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Singularity's Children #4
ReImagination
ReImagination: to imagine anew; to form a new conception.
The 21st century is reaching middle age. Installations orbit the Earth and synthetic intelligences rule the digital. The Forwards have destroyed the Mesh. The Thalassocracy of New Atlantis lies shattered, reeling from multiple atomic strikes.
Might the dreams of better times have been nothing more than naive, figments of wishful thinking?
As the BugNet begins to stir, a few believe there may be hope yet...
ReImagination is the final book in an epic story arc which hints at possibilities beyond cynical exploitation, gross inequality, and mass manipulation through industrialised persuasive technologies.
In this final extravagant, action-packed romp, we find out if Niato, the Nebulous Kin, and the internet of animals can carry this vision of a better world to all Singularity's Children.
Technology. Adventure. Hope.
The 21st century is reaching middle age. Installations orbit the Earth and synthetic intelligences rule the digital. The Forwards have destroyed the Mesh. The Thalassocracy of New Atlantis lies shattered, reeling from multiple atomic strikes.
Might the dreams of better times have been nothing more than naive, figments of wishful thinking?
As the BugNet begins to stir, a few believe there may be hope yet...
ReImagination is the final book in an epic story arc which hints at possibilities beyond cynical exploitation, gross inequality, and mass manipulation through industrialised persuasive technologies.
In this final extravagant, action-packed romp, we find out if Niato, the Nebulous Kin, and the internet of animals can carry this vision of a better world to all Singularity's Children.
Technology. Adventure. Hope.
461 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 21, 2020
2 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Toby Weston
8 books41 followersToby Weston (born May 8th, 1972) is a British writer and technologist.
His work weaves action and philosophy while dealing with the themes of consciousness, utopia, and the technological singularity.
His books are grounded in science, but he is prepared to take excursions into the fantastic.
Before writing books, Toby worked as a parking attendant, spook, tour guide, software engineer and chef (if you count making crab sandwiches).
His academic background spans Software Engineering, Computational Neuroscience, Environmental Biology and Deep Learning.
He is currently based in Switzerland where he writes and works in the field of digital innovation.
His work weaves action and philosophy while dealing with the themes of consciousness, utopia, and the technological singularity.
His books are grounded in science, but he is prepared to take excursions into the fantastic.
Before writing books, Toby worked as a parking attendant, spook, tour guide, software engineer and chef (if you count making crab sandwiches).
His academic background spans Software Engineering, Computational Neuroscience, Environmental Biology and Deep Learning.
He is currently based in Switzerland where he writes and works in the field of digital innovation.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 6, 2020
TL;DR: It's the end! If you didn't start with Disruption then you need to back up and start there. This is a series of four books and they really need to be read in order or they'll make little sense. If you're a fan of Cory Doctorow, specifically stuff like Walkaway, if you are interested in sentences like "...using whatever sub-linguistic communication-bus the rodent and the neural-prosthetic used for internal information interchange..." and also insights of the following nature: "A dead boyfriend is more romantic and logistically manageable than the hassles a live one would bring...." then you'll enjoy this. I'd definitely recommend it, it's been a lot of fun, and somewhat thought-provoking as well - it's 50% social thought experiment, 25% technological fantasising and 25% irreverent, humorous adventure. Don't read on, the following contains spoilers for books one through three...
TL: Well, after discovering at the end of book three that this was not, in fact, a trilogy, for a minute there as I the final chapters were drawing nigh I was feeling some concern that ReImagination also wasn't going to end the series, but the last three chapters manage to do a good job of tying up the loose ends!
The concluding volume of the Singularity's Children tetraology starts up with, for the first time, a bit of a rewind and recap as we get an alternative view of Stella and something that happened involving her in the previous book. We then return to the usual "jump forward" that is the norm for this series and get a little update on where some of our friends and enemy's are at. In a pretty cool turn of events, Marcel and Tinkerbell are now a family, including a number of adoptee children.
In a continuation of a theme, more of your favourite characters will meet a violent end, but I have to say that this was the first time that I really didn't expect, nor take particularly well, the death of one of the main characters, maybe because for a lot of the others there's been scope for them to not really be dead and hope lives on, this time, not so much. But let's not get overly specific!
The story, when we left off in Conflict, was not going well for the non-Forward folk. And that theme very much continues in this book. The surprise Zeno-attack has knocked out the Mesh, the surprise nuclear attack wiped out one half of our favourite dynamic-duo, not to mention Atlantis, and the situation doesn't get a whole lot better. Stella and what's left of the revolution are trying to keep the dream alive and the radioactive dregs of Atlantis are being combed over for any dregs of resistance. I don't really want to say any more about the plot, because that's where the fun lies
My main issue with this book, and indeed the story as a whole, is the lack of realism. It started off with plausible advances (well, I'm not a neuroscientist, perhaps they're not that plausible 🙂) but things got increasingly less likely. The "bad guy" got stereotypically bad back in Conflict, and the downward spiral into Doctor Evil-territory continues here. Our heroes have scraped out of more than their fair share of close-shaves (not without loss it must be pointed out) and there's more than a lingering whiff of deus ex machina about the whole thing. But, to be fair, we're not reading Red Mars! I was a little concerned that this was going to turn into another "blockchain saves world" advertisement, and, towards the end, I was bracing myself for something along the line's of John Galt's speech, but we are rescued from anything quite so blatant by what ended up being one of my favourite pieces of dialog in all four books.
So, the pros? Well, it's the flip-side of what I just said. This is a series of humorous plot-arcs involving somewhat speculative fiction featuring a series of unlikely heroines and heroes. And this is something we sorely need! I love this kind of book! I love a hopeful vision of the future, I love irreverent humour, I love someone ignoring what we can do, and considering what we could do, and that's what's on display here! It's a little less attached to the hypothetical than, say, something like The Three-Body Problem, but who's to say what breakthroughs will come our way and make our definitions of networking possibilities laughably defunct?
Overall, a fun read that I'd recommend to people looking for a laugh and a (mostly) non-apocalyptic suggestion of the future that could be. I've rated each book as a three-star event, if it was possible I'd rate the series as a four because, sometimes, the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts.
TL: Well, after discovering at the end of book three that this was not, in fact, a trilogy, for a minute there as I the final chapters were drawing nigh I was feeling some concern that ReImagination also wasn't going to end the series, but the last three chapters manage to do a good job of tying up the loose ends!
The concluding volume of the Singularity's Children tetraology starts up with, for the first time, a bit of a rewind and recap as we get an alternative view of Stella and something that happened involving her in the previous book. We then return to the usual "jump forward" that is the norm for this series and get a little update on where some of our friends and enemy's are at. In a pretty cool turn of events, Marcel and Tinkerbell are now a family, including a number of adoptee children.
In a continuation of a theme, more of your favourite characters will meet a violent end, but I have to say that this was the first time that I really didn't expect, nor take particularly well, the death of one of the main characters, maybe because for a lot of the others there's been scope for them to not really be dead and hope lives on, this time, not so much. But let's not get overly specific!
The story, when we left off in Conflict, was not going well for the non-Forward folk. And that theme very much continues in this book. The surprise Zeno-attack has knocked out the Mesh, the surprise nuclear attack wiped out one half of our favourite dynamic-duo, not to mention Atlantis, and the situation doesn't get a whole lot better. Stella and what's left of the revolution are trying to keep the dream alive and the radioactive dregs of Atlantis are being combed over for any dregs of resistance. I don't really want to say any more about the plot, because that's where the fun lies
My main issue with this book, and indeed the story as a whole, is the lack of realism. It started off with plausible advances (well, I'm not a neuroscientist, perhaps they're not that plausible 🙂) but things got increasingly less likely. The "bad guy" got stereotypically bad back in Conflict, and the downward spiral into Doctor Evil-territory continues here. Our heroes have scraped out of more than their fair share of close-shaves (not without loss it must be pointed out) and there's more than a lingering whiff of deus ex machina about the whole thing. But, to be fair, we're not reading Red Mars! I was a little concerned that this was going to turn into another "blockchain saves world" advertisement, and, towards the end, I was bracing myself for something along the line's of John Galt's speech, but we are rescued from anything quite so blatant by what ended up being one of my favourite pieces of dialog in all four books.
So, the pros? Well, it's the flip-side of what I just said. This is a series of humorous plot-arcs involving somewhat speculative fiction featuring a series of unlikely heroines and heroes. And this is something we sorely need! I love this kind of book! I love a hopeful vision of the future, I love irreverent humour, I love someone ignoring what we can do, and considering what we could do, and that's what's on display here! It's a little less attached to the hypothetical than, say, something like The Three-Body Problem, but who's to say what breakthroughs will come our way and make our definitions of networking possibilities laughably defunct?
Overall, a fun read that I'd recommend to people looking for a laugh and a (mostly) non-apocalyptic suggestion of the future that could be. I've rated each book as a three-star event, if it was possible I'd rate the series as a four because, sometimes, the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts.
October 23, 2020
Probably the final book in the Singularity's Children series, Reimagination is continuing part three (Conflict) more than it is delivering the promised reimagination. It is still a gripping thriller and it's good to read how things turn out for the main characters but it's still more an extension on the existing story line.
More than enough possibilities of biotech are laid out for us to ponder and a fine conclusion to the story is provided. Going by the series' theme - the four phases of change being the four books' titles: Denial; Disruption; Conflict; and Reimagination - I would have exepected this book to deliver more techno-utopia.
The characters continue growing and as is to be expected from a singularity the plot is twisting nicely. I could have done without the shifting tenses, which I found a bit confusing at times, but it does help to remind what part of the story we're reading. It's fun to see Weston growing as an author and to see him trying these things out.
The story's scenery is one developing and evolving technology and the influence it has on us. An underlying message, I think, is that we are the ones doing the developing and we can make choices here. Singularity's Children is showing us one of many possible outcomes. We can add this one to our vocabulary to think about the future.
More than enough possibilities of biotech are laid out for us to ponder and a fine conclusion to the story is provided. Going by the series' theme - the four phases of change being the four books' titles: Denial; Disruption; Conflict; and Reimagination - I would have exepected this book to deliver more techno-utopia.
The characters continue growing and as is to be expected from a singularity the plot is twisting nicely. I could have done without the shifting tenses, which I found a bit confusing at times, but it does help to remind what part of the story we're reading. It's fun to see Weston growing as an author and to see him trying these things out.
The story's scenery is one developing and evolving technology and the influence it has on us. An underlying message, I think, is that we are the ones doing the developing and we can make choices here. Singularity's Children is showing us one of many possible outcomes. We can add this one to our vocabulary to think about the future.
May 18, 2022
Well worth the journey.
That was a very good series.
It could have even made it to a fifth book.
The ending did feel a little bit rushed but not overly so. There were some sad moments but also happy surprises.
Overall, it was enjoyable and thought provoking.
Highly recommended.
That was a very good series.
It could have even made it to a fifth book.
The ending did feel a little bit rushed but not overly so. There were some sad moments but also happy surprises.
Overall, it was enjoyable and thought provoking.
Highly recommended.
October 15, 2020
An amazing read with endearing characters and incredible technology.
If this is the last book in the series, it will have ended in a very satisfying way.
I do however hope for a continuation of this outstanding story.
If this is the last book in the series, it will have ended in a very satisfying way.
I do however hope for a continuation of this outstanding story.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews