read, as if I was still kidding myself that something, anything, was gonna happen.
The end... Oh man, the end. A forced way to be grand when the whole thing is done through the mind.
There are some explosions and some flying things. It doesn't even matter that this story is on a different planet. The author waffles on with grand descriptions of science fiction-y places. The very definition of filler - sometimes, filler will tell you something important to the story. This doesn't tell you anything. But it all amounts to absolutely nothing, and forgets what it truly is, a simple reverse detective mystery.
On the rare occasions it stays on point, it is obscured my hard sci-fi bullshit (you don't need this much made up detail!). Most of the time, the plot ineptly moves from one bunch of meaningless nothing to another.
December 19, 2009
John Meaney creates a spectacular technical world of Fulgor where humans are "upraised" to interface with machines and each other. However the "upraise" is limited to those of a higher class strata, leaving the world rife with class struggle. This is the backdrop for the two protagonists, Yoshiko and her adult son Tetsuo, off-worlders trying to navigate this new society while working through their own personal crisis and trying to catch an "upraised" serial killer. This book is filled with technical jargon and interesting technology that is not spoon-fed, it challenges you as you read which I thoroughly enjoyed. Of course, I wasn't thrilled with the serial killer plot line, but the world and technology Meany creates makes it worth while. Plus Yoshiko is a bad-ass!
July 31, 2010
I’m always excited to get a new book from Pyr, because as of yet, they haven’t let me down. I’ve stumbled up against a couple of books lately that have utterly failed BOOKGASM’s 100-page test – that is, I made myself read the first 100 pages, but the quality just wasn’t there. John Meaney’s TO HOLD INFINITY – originally published overseas in the late ’90s – is the antithesis of this.
Once you get past the fairly horrible cover (more on that later), TO HOLD INFINITY is an snapshot of a stunningly well-realized future that grabs hold and doesn’t let go.
More: http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/sci-f...
Once you get past the fairly horrible cover (more on that later), TO HOLD INFINITY is an snapshot of a stunningly well-realized future that grabs hold and doesn’t let go.
More: http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/sci-f...
September 15, 2020
The author is the brother to the actor who played Miles O'Brien in Startrek but this is nonetheless top quality scifi that stands on its own right without celebrity endorsement... although I dare say it helped to get it published
February 10, 2016
Boring science fiction. About the mother of a computer programmer on another world who has gone missing. Lots of head implants and bad XML-like code fragments.
Read
August 23, 2008isbn,original
October 16, 2015
Awesome novel. Great protagonist, memorable setting, antagonist and martial arts.
September 20, 2014
while in struggled to grasp some of the ideas initially, I found it hard to put this book down. I hope there is another one in this series.
Read
May 1, 2017Paperback
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews