Against Gravity [Paperback]

Gary Gibson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2005

It is the late 21st century, and it is a very different world. Meet Kendrick Gallmon, survivor of The Maze, a secret research facility where thousands of political prisoners became unwilling guinea pigs in experiments to create the perfect soldier. Kendrick is trying to pick up the pieces of his life, even though he knows his nervous system, which is riddled with unstable nanotech augmentations, is slowly killing him. Then one day, his heart stops beating, forever. A ghost urges him to return to the source of all his nightmares—a long-abandoned military complex filled with the entirely real voices of the dead.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Powerfully told, with room for an expansion of the story, this sf suspense thriller belongs in most libraries.” -- Library Journal

About the Author

Gary Gibson is a graphic designer, previously magazine editor, in his home city of Glasgow. He has been writing since the age of fourteen and this is his second published novel (after Angel Stations).

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan UK (July 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1405034467
• ISBN-13: 978-1405034463
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,485,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intricate story with great science, action, and characters., November 13, 2007

By 

J. Mitchell (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Against Gravity (Paperback)

This book is about Kendrick Gallmon, a former captive in a military experimental complex called The Maze, who works as a journalist following his escape from his former prison. While in The Maze, Gallmon was "infected" with nano-implants which are slowly beginning to take over his body. Over the course of the novel, he discovers clues leading to a massive operation involving Max Draeger, the supposed creator of The Maze and designer of the technology now destroying Kendrick's body.

Gallmon and Draeger end up working together, briefly, to get passage to a giant abandoned space station in orbit, the Archimedes. The Archimedes, which was abandoned because it became overrun with nano-technology (the same as that in Gallmon's body), holds an AI that has supposedly found one of the most powerful forces in the universe. The Omega Point, a point in space and time at which one has unlimited energy, has been found by the AI, and now Draeger is going after it. Gallmon's only interest in going to the station is to find proof that Draeger was responsible for creating The Maze; his knowledge of the Omega Point, however, leads him on a different path than the one he'd planned for himself.

This is an excellent book in so many ways. I really enjoyed Gary Gibson's writing style; his descriptions were so vivid, I felt as if I was there in the Maze myself. I also enjoyed the characters, who for the most part seemed very realistic; each had their own flaws and inner conflicts they had to struggle with. Finally, the science aspect of the story was the best part, and the part that drew me to the book in the first place. HIGHLY recommended!!!!

5.0 out of 5 stars biggest reading surprise of my summer, September 8, 2009

By 

J. Speed - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Against Gravity (Paperback)

Looked interesting so decided to give it a read. Quite surprised to find it to be a dark and thoroughly engrossing work that was as enjoyable as Richard Morgan or even some of Gibson's earlier tomes (think Count Zero). Though not as dark as Peter Watts (then again, who is?) Highly recommended!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Too much craft hitched to too small a purpose, October 13, 2009

By 

Tom Smedley "Tom" (RTP NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Against Gravity (Paperback)

A trade press review said "Powerfully told, with room for an expansion of the story."

"Room for expansion" is a rather interesting euphemism for a complete failure to deliver on the tacit contract between reader and writer. In exchange for the reader's money, time, and attention, the writer creates and develops issues to hold that attention, then answers the questions and resolves the major issues at the end.

Gibson created a handful of intriguing dilemmas. Dramatic conflicts fascinating enough to keep a reader going through less than stellar prose. From time to time, you wonder if it's worth the effort to keep on reading, but the hooks have you hooked.

Last sentance -- " They waited there, suspended between Heaven and Earth" -- flips off the long-suffering reader by resolving / explaining -- nothing.

I have not seen this kind of contempt for the consumer since Roman Polanski's brutal hymn to nihilism, "Chinatown."