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Jump 225 #3
Geosynchron
The Defense and Wellness Council is enmeshed in full-scale civil war between Len Borda and the mysterious Magan Kai Lee. Quell has escaped from prison and is stirring up rebellion in the Islands with the aid of a brash young leader named Josiah. Jara and the apprentices of the Surina/Natch MultiReal Fiefcorp still find themselves fighting off legal attacks from their competitors and from Margaret Surina's unscrupulous heirs—even though MultiReal has completely vanished.
The quest for the truth will lead to the edges of civilization, from the tumultuous society of the Pacific Islands to the lawless orbital colony of 49th Heaven; and through the deeps of time, from the hidden agenda of the Surina family to the real truth behind the Autonomous Revolt that devastated humanity hundreds of years ago.
Meanwhile, Natch has awakened in a windowless prison with nothing but a haze of memory to clue him in as to how he got there. He's still receiving strange hallucinatory messages from Margaret Surina and the nature of reality is buckling all around him. When the smoke clears, Natch must make the ultimate decision—whether to save a world that has scorned and discarded him, or to save the only person he has ever loved: himself.
The quest for the truth will lead to the edges of civilization, from the tumultuous society of the Pacific Islands to the lawless orbital colony of 49th Heaven; and through the deeps of time, from the hidden agenda of the Surina family to the real truth behind the Autonomous Revolt that devastated humanity hundreds of years ago.
Meanwhile, Natch has awakened in a windowless prison with nothing but a haze of memory to clue him in as to how he got there. He's still receiving strange hallucinatory messages from Margaret Surina and the nature of reality is buckling all around him. When the smoke clears, Natch must make the ultimate decision—whether to save a world that has scorned and discarded him, or to save the only person he has ever loved: himself.
508 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
6 people are currently reading
366 people want to read
About the author
David Louis Edelman
7 books103 followersDavid Louis Edelman is a science fiction novelist and web programmer. As the author of the Jump 225 trilogy (Infoquake, MultiReal, and Geosynchron), he has received nominations for the John W. Campbell Award for Best Novel, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, Barnes & Noble’s SF Novel of the Year (winner 2006), and spots on best-of-the-year lists by io9, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, and SFFWorld. Locus magazine called the trilogy "a seminal work of 21st century SF."
Edelman has also programmed websites for the U.S. Army, the FBI, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Jesuit Conference of America, and Rolls-Royce; taught software to members of the U.S. Congress and the World Bank; and directed the marketing departments of biometric and e-commerce companies.
Edelman has also programmed websites for the U.S. Army, the FBI, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Jesuit Conference of America, and Rolls-Royce; taught software to members of the U.S. Congress and the World Bank; and directed the marketing departments of biometric and e-commerce companies.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
July 23, 2014
The whole Jump 225 series is probably the best that mundane sf has to offer and remain truly appealing to me, but this volume which is the first to go into true sense of wonder however briefly makes me wish the series would start here...
I started the book a bit concerned since while I loved Infoquake a lot in 2006 and found its world building excellent, by 2009 it seemed if not dated, but barely on the cutting edge - sure we do not have yet bio-logics and infinite energy but the all-around-connected world of the novel is coming together by the day; MultiReal changed a bit the focus, partly to the good, but partly towards solipsism, though it had much more action so I was wondering where Geosynchron will go
And I have to say that after more action for some half of the novel, Geosynchron takes the series to another level and finally leaves the "mundane" even though briefer than I would have liked and that part is excellent as is the the conclusion of the series despite using one of my least favorites and verging on solipsism sff tropes and this time to the hilt so to speak.
Beside the above the other main reason Geosynchron was great and a step above the previous volumes and coming close to true high-level sense of wonder sf a la PF Hamilton or A Reynolds is that the mix of superb action and great characters that made MultiReal very good and a great middle novel after the world-building of Infoquake, is even better done here; I reiterate that I *wish* the series would start here and explore outward, but since the author stated in the afterword that he has no current plans to continue, I hope that for his next project he will let his imagination running wild and use his great world building and characterization skills shown in this series and create a true sense of wonder series to remember
I started the book a bit concerned since while I loved Infoquake a lot in 2006 and found its world building excellent, by 2009 it seemed if not dated, but barely on the cutting edge - sure we do not have yet bio-logics and infinite energy but the all-around-connected world of the novel is coming together by the day; MultiReal changed a bit the focus, partly to the good, but partly towards solipsism, though it had much more action so I was wondering where Geosynchron will go
And I have to say that after more action for some half of the novel, Geosynchron takes the series to another level and finally leaves the "mundane" even though briefer than I would have liked and that part is excellent as is the the conclusion of the series despite using one of my least favorites and verging on solipsism sff tropes and this time to the hilt so to speak.
Beside the above the other main reason Geosynchron was great and a step above the previous volumes and coming close to true high-level sense of wonder sf a la PF Hamilton or A Reynolds is that the mix of superb action and great characters that made MultiReal very good and a great middle novel after the world-building of Infoquake, is even better done here; I reiterate that I *wish* the series would start here and explore outward, but since the author stated in the afterword that he has no current plans to continue, I hope that for his next project he will let his imagination running wild and use his great world building and characterization skills shown in this series and create a true sense of wonder series to remember
April 29, 2010
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
Science-fiction trilogies are notoriously tricky things, precisely because of their dual nature: they only succeed when telling a unified uber-story that effortlessly flows from one book to the next, yet each of those novels need to be decent standalone books as well, in that it's so infinitely easier to simply stop reading a trilogy after book one than to put down a thousand-page single volume 300 pages in. And indeed, for three years now, the jury's been out as far as the fate of David Louis Edelman's "Jump 225" trilogy, his fiction debut whose first volume, 2007's Infoquake, garnered him a surprise Campbell Award nomination, a trilogy I have a soft spot for because of Infoquake being one of the first books I ever reviewed here; as I mentioned for example in my write-up of volume two, 2008's MultiReal, the three-book arc seemed to be treading on decent if not traditional ground, although with none of us able to say how it would end up until seeing volume three, this year's Geosynchron, for ourselves. But now that I finally have read that concluding title, I'm happy to say that things end with a rather literal bang, with Edelman turning in a book that nicely answers all lingering questions from his expansive universe, yet stands alone as a much better volume than either of the first two; and this is always such a great thing to see, after watching so many other SF trilogies end on a whimper instead.
Those who are interested might want to first read the 500-word summary of the Jump 225 universe I did for my review of the original Infoquake; but in a nutshell, our story takes place at least several hundred years after our own times, a future history which includes an apocalyptic war against sentient machines that decimated billions of humans, then a "Second Dark Age" when nearly all technology was banned, and the world's survivors ruled by oppressive nation-sized religious/military organizations. This then eventually led to a second Renaissance (or "The Reawakening" as it's known to them), in which the old theories behind both democratic checks and balances and dot-com-era capitalist entrepreneurialism were re-discovered, and suddenly worshipped as passionately as the citizens of the Enlightenment worshipped the ideas of the ancient Greeks; and the whole reason this era of humanity got kick-started in the first place was because of the legendary Surina family, inventors of a three-pronged system called Bio/logics, in which millions of nanobots are introduced to a human body then programmed with a whole series of free-market applications for making that body work better (everything from apps regulating heart rates to ones that change eye color), ushering in a whole new period of scientific advances, eventually leading to such miracles as five-sense virtual remote traveling, high-speed maglev lines now circling the globe, and even honest-to-God teleportation, even if it's so expensive that hardly anyone can afford to use it.
Edelman's trilogy itself, then, tells the story of one of these entrepreneurial nanobot programmers, a charming assh-le named Natch (think Jason Calacanis except thinner and better-looking, not a surprising comparison because of the author's background in web entrepreneurialism himself); the actual storyline first follows the saga of Natch and his team rising to the top of the Bio/logics market, which then brings him to the attention of the latest member of the Surina bloodline, who like all her ancestors has come up with her own invention for changing the course of humanity, a system of programs that supposedly manipulate these inner-body nanobots into literally predicting the future. (And in fact this is the weakest part of the entire trilogy, the fact that this "MultiReal" technology doesn't hold up to even a moderate amount of reader scrutiny; for example, if playing a game of tennis, these programs are supposed to be able to cycle through the millions of choices available to your opponent during any particular microsecond of their latest racket swing, determine which will most likely happen, then automatically direct the nanobots in your own body to perform the exact most perfect countermove faster than you can even consciously think, a cool idea but that becomes riddled with problems once you start thinking about it in any level of detail.) The second volume of the trilogy, then, is mostly about the myriad of issues that surround this MultiReal technology -- how safe it is, how to best introduce it to humanity, how to best keep it out of the hands of their competitors, and how this may or may not relate to the growing number of massive psychic "infoquakes" the human race has been experiencing more and more. (And please know that there are dozens of other inventive details regarding Edelman's universe that I'm leaving out for the sake of brevity, including the "pharisees" of southeast Asia who don't believe in using Bio/logics, the various philosophy-based nation-states that have largely supplanted governmental organizations, the constant state of cold war they are all in as a result, and lots more.)
The good news, though, is that Geosynchron largely ignores most of the smaller details from the first two books, in order to examine the much trippier story of what happens to Natch as the first private beta-tester of this MultiReal system; and this is a blessing, frankly, in that Edelman had by the end of volume two already exhausted most of the possibilities inherent in this "wetware dot-com age of the future" milieu he created for the trilogy's beginning, and also in that I was finding myself even then growing increasingly annoyed at the cutesy, instantly dated "CyberThis, CyberThat" terms he had invented for every little thing going on. Thankfully, Edelman seemed to understand as well that such elements had been almost completely played out, so takes the story in volume three in a much grander direction, really delving into the sociological issues that would come with a technology like this, examining what such a thing would really mean in practical terms for the very future of the human race, and whether such a thing could be legitimately called an evolutionary shortcut. And in the meanwhile, Edelman really pushes himself linguistically as well, using the side effects of this experimental technology as an excuse to tell Natch's story in a non-linear fashion, with the scenes that take place in his head jumping instantly from childhood to adulthood and back again, the author finally displaying the kind of maturity in his personal style that I had been publicly hoping for during the first two volumes.
It all adds up by the end to a rather remarkable thing, a final volume that is far and away better than the two that came before it; and like I said, this is unusual and welcome for a SF trilogy, in that most trilogies of note tend to have a spectacular first volume instead (which of course is why they got noticed in the first place), with returns then more and more diminishing with each subsequent title. Now that I've read the entire thing myself, I can confidently state that the "Jump 225" trilogy is one that new readers can look forward to getting better and better as it continues, and is I think a good sign that Edelman has a long career still ahead of him, after this fluke-like debut that garnered him so much attention so quickly. The entire trilogy comes highly recommended today, and especially this spectacular ending to it all.
Out of 10: 8.9, or 9.5 for science-fiction fans
Science-fiction trilogies are notoriously tricky things, precisely because of their dual nature: they only succeed when telling a unified uber-story that effortlessly flows from one book to the next, yet each of those novels need to be decent standalone books as well, in that it's so infinitely easier to simply stop reading a trilogy after book one than to put down a thousand-page single volume 300 pages in. And indeed, for three years now, the jury's been out as far as the fate of David Louis Edelman's "Jump 225" trilogy, his fiction debut whose first volume, 2007's Infoquake, garnered him a surprise Campbell Award nomination, a trilogy I have a soft spot for because of Infoquake being one of the first books I ever reviewed here; as I mentioned for example in my write-up of volume two, 2008's MultiReal, the three-book arc seemed to be treading on decent if not traditional ground, although with none of us able to say how it would end up until seeing volume three, this year's Geosynchron, for ourselves. But now that I finally have read that concluding title, I'm happy to say that things end with a rather literal bang, with Edelman turning in a book that nicely answers all lingering questions from his expansive universe, yet stands alone as a much better volume than either of the first two; and this is always such a great thing to see, after watching so many other SF trilogies end on a whimper instead.
Those who are interested might want to first read the 500-word summary of the Jump 225 universe I did for my review of the original Infoquake; but in a nutshell, our story takes place at least several hundred years after our own times, a future history which includes an apocalyptic war against sentient machines that decimated billions of humans, then a "Second Dark Age" when nearly all technology was banned, and the world's survivors ruled by oppressive nation-sized religious/military organizations. This then eventually led to a second Renaissance (or "The Reawakening" as it's known to them), in which the old theories behind both democratic checks and balances and dot-com-era capitalist entrepreneurialism were re-discovered, and suddenly worshipped as passionately as the citizens of the Enlightenment worshipped the ideas of the ancient Greeks; and the whole reason this era of humanity got kick-started in the first place was because of the legendary Surina family, inventors of a three-pronged system called Bio/logics, in which millions of nanobots are introduced to a human body then programmed with a whole series of free-market applications for making that body work better (everything from apps regulating heart rates to ones that change eye color), ushering in a whole new period of scientific advances, eventually leading to such miracles as five-sense virtual remote traveling, high-speed maglev lines now circling the globe, and even honest-to-God teleportation, even if it's so expensive that hardly anyone can afford to use it.
Edelman's trilogy itself, then, tells the story of one of these entrepreneurial nanobot programmers, a charming assh-le named Natch (think Jason Calacanis except thinner and better-looking, not a surprising comparison because of the author's background in web entrepreneurialism himself); the actual storyline first follows the saga of Natch and his team rising to the top of the Bio/logics market, which then brings him to the attention of the latest member of the Surina bloodline, who like all her ancestors has come up with her own invention for changing the course of humanity, a system of programs that supposedly manipulate these inner-body nanobots into literally predicting the future. (And in fact this is the weakest part of the entire trilogy, the fact that this "MultiReal" technology doesn't hold up to even a moderate amount of reader scrutiny; for example, if playing a game of tennis, these programs are supposed to be able to cycle through the millions of choices available to your opponent during any particular microsecond of their latest racket swing, determine which will most likely happen, then automatically direct the nanobots in your own body to perform the exact most perfect countermove faster than you can even consciously think, a cool idea but that becomes riddled with problems once you start thinking about it in any level of detail.) The second volume of the trilogy, then, is mostly about the myriad of issues that surround this MultiReal technology -- how safe it is, how to best introduce it to humanity, how to best keep it out of the hands of their competitors, and how this may or may not relate to the growing number of massive psychic "infoquakes" the human race has been experiencing more and more. (And please know that there are dozens of other inventive details regarding Edelman's universe that I'm leaving out for the sake of brevity, including the "pharisees" of southeast Asia who don't believe in using Bio/logics, the various philosophy-based nation-states that have largely supplanted governmental organizations, the constant state of cold war they are all in as a result, and lots more.)
The good news, though, is that Geosynchron largely ignores most of the smaller details from the first two books, in order to examine the much trippier story of what happens to Natch as the first private beta-tester of this MultiReal system; and this is a blessing, frankly, in that Edelman had by the end of volume two already exhausted most of the possibilities inherent in this "wetware dot-com age of the future" milieu he created for the trilogy's beginning, and also in that I was finding myself even then growing increasingly annoyed at the cutesy, instantly dated "CyberThis, CyberThat" terms he had invented for every little thing going on. Thankfully, Edelman seemed to understand as well that such elements had been almost completely played out, so takes the story in volume three in a much grander direction, really delving into the sociological issues that would come with a technology like this, examining what such a thing would really mean in practical terms for the very future of the human race, and whether such a thing could be legitimately called an evolutionary shortcut. And in the meanwhile, Edelman really pushes himself linguistically as well, using the side effects of this experimental technology as an excuse to tell Natch's story in a non-linear fashion, with the scenes that take place in his head jumping instantly from childhood to adulthood and back again, the author finally displaying the kind of maturity in his personal style that I had been publicly hoping for during the first two volumes.
It all adds up by the end to a rather remarkable thing, a final volume that is far and away better than the two that came before it; and like I said, this is unusual and welcome for a SF trilogy, in that most trilogies of note tend to have a spectacular first volume instead (which of course is why they got noticed in the first place), with returns then more and more diminishing with each subsequent title. Now that I've read the entire thing myself, I can confidently state that the "Jump 225" trilogy is one that new readers can look forward to getting better and better as it continues, and is I think a good sign that Edelman has a long career still ahead of him, after this fluke-like debut that garnered him so much attention so quickly. The entire trilogy comes highly recommended today, and especially this spectacular ending to it all.
Out of 10: 8.9, or 9.5 for science-fiction fans
May 30, 2021
This book was a complete slog. I hated almost every part of it.
While the trilogy as a whole was interesting, it was riddled with inconsitancies and plot holes.
It is explained that the Multireal program can predict possible futures and allow you to quickly make the right decision so that you get the outcome that you want.
It is later explained that Multireal can affect or even erase other people's memories? huh?
We are told that if a person running Multireal is threatened with their life, Multireal can somehow back up time one minute.
It will also delete your memories of that lost minute.
That scene where the politician is on the balcony. As a demonstration of Multireal, Natch keeps choosing other realities where the politician doesn't take a step. The politician then says "I can't move". I guess I don't understand this scene. Isn't Natch choosing alternate realities where the politician chooses to not move? Would the politician then announce that he can't move? Why would he say that? It's not as if he tried to take a step and was blocked.
What use is it to have a base in the Philipines? Doesn't each side already know the size of the other side's forces? They both ran the same army after all. A simple database query should be able to tell you everything you need to know about the size of forces involved.
How did Natch defeat the drug dealers on 49th Heaven? That part was conveniently skipped over. What prevented them from just killing him?
Why didn't Brone just release Multireal to the public? Why wait for Borda or Lee to assault or kill him?
They can't delete Multireal? The explanation is that it doesn't respond to deletion commands, but you can move it to another location. What happened to the files at the original location? Or, why can't you just move it to something local that you can then power down? And then later in the book we are told it cannot be copied. What?
I could never wrap my head around the erasing of any memory or text of any mention of Multireal in the entire world. No way. Can't be done.
While the trilogy as a whole was interesting, it was riddled with inconsitancies and plot holes.
It is explained that the Multireal program can predict possible futures and allow you to quickly make the right decision so that you get the outcome that you want.
It is later explained that Multireal can affect or even erase other people's memories? huh?
We are told that if a person running Multireal is threatened with their life, Multireal can somehow back up time one minute.
It will also delete your memories of that lost minute.
That scene where the politician is on the balcony. As a demonstration of Multireal, Natch keeps choosing other realities where the politician doesn't take a step. The politician then says "I can't move". I guess I don't understand this scene. Isn't Natch choosing alternate realities where the politician chooses to not move? Would the politician then announce that he can't move? Why would he say that? It's not as if he tried to take a step and was blocked.
What use is it to have a base in the Philipines? Doesn't each side already know the size of the other side's forces? They both ran the same army after all. A simple database query should be able to tell you everything you need to know about the size of forces involved.
How did Natch defeat the drug dealers on 49th Heaven? That part was conveniently skipped over. What prevented them from just killing him?
Why didn't Brone just release Multireal to the public? Why wait for Borda or Lee to assault or kill him?
They can't delete Multireal? The explanation is that it doesn't respond to deletion commands, but you can move it to another location. What happened to the files at the original location? Or, why can't you just move it to something local that you can then power down? And then later in the book we are told it cannot be copied. What?
I could never wrap my head around the erasing of any memory or text of any mention of Multireal in the entire world. No way. Can't be done.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 31, 2010
When I first received the email that I would be getting the third book in the Jump 225 Trilogy, I was worried. First, because the name of the book, Geosynchron, made it seem like one of those weird sci-fi books where the names of people and cities are so far-fetched I would completely miss the whole plot of the story because I was too busy trying to remember if I, in fact, had met this person before (see my review on The Hunt for the Eye of Ogin). The second reason I was worried was because, not only had I not read the first two books, but I had never heard of them before in my life.
However, it turns out that my worries were unfounded. The names in the book were very sci-fi-y (Natch, Jara, Horvil), but not so sci-fi-y that I couldn't keep track of the characters. Not only that, but it seems like the author really thought through everything... He provided an appendix that not only described what happened in the first two books (in such detail that I actually knew what was going on), but also gave a list and definition of any of the terms you may not know. It was very helpful.
And the story? It was fantastic, I was totally involved in the story the entire time... It reminded me a lot of the (wrongfully) short-lived television series Firefly. The characters and the story were realistic; I mean I can actually see some of this stuff happening in the future. To me, although the book seems to be teaching you a lesson about how we shouldn't rely so much on technology (very Michael Crichton-esque), I didn't feel like I was being preached to. One last thing I need to say, although it took me longer than usual to read this book (6 days), it was no way related to the book at all. I just so happened to pick it up during a very busy week. If I had my choice, I would have finished it the same day I started reading it, because I literally did not want to put it down.
However, it turns out that my worries were unfounded. The names in the book were very sci-fi-y (Natch, Jara, Horvil), but not so sci-fi-y that I couldn't keep track of the characters. Not only that, but it seems like the author really thought through everything... He provided an appendix that not only described what happened in the first two books (in such detail that I actually knew what was going on), but also gave a list and definition of any of the terms you may not know. It was very helpful.
And the story? It was fantastic, I was totally involved in the story the entire time... It reminded me a lot of the (wrongfully) short-lived television series Firefly. The characters and the story were realistic; I mean I can actually see some of this stuff happening in the future. To me, although the book seems to be teaching you a lesson about how we shouldn't rely so much on technology (very Michael Crichton-esque), I didn't feel like I was being preached to. One last thing I need to say, although it took me longer than usual to read this book (6 days), it was no way related to the book at all. I just so happened to pick it up during a very busy week. If I had my choice, I would have finished it the same day I started reading it, because I literally did not want to put it down.
April 13, 2010
I tore through this one in a cross-country plane flight and a weekend, just like the previous two in the trilogy.
The only bad thing I think I can say about this trilogy is this: There's so much there that it strains to fit in a trilogy. Even worse, the author sounds burned out on the world he built, so no more stories in the immediate future. Can't blame him, though; it sounds like he's been working on these books for long enough.
There's a lot of great worldbuilding in the first and second books, but this one works hard to tie up all the loose ends in dramatic fashion.
The selfish main character come to some unexpectedly selfless acts. Marketing is used as a tactical weapon for infiltrating the enemy base. Not all politicians are as crooked as they seem. And MultiReal, the main mystery product that could save or destroy the world, looks older and more complex and more insidious than anyone guessed.
Good stuff, solid ending. Wishing there were more.
The only bad thing I think I can say about this trilogy is this: There's so much there that it strains to fit in a trilogy. Even worse, the author sounds burned out on the world he built, so no more stories in the immediate future. Can't blame him, though; it sounds like he's been working on these books for long enough.
There's a lot of great worldbuilding in the first and second books, but this one works hard to tie up all the loose ends in dramatic fashion.
The selfish main character come to some unexpectedly selfless acts. Marketing is used as a tactical weapon for infiltrating the enemy base. Not all politicians are as crooked as they seem. And MultiReal, the main mystery product that could save or destroy the world, looks older and more complex and more insidious than anyone guessed.
Good stuff, solid ending. Wishing there were more.
September 3, 2010
This trilogy is maddening. Somewhere deep down inside there's a really exciting single volume struggling to get out. But it's buried in pages and pages of padding and endless arguments between the characters. The first two volumes are little more than extended setups for the third one, and by then the twists and turns of the plot start to feel too contrived. It's hard to believe an editor actually went through this without asking the author to tighten it up at least by half. The story really would only have gained.
I had originally given the first two volumes three stars, expecting the conclusion would improve my view of the series. Instead, I felt I had to revise my ratings down.
I had originally given the first two volumes three stars, expecting the conclusion would improve my view of the series. Instead, I felt I had to revise my ratings down.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
December 9, 2010
Despite the grand sweep and richly-detailed future history of David Louis Edelman's "Jump 225 Trilogy" as a whole, and also despite the fact that I'd read and rather enjoyed the first two volumes (Infoquake and Multireal), I found this one a bit of a slog, actually.
In broad outline, the story is set on and near a future Earth where electronic computing reached a singularity and imploded some centuries ago. The Autonomous Revolt did away with the city-spanning artificial intelligences who rebelled against their programming, sending the orbital colony Yu hurtling into New York City and sparking eight years of war—only to have humanity promptly replace the departed AIs with organically-based, nanometer-scale technology ("bio/logics") that proceeded to take over far more of daily life than the silicon variety ever managed.
350 years after The Reawakening, almost all of humanity is Connectible, infused or perhaps infested at the cellular level with tiny devices called "OCHREs" that regulate and enhance everything from sleep to eating to communication to orgasm. OCHRes are named after the "Osterman Company for Human Re-Engineering"—this trilogy has more tin-eared acronyms than any modern-day bureaucracy, and some of 'em (I'm looking at you, "L-PRACG") are even worse!
When the series started, its protagonist Natch was an up-and-coming young programmer of such devices, using a novel interface in which code is objectified as three-dimensional shapes, to be squeezed and molded like clay—a neat conceit, I'll grant. MultiReal, another neat conceit, is a particular bio/logic program that allows its user to manipulate reality at the quantum level, choosing among sheaves of probability to, for example, ensure that a projectile hits its target or that the user avoids an attack.
Geosynchron picks up long after Natch's rise to prominence as a programmer, though, and after his involvement with MultiReal goes awry. Natch is the protagonist, but he's not necessarily intended to be a hero—or, at least, not a hero without flaws. His opponents, too, are complex individuals with motivations of their own, which is a good thing.
So why didn't I like it more? For one thing, Geosynchron is not a standalone novel; you really do need to have read (and retained a lot about) the first two novels in this series in order to make any sense of what's going on here. Perhaps that's why I had a hard time getting into this final installment; I left it too long between books. There is a synopsis in the Appendices, but it didn't seem to help much. Geosynchron's a darker book than its predecessors, too, and perhaps that's another reason why I did not get into it as much.
I would recommend reading the Afterword, though, if you make it through the rest of the series; in it, Edelman goes a long way toward explaining why the trilogy is the way it is. Which is... well, it ends up being okay, I guess, although it left me feeling rather flat.
In broad outline, the story is set on and near a future Earth where electronic computing reached a singularity and imploded some centuries ago. The Autonomous Revolt did away with the city-spanning artificial intelligences who rebelled against their programming, sending the orbital colony Yu hurtling into New York City and sparking eight years of war—only to have humanity promptly replace the departed AIs with organically-based, nanometer-scale technology ("bio/logics") that proceeded to take over far more of daily life than the silicon variety ever managed.
350 years after The Reawakening, almost all of humanity is Connectible, infused or perhaps infested at the cellular level with tiny devices called "OCHREs" that regulate and enhance everything from sleep to eating to communication to orgasm. OCHRes are named after the "Osterman Company for Human Re-Engineering"—this trilogy has more tin-eared acronyms than any modern-day bureaucracy, and some of 'em (I'm looking at you, "L-PRACG") are even worse!
When the series started, its protagonist Natch was an up-and-coming young programmer of such devices, using a novel interface in which code is objectified as three-dimensional shapes, to be squeezed and molded like clay—a neat conceit, I'll grant. MultiReal, another neat conceit, is a particular bio/logic program that allows its user to manipulate reality at the quantum level, choosing among sheaves of probability to, for example, ensure that a projectile hits its target or that the user avoids an attack.
Geosynchron picks up long after Natch's rise to prominence as a programmer, though, and after his involvement with MultiReal goes awry. Natch is the protagonist, but he's not necessarily intended to be a hero—or, at least, not a hero without flaws. His opponents, too, are complex individuals with motivations of their own, which is a good thing.
So why didn't I like it more? For one thing, Geosynchron is not a standalone novel; you really do need to have read (and retained a lot about) the first two novels in this series in order to make any sense of what's going on here. Perhaps that's why I had a hard time getting into this final installment; I left it too long between books. There is a synopsis in the Appendices, but it didn't seem to help much. Geosynchron's a darker book than its predecessors, too, and perhaps that's another reason why I did not get into it as much.
I would recommend reading the Afterword, though, if you make it through the rest of the series; in it, Edelman goes a long way toward explaining why the trilogy is the way it is. Which is... well, it ends up being okay, I guess, although it left me feeling rather flat.
February 1, 2011
You know how Back to the Future is fantastic, BttF II is really good, and BttF 3 is good? Jump 255 is like that, only the first one is merely good and then it's downhill from there.
The first book had some interesting ideas: what will business and computer programming and such look like in the future? As a computer programmer myself (and one who gets paid by a business! Parallels!), I found this rather fascinating.
The second book didn't add much: but it's the middle book of a trilogy. It's not supposed to. It did an admirable job of moving the major arcs forward, I suppose.
The third book is where the trilogy traditionally wraps up. And, certainly, Edelman was trying. There were secrets galore (Margaret Suriana had a son! Fathered by Quell!) . Relationships which had been teased were finalized (as a fat programmer who's ended up with a fantastic partner, may I just give props to my man Horvil?). And we finally learn who was pulling the strings of the master plan all along...
Except it wasn't really much of a master plan. And you can't really see the master plan, but characters eventually talk about it so you know it's there. And the puppet masters are really hands-off so maybe they're not really doing anything and are just taking credit for it. And you don't really ever see the puppet masters so maybe it was just some guy taking credit for it. And there plan didn't actually work. Or maybe it did. You don't know because the book ends.
And it's a happy ending where only millions of people die instead of billions. And the protagonist ends up trapped inside his own body. Maybe. You don't really know because the book ends.
And those relationships? Maybe they're still around. Maybe they got reset. You don't really know because the book ends.
This book leaves you hanging. It's not ambiguous in the way that Donnie Darko or even The Dark Tower is ambiguous, though. It's not a big mystery left open for interpretation and discussion. The book just stops.
I very much get the feeling that the author was sick of writing in this world and had a contract to finish the trilogy by some date and so he finished it by stopping. It's good enough for an advance check, but I found it very unsatisfying.
After reading the first one, I had high hopes. The first book is flawed, but it had a tons of promise, and I had every expectation of the author improving his craft over time. Now?
I'm kind of sorry I read any of them.
The first book had some interesting ideas: what will business and computer programming and such look like in the future? As a computer programmer myself (and one who gets paid by a business! Parallels!), I found this rather fascinating.
The second book didn't add much: but it's the middle book of a trilogy. It's not supposed to. It did an admirable job of moving the major arcs forward, I suppose.
The third book is where the trilogy traditionally wraps up. And, certainly, Edelman was trying. There were secrets galore (Margaret Suriana had a son! Fathered by Quell!) . Relationships which had been teased were finalized (as a fat programmer who's ended up with a fantastic partner, may I just give props to my man Horvil?). And we finally learn who was pulling the strings of the master plan all along...
Except it wasn't really much of a master plan. And you can't really see the master plan, but characters eventually talk about it so you know it's there. And the puppet masters are really hands-off so maybe they're not really doing anything and are just taking credit for it. And you don't really ever see the puppet masters so maybe it was just some guy taking credit for it. And there plan didn't actually work. Or maybe it did. You don't know because the book ends.
And it's a happy ending where only millions of people die instead of billions. And the protagonist ends up trapped inside his own body. Maybe. You don't really know because the book ends.
And those relationships? Maybe they're still around. Maybe they got reset. You don't really know because the book ends.
This book leaves you hanging. It's not ambiguous in the way that Donnie Darko or even The Dark Tower is ambiguous, though. It's not a big mystery left open for interpretation and discussion. The book just stops.
I very much get the feeling that the author was sick of writing in this world and had a contract to finish the trilogy by some date and so he finished it by stopping. It's good enough for an advance check, but I found it very unsatisfying.
After reading the first one, I had high hopes. The first book is flawed, but it had a tons of promise, and I had every expectation of the author improving his craft over time. Now?
I'm kind of sorry I read any of them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2013
This is the last of the Jump 225 trilogy, and I haven't written reviews of the other two - Infoquake & Multireal - and probably won't. It's a shame, because I enjoyed them quite a bit. This last was engaging, but ultimately didn't do much for me. I read it because I was curious how the whole thing would end and it sort of ending on a flat note.
The world was amazing. The future world making couldn't have been more thought-provoking. Nanotech enmeshed in our bodies, the constant connection to the digital. A great scene in which two lovers attempt to find paper and a pen to write down their love to remind them later, if everything goes to shit, and they can't find a pen at all. "Treepaper" they called the paper - luckily there was a book. But no pen. So they figure, okay, let's write in blood - the but nanotech in their bodies coagulates the blood so quickly they can't even do that. Great stuff.
I also loved a series of chapters in the book about an orbiting colony (called 49th Heaven, a nice touch) devoted entirely to the darker side of humanity's urges. Sex, drugs, gambling. In fact, it's the only spot in the book where I was particularly interested in the main character because he started doing things for someone other than himself, even though he couldn't figure out why. Which, come to think of it, was never really settled in the book.
Regardless, I enjoyed it. A believable future. Full of politics, business, some human relationships, and even action to move it all right along. Ultimately, though, I didn't care too much about anyone. The main character, Natch, was interesting but not very likable.
As a whole, the trilogy is a good read. This last book - well, I'm glad I'm done with it.
The world was amazing. The future world making couldn't have been more thought-provoking. Nanotech enmeshed in our bodies, the constant connection to the digital. A great scene in which two lovers attempt to find paper and a pen to write down their love to remind them later, if everything goes to shit, and they can't find a pen at all. "Treepaper" they called the paper - luckily there was a book. But no pen. So they figure, okay, let's write in blood - the but nanotech in their bodies coagulates the blood so quickly they can't even do that. Great stuff.
I also loved a series of chapters in the book about an orbiting colony (called 49th Heaven, a nice touch) devoted entirely to the darker side of humanity's urges. Sex, drugs, gambling. In fact, it's the only spot in the book where I was particularly interested in the main character because he started doing things for someone other than himself, even though he couldn't figure out why. Which, come to think of it, was never really settled in the book.
Regardless, I enjoyed it. A believable future. Full of politics, business, some human relationships, and even action to move it all right along. Ultimately, though, I didn't care too much about anyone. The main character, Natch, was interesting but not very likable.
As a whole, the trilogy is a good read. This last book - well, I'm glad I'm done with it.
June 3, 2011
So I'm giving the final book of the trilogy four stars, even though I don't think it is significantly better than the first two books, both of which I gave three stars to. The book is deserving of four stars simply for the incredibly detailed future world Edelman has created and the concepts that he conveyed in the books, which I'm sure I will be contemplating for quite a while. The future of capitalism, democracy, technology, biology, software, marketing, the news media, and entertainment were all well-thought out and thoroughly explored in this book. It was all so incredibly detailed, self-consistent, and just down-right creative that it felt genuine. There's a reason why each book contains appendices and a glossary to explain all that's going on in these novels. For the "world building" alone, the trilogy, if not the third book, deserves a four-star rating.
The problem here was that the first half of the book was pretty bland, with not much happening and very little tension. Don't get me wrong, the "ho-hum" narrative set up a satisfying and suspenseful conclusion, but, tellingly, it took me a little over a week to read the first half of the book and less than 24 hours to read the last half.
The problem here was that the first half of the book was pretty bland, with not much happening and very little tension. Don't get me wrong, the "ho-hum" narrative set up a satisfying and suspenseful conclusion, but, tellingly, it took me a little over a week to read the first half of the book and less than 24 hours to read the last half.
January 31, 2014
The third and final book of this series didn't capture my attention the way the first installments did. The utter awesomeness of Edelman's technology concepts and believable society had worn off by this point and I was looking for something to take its place. The plot, while it grew in scale, meandered away from Natch (the main protagonist) and his story was always the most interesting throughout the series. The endings of the previous two books were abrupt, but I knew there was much more to the story, so I overlooked that. Which only built up my expectations for the ending of the whole series. I figured a huge twist or gigantic reveal was always right around the corner, but it never came. There were a few scenes in this book that hinted at something much bigger. And during those, I was reminded of one particular scene in Infoquake (the first book) that had me on the edge of my seat, knowing that my mind would be totally blown at some point. And so I waited. And waited. But it didn't happen. Perhaps my expectations were in the wrong place? Perhaps I didn't fully grasp the plot? Who knows?
Despite my disappointment with the last book, the series on the whole was fantastic. If you're looking for a unique story to get lost in, this one is worth your time.
Despite my disappointment with the last book, the series on the whole was fantastic. If you're looking for a unique story to get lost in, this one is worth your time.
October 31, 2014
The rather surprising conclusion to the trilogy is high on moral quandary and low on all-out action or boardroom shenanigans or Natschian trickery and manipulation. Oh it's there all right. We have an all-out battle, we have Natch on a space habitat stamping out a drug just to see what happens, we have clever political maneuvers between the Unconnected, the fiiefcorp and the Committee factions, but these are all preamble to a colossal and terrible choice thrust on Natch by Margaret Surina, and even of he has made a long and arduous journey from the selfish slimebag of book one to the dispassionate saint of book three, how can he possibly know which is the correct choice to make?
A clever, moving ending to an exciting and highly readable trilogy that genuinely managed to make the stuff of high finance into the stuff of cheap thrills, and then, in the end, maybe they weren't so cheap after all.
A clever, moving ending to an exciting and highly readable trilogy that genuinely managed to make the stuff of high finance into the stuff of cheap thrills, and then, in the end, maybe they weren't so cheap after all.
July 22, 2012
The final book of the Jump 225 trilogy is darker than the previous 2, which are absolute requirements to reading this one. I don't think it's the best of the series (I really liked MultiReal), but the ending is so perfect and inventive that I have to give it to Edelman. I've read so many series, or even books (I'm look at you, Neal Stephenson) that are so awesome up until the end that I can really appreciate something of this scope ending well.
But enough about the ending.
The major negative thing I have to say about this book is that there is a wide detour in which Natch becomes a slum lord/drug king/robin hood character on an orbital station. No one knows where he is; he's just checked out. I found this subplot interesting but not critical to the main. Could have done without it entirely.
Other than that, the plot moves quickly. The action is fast and interesting. And the cyberpunk marketers get their day in the sun. Great end to the trilogy.
But enough about the ending.
The major negative thing I have to say about this book is that there is a wide detour in which Natch becomes a slum lord/drug king/robin hood character on an orbital station. No one knows where he is; he's just checked out. I found this subplot interesting but not critical to the main. Could have done without it entirely.
Other than that, the plot moves quickly. The action is fast and interesting. And the cyberpunk marketers get their day in the sun. Great end to the trilogy.
April 22, 2010
If you miss the cyberpunk genre and don't have anything else on your reading list, then sure, go ahead and try this trilogy. Maybe you'll like it more than I did. But for me? In a word? Meh.
In more words, its tough to be too invested in the fate of a book's characters when you really don't like or sympathize with any of them. Also, although this final book has more events and character actions that move the plot forward, these are interleaved with paragraphs of tedious navel-gazing. After wading through that in two previous books, I'd had enough and started skimming or outright skipping those sections. Not a good sign. To make matters worse, the ending features a random external threat that comes out of nowhere, and just when you think something big and resolution-y is going to happen...it doesn't.
In more words, its tough to be too invested in the fate of a book's characters when you really don't like or sympathize with any of them. Also, although this final book has more events and character actions that move the plot forward, these are interleaved with paragraphs of tedious navel-gazing. After wading through that in two previous books, I'd had enough and started skimming or outright skipping those sections. Not a good sign. To make matters worse, the ending features a random external threat that comes out of nowhere, and just when you think something big and resolution-y is going to happen...it doesn't.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 28, 2011
I may have to buy this trilogy.
As things fell together toward the end, I was a little mixed-up; a LOT comes together and a lot changes, and while the change is believable, it's sometimes hard to pin down how, where, when, or why the people changed as they did. (This is part of what makes it believable.)
Throughout the whole series, there have been a few metaphors or turns of phrase that arrested me. I think it was through that that I realized this wasn't actually all that pulpy: it's pretty dang well-written. Memorable quotes from this one: "he quickly realized that [person] was an albatross in search of a neck to hang around." "With his blue vinyl trench coat, thick mustache, and shaved head, the channeler was so up-to-the-minute that he risked overtaking the present and slipping into the future at any moment."
Author's note was also very interesting.
As things fell together toward the end, I was a little mixed-up; a LOT comes together and a lot changes, and while the change is believable, it's sometimes hard to pin down how, where, when, or why the people changed as they did. (This is part of what makes it believable.)
Throughout the whole series, there have been a few metaphors or turns of phrase that arrested me. I think it was through that that I realized this wasn't actually all that pulpy: it's pretty dang well-written. Memorable quotes from this one: "he quickly realized that [person] was an albatross in search of a neck to hang around." "With his blue vinyl trench coat, thick mustache, and shaved head, the channeler was so up-to-the-minute that he risked overtaking the present and slipping into the future at any moment."
Author's note was also very interesting.
April 15, 2014
The last of the trilogy that has taken a long time to finish. I really like this world. It is an bit of political intrigue and corporate greed pushed through a gloss of have and have not technology. With so much time between books, it almost makes me want to go back to the beginning of the series.
Almost but the mound of books ahead of me is still too great. This is the least science fiction-y of the bunch and works well enough alone. Some of it wouldn't have the emotional heft if you hadn't read the earlier parts. You wouldn't care about the characters enough.
Too hard to review this book without giving away bits that would influence your reading of the earlier ones and that is really why I will put this trilogy on the reread pile. It is such an interesting read and the development of the story arc is so intricate and intertwined that I'm afraid to write about it.
Almost but the mound of books ahead of me is still too great. This is the least science fiction-y of the bunch and works well enough alone. Some of it wouldn't have the emotional heft if you hadn't read the earlier parts. You wouldn't care about the characters enough.
Too hard to review this book without giving away bits that would influence your reading of the earlier ones and that is really why I will put this trilogy on the reread pile. It is such an interesting read and the development of the story arc is so intricate and intertwined that I'm afraid to write about it.
August 22, 2010
This is probably my favourite novel of the Jump 225 trilogy. It finally resolves all of the plot lines and questions generated through the previous two books and, through many twists and turns, brings them to a satisfying conclusion. I especially liked the ending but won't spoil it for anyone reading this review. :)
Geosynchron has quite some character development in it, as well as a quick pace that keeps you reading. We learn some more about parts of the Jump 225 world that were not explored in the other novels, namely the islands and the orbitals as well as some additional interesting background (in spoiler-territory ;).
I liked this rather unique series, a great setting and intriguing characters and am looking forward to any other work David Louis Edelman might come up with.
Geosynchron has quite some character development in it, as well as a quick pace that keeps you reading. We learn some more about parts of the Jump 225 world that were not explored in the other novels, namely the islands and the orbitals as well as some additional interesting background (in spoiler-territory ;).
I liked this rather unique series, a great setting and intriguing characters and am looking forward to any other work David Louis Edelman might come up with.
February 18, 2010
Great story, full of interesting ideas. While some of the writing is weak, suffering from anachronisms (Escher references in a world living after an AI revolt that trashes pretty much the entire planet? People have forgotten how to write, for crying out loud) or forced characterizations, I am more than willing to overlook these for the sheer entertainment value provided by the entire Jump 225 trilogy.
Looking forward to Possibilities 3.0!
I would also add this, since it's popular nowadays: the dilemma that Natch must somehow solve (do we "jump" toward an incredible technological achievement, or do we "crawl" in small increments towards it, thus reaching it, as a civilization, when we're ready) is eerily similar to the one faced by commander Shepherd in Mass Effect 2.
Looking forward to Possibilities 3.0!
I would also add this, since it's popular nowadays: the dilemma that Natch must somehow solve (do we "jump" toward an incredible technological achievement, or do we "crawl" in small increments towards it, thus reaching it, as a civilization, when we're ready) is eerily similar to the one faced by commander Shepherd in Mass Effect 2.
July 30, 2010
With INFOQUAKE, David Louis Edelman showed that there is definitely a place on the science-fiction shelves for a novel that dispatched with the conventional tropes of the genre and gave readers a book that replaced starships with free markets and favored backroom corporate strategy over laser battles.
With MULTIREAL, the second book of his “Jump 225″ trilogy, Edleman showed that he was no one-hit wonder, carrying the story to further Byzantine depths and creative heights. Now, he wraps up the sequence with GEOSYNCHRON, and as the story of ultimate entrepreneur Natch reaches its zenith, the author matches the plot’s depth and richness with a further burst of creativity and world-building complexity.
More: http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/sci-f...
With MULTIREAL, the second book of his “Jump 225″ trilogy, Edleman showed that he was no one-hit wonder, carrying the story to further Byzantine depths and creative heights. Now, he wraps up the sequence with GEOSYNCHRON, and as the story of ultimate entrepreneur Natch reaches its zenith, the author matches the plot’s depth and richness with a further burst of creativity and world-building complexity.
More: http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/sci-f...
November 17, 2014
Wow. Just Wow.
The Jump 225 trilogy really comes into it's own here, with an unputdownable volume that neatly ties up the whole story. Even that ending, which I loved.
There's a lot of brilliant set scenes in this title, that sometimes acts like a hollywood blockbuster complete with snarling villain. But (again!) the best parts are the whole "What is reality?" issues that crop up with Multireal. In some ways there are the same pitfalls that plague time travel stories, but here they neatly fit in the world David Louis Edelman has created.
Lots of appendixes fill in bits of background if you like that kind of thing, but the authors note is worth reading... a great insight into the creation of the books.
5 stars for this, and the trilogy as a whole. Cheers!
The Jump 225 trilogy really comes into it's own here, with an unputdownable volume that neatly ties up the whole story. Even that ending, which I loved.
There's a lot of brilliant set scenes in this title, that sometimes acts like a hollywood blockbuster complete with snarling villain. But (again!) the best parts are the whole "What is reality?" issues that crop up with Multireal. In some ways there are the same pitfalls that plague time travel stories, but here they neatly fit in the world David Louis Edelman has created.
Lots of appendixes fill in bits of background if you like that kind of thing, but the authors note is worth reading... a great insight into the creation of the books.
5 stars for this, and the trilogy as a whole. Cheers!
July 27, 2014
I really enjoyed the book. I found the exploration of different type of societies interesting as well as the growth of the main character, Natch. Many of the secondary characters also got good growth. And I like that in the end the action did not overshadow the philosophy of the various characters. I also am fan of the appendixes at the end. They were all enjoyable and since there were a couple years inbetween my reading of the first two books and this one I appreciated that there was a "previously" appendix to remind me of what had happened. The afterwords was also pretty good, funny, and enlightening.
May 12, 2012
While the first book in this series was by far the best, I like the way this book brought it all to a conclusion. A conclusion that I found very satisfying. As an avid sci fi/fantasy reader, I found this series entertaining and enjoyable because of the unique setting and the well thought out world. I do think we are not that far from basic bio/logic type processes. But the best part was the world was established and the story centered on the business and politics in the world. I would highly recommend sci fi fans to pick up this series, starts with Infoquake, and read it.
April 23, 2010
I stopped reading at around 75 pages, so this isn't fair at all, but the novel seemed to combine Philip K. Dick's sense of realism (e.g. _Ubik_) with William Gibson's plot construction (e.g. _Mona Lisa Overdrive_). Right, that's not good. _Geosynchron_ isn't a pastiche of either of those influences, but insofar as it's reminiscent of both, it mostly reminds me of their bad parts. Maybe it gets better.
August 12, 2010
This was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me; the start was fast-paced, the middle slowed down badly for me, and the last half went by quickly and resolved nicely. I enjoyed the completion of the trilogy and the resolution to story.
The only question for me was (spoilers) the sudden appearance of the AIs represented by the Pharisee. I didn't see that coming and didn't quite think the inclusion was absolutely necessary to the story. YMMV
I look forward to future books from Edelman.
The only question for me was (spoilers) the sudden appearance of the AIs represented by the Pharisee. I didn't see that coming and didn't quite think the inclusion was absolutely necessary to the story. YMMV
I look forward to future books from Edelman.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 10, 2011
I have some disappointment with this book, and the trilogy in general, but I cannot elaborate without massive spoilers, so I won't. Even so, the Jump 225 trilogy contains a plethora of wonderful ideas in an inventive, enthralling, and original future setting. These novels truly contain a great deal of food for thought. I would recommend the series, which begins with Infoquake, to those who enjoy speculative fiction.
April 5, 2011
Brilliant. I've never written an author after finishing a book/series and I felt compelled after this. Of course Edelman is a DC metro area resident so I felt extra compelled, but I couldn't help but offer him my compliments.
I loved the Jump 225 series. Edelman's wrote a novel an exciting novel that had almost no action. The political and financial wrangling were riveting. It was reminiscent of Abraham's Long Spring Quartet in that regard.
I highly recommend the series. I'm Pro-Natch.
I loved the Jump 225 series. Edelman's wrote a novel an exciting novel that had almost no action. The political and financial wrangling were riveting. It was reminiscent of Abraham's Long Spring Quartet in that regard.
I highly recommend the series. I'm Pro-Natch.
Read
September 12, 2012This trilogy had some great storytelling. I love the creative vision of future tech & human evolution. That being said, I found the ending somewhat disappointed. and, of course, that has everything to do with how unsatisfying I find most time travel stories. because at its heart, that what Multireal actually is.
March 13, 2010
Best book of 2010 so far! Very satisfying end to a challanging and intelligent trilogy. I especially liked Natch's journey from a selfish fiefcorper to becoming a selfless entrepreneur in the end. This trilogy just has to be part of every well equipped book collection.
July 9, 2010
This might be my favorite sci-fi series. I think I can say that after finishing this up – it has everything that I look for in sci-fi, and I mean everything. If you a) like sci-fi and b) haven’t read the Jump 225 trilogy, stop being shameful.
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