Customer Reviews

Aristoi

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I first read Aristoi not long after it's original release in Hardcover, and have re-read it three times since then.

When I first read the book, I thought it was a work of art that created a world and culture as it someday might come to pass and still remained realistic enough to be believable. I was very impressed, and have since read most of the authors other works.

After re-reading the book a couple times, some of the magic I originally experienced faded but the underlining principles that made it a great book remained. It remains a classic on my bookshelf, and to this day I hope to see a sequal.

The book touches upon the evolution of mankind, and focus' on one individual, Gabriel, who is one of the cultural elite. With god-like authority, Gabriel can create worlds of great beauty while at the same time compose poetry and music and still hold a conversation on medical science.

Gabriel is restless though, and in his desire to solve a mystery he sets off on an adventure that ultimately challenges his beliefs, and the foundation of his culture. In the end he discovers that the aura of arrogance and power that came naturally to him before is now a difficult matter, and for the first time in his life knows fear and what it is to be "just human".

As a cultural analyst, I found the book rich in depth and, despite a couple raw points, very well done. The nuances that make a culture, and which I find lacking in many science-fiction books that attempt to create new or alien cultures, were very well done. I hope the author will someday write a sequal and continue the saga as Gabriel explores the universe in search of what he lost.

This is one of those books that can be curled up with and enjoyed for hours on end...like a good Heinlein novel, it keeps one engrossed in the details of the society at view. Set in the far, far, future, after nanotechnology and interstellar travel have become commonplace, it tells the story of the few who have the ability/responsibility to manage these awesome technologies. These "Aristoi" are absolute rulers of their domain, charged with the task of preserving and protecting lesser human beings.

Problem is, how do you cope with that kind of stress? Not everyone is content to simply stay at home and putter about in a garden...

Most interesting to me was the concept of "daimones" : semi-autonomous parts of the self which are conciously developed to "handle" events while the primary personality is otherwise engaged. The protagonist is posessed of an entire stable of such beings, each of which has distinct, but very limited, personalities. Mataglap is vengeful, Augenblick is diplomatic, etc. Any of them is capable of assuming control of bodily or netbourne functions when asked to do so...at other times, they simply remain as permanent voices in ones' head.

Interaction with daimones forms a large part of the book and is handled well. Particularly effective was the technique of splitting the narrative into columns, with one conversation on the right, another on the left. The confusion created by trying to follow both threads at once brings home the multiple 'presences' of the character in a way impossible with a normal linear stream. I wish I could do that on IRC or in chat...

At one point, we see a novice undergoing intense pain to summon and control his own fledgling daimones. The ceremony is portrayed as a means of gaining mastery over the self, but it also raises questions about the sanity of the Aristoi lifestyle. What does it say about society when a rite of passage involves creating multiple personalities?

The protagonist, naturally, feels that concious control of the mind's aspects is a noble goal, even at the cost of exaggerating/alienating them into separate entities; he looks down on people who 'allow their daimones to control them.' Ironically, this emphasis on control is his undoing, as his own training/conditioning is used against him. What finally saves him is an untapped, uncontrolled, and previously unknown daimon, who resists all his attempts to name and identify it after his escape.

The questions this raises are intriguing : what effect does power and control have on the human mind, and where can they go too far? What's the line between rationalism and hubris? The society described in Aristoi is very much influenced by "eastern" thought - traditionalist, deference to elders, status based on examniation, etc., but the book ends on a decidely expansive/activist note, with the surviving Aristoi roused to action.

Wish I'd thought of more of this while actually reading the book... :-)

Social pseudo-analysis aside, this is one of those books that will simply force you to finish once started. It's thick enough to keep one occupied for a day or so, but the time is well spent. The more I read of Walter Jon Williams, the more impressed I become. If all his books are like Aristoi, I think I'm going to be busy for a good long while...

What happens after The Diamond Age? Will nanotechnology run amok and melt down everything it touches? (The concept of "rogue nano" is one good reason to read this book!) Williams explores a fascinating future in which access to the immense power of nanotechnology is permitted only to the aristoi. But how do you become one of "the best"? Why not employ nanomachinery to enhance your brain capacities, then develop and express multiple personalities, each gifted with specific abilities and skills? But will your emerging personalities work together? What surprises lurk in the depths of the mind? And who will watch the watchers? This is one of my all-time favorites -- fascinating, subtle, thought-provoking and a good read!

Being a long time fan of Walter Jon Williams, I was naturally delighted with Aristoi. Like many authors, there were many ideas that he borrowed from his previous works. But also there were plenty of new and refreshing ideas. I would say Aristoi is either a book a person reads before reading any other novel by Williams, or after they have read through his works. The ideas in it are covered in virtually every other book he has written, save each individual novel covers only one or two aspecs of Aristoi. What sets Aristoi aside as one of the best modern S/F novels written was the intriguing writing style of Williams. In the novel, people have controlled split personalities (who are beholden to the prime). Williams splits the page in half and while on one side the story progresses, the other side has the commentaries of the personailities. Unique to say the least. I can not recommend this book any higher. Buy it, borrow it or steal it.:

This was a very enjoyable book, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a masterpiece. The complex world was very well thought out and the characters were interesting. The plot twists keep the reader's attention well. Basically, this book was a good example of space opera (much-maligned, but important and valid sub-genre of sci-fi) without really transcending that type of story. Still, it's worth the time.

Come and read about an almost-paradise several thousand years in the future, one in which the concepts of VR and Nanotech are developed by Mr. Williams to a logical extreme given the huge passage of time. On the character/story side, human nature is examined at its best and worst; two truly altruistic viewpoints go to war, one of them one the side of maintaining paradise, and the other on the side of destroying it. There wasn't anything here I wasn't willing to believe in. Although a complete book, Mr. Williams cleverly leaves the door open for future novels. Somehow, though, I doubt there will ever be one. I hope I'm wrong. This book definitely represents one of the best books I've ever read on these subjects.

For a number of years I have been a really big fan of Walter Jon Williams' novels. From the very beginning I have found them very entertaining, but his early works were generally a little shallow. That said, as time has gone on he has matured as an author. This novel has a very great amount of depth. Admittedly the way he presents parallel trains of thought is sometimes a little hard to follow, but is well worth the effort. If you enjoy reading serious science fiction I feel that this particular novel is a must.

What if you could imagine a society based on "The Republic" set in the distant future? What if "philosopher kings"--powerful, intelligent transhumans--were looked upon as the ideal rulers? This is the book that examines that idea to a certain depth.

The Aristoi are a class of people who possess immense intelligence and creativity. As a result, through passing a series of difficult tests, they are elevated to the status of Aristoi and are granted the powers of creating nanotechnology--a power not permitted to the rest of society. The original Earth was destroyed by nanophage and reduced to a boiling grey ooze hence the need to limit access to nanotechnology and ensure only the wise and beneficent have the ability to create nanotech. This makes the entire society highly stratified and structured with the Demos on the bottom, various levels of Therapontes in the middle, and Aristoi on top. The Demos are comfortable, content, and without sickness, suffering or war. The Aristoi look upon them as we would look upon our favorite pets. Therapontes are students, managers and "henchmen" of the Aristoi. They answer to specific Aristoi assigned to them and learn to become worthy of "graduation" to the elite. Aristoi are granted domains which are several planets in one or more star systems. Through nanotechnology they terreform them and make them habitable for Demos. Demos are supposed to come and go as they please based on the particular Aristos's style of rule. Most rule as enlightened and kind despots but some do not.

Gabriel is an Aristos whose forte is architecture, art, and music and his domain reflects as much. He discovers a plot to upset the balance of the logarchy and so he investigates. The plot turns out to be nothing less than a challenge to the entire Platonic society created and promoted by the Aristoi. The main villain is none other than the creator of the logarchy himself. In a specific domain he has reintroduced disease, ignorance, religion, violence and suffering the way humans used to be in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is a crime worse than the Holocaust--a god has created human beings so that they may suffer. This is the crime and the danger Gabriel must pursue and stop. The perpetrator must be brought to justice and, if Gabriel has his way, killed. This is the central conflict but of course, there's a lot going on underneath.

This is Plato's "Republic" thousands of years in the future. While reading about the life of the Aristoi I was reminded of the handful of original series Star Trek episodes that showed aliens assuming Greek god roles maybe living among the clouds or in marble column palaces plucking lyres, playing chess, or exercising their powers over Kirk and company or the hapless troglodytes and mere mortals. The Aristoi pursue their high minded interests with the same condescension and aloofness as these Star Trek cameos. Gabriel spends his days designing elaborate oriental gowns and remarkable buildings or composing operas--such is the life of an Aristos. And what of the Demos over which he is a reluctant lord? Well, 99% of the Demos in the universe are utterly ignored. We are not introduced to even one of those who live contented and comfortable under the watchful, benevolent gaze of the Aristoi. The only Demos we are exposed to in the book are the ones suffering from cataracts, war, oppression, disease and each other on the experimental worlds hijacked by the villain. And so we don't really know what life is like under the rule of the Aristoi. But of course, the other characters including the villain do know and in fact, it is this benevolent and stagnant rule against which the villain rebels.

I get the impression that Williams actually wanted to piss people off by writing this book. There are a number of times I found myself sympathetic towards the villain. You, the reader, are supposed to sympathize with the main character. But Gabriel (like all "good" Aristoi) sees no need for struggle, strife, pain, or any negative aspects of humanity that serve to propel human beings forward into REAL peace, friendship, comfort, achievement, and well being. A good Aristoi is an enlightened despot--a philosopher king--who cares for his people, his Demos, his favorite pets, and "protects" them from pain and suffering. If there is something creepy about that, then you know what I felt while reading this book. I was constantly wondering when freedom, responsibility, and maturity would enter into the mix but they never did. I waited for Aristotle with his "Ethics" and "Politics" and natural law to counter Plato's "Republic" but he never came. There is no (Greek) democracy in this book. And except MAYBE in the unwritten motivations of the main villain, nowhere do we find this very American, very freedom loving sentiment by Samuel Adams:

If you love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our contrymen.

This is not some review that seeks to hammer Aristoi into a set of criteria it was not meant to be measured by. "The Republic" is referenced and quoted a number of times in the book. And the main character even corrects the "mistranslated" central tennet of the Communist Manifesto and implies the Aristoi embrace such a concept--"From each according to his ability. To each according to their LABOR." Clearly, this is about the concepts of "The Republic" applied to a far future society. If "The Republic" is the main set of concepts at play and under examination, it's reasonable to conclude they are in conflict with something, hence the main conflict of the book. That "something" is not really fleshed out in half the detail that Plato's ideals are fleshed out. It's as if Williams is saying, "Of course the reader prefers comfort over freedom!" That's why I say I think he's trying to piss off the reader. Read some of the moew critical reviews. This is why they don't like it. They don't like Gabriel (neither do I). They don't like the soft, cushy, unchallenging society of the Aristoi and yet here it is laid out as the obvious ideal. Humanity is half represented at best in Aristoi. I think Williams knows this and (expertly) means to rub the reader the wrong way by presenting it as such.

Gabriel even loses his god-like powers while captured by the villain and is "just human" for a time (human perfection being a goal and requirement for effective communism). Later on he rails against being human at all. After escaping and having his powers restored he talks with his lover Clancy about the suffering that defines being human:

"I hate it," he said, "I don't want to be human anymore."
"Neither do I," she said, "It's not a good place to be."

Kinda shocking if you think about it. Here we are reading a story trying to come to grips with one author's opinion on what it means to be human and the protagonist says he hates being human. The entire book chooses pleasure over happiness, entitlement over achievement, intellect over wisdom, benevolent slavery over warts-and-all freedom, and comfort over will. "Will" is not necessary in the domain of a good Aristos. All will be provided.

And so I gave it four stars--even though I REALLY don't like the protagonist, the style, or the outcome--because it is very provocative. How can a story be crafted that attempts to make you cheer for enlightened slavery over perilous freedom? The answer is in this book.

An excellent sequel would be one told from the villain's point of view. THAT I would eagerly read!

"Aristoi" is very good sci-fi, but the story is much too short and rushed to comfortably accommodate the world that Williams has created. There are just too many new concepts introduced here for a single book to do justice to both the concepts and a plot. So Williams ended up fleshing out the concepts at the expense of the quality of the plot. The plot ends up being rather simple and not wholly satisfying.

Nevertheless, the various settings that the scenes take place in are vivid, alive, and detailed. The representation of the Aristoi as a special race of "superhumans" that are capable of much more than the average person is believable to me in the context of what humanity could evolve into thousands of years from now. Their abilities are realized through a combination of nanotechnology and superior intelligence, which didn't seem too far fetched to me. You may have heard of so-called "human calculators" like Alexis Lemaire who can mentally perform astoundingly complex mathematical calculations in seconds. It seems that the human brain has tremendous untapped potential, and what the Aristoi accomplish with it is certainly plausible.

Another concept that Williams introduces is that of the daimones, one-dimensional personalities who can willingly become part of an Aristoi's psyche to advise and aid whenever necessary. This was less believable but intriguing nonetheless. The Aristoi can converse with these daimones quite intelligently and command them to do simple tasks like retrieving information from the central computer called the Hyperlogos, or modifying bodily parameters like heart rate or temperature. These conversations take place internally while the Aristos goes on with other actions or conversations in the real world.

In addition, the Aristos may simultaneously be present in a virtual world through the Hyperlogos, meeting with other Aristoi who are physically many light years away. When this happens, the Aristos gives command of his physical body over to one of his/her daimones. Apparently, even an Aristos can't perform complex actions in both worlds simultaneously.

Well it's definitely worth reading, a good airplane book. But like me you might end up feeling a bit let down that the story wasn't continued over a few more novels. Epic concepts like these deserve an epic story to go with them.

This book is one of the most underrated books I have ever read. It deserves to be a classic, in my opinion. In short, it tells the story of Gabriel, an Aristoi, something like a "modern god",(ordinary people, yet who control a planet with future technology). The book's greatness is in the amount of great ideas it has.. every one of those could be a basis for a book on its own. I know some people didn't like this book... but I loved it! Certainly deserves a chance.