40 used & new from £0.01
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
Paradox (Nulapeiron 1)
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Paradox (Nulapeiron 1) (Paperback)

by John Meaney (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


39 used from £0.01 1 collectible from £1.99
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover (hardcover) 16 used & new from £0.01
Paperback 9 used & new from £2.06

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Context (Nulapeiron sequence)

Context (Nulapeiron sequence)

by John Meaney
3.0 out of 5 stars (2)  £6.99
Resolution

Resolution

by John Meaney
£6.29
Transition

Transition

by Iain Banks
3.9 out of 5 stars (21)  £9.49
Stealing Light

Stealing Light

by Gary Gibson
3.3 out of 5 stars (21)  £5.46
Bone Song (Gollancz S.F.)

Bone Song (Gollancz S.F.)

by John Meaney
4.2 out of 5 stars (6)  £4.98
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 544 pages
  • Publisher: Bantam Books; New edition edition (5 Mar 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0553505890
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553505894
  • Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 10.6 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 505,989 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

John Meaney received much praise and a British SF Association Award shortlisting for his first novel To Hold Infinity (1998), full of clever new SF ideas and ingenious twists on old ones. Paradox is his second.

The setting is Nulapeiron, a many levelled world of exotic underground cities where the lower classes are literally kept below by a meritocracy of intellectual Lords. Change is forbidden, perhaps impossible: the barely human "Oracles", disconnected from time, provide snapshots from an unalterable, deterministic future. Chaos and uncertainty are dirty words and "I'll be heisenberged" a foul oath.

Young hero Tom--brought up in a deep-down bazaar--loses his mother to an Oracle's whim, his father to a cruelly self-fulfilling prediction, and his arm to the Lords' cruel justice. He's primed with hatred and inspired by a biographical data-crystal given him by an outlawed Pilot who's navigated the now forbidden fractal complexities of mu-space. Tom has enough mathematical genius to storm the pyramid of Nulapeiron's high society and perhaps gain power to take revenge--if he can also solve the paradox of how to kill an Oracle whose death date is fixed, known, and far off in time. Change would become possible...

Meaney's sustained inventiveness continues to dazzle. Paradox may be a little heavy on martial-arts action for some tastes, but the roller-coaster plot is full of unexpected twists, revelations, biotechnological oddities, changes of course and unlikely alliances. Crackling tension continues to the very end. Nice one. --David Langford



Amazon.co.uk Review

John Meaney received much praise and a British SF Association Award shortlisting for his first novel To Hold Infinity (1998), full of clever new SF ideas and ingenious twists on old ones.Paradox is his second.

The setting is Nulapeiron, a many levelled world of exotic underground cities where the lower classes are literally kept below by a meritocracy of intellectual Lords. Change is forbidden, perhaps impossible: the barely human "Oracles", disconnected from time, provide snapshots from an unalterable, deterministic future. Chaos and uncertainty are dirty words and "I'll be heisenberged" a foul oath.

Young hero Tom--brought up in a deep-down bazaar--loses his mother to an Oracle's whim, his father to a cruelly self-fulfilling prediction, and his arm to the Lords' cruel justice. He's primed with hatred and inspired by a biographical data-crystal given him by an outlawed Pilot who's navigated the now forbidden fractal complexities of mu-space. Tom has enough mathematical genius to storm the pyramid of Nulapeiron's high society and perhaps gain power to take revenge--if he can also solve the paradox of how to kill an Oracle whose death date is fixed, known, and far off in time. Change would become possible...

Meaney's sustained inventiveness continues to dazzle. Paradox may be a little heavy on martial-arts action for some tastes, but the roller-coaster plot is full of unexpected twists, revelations, biotechnological oddities, changes of course and unlikely alliances. Crackling tension continues to the very end. Nice one. --David Langford --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Product Description

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
not free sf reader

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Dark Blood (Gollancz S.F.)
24% buy
Dark Blood (Gollancz S.F.) 4.8 out of 5 stars (4)
£5.99
Bone Song (Gollancz S.F.)
22% buy
Bone Song (Gollancz S.F.) 4.2 out of 5 stars (6)
£4.98
Resolution
19% buy
Resolution
£6.29
Stealing Light
18% buy
Stealing Light 3.3 out of 5 stars (21)
£5.46
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant and Inventive Novel, 14 Dec 2001
By A Customer
John Meaney, who burst upon the British SF scene a few years back with "To Hold Infinity", is back with a book that shows he has lots of literary "legs". "Paradox" is simply dazzling, not only in the dizzying range of its ideas, which frankly put a lot of modern science fiction to shame, but in its characters, storyline, and not least of all his prose -- some of the best being turned out anywhere today. Of Mr. Meaney's first book Stephen Baxter said: "John Meaney has re-wired SF. Everything is different now." I had no idea how right he'd turn out to be. My brain, at least, was completely and utterly rewired by the time I read the last page of "Paradox". I await the next book with the eagerness of a dedicated John Meaney devotée, which is to say not at all patiently.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Biotech Noir - almost at it's best, 12 Dec 2002
This is biotech noir almost at it's best. The writing style is such that at least I just could follow the story, a little more obtuse and it would just have been a mishmash of words. As it is, Paradox keeps you guessing, but not too hard, a feeling of understanding what it's all about does appear even if it's not written outright. But it is a relatively difficult book, and probably incomprehensible to new SF readers. The story is partially the classic about a boy with extraordinary talents who climbs to the top. But it's then it starts to get interesting, the middle of the book is the best. I think Paradox is slightly uneven, but John Meaney is definintely an author to watch for the future, if the writing gets a little more polished great things will happen!
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars disjointed future, 12 Oct 2001
By A Customer
I started out this book with great expectations (no pun intended). And the first third of the way through had a reasonably continuous storyline, the protagonist's amputation being an original touch. But then, whoa: the reader is ambushed with a great amount of fanciful technologial details that frequently have no bearing on the actual plot but in many cases are dead-ends within it. I will give the author credit for a good imagination, but it takes more than that to write an entertaining novel. Much of the funny equations and mathematical symbols scattered throughout the text are completely meaningless to non-physists (what do other physists have to say?) and probably only make sense to post-script laser printers. This is a shame, since I have seen decent sci-fi novels written by natural scientists (e.g., "Eater", or much of the stuff by Clarke) The remaining 2/3 of the story is extremely disjointed- and came across as shallow in terms of storyline and character development. The ending of the novel caught me by surprise, but simply because there was no sense of conclusion or accomplishment- suddenly it was the last page. Although I can not comment on the short stories of the author, I can not recommend this novel.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunningly imaginative. Simply fabulous!
Paradox dives straight in at the deepend as the reader is introduced to multiple stories that are connected through space and time. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2007 by N. Wooley

3.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling, complex and detailed
Meaney's marvellous and intricate tale of the rise and fall of Tom Corcorigan begins somewhat blandly, but soon shifts into high gear and rampages along to the brilliant finale... Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2006 by Rod Williams

2.0 out of 5 stars Disjointed, poorly executed, vague characterisation = Dull
What a letdown. Having read " ...infinity" several times and been taken with its plot, pace, protagonists, and detail i found nearly all of these missing from Paradox... Read more
Published on 21 May 2001 by weaponseed

5.0 out of 5 stars paradox is a dazzling work of imagination
Paradox by John Meaney Paradox is the second science-fiction novel by John Meaney whose first... Read more
Published on 4 May 2001 by aharlib

2.0 out of 5 stars not that good
I've tried posting a review of this book before but it never appeared, let's try again...

It just isn't that good ! The language is awkward, the plot is often dull. Read more

Published on 28 Mar 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars An extremly satisfying science fiction book.
I tend towards fantasy books, but after reading this book I am going to read more sci-fi. The book follows a young man on his rise from nothing to nobility. Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars The Story of Everything
How to do justice to this novel? That is my dilemma. There's a moment in Paradox when our hero, Tom Corcorigan, has to explain his thinking before a Review Committee, and I feel... Read more
Published on 16 Jul 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars A Highly Original and Ground-breaking Novel
John Meaney's excellent first novel, "To Hold Infinity," established him as a name to watch in science fiction, and rightly so. Read more
Published on 30 May 2000

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject








i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.