Voices carry
Written: Jun 08 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: well written. intriguing. well developed characters. original. insightful
Cons: love story and coincidences sometimes a bit sappy
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| prettyrain's Full Review: Circuit of Heaven Books |
I'm not exactly a big fan of sci-fi, and while I was reading this book I'd start to describe it to friends who would get that, "It's science fiction, isn't it?" looks on their faces. I encouraged them all to read it, and now I'm looking for more books that contradict what I've come to think of as sci-fi lit.
So, anyone who's spent a lot of time on the net must wonder, "What if I could just crawl in and stay there? Jump from site to site? Be finally and totally virtual myself?" That's almost what this story is like. In the future, the "real world" is full of disease, crime, starvation, etc. You know, the typical Mad Max kind of stuff. But. There's a new answer in the "bin." You get yourself, minus your body, uploaded into the bin and live there, forever. No sickness. No crime. No aging. Anything you want. None of it is real, but once you're in you can't tell the difference.
Of course once you make the decision to go in, you can't come back out. Most of "Circuit of Heaven" concentrates on the efforts of a family who has gone in to convince their son, Nemo, to join them. He goes in to visit sometimes, but wants to stay real. They come up with a scheme to get him in.
It's a love story, but there's a lot of science and intrigue, excellent character development, some surprises. Although some of the stuff you can see coming... like, how much of a coincidence can the whole Aimee Mann thing be, really? (Don't want to give too much away...)
The book is well-written, and reaches a good balance between in the bin and in the real world, in the present and in the past, what's mysterious and what's real. The story itself does require some concentration and it took me quite awhile to actually visualize what the bin was and where it was...
Some of the stories of life outside are so vivid and real that it is -scary-. To imagine that the world would be that awful, and that almost everyone would find a way to escape.. it's more than just sad. I say "mad max-like," but Danvers has more of an imagination to just give us a desolate view. It's very descriptive, specific and sensory. You do more than just "read" this story. You feel it, see it, imagine it, hear it.
And yeah, what happens to your body after you're uploaded?
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
prettyrain
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Location: Toronto, Ontario
Reviews written: 31
Trusted by: 27 members
About Me:
Book-loving, coffee-drinking writer, zine editor, mom and slacker loving the serendipitous life.
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