- Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: Solaris (2 Mar 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1844167100
- ISBN-13: 978-1844167104
- Product Dimensions: 16.8 x 10.4 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 737,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In Keith Brooke's novel, earth is going to hell in a handcart under the burdens of overpopulation and climate change. Noah Barakh is the architect of the the Accord, the virtual reality to which people can be uploaded after their death on this earth, a kind of secular heaven. Straining available computing resources, the Accord soon migrates to some kind of superpositional quantum state (physics a bit dubious here) where it turns out that there will be many Accords, a kind of 'many virtual worlds' interpretation of QM then.
The Accord is actually a love story: brain and brawn competing for the feisty Priscilla. The brawn is elector Jack Burnham, a 'big man' who is used to getting what he wants and utterly ruthless in his methods. What he mostly wants is to possess his wife Priscilla and kill the man she has become attracted to, Professor Noah Barakh. This vendetta moves from real space-time to the Accord virtuality and then through many alternative virtual worlds.
Initially I thought the writing was a bit self-consciously clunky, but the pace soon gets up and the novel becomes a bit of a page turner. Brooke's characters are never less than real and what a scary bunch they are. He has a real feel for the dangerousness of powerful, implacable men. And this is a well-imagined description of what virtuality could really be like. With complex heros and antiheros, sex and violence, high-concept tech-extrapolation and a racy and intricate plot, what's not to like?
The Accord is actually a love story: brain and brawn competing for the feisty Priscilla. The brawn is elector Jack Burnham, a 'big man' who is used to getting what he wants and utterly ruthless in his methods. What he mostly wants is to possess his wife Priscilla and kill the man she has become attracted to, Professor Noah Barakh. This vendetta moves from real space-time to the Accord virtuality and then through many alternative virtual worlds.
Initially I thought the writing was a bit self-consciously clunky, but the pace soon gets up and the novel becomes a bit of a page turner. Brooke's characters are never less than real and what a scary bunch they are. He has a real feel for the dangerousness of powerful, implacable men. And this is a well-imagined description of what virtuality could really be like. With complex heros and antiheros, sex and violence, high-concept tech-extrapolation and a racy and intricate plot, what's not to like?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The premise is quite a simple Sci Fi one, the earth is in trouble and so humanity is attempting to find a way of surviving. Rather than looking outside a team look inside to create The Accord, a warehousing of personalities or 'souls' to create heaven.
Set against this is a love triangle that endures over time, mixing hope with hatred. Of a force for good that creates and sustains fighting against one of evil and destruction.
All of which lends thought to the consideration, in a book and indeed a world that is set out as humanist and rejects religion; does it end up becoming a foil for the idea that good and evil ultimately have a face and a name.
The book weaves to page 440 though there are frequently blank pages between chapters so it is quite not that long. I found that the novel switched between a driving storyline and some more flights of fancy exploring the reality that was created. A good read.
Set against this is a love triangle that endures over time, mixing hope with hatred. Of a force for good that creates and sustains fighting against one of evil and destruction.
All of which lends thought to the consideration, in a book and indeed a world that is set out as humanist and rejects religion; does it end up becoming a foil for the idea that good and evil ultimately have a face and a name.
The book weaves to page 440 though there are frequently blank pages between chapters so it is quite not that long. I found that the novel switched between a driving storyline and some more flights of fancy exploring the reality that was created. A good read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An absolute corker of a tale that really does get the reader to think and a tale that takes Sci-Fi into a slightly new direction. Brookes "The Accord" is in basis a modern digital retelling of Matheson's "What Dream's May Come" and whilst it contains a number of similarities, the author really does make this a tale of their own. Its quirky, it has wonderful characterisation and above all it's a tale where love is the ultimate goal even if it is digitally and only an imprint of the human psyche. Definitely a tale to savour and whilst the past and the present collide within the context of the tale and the odd character feels a little bit 2 dimensional, it's the strength of the principle protagonists beliefs as well as desires that will have you routing for the guy who should get the object of his desire.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Discord about The Accord
Some times you get to point in a book when you wonder if it will ever end. In a souped-up virtual world called The Accord, three characters, an unflappable, all-knowing Professor... Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2009 by A. J. Poulter
Interesting concept, but disappointing
So, the Accord, a virtual heaven to download your memories into when you die. This is an idea that has been done before, and I'm sure it will be done again. Read more
Published on 7 Jun 2009 by Mark Chitty
Brain vs. brawn in virtuality
In Keith Brooke's novel, earth is going to hell in a handcart under the burdens of overpopulation and climate change. Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2009 by Nigel Seel
Good, but no cigar
This is a very decent scifi opera, which will not disappoint fans of the genre. My main problem is that it starts well and ends well, but gets a bit "lost" in the middle.
Published on 9 April 2009 by Peter L. Ward
Enjoyable but uneven
This was an enjoyable read although the delivery didn't quite match expectations. The story switches between physical reality and a virtual reality that has been achieved and... Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2009 by D. P. Mankin
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