Geodesica Ascent

Geodesica #1

by Sean Williams, Shane Dix

The year is 2438. Humanity has migrated to the stars in discrete waves, driven by evolving technologies and new ways of being human. The far-flung Arc Systems struggle under the yoke of their newest rulers—Exarchs from Sol, whose monopoly on faster-than-light communication gives them absolute control of a growing interstellar empire.But humans weren’t the first to conquer the stars, and the discovery of an alien artifact promising transport between systems threatens to undermine the Exarchs’ power. Revolutionary leader Melilah Awad seeks an alliance to unlock Geodesica’s secrets with VOIDship pilot Palmer Eogan, a lover she lost to the Dark more than two centuries earlier. What they find could be more dangerous than anyone--human or more than human--could imagine….

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fiction

335 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

#1 New York Times bestselling Sean Williams lives with his family in Adelaide, South Australia. He’s written some books--forty-two at last count--including the Philip K. Dick-nominated Saturn Returns, several Star Wars novels and the Troubletwister series with Garth Nix. Twinmaker is a YA SF series that takes his love affair with the matter transmitter to a whole new level. You can find some related short stories over at Lightspeed Magazine and elsewhere. Thanks for reading.

Reviews

[Britt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very solid space adventure, with characters who are three-dimensional and have interesting relationships.

I only really have two complaints about the book. One is its breezy treatment of a post-Singularity world, including AIs, nanotech, transhumanism, a human society with no privacy to speak of, and any number of ideas which on their own could generate an entire novel, but whose ramifications are sorely underdeveloped in Geodesica. It reminds me of a complaint one of my professors had about science fiction, which is that scifi written in the 50's is about 50's people with gadgets, scifi written in the 60's is about 60's people, with gadgets, etc.

The second irritation is that this book apparently just the first half of a two-volume series, which always honks me off. I feel like editors should have to label their books "WARNING: This book does not contain a complete story. Don't pick it up unless you're willing to read X more books." Which probably would have stopped me from buying the paperback from ShopKo for $2.50, so I suppose it's obvious why they don't.

So, anyway, now I have to hunt down Geodesica: Descent, or else convince myself that Geodesica: Ascent wasn't actually good enough to warrant the additional effort.

[Carl-Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and different take on how a future human interstellar empire might look like. There's some actual character development, which is a nice surprise, since there's also a good amount of Space Opera. The (few) battles are a bit too heavy on the technobabble, including the most gratuitous use of the word "buckyball" I've seen so far. That word doesn't show up at all before or after that one occasion, by the way.

Overall, very readable and keeps you turning the pages. The "end" which really isn't one comes very suddenly. The authors really want you to buy the second part. I haven't read that one yet, but if it lives up to the promises of the first part, I'll be a happy reader.

[Lachlan Babbage · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought about eating this one a bit higher, especially with how the plot develops in the second half but it took me longer than I would have liked to properly understand what was going on. 3 stars.

[Gary O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shows where nanotechnology may take us. Humans that are no longer really human. AI's that may be human. An Occlusion that may be a wormhole, or not.

Very interesting view of what the future of 400 years may be like.

Highly recommended.

[Jon Salyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've really liked everything these guys have written together. The Echoes of Earth and Evergence trilogies were awesome, and this is shaping up to be as well. I don't know where these guys come up with this stuff, but I'm glad they do

[Tad Kelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

an awesome SF novel

[Georgina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Completely out there, and yet somehow totally enjoyable.

[Loopy · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf @ 69%

[bluetyson]

isbn,original