- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Gollancz; New Ed edition (8 Sep 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0575075783
- ISBN-13: 978-0575075788
- Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.5 x 19.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 560,862 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Extremes (Gollancz S.F.)
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Dunblane, Port Arthur and Hungerford will be places known to many of us because of the apparently random mass shootings that have happened there in recent years. The Extremes is a book about such violence--it's horror, the sheer bad luck of being its victim, and the anguish it causes to those left behind. It is also a book about virtual reality, and is set in a not-so-distant future in which events of violence can be experienced by anyone prepared (or able) to pay for the privilege.
After her husband has been violently killed in the U.S., Teresa Simons returns to the land of her birth and visits Bulverton, a (fictional) town on the south coast of England which has recently been torn apart by a massacre. She discovers that the ExEx or Extreme Experience virtual reality equipment she used as an FBI trainee has become public "entertainment" put together from people's memories of specific events by vast international companies (and also by shareware programmers). As she becomes embroiled in researching past events in Bulverton, virtual and true realities intertwine with disturbing outcomes.
Priest writes a good yarn, marrying fantasy and horrific reality in a gripping and suspenseful tale. --Sandra Vogel --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
British-born Teresa Simons returns to England after the death of her husband, an FBI agent, who was killed by an out-of-control gunman while on assignment in Texas. A shocking coincidence has drawn her to the run-down south coast town of Bulverton, where a gunman's massacre has haunting similarities to the murders in Texas. Desperate to unravel the mystery, Teresa turns to the virtual reality world of Extreme Experience, ExEx, now commercially available since she trained on it in the US. The best and worst of human experience can be found in ExEx, and in the extremes of violence Teresa finds that past and present combine . . .
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have never been disappointed in a Christopher Priest novel. Why isn't he more famous? Why hasn't he ever been on the Booker Prize shortlist? This is a wonderful novel about the nature of reality and the causes and effects of violence. It is gripping and superbly written. I actually preferred it to "The prestige". I recommend checking out all his books. (Check out the rave reviews of the hardback version, which annoyingly Amazon don't list under the paperback version.)
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Christopher Priest has written several novels where the normal, typical world we live in is changed almost unrecognizably in a subtle manner. In The Extremes, Priest has somehow homed-in on some of the most disturbing issues in the Western World today; the increasing number of spree killings, the remorseless unchecked popularity of the Web, and the introduction of virtual reality technology. These subjects, wrapped-up together, make The Extremes a fascinating book to work through, leaving the reader with many questions to ask, which Priest deliberately leaves the reader to resolve him/herself.
I read The Extremes the same week of the Denver shootings. If the modern world and modern morality seem a bit weird to you these days, then The Extremes will confirm you aren't the only one concerned with the way the world is going.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Extremes deals with the emotional aftermath of a Hungerford-style mass killing spree and the curious linkage that seems to exist between it and a similar atrocity in the USA. While the story of a bereaved American widow searching for some kind of closure in a dismal British town is affecting, what transforms The Extremes into something much more exotic is Priest's additional science fiction element of virtual reality to blur the boundaries between fantasy and reality. While Priest's depiction of his world is unconvincing in logical terms (on the one hand Bulverton is painted as a decaying resort town, yet for some reason has a popular state of the art virtual reality centre nearby), it makes for a fantastic dreamlike climax where the nature of reality itself is unsure, particularly when the novel starts breaking down into a fractal pattern, as characters already within virtual reality then enter other virtual realities within. Anyone looking for a standard thriller with a standard final explanation will be disappointed - but anyone looking for a bizarre dreamlike science fiction novel where the technology is of less importance than the characters and prose will love it.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Silly and Underwritten
This has an intriguing premise and some challenging ideas, but the writing style is, I'm sorry to say, quite dismal. Read more
Published 6 months ago by C. Smith
Perfect read
Such a great book with twists - really makes you think - the author at his best. Book was in perfect condition and arrived quickly. Thank you.
Published 17 months ago by Jodi-ann Deegan
Sadly falls flat
This book has all the delightful English detail that is so Christopher Priest. It is very detailed, tied into the emotions of the main characters and well paced. Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2009 by C. Fackrell
Virtually nothing
I've read a handful of Priest's novels and this is the first one to disappoint me. The Extremes is like certain types of food: it seems nourishing at first but soon betrays itself... Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2009 by sft
Very Disappointing
I love some of Priest's work, especially The Affirmation and The Prestige, but The Extremes is so poor in comparison with those books that it is difficult to believe it's the same... Read more
Published on 22 Aug 2002
Brilliant and disturbing
Christopher Preist writes stories that are on the fringe of science fiction. Calling him an SF writer is too limiting - he is a writer with imagination, who writes stories that... Read more
Published on 2 Dec 2001 by Kirk McElhearn
Brilliant and disturbing
Christopher Preist writes stories that are on the fringe of science fiction. Calling him an SF writer is too limiting - he is a writer with imagination, who writes stories that... Read more
Published on 2 Dec 2001 by Kirk McElhearn
Worthy but dull
Don't get me wrong, Christopher Priest is one of Britain's greatest (and most underated) authors, and I would give most of the other books he has written 4 or 5 out of five. Read more
Published on 7 Sep 1999
Clarke Award Nominee - deserves to win
This novel has been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and in my opinion it deserves to win. Chrisopher Priest has been writing fiction for nearly 30 years and he has not... Read more
Published on 5 Mar 1999
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
