End of Days

Circuit of Heaven #2

by Dennis Danvers

Seventy years have passed since an army of religious zealots "destroyed" the Bin. Now, in the rubble of New Jerusalem -- the ruined city once called Washington--a young Christian Soldier named Sam has uncovered a prototype housing a single uploaded personality. The release of renegade geneticist Walter Tillman from his hundred-year prison leads Sam to an even more astonishing discovery: the Bin, with its billions of inhabitants--including Tillman's lost lover, Stephanie, who desires the freedom of death--still exists, unbeknownst to the mad messianic leader Gabriel and his Army of the Lord.

But soon Gabriel, too, will learn of the Bin's survival. And as doubts erode Sam's religious fervor, as Tillman strives to reunite with his love, and events on Earth and in virtual Heaven more rapidly toward a violent, inescapable conclusion, the destinies of disembodied and planet-bound souls alike will converge.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Melissa Herrmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good, but not as good as the first one. I was kind of expecting to get a continuation of the original characters from the first book. So, I was slightly disappointed that they weren't even mentioned in this story. I'm glad I did read this though.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dennis Danvers doesn't hesitate to tackle big - even cosmically huge - ideas in his fiction. In his book Circuit of Heaven, he touched on what it means to be human and how far those limits can be stretched before they break. Are you still human if you are a clone? What if you have never existed in a physical body at all? What if you are a human personality but are currently living in the body of a giant lizard? And as if those ideas weren't enough, he goes even further to look at the value of life beyond even the idea of "human": what if you are a composite of several different previously standard-human personalities? At what point do your own unique experiences create a unique being with the rights and privileges we associate with being human?

Then, still in Circuit, Danvers turns his attention to the circumstances that give rise to these questions: if, as a scientist, your discovery is the seed that starts humanity on a previously unimagined - and unimaginable - course, at what point does your responsibility end? If your ideas are taken from you and used in ways you never conceived of - and would not have approved of - are you still responsible for the outcome? If so, can you "make up" for this by providing the large mass of humanity with the perfect life? Even if the perfect life does not include actual freedom of choice, only the illusion? And, without death, does life have any meaning at all?

No, Danvers doesn't hesitate to tackle the big questions. And in Circuit of Heaven at least, he manages to weave these questions into an interesting and science-fictionally plausible work of fiction. Whether or not you agree with the decisions his characters come to in the end you understand their reasons and that, in turn, makes you wonder what your own decisions would be if you were faced with a similar situation.

But that is Circuit of Heaven and all this discussion is really only a preface to explain why I was so interested in finding a copy of Danvers second work set in the same world, End of Days. Again, he tackles the big questions, unfortunately this time with much less elegance than in the first book. Rather than allowing each idea a space in which to grow, and a character to embody it as it does so, he simply crams ideas into the book, one on top of the other, allowing for only the most superficial glimpse of each of them. Rather than being multi-dimensional and conflicted, his characters are simply place holders for the conclusions he ultimately wants the reader to draw. Also, in writing End, he chose to unravel some threads from Circuit of Heaven that - in my opinion - were better left raveled. Nicely completed story arcs and plausible outcomes are ripped apart and revealed to be something completely different in the second book. Which would be fine, if while writing End of Days he re-wove them into a new pattern as strong as the first, but unfortunately he doesn't.

In the end, End of Days, is a collage of ideas about the nature of life, religion and humanity, none of which is given adequate space or consideration. The last half of the book in particular reads like the outline of what should have been two more books. Huge plot lines and decades of change are reduced to paragraphs and the character development needed to explain it all is simply written in as a sentence or two, instead of growing naturally out of circumstances and over time.

Basically, as a reader I can recommend Circuit of Heaven to anyone who enjoys science fiction and questions about the nature of life and the choices we make. If, after reading Circuit, you find yourself absolutely unable to resist finding out what happens in End of Days, find a good spoiler-y review and read it. It will give you about as much depth and insight into the events of End of Days as the book itself does. In other, harsher, words: enjoy Circuit and skip Days.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Circuit of Heaven, Dennis Danvers wrote a compelling "Romeo and Juliet" novel about two lovers caught between reality and a virtual world known as the Bin. The story was intriguing in its newness, even if it had an overly sentimental ending. In End of Days, Danvers has written a good story, but it's a very different story and not quite a sequel.

The Bin, now in operation for 100 years, is still housing the majority of humanity. Back on Earth (the real Earth), Gabriel and his Christian Soldiers have nuked much of the planet into radioactivity trying to bring about the End of Days. The setting seems the same, but from the beginning, one clear difference struck me.

I didn't recognize any of the characters, save Gabriel and Newman Rogers. For a book that's supposed to be a sequel, I thought it was odd. I find this especially ironic considering that everyone in the Bin is "immortal" and yet neither Nemo nor Justine (from Circuit of Heaven) is mentioned. Even Lawrence, the Construct and nanny for Nemo, is only mentioned as a memory.

Once I resigned myself to the notion that this "sequel" was not going to have any of the same characters, I learned to love it. The story lines of five main characters interweave in exciting and sometimes unexpected way. Nevertheless, Donovan - the central character for much of the first part of the book - seems to fade as the story progresses. By the end of the novel, he becomes a bit player, not a star.

My worst complaint about the novel is that Danvers' sentimentality sometimes gets in the way of his telling a story. His devotion to love (while beautiful at times) can hinder the progress of a story by making it predictable. There is no tragedy in his novels, which seems as unrealistic as the Bin itself. But for science fiction and cyber fans that want to read something romantic (in a weird sort of way) Danvers is a great read.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the characters in this book - they're diverse and deep. The setting slides a little more towards future-fantasy than science fiction, which makes some of the implausibility setting acceptable.

This is not a tightly plotted book, it's mostly about getting to know some interesting characters. There are tense, super-important events but a lot of it feels like things are happening to the characters instead of because of the characters.

The last fifth of the book goes completely off the rails...it's not bad to read, but it's very strange.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't like this one quite as much as Circuit of Heaven, but I did appreciate that Danvers managed to make this both a prequel (by including the stories of Stephanie Sanders and Walter Tillman, who originally lived in the world just before the Bin, Danver's orbiting paradise) and a sequel (by setting the story after the Bin is cut off from Earth, which occured at the end of Circuit of Heaven).

[Eileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Thought provoking, earnest.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good ending to this story. Still weird, but I felt satisfied in the ending