Rainbows End
by Vernor Vinge
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Book Summary Information
Author: Vernor VingeEdition: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2006-05-02
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 368
Book Reviews of Rainbows End
Book Review: Good in places but hard to follow
Summary: 2 Stars
I am a big Vernor Vinge fan - I loved both A fire Upon the Deep, and A Deepness in the Sky. I also read and re-read his Realtime stories. Rainbows End starts pretty smartly. The plots involving international government security agencies, a protagonist who has been cured of senile dementia and other characters around him, get going and explained nicely. The early scene setting in the high school classroom, where our ex-Alzheimer's sufferer is back at school to learn about the future world is really neat. The picture of society of the future is concisely explained and enjoyable.
Then I started getting lost and never recovered. Lots of future in-terms appeared. It was obviously up to the reader to understand them by context, but I couldn't. What's a Haptic? There were plots involving virtual overlays of the real world - eg a Pratchetesque library. Multi player roll games also overlaid and somehow competing for credibility which gave them power. It was just too tangled. characters had some sort of avatar which they could use as telepresence - but it can be hijacked...why not just turn of your PC. Ah...PCs. Well they don't exist, but have instead metamorphosed into clothes and contact lenses. Another thing to get confused about.
Hmm... I loved the first third of this book, but by the end I really could not be bothered trying to pick apart the threads. I bought this hardback on the strength of his previous work, but I did not feel I got value for money.
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