Rainbows End

Mass Market Paperback, 400 pages

English language

Published April 3, 2007 by Tor Science Fiction.

ISBN:
978-0-8125-3636-2
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2 stars (1 review)

7 editions

Rainbows End

2 stars

This is a quasi-DNF, because I've got the last fifth of the novel to go but it's starting to drag, and the protagonist is worthless. It has the feeling of something quickly edited and put to market (perhaps the author needed to fufil a contractual requirement?). Who knows, it's ancient history now.

It's main point of interest is Vinge's take on the proliferation of augmented reality and mesh network technology, and sadly I find his observations pretty plausible - namely that the infrastructure becomes a theatre of war for state actors, which leads to network balkanization and the subordination of all private ownership of technology to the demands of state (the novel has a tinkerer character who has managed to assemble a PC whose CPU isn't 'in thrall' to the Department of Homeland Security). It's sobering to compare the world in the novel to our current-day situation of nation-states hoarding …

Subjects

  • Science Fiction And Fantasy
  • Fiction
  • Fiction - Science Fiction
  • Science Fiction
  • Science Fiction - General
  • Fiction / Science Fiction / General
  • 20th century
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • Patients
  • Poets, American