R E K. (bigstone) - , reviewed on 4/8/2013 + 1438 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Robert Gu is a famous poet who is recovering from Alzheimer's disease but that is just one of the new medical improvements that he experiences. His eyesight is restored, his body becomes youthful so he can walk and move about again but he's having trouble writing his poetry. At the same time, a technological conspiracy may soon dominate the world.

While Robert lost his poetry skills, he has analytical skills that help him learn new technology - body computing wearables, using virtual networks, and living in a world with virtual books. As his health improves, his attitude does, too. A virtual contact assures him that he can get his poetry skills back if he helps him with a project.

Robert bought into the promise that he could regain his poetry writing skills to become part of an elder group performing an act of sabotage in the hopes of saving real books in the library. They are under the illusion that they can help save the books. However, the library has shredded most of the books turning to electronic versions only. For Robert, this is a tragedy. He still lives with his son, Bob, his wife, Alice, and their daughter, Miri.

Vinge does an awesome job writing science fiction but his characters seem robotic to me. I found this read about living in a world controlled by electronic means interesting. However, it's not a fascinating read unless this aspect of the future is of great interest to the reader.

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