Customer Reviews

Across Realtime

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It has been said that 90% of everything is crap. This is not strictly true; for example, 95% of science-fiction is crap. When I was younger I read science-fiction indiscriminately. Now that I am older I'm starting to pay a great deal more attention to questions of literary quality and I often find myself frustrated by the incredibly bad writing in most science-fiction. However, I found that Across Realtime very definitely falls in the remaining 5% that makes sci-fi worth reading: in fact, Vinge has written some of the best genre fiction I have ever read.

Across Realtime is actually two closely related novels and a short story. The first novel, The Peace War, introduces Vinge's star concept, the "bobble", and also chronicles the demise of the Peace Authority. Following The Peace War is Vinge's short story The Ungoverned, which introduces contract police officer Wil Brierson, further develops the bobble concept and serves as a nice little tract for the author's libertarian-anarchist political views. Finally, and in my opinion the crown jewel of the book, comes Marooned in Realtime, a masterfully plotted mystery story spanning 50 million years into the future. Marooned in Realtime is centered around Wil Brierson and a small band of friends trying to restart the human race in a post-post-apocalyptic world of decaying high-technology. Marooned is so excellent that it alone is worth the price of admission.

I think that there are primarily two reasons for Across Realtime's success.

First, the book deals with strong, unique and thoroughly expounded ideas. Almost by definition science-fiction is supposed to deal with ideas, but more often than not the ideas that authors choose to examine are old-hat and stale by the time they deal with them. Vinge's ideas definitely aren't though: the bobbles are a fascinating concept and he handles his post-apocalyptic society with real style. He not only comes up with original ideas but he carries them all the way through to their logical conclusions. He realizes that "ideas have consequences" and that you can't change a society's technology and organization without fundamentally changing the people who live in that society.

Secondly, Across Realtime is written with outstanding characterization, especially for a science-fiction novel. The only other sci-fi I've read with better characterization is Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game (which, incidentally, I also highly recommend). All too often the left-brain writers who dominate this genre play fast and loose with their characters, destroying their character believability and thus savaging the value and truth of the entire story. Good characterization requires right-brain and emotional thinking. Even though Vinge is a mathematician and computer-scientist with the University of California in San Diego (really left-brain), he proves that he is more than capable of the kind of thinking that makes for strong characters. The young genius hoodlum Wili, the tinker-scientist Paul Naismith and police officer Wil Brierson are all memorable people and they carry the events of the story very well.

The copy of Across Realtime I read seems to be difficult to obtain; I read a copy that my Dad bought through ABE Books for $25. We may have overpaid a little, considering that the book that was originally a $6 paperback, but even so the going rate is easily $18+ from what I've seen on the 'net. If you want to read Across Realtime you can either buy it from Amazon.com for $19 and accept the four to six week wait or you can try to find it used.

Highly Recommended.

Across Realtime (My version) is an omnibus collection of two novels by Vernor Vinge: The Peace War, and Marooned in Realtime. The Second book, especially, is among the best SF books I've read.

The Peace War is, seemingly, a fairly standard SF novel: in a post apocalyptic world, a dictatorship took over, and the brave heroes fight it off. Except that it is much more than that - Vinge's talent, his characters and his ideas all turn this B movie premise to an original, powerful SF novel. Especially important is Vinge's simple but brilliant invention of the 'Bubble's - spheres which are completely shielded off the world, in which time doesn't move.

'Marrooned in Realtime' takes the premise established in the first novel, and pushes it beyond belief. The beginning of 'Marooned', especially, is idea oriented SD at it's finest - you read going WOW every two seconds.

Idea oriented SF is probnably the hardest thing in the universe to write - you need not only to know how to write well, not only to understand science, but also to come up with a scientific idea which has mind opening reprecussions. I think I can count on 1 hand the number of times I've seen Idea oriented SF done right - this is one of the prime examples.

If you're a lover of SF, Across Realtime will be a parade of ideas, characters, action and thrills. So don't miss it.

I shall not bore you with another rehash of the outline of this novel, other than to say it is a sweeping saga spanning millions of years. Vinge really illustrates how we rely on our technology, and have largely lost our survival skills to cope with nature on an individual basis. Could we survive as a species if there were only a few hundred humans left? Vinge is a scientist by trade and it shows, he definitely makes you think! This novel has a very good base of scientific fact mixed with a great plot and excellent character developement, and can stand up to anything well known writers such as Asimov or Bradbury or Heinlein ever wrote, and that is saying a lot. As I began to read this book, I read perhaps ten or twelve pages a day, but I became so entranced by the story that later I found it hard to put down, it was so good. I loved the ending of the book, especially the last few paragraphs.

...And no one seems to miss it but those who read it. What happened? Across Realtime is by far one of the most incredible books I have ever read. It took me 5 years to hunt it down again (I only remembered the story, not the title). Now that I have found it, I discover it is no longer in print. I struggle to find a copy anywhere. Vinge never got the recognition he deserved. I was moved to tears as I read about the main character left to fend for herself alone in an almost primitive Earth, yet only inches from her friends and loved ones(Marooned in Realtime). She lived her life alone and she died alone. It was heart-wrenching. An incredible murder mystery set against the eerie echoes of that main character as she relayed her life eons previously. This is the perfect story for making you think. Just when you thought the story was as big as it could get, it explodes, making you see a whole different angle. I think the revewer previous had the right quote: "Ordinary people caught up in struggles of vast importance." Now thats my kind of book.

Bobble Book 1 (Peace War) is ok, fair science fiction, somehow dated (as every novel including the word "soviet" is). But then comes Bobble Book 2 (Marooned in Realtime) which is a masterpiece. Page after page, ideas come in massive amounts while the mystery deepens. You 'll feel awed by the science and never be able to guess the villain in the detective story part. Across Realtime should have given Vinge his first Hugo instead of A Fire Upon the Deep. And since a SF author is sure to be reading the amazon reviews... please Mr Vinge. Give as a Bobble Book 3.

You know by now that this book comprises the novel "Peace War", the short story "The Ungoverned" and the novel "Marooned in Realtime." The first two stories are interesting, but probably not something that I would rush out to recommend to friends.

However, "Marooned in Realtime" is an amazing joyride! If you like the big ideas, big consequences, big time-spans, all carried out their logical conclusions, this is the story for you! Vinge clearly shows his skills in writing stories with a "sense of awe and wonder" that he later showcases in his "A Fire Upon the Deep" and "A Deepness in the Sky" novels. If you liked those two novels, you'll most probably like "Marooned in Realtime".

One note:

If you wonder if you "need" to read the "Peace War" and "The Ungoverened" in order to fully enjoy "Marooned in Realtime," there are a couple of concepts and characters that are introduced that are important to fully understanding "Marooned in Realtime." In fact, the conclusion to the "murder mystery" in "Marooned" hinges on your being familiar with a certain character introduced in the earlier stories. I was surpirsed by this since I was hoping that "Marooned" could stand alone by itself without too much backreferencing.

I read two of vinge's novels before I've started this one. So my expectations were very high from the start. and I wasn't disappointed for one second! The book contains two novels: 'Peace war' and 'Marooned in reatime'. both were interesting, entertaining and really, but really good.
English is not my native tongue, and it is hard for me to write a literature review - But please get the message that goes beyond my poor writing: You should read this excellent book that stand on the same level of Vinge's Hugo's winner books.

Issac Asimov, Orson Scott Card, Terry Goodkind, J.R.R. Tolkien... the name of Vernor Vinge belongs with these. If you can usually figure out what's going to happen in a story and you hunger for that rare author who can keep you in a continual state of amazement, read Vernor Vinge. I have a library of nearly 2,000 books and Across Realtime is definitely one of my top ten favorites. My only criticism of the man is that he hasn't written more for you and me to read.

If you've read some of the other reviews here, you've realized by now that "Across Realtime" is actually two separate books - a novel and its far-future sequel - combined into one volume. (Some editions apparently include an additional related short story, but NOT this one - i.e., ISBN 1857981472. That story, called "The Ungoverned" is available in Vernor Vinge's new collection, but it's not terribly good.)

The first novel, "The Peace War," I consider not very special. Little distinguishes it from other post-nuclear war stories, and the characters are not especially compelling. Vinge's clever invention (called a "bobble," the details of which I won't give away here) is modestly intriguing but takes a back seat to the archetypally heroic rebels who want to overthrow their archetypally tyrannical rulers.

"Marooned in Realtime," on the other hand, is extraordinary. It showcases Vinge's extraodinary imagination just as "A Fire Upon the Deep" does. Vinge really explores what can be done with his bobbles, and he uses them to touch upon some much deeper issues, such as "Where will our ever-advancing technology lead us?" and "What happens at the end of the universe?" The characters, too, are cut from a much more varied cloth than in the first book. (My only knock is against Vinge's decision to sprinkle his protagonist's utopian anarchist beliefs throughout this novel. Like Heinlein's ultra-libertarianism, it sounds foolish & can get a bit grating.)

I'd give "Marooned" five stars, but "Peace War" only merits three, so I've split the difference and given "Across Realtime" four stars. Definitely read the books in order, though - Vinge will reward your careful attention to the first book in the sequel.

In short, if you read "A Deepness in the Sky" and a "Fire Upon the Deep" and you're looking for more Vinge to whet your appetite, you've come to the right place.

I loved this book (or compilation.) I purchased it a few years back at an airport newsstand, looking for a little easy reading. Short of one ar two other SF novels, I can say I have never read a better story. Mr. Vinge has invented a heck of an idea in his "bobble" In fact I spent many a moment thinking how the world would be a different place if such an item existed. I believe the caliber of a novel can be determined by how much time you spend thinking about it.....this book does just that. In fact both of Vernor Vinge's new novels are quite excellent as well and I can't tell you how excited I was to see them sitting on the shelf at my local bookstore.