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The Beam
The Beam: Season Three
From the bestselling authors of the Invasion and Yesterday's Gone series comes The Beam, a disturbing philosophical exploration of the future of our hyperconnected world. This chilling, intricately-plotted series is set in a futuristic dystopia where politics and technology have widened the gap between haves and have-nots.
Shift is coming. So is the end of the world as we know it.
The battle over Shift — the electoral process that will decide the nation’s fate — is heating up ... while at the same time something is happening within the Beam a thing coming alive, its power unchecked and out of control.
Micah and Isaac Ryan, the brothers sitting at each political party’s head, have resorted to tooth-and-nail tactics to eke out as many votes as possible. The Beau Monde observes everything, sticking their fingers in the pie only to change the flavor to their personal tastes. Everyone else has one simple surviving the battle.
Kai struggles with a job bigger than she’s ever faced, against a foe she can’t hope to outwit. Dominic, his law enforcement job precarious after betraying the drug runners he once smuggled for, must keep his head down even as he pokes his nose into the game of higher politics. And Nicolai, the unwitting harbinger of the Beam itself, concocts his own plots to overthrow the arrogant Ryans once and for all.
Yet all their efforts — great and small alike — will pale in comparison to the oncoming storm, the cataclysmic return of one of history’s greatest figures. Someone from the Beam’s very conception is about to appear anew, and with humanity interconnected like never before, their footsteps will rock the NAU like a meteor strike.
Shift is finally here. But even those who think they control its sway are not prepared for what happens next.
★★★★★ "Another wonderful season of The Beam, can't wait to see where else this awesome series goes! The characters and great, the plot always thickens, then more is revealed, then into the thick of it again. I read everything about this universe I can get my hands on because it is so close to reality that I can almost taste it." -- Daniel Drooger
★★★★★ "Absolutely loved this book. So many questions answered, and amazed at how much depth this story had. I was completely immersed in this whole series, and just... wanted... more." -- Amy
★★★★★ "Great characters, chilling subject, could not stop until I read all the books. When is Season 4 coming out?" -- diedrebird
★★★★★ "They did it again! I'm a huge fan of The Beam, though I have to admit I worried they wouldn't be able to pull off yet another top-notch season. I mean, this is a complex story, lots of moving parts, and everything is set in the future. How do their brains not explode?" -- Betsy Talbot
★★★★★ "I've been a fan of The Beam since the first season. The idea of The Switch and the two parties felt clever. And The Beam itself was a great mystery right from the beginning." -- Jarkko Laine
Platt and Truant deliver deep political intrigue and incisive social commentary along with a generous helping of big philosophical themes through engaging, multifaceted characters and rich worldbuilding. If you enjoyed Altered Carbon and The Fifth Element, you'll feel right at home in the world of The Beam.
Shift is coming. So is the end of the world as we know it.
The battle over Shift — the electoral process that will decide the nation’s fate — is heating up ... while at the same time something is happening within the Beam a thing coming alive, its power unchecked and out of control.
Micah and Isaac Ryan, the brothers sitting at each political party’s head, have resorted to tooth-and-nail tactics to eke out as many votes as possible. The Beau Monde observes everything, sticking their fingers in the pie only to change the flavor to their personal tastes. Everyone else has one simple surviving the battle.
Kai struggles with a job bigger than she’s ever faced, against a foe she can’t hope to outwit. Dominic, his law enforcement job precarious after betraying the drug runners he once smuggled for, must keep his head down even as he pokes his nose into the game of higher politics. And Nicolai, the unwitting harbinger of the Beam itself, concocts his own plots to overthrow the arrogant Ryans once and for all.
Yet all their efforts — great and small alike — will pale in comparison to the oncoming storm, the cataclysmic return of one of history’s greatest figures. Someone from the Beam’s very conception is about to appear anew, and with humanity interconnected like never before, their footsteps will rock the NAU like a meteor strike.
Shift is finally here. But even those who think they control its sway are not prepared for what happens next.
★★★★★ "Another wonderful season of The Beam, can't wait to see where else this awesome series goes! The characters and great, the plot always thickens, then more is revealed, then into the thick of it again. I read everything about this universe I can get my hands on because it is so close to reality that I can almost taste it." -- Daniel Drooger
★★★★★ "Absolutely loved this book. So many questions answered, and amazed at how much depth this story had. I was completely immersed in this whole series, and just... wanted... more." -- Amy
★★★★★ "Great characters, chilling subject, could not stop until I read all the books. When is Season 4 coming out?" -- diedrebird
★★★★★ "They did it again! I'm a huge fan of The Beam, though I have to admit I worried they wouldn't be able to pull off yet another top-notch season. I mean, this is a complex story, lots of moving parts, and everything is set in the future. How do their brains not explode?" -- Betsy Talbot
★★★★★ "I've been a fan of The Beam since the first season. The idea of The Switch and the two parties felt clever. And The Beam itself was a great mystery right from the beginning." -- Jarkko Laine
Platt and Truant deliver deep political intrigue and incisive social commentary along with a generous helping of big philosophical themes through engaging, multifaceted characters and rich worldbuilding. If you enjoyed Altered Carbon and The Fifth Element, you'll feel right at home in the world of The Beam.
698 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 2, 2015
39 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Sean Platt
335 books825 followersSean loves writing books, even more than reading them. He is co-founder of Collective Inkwell and Realm & Sands imprints, writes for children under the name Guy Incognito, and has more than his share of nose.
Together with co-authors David Wright and Johnny B. Truant, Sean has written the series Yesterdays Gone, WhiteSpace, ForNevermore, Available Darkness, Dark Crossings, Unicorn Western, The Beam, Namaste, Robot Proletariat, Cursed, Greens, Space Shuttle, and Everyone Gets Divorced. He also co-wrote the how-to indie book, Write. Publish. Repeat.
With Collective Inkwell
Yesterday's Gone: Post Apocalyptic - LOST by way of The Stand
WhiteSpace: Paranoid thriller on fictitious Hamilton Island
ForNevermore: YA horror that reads nothing like YA Horror
Available Darkness: A new breed of vampire thriller
Dark Crossings: Short stories, killer endings
With 47North
Z 2134: The Walking Dead meets The Hunger Games
Monstrous: Beauty and the Beast meets The Punisher
With Realm & Sands
Unicorn Western: The best story to ever come from a stupid idea
The Beam: Smart sci-fi to make you wonder exactly who we are
Namaste: A revenge thriller like nothing you've ever read
Robot Proletariat: The revolution starts here
Cursed: The old werewolf legend turned upside down
Greens: Retail noir comedy
Space Shuttle: Over the top comedy with all your favorite sci-fi characters
Everyone Gets Divorced: Like "Always Sunny" and "How I Met Your Mother" had a baby on your Kindle
Sean lives in Austin, TX with his wife, daughter, and son.
Follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/seanplatt (say hi so he can follow you back!)
Together with co-authors David Wright and Johnny B. Truant, Sean has written the series Yesterdays Gone, WhiteSpace, ForNevermore, Available Darkness, Dark Crossings, Unicorn Western, The Beam, Namaste, Robot Proletariat, Cursed, Greens, Space Shuttle, and Everyone Gets Divorced. He also co-wrote the how-to indie book, Write. Publish. Repeat.
With Collective Inkwell
Yesterday's Gone: Post Apocalyptic - LOST by way of The Stand
WhiteSpace: Paranoid thriller on fictitious Hamilton Island
ForNevermore: YA horror that reads nothing like YA Horror
Available Darkness: A new breed of vampire thriller
Dark Crossings: Short stories, killer endings
With 47North
Z 2134: The Walking Dead meets The Hunger Games
Monstrous: Beauty and the Beast meets The Punisher
With Realm & Sands
Unicorn Western: The best story to ever come from a stupid idea
The Beam: Smart sci-fi to make you wonder exactly who we are
Namaste: A revenge thriller like nothing you've ever read
Robot Proletariat: The revolution starts here
Cursed: The old werewolf legend turned upside down
Greens: Retail noir comedy
Space Shuttle: Over the top comedy with all your favorite sci-fi characters
Everyone Gets Divorced: Like "Always Sunny" and "How I Met Your Mother" had a baby on your Kindle
Sean lives in Austin, TX with his wife, daughter, and son.
Follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/seanplatt (say hi so he can follow you back!)
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 12, 2015
Wow! What a wild ride that was! I guess I'll have to wait until my head stops spinning and my brain digests all of what just happened there before I can write a complete review. So complex, so many characters, (some of them with double identities) make season 3 the most exciting one yet. 5 stars because I could not put it down.
December 20, 2015
What I like best about sci-fi stories is the feeling when the world feels just out of the reach of my imagination: I feel like I couldn't have come up with this version of future myself, and I'm not quite sure how everything functions — but everything feels believable. And everything feels just right.
I've been a fan of The Beam since the first season. The idea of The Switch and the two parties felt clever. And The Beam itself was a great mystery right from the beginning.
But I must say that this third season is by far my favorite. The way some questions get answered is not easy, but it's thoroughly enjoyable. And in true Realm&Sands fashion, it's all told through the eyes of the people involved in the events. I've been cheering for Kai and Nicolai since the beginning, and now Sam Dial has become another favorite...
I can't wait to see what happens to them in the next season!
I've been a fan of The Beam since the first season. The idea of The Switch and the two parties felt clever. And The Beam itself was a great mystery right from the beginning.
But I must say that this third season is by far my favorite. The way some questions get answered is not easy, but it's thoroughly enjoyable. And in true Realm&Sands fashion, it's all told through the eyes of the people involved in the events. I've been cheering for Kai and Nicolai since the beginning, and now Sam Dial has become another favorite...
I can't wait to see what happens to them in the next season!
June 21, 2017
I read a lot of hard science fiction. I especially like long series that let me stay in a story for weeks or months. Sometimes, though, an aspect of a story gets under your skin and becomes more and more irritating...and that's happened with The Beam. It may be set in the future, but it reads as if it were written in 1965. There is an undercurrent of racism that becomes increasingly hard to ignore.
The premise of this book is that the rest of the world has collapsed, and Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. have merged into one country and closed off their border. That's not unreasonable. What is unreasonable, however, the book is written as if is that Africa, Asia, Australia and South America never existed. You can't blame the closed borders for this - the story prominently features immigrants from Europe, and people still talk about Europe ("the Wild East"). Even if you posit that three fourths of the world has been isolated and destroyed, someone, surely, would occasionally remember that places other than Europe and North America recently existed.
Which brings me to my next two beefs. This book is strangely devoid of ethnic minorities. That would be fine if it were set in Iowa or Ohio - but the tech industry, in former New York City? Despite the ubiquity of Asian-Americans in the American tech industry, there isn't a single Asian character - not a programmer, not a technician, not a hacker, and certainly not one of the visionary captains of industry that are essential to this story. The authors have a throwaway line that Asians in Chinatown have retreated into their own community. OK fine - I suppose that explains why the characters never seem to encounter anyone from the polyglot of non-white ethnic groups in NYC - but it's simply not plausible that all Asian immigrants (but not, of course, European immigrants) withdrawn from a lucrative industry where they excel, into isolated ethnic enclaves.
Then.. there is one black character. Talk about racist cliches - Omar is a drug dealer who wears flashy purple suits, whose white teeth stand out against his skin when he smiles. Come on.
Lastly, there is not one gay person. Because, you know, gay people are never involved in politics or technology, and there are no gay people in New York City.
An author can pull off this kind of exclusion in a one-off techno-thriller. But 1700 pages, and counting? Come on.
Lastly, this is more subtle, and it's a common thing among male science fiction writers - but - their women characters are atoms in a sea of men. The female characters have male friends, lovers, mentors, and sons - but not of them has a sister, mother, daughter, or female friend. This is just not realistic. One or two women characters without female contacts is one thing - but when all of your female characters only interact with men? That reflects a kind of blindness on the author's part.
The premise of this book is that the rest of the world has collapsed, and Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. have merged into one country and closed off their border. That's not unreasonable. What is unreasonable, however, the book is written as if is that Africa, Asia, Australia and South America never existed. You can't blame the closed borders for this - the story prominently features immigrants from Europe, and people still talk about Europe ("the Wild East"). Even if you posit that three fourths of the world has been isolated and destroyed, someone, surely, would occasionally remember that places other than Europe and North America recently existed.
Which brings me to my next two beefs. This book is strangely devoid of ethnic minorities. That would be fine if it were set in Iowa or Ohio - but the tech industry, in former New York City? Despite the ubiquity of Asian-Americans in the American tech industry, there isn't a single Asian character - not a programmer, not a technician, not a hacker, and certainly not one of the visionary captains of industry that are essential to this story. The authors have a throwaway line that Asians in Chinatown have retreated into their own community. OK fine - I suppose that explains why the characters never seem to encounter anyone from the polyglot of non-white ethnic groups in NYC - but it's simply not plausible that all Asian immigrants (but not, of course, European immigrants) withdrawn from a lucrative industry where they excel, into isolated ethnic enclaves.
Then.. there is one black character. Talk about racist cliches - Omar is a drug dealer who wears flashy purple suits, whose white teeth stand out against his skin when he smiles. Come on.
Lastly, there is not one gay person. Because, you know, gay people are never involved in politics or technology, and there are no gay people in New York City.
An author can pull off this kind of exclusion in a one-off techno-thriller. But 1700 pages, and counting? Come on.
Lastly, this is more subtle, and it's a common thing among male science fiction writers - but - their women characters are atoms in a sea of men. The female characters have male friends, lovers, mentors, and sons - but not of them has a sister, mother, daughter, or female friend. This is just not realistic. One or two women characters without female contacts is one thing - but when all of your female characters only interact with men? That reflects a kind of blindness on the author's part.
February 10, 2016
Love this series. It's very exciting and cerebral, using our own technology obsessed society as background for the way people in the future interact with each other, with information, and with artificial intelligence. The rich are richer, the poor blame themselves for their failure to climb the ladder of success, and the government is more devious than the citizenry knows. The real world and the accessible world beyond the hardware in the machines are both very insular and endlessly vast at the same time. I look forward to the next season.
December 20, 2015
This season was difficult to follow for me but luckily it wrapped up a lot of questions so at the end I felt better about it. I wasn't sure I understood a lot and didn't know if it was because I forgot some of the past books or if I just wasn't comprehending.
November 2, 2015
Amazing
As always Platt and truant paint a bright, but not too bright picture of the future. I couldn't put it down.
As always Platt and truant paint a bright, but not too bright picture of the future. I couldn't put it down.
March 6, 2018
This is an epic book that tackles a pretty heavy sci-fi plot. It's an ambitious undertaking by the authors. I really like the concept and ideas in regards to politics and technology. But... Season 3 was difficult to follow. There were so many characters, so many story-lines...I must admit I spent most of the second half of the book just sort of stumbling from one chapter to the next hoping I'd suddenly understand what was going on. And eventually by the final 10 or so pages you get there, but the struggle is real. I would probably only recommend this book to hardcore sci-fi fans - it's not for the faint of heart. Not to mention many, many typos, grammatical errors, missing words etc. Some readers would not be able to look past these mistakes.
That being said, my major issue with this book and the reason it only gets 3 stars, is the underlying misogyny and dismal representation of strong, bold, balanced, reasonable female characters. At some points I had to put the book down in utter frustration at the shallowness of the female characters (one the reasons it took me well over 6 months to finish). Furthermore, none of the female characters exist in their own right, without some critical connection to a male character, as their sister, daughter, mother, friend etc.
Leah is essentially the only female character who is not a sex worker, sex industry mogul, evil/psycho bitch, self-absorbed diva, airhead/dreamer, or a combination of the above. While I admire some aspects of Kai, she is also portrayed as a sex object with her main vice to success being her sex appeal. When Doc Stahl becomes Kate, this character also depends on female sex appeal rather than exploring more meaningful female strengths. Almost all the other female characters are extremely shallow and/or vindictive. No effort is put into developing these characters outside of cliche, outdated and quite frankly untrue ideas about women - how we think, feel, and behave. I desperately wanted to see Natasha's character shaken out of her diva cliche and reconnected with the sheer determination and unrelenting hard work it would have taken for her to achieve success in her career. I wanted to understand how Rachel came to be so manipulative, so purely evil - why were her sons afforded the luxury of showing some sense of heart and humanity in their relationships yet she is always portrayed as heartless? Why are there so many men on panel calling all the shots? And what about in politics - almost all male characters too. I could really rattle on about this for many more paragraphs, but I'll stop there.
In short, if you are a big sci-fan this is a must read to get a look into the authors' ideas about our political and technological future. But be aware, concentrate very hard or you'll get lost, and don't expect to see any female heroes or even well-rounded female characters.
That being said, my major issue with this book and the reason it only gets 3 stars, is the underlying misogyny and dismal representation of strong, bold, balanced, reasonable female characters. At some points I had to put the book down in utter frustration at the shallowness of the female characters (one the reasons it took me well over 6 months to finish). Furthermore, none of the female characters exist in their own right, without some critical connection to a male character, as their sister, daughter, mother, friend etc.
Leah is essentially the only female character who is not a sex worker, sex industry mogul, evil/psycho bitch, self-absorbed diva, airhead/dreamer, or a combination of the above. While I admire some aspects of Kai, she is also portrayed as a sex object with her main vice to success being her sex appeal. When Doc Stahl becomes Kate, this character also depends on female sex appeal rather than exploring more meaningful female strengths. Almost all the other female characters are extremely shallow and/or vindictive. No effort is put into developing these characters outside of cliche, outdated and quite frankly untrue ideas about women - how we think, feel, and behave. I desperately wanted to see Natasha's character shaken out of her diva cliche and reconnected with the sheer determination and unrelenting hard work it would have taken for her to achieve success in her career. I wanted to understand how Rachel came to be so manipulative, so purely evil - why were her sons afforded the luxury of showing some sense of heart and humanity in their relationships yet she is always portrayed as heartless? Why are there so many men on panel calling all the shots? And what about in politics - almost all male characters too. I could really rattle on about this for many more paragraphs, but I'll stop there.
In short, if you are a big sci-fan this is a must read to get a look into the authors' ideas about our political and technological future. But be aware, concentrate very hard or you'll get lost, and don't expect to see any female heroes or even well-rounded female characters.
February 12, 2019
A great read
I gave this book 5 stars for the sheer magnitude of scope it covers. Having thoroughly enjoyed Eden Experiment, I found The Beam more interesting on a deeper level on the one hand, but also more convoluted. Some parts I had to read several times just to get it clear in my head but enjoyed the narrative nonetheless. Looking forward to season 4!
I gave this book 5 stars for the sheer magnitude of scope it covers. Having thoroughly enjoyed Eden Experiment, I found The Beam more interesting on a deeper level on the one hand, but also more convoluted. Some parts I had to read several times just to get it clear in my head but enjoyed the narrative nonetheless. Looking forward to season 4!
January 7, 2020
End of the trilogy
I've enjoyed this book. Really don't enjoy predictable books. To be honest this book probably only had 2 predictable moments. It managed to keep me occupied and almost made me fear the future!
I'd recommend reading the whole trilogy.
I've enjoyed this book. Really don't enjoy predictable books. To be honest this book probably only had 2 predictable moments. It managed to keep me occupied and almost made me fear the future!
I'd recommend reading the whole trilogy.
January 1, 2018
Finished this as my last book of 2017 with 15 minutes to spare.
December 17, 2016
Great story. SO long, though! And such a mind f*ck.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews