Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The future is Orange and Black..., 16 April 2009
As others have mentioned, Idlewild is very Matrix-esque..... but I didn't realise that until I was well into the book. It starts when we meet a confused young man, who appears to be in a dark sinister place, and who seems to know as little about his world as we do. It's all very confusing (for him, and for us) but also intriguing. It seems to be a chilling place on the one hand, but as things develop we see that it's actually a place of friedship and fun......until things start to go Pete Tong.
The confused young man we meet on the first page is Halloween (how cool is THAT for a name?!!) and in his little corner of the world everything is orange and black. The colours are his 'call sign' or 'gimmick' and help distinguish him from his friends who each have their own colour combo's and quirky names.
However, his circle of friends and the world as he knows it are about to become thrown into disarray and come crashing down around him. He comes to the realisation that his survival depends on what amounts to nothing more than computer pixels. He realises that his world is actually a lot smaller than he first thought. A LOT smaller.
He's not who he thought he was, his friends and teachers are not who he thought they were and his life depends on being able to work out what's real and what's not.
Confused? So was I......but it's a great confusuion! I loved this book! I haven't read anything like it before and I'm so glad it's a three-part'er. I like the character Halloween a lot in this first installment and can't wait to see where he goes from here. This is a great book to lose yourself in. It's one of my favourite subjects in works of fiction; apocalyptic, end of the world scenario with a bit of plague and 'last man standing' thrown in for good measure.
I didn't realise when I read this that Nick Sagan was Carl Sagan's son (how could I NOT have known, with a name like that? Duh!), but I don't think it would have made much difference if I'd known in advance because I've never read any of his dad's books to compare with. He's a talented author and regardless of who his dad is, he's got a book here that holds up well against some of best SF writers around.
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7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spellbinding, 24 Sep 2003
Neil Gaiman called this book a “roller coaster ride of fusion fiction” and it’s easy to understand why. This delightful and diabolically intricate creation transforms from caterpillar to butterfly by way of gothic fantasy, mystery, apocalyptic science fiction, mythology, eschatology, a coming of age story, and even a romance. Ambitious novels like this run the risk of seeming all over the map, but Idlewild hangs together beautifully, with influences from each genre synthesized and reinvented through the pen of an imaginative and strikingly original storyteller. Sagan begins with a pinpoint focus on his flawed but likeable antihero, who must solve the riddle of his amnesia, and gradually widens the scope to explore a deeper mystery that involves the whole of humanity. Multiple plotlines thread together seamlessly as hidden layers are revealed. This is a rich, dark, compelling tale that refuses to insult the reader’s intelligence. Dialogue crackles and sparkles, and the protagonist’s inner monologue builds to a furiously witty fever pitch. My only complaint would be the pacing. It’s one of the fastest novels I’ve ever read, and I tore through it so quickly that I’m left wanting more. That’s about as negative as I can be here. Idlewild is simply that good, one of those rare books that stays with you long after you’ve closed it. Highly recommended for everyone, and especially for fans of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series.
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5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An impressive science fiction debut by Carl Sagan's son, 5 Aug 2005
When I was growing up, Carl Sagan was my hero. Thus, I was pretty much duty-bound to read the work of his son Nick (whose recorded greeting "Hello from the children of planet Earth" accompanies the Voyager spacecraft that is already traveling beyond our solar system). Idlewild made quite a splash in the science fiction genre when it was published in 2003, and I certainly consider it an impressive debut novel. It's only natural that some will mention The Matrix when speaking about Idlewild, as it is centered upon a virtual reality existence, but Sagan clearly has a voice of his own which he expresses quite effectively over the course of the novel. As the book opens, out protagonist wakes up knowing nothing about himself or his location; all he knows is that someone is trying to kill him. His exploration of the world around him makes for a surreal experience: a disembodied voice tries to speak to him, he casts no reflection in mirrors, and Lovecraft-inspired nightgaunts seem to do his bidding. As a reader, it's hard to get your bearings in the beginning, but the protagonist's story soon begins emerging from the chaos. His name is Halloween, and he is one of eight students at an extraordinary school run by an enigmatic fellow named Maestro. His consciousness is in fact embodies in virtual reality, and that is why he and his friends are able to do some rather extraordinary things. He begins to remember things, both positive and negative, about his classmates, but he is unable to trust anyone at all. His misgivings about his own safety are exacerbated by a growing belief that he is responsible for the death of a fellow student named Lazarus. As Halloween attempts to get information out of his classmates, he and his friends make increasing use of self-designed loopholes in the virtual reality construct, sowing digital confusion that allows them to find a bit of privacy and even step out of the virtual reality world momentarily. Such actions antagonize their instructor Maestro, and something of a battle of wills erupts between Halloween's little gang and the virtual reality instructor. Eventually, this leads to a crisis as Maestro goes outside of his original programming in an attempt to keep the students in line. As we learn from a parallel side story, the education of these eight youngsters is of the utmost importance. A devastating plague has engulfed the world, and these kids may hold the key's to humanity's very survival. To Halloween, it soon becomes clear that the virtual reality software has gone awry. He still fears for his life, even before Maestro introduces new forms of severe discipline. Halloween wants out, and his only hope of escape seems to lie in a mysterious avatar designed to keep the virtual reality world intact and secure. He wants to find out who is trying to kill him, what really happened to his friend Lazarus, and basically just what the heck is going on in this school. Sagan creates a great air of mystery and suspense, and the answers that eventually emerge set the stage for additional novels. Some may term the story of Idlewild somewhat derivative, but I found Sagan to offer a profound new voice in science fiction. He has a quick and action-based writing style, rarely resorting to blown-up descriptions of strange places and events. For the most part, the characters tell the story - and some memorable characters there are. Despite the virtual reality setting, the humanity of these characters is expressed rather powerfully as tragedies strike and reluctant heroes look upon their true destiny for the first time. Sagan may not be ready for Hugo or Nebula consideration just yet, but his imagination, voice, and vision portend great things to come in the years ahead.
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