Bowden P. (Trey) -
Well, I'd read The Golden Age back many years ago and didn't care for it because the viewpoint character, Phaethon, is an unsympathetic, Randian SOB. Recently, I got a copy of the collected trilogy (which was useless because it had a section replaced with text from a romance novel). So I thought I'd try again. And re-reading it confirmed it. Still, there is some nice worldbuilding. You get a sense of history from the setting, one that hasn't been interrupted by any technological dark ages for 10,000 years. It also assumes that the human brains can be handled like programs and/or computers. I'm not so sure that will ever happen, but if you can swallow that conceit, then go for it.
The Phoenix Exultant picks right up where the Golden Age left off. Phaethon has been sentenced to permanent exile and not allowed to communicate with anyone in the Golden Oecumene (for if anyone does, they go into exile too). We get some view of the history of the world by encountering the last member of notable group mind. We also see how the other half lives with the community of exiles.
There, Phaethon manages to boot strap the exile community into a small business enterprise. Until he's struck down by vindictive monopolists...
We also get an answer to one of the plot points from The Golden Age, about the origin of Phaethon's troubles. And here I thought it was because he was an inconsiderate bozo who gives almost everyone he deals with a reason to dislike him. His wife Daphne takes a more important role and she's a lot more fun and interesting than Phaethon is. There is an attempt at Nick and Nora style repartee between them (and occasionally gets there, but not consistently).
The Phoenix Exultant likes: scenes with Daphne Tertius, worldbuilding, the Bellipotent Composition, bits with Atkins the last soldier.
The Phoenix Exultant dislikes: Protagonist, heavy duty objectivist elements, character shallowness, preachiness, none of this is Phaethon's fault...
The Phoenix Exultant picks right up where the Golden Age left off. Phaethon has been sentenced to permanent exile and not allowed to communicate with anyone in the Golden Oecumene (for if anyone does, they go into exile too). We get some view of the history of the world by encountering the last member of notable group mind. We also see how the other half lives with the community of exiles.
There, Phaethon manages to boot strap the exile community into a small business enterprise. Until he's struck down by vindictive monopolists...
We also get an answer to one of the plot points from The Golden Age, about the origin of Phaethon's troubles. And here I thought it was because he was an inconsiderate bozo who gives almost everyone he deals with a reason to dislike him. His wife Daphne takes a more important role and she's a lot more fun and interesting than Phaethon is. There is an attempt at Nick and Nora style repartee between them (and occasionally gets there, but not consistently).
The Phoenix Exultant likes: scenes with Daphne Tertius, worldbuilding, the Bellipotent Composition, bits with Atkins the last soldier.
The Phoenix Exultant dislikes: Protagonist, heavy duty objectivist elements, character shallowness, preachiness, none of this is Phaethon's fault...
