Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
An Interesting, Stimulating Read, 1 Dec 2002
I have only recently discovered John Barnes, but I can say that he is a very talented writer. I had had this book on my shelf for a good while now, and I am glad I finally picked it up to read it. I found this novel very entertaining and "gripping." Granted, the story is disjointed at points, but so is the world that Barnes has created here, one where people "jump" back and forth between dimensions or universes. Some of the characters are quite forgettable, but the narrator and Iphwin stand out from the crowd. Despite this, I would like to have seen more "fleshing out" of Iphwin in the novel; there were aspects about him that lingered in my mind until the end. I expected to get some insight on these traits, but the lines were left dangling somewhat. What I remember most about the narrator is his detailed explanations of and conjectures based on "abductive reasoning." Maybe I have managed to get away from hard science fiction long enough to be impressed by Barnes' elaboration of these ideas, but the fact of the matter is that I was impressed (in a similar way as I am impressed--though somewhat bored--by Jules Verne's prosaic "scientific" tangents). The ending of the story was indeed somewhat anticlimactic. With just a few pages to go, I kept wondering how the author was going to tie everything up into a neat little bow in so short a time. In point of fact, Barnes did the opposite of what I was looking for and resolved very little. In a way, though, it is nice for an author to resist the pressure to achieve balance and full illumination in his writing. All in all, I found this to be a very good novel; before I was halfway through it, in fact, I had already gone out to buy all of Barnes' books that I could find locally. I have read a couple of his other novels since reading Finity, but I found this book to be the most interesting and memorable of the group.
|
|
|
Wit & Mind-bending concepts, 8 Mar 2004
Lyle Peripart, an academic specialising in an obscure branch of logic which he terms ‘abductive reasoning’ is offered a job by the mysterious Geoffrey Iphwin, Head of Contech, but before his interview receives a note warning him that Iphwin is more dangerous than he seems.
We are in a future, we soon realise, where most of the world, including the US, is controlled by Nazi Reichs. The descendants of exiled Americans keep their old country alive outside the Reichs, in Lyle's case in New Zealand or Enzy.
This future, however, has not stemmed from our past, but from another universe which diverged some time during the Second World War, or even earlier.
It now appears that people are slipping between alternate universes. Anomalies begin to appear. people recall irreconcilable versions of historical events. Added to all this is the peculiar fact, which no one seems to be able to think about, that America has disappeared.
It’s a clever and fast-paced novel, laced with Barnes’ dry wit and ironic observations, containing interesting scenes and set pieces. The obsequious talking ships and cabs for instance are reminiscent of Dick’s talking taxis and household appliances.
Barnes has also thought out some of the other consequences of meeting people from alternate time lines. Helen, now the muscular and efficient Secret Agent, rather than historian, turns out to be a sadomasochist dominatrix who subjects Lyle to a sexual experience she presumes he is enjoying (as Lyle’s alternative self did). Another colleague remembers not only being married to Lyle but th | |
(4 customer reviews)
See all 4 customer reviews...
