Customer Reviews

The Collapsium

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Maybe it's because I'm an old f**t, but I think a lot of reviewers have missed a key theme of this book.

I'll quickly mention points made by others before I center in on the immortality & "meaning of life" themes I've found here.

First, this is hard science fiction, but if like me you're no scientist, there is a way to read it and get the gist of the science without getting hopelessly confused.

Secondly, while the second half of the book is more serious with bad things happening, there's a playful perspective to the entire book that can be compared to fairy tales, or to "Tom Swift" solutions, or to glorious "pulp" science-fiction of the '30's and '40's. This might put off some readers and charm others.

However you react to the hard science and/or the allusions to
more faniful genres, don't overlook what is being said about immortality.

The novel's protagonist and antagonist are both among the first to embark into immortal life and are reacting to such a life's implications. As if immortality isn't enough to deal with, there's also the faxing of people creating copies of individuals who have the memories and personalities of the originals but go into divergent paths.

The principal character, after a long period of being the Queen's "Philander", has become a hermit buried in endless scientific research which will hopefully enable him to see the end of time. His opposite number, also for a time the Queen's "Philander", has a similar goal, but due to his immortality has become what could be thought of as a souless entity, with little regard for humanity. We're also given glimpses at other characters, each of whom attempt to deal with the prospect of immortality and the challenge to make unending life meaningful.

The question of God, of religion, or of lack of either is also looked at. In fact, it seems to me that contemporary science-fiction as a whole is giving religion and its impact on society much more consideration than it once did. Either that, or I'm noticing it more.

At any rate, if you bear in mind that this book does have a serious philosophical theme along with the "technobabble" and is framed in a pulpish, Tom Swiftian, fairy-tale like mold, you should find it well worth your time.

This is a story with fabulous science, easily the equal of anything Larry Niven or Stephen Baxter have served up, or better. You can't swing a dead cat in this book without hitting another mind-blowing concept. Yet McCarthy's style is not the stiff deadpan of a NASA flight controller (which he is), but the romping satire of a Neal Stephenson or Salman Rushdie. It's an eerie combination. The language is deceptively simpler and more casual than "Bloom" or "Murder in the Solid State", but hiding behind it are layers of technical and human detail that lend this book the feel of a genuine classic.

The world and characters are quirky and compelling. Never mind that the sun is going to be crushed into a black hole, I wanted to live here anyway. The author's love of the place is obvious and infectious. The story moves from court politics to murder to battles in space, heady sf fare with a hard strange twist, but the opening and closing scenes which bookend this action set it apart, as a work of genuine thought and depth. I've read it twice in six months, and still want more.

The Collapsium is McCarthy's best story to date. The story is lively and entertaining, with lots of new technology adequately explained for us non-physicists. I found the main character, Bruno, to be a more human and likeable protagonist than McCarthy's prior protagonists. All in all, an excellent story for readers who enjoy hard science fiction.

Collapsium is the start of a series of novels that follow in its wake. Curiously, the opening act is actually far worse than what is to follow: "Wellstone," "Lost in Translation," and "To Crush the Moon" provide both better entertainment and better exploration of the implications of the marvelous technology that Maccarthy dreams up. So let us be clear on what Collapsium is and what it is not:
1) It IS a great appendix to reading the aforementioned novels. Besides having a scientific (sci-fi) appendix of its own that explains the (hypothetical) physics behind the technology, Collapsium is really kind of an appendix in its own right, and a decent enough reference to backgrounds of characters that are more fully developed in later novels.
2) It IS a book full of imaginative ideas. Sometimes overly so. Maccarthy's physics is solid, while his speculations on future physics span the full range of plausibility, from "maybe" to "no way!" - but all of it is imaginative, interesting, and good fun to think about.
3) It is NOT a particularly good novel in its own right. Really, the book consists of three somewhat independent and weak novellas: though ordered chronologically they do not share the coherence of ordinary chapters in a single book, and each presents an adventure of its own. The plot (or plots) are not all that engrossing, mainly because they all have a very simple "hero vs disaster" or "hero vs villain + disaster" linearity to them. And since these types of plotlines invariably end with a triumph of our hero, the intrigue is, for the most part, not there. Finally, as other reviewers have mentioned, the character development is somewhat lackluster.

The main raison d'etre for this book, as I see it, is that ideas in it have great POTENTIAL for a full-fledged development. Chief among these is not programmable matter or instant comminication afforded by the collapsiter grids, but the achievement of immorbidity. From this novel alone, it is hard to say what the author makes of it, but the promise is there.

So let me conclude with a recommendation. Skip this one and go straight for "Wellstone." If you enjoy it (which you should), but find yourself wanting details on the background of the Queendom of Sol, its historical figures, and its technological marvels, THEN read Collapsium.

In the 24th century, mankind has elected a queen and a fascination with a scientist who fears social entanglements so much he creates his own private planet to work alone. Of course this doesn't work as the queen needs him to rescue the solar system.

The writing is almost fairy-tale simple, yet both the science and the character development show hints of far greater depth. Take your time with this one and it may well repay the investment.

This is one of the most original works of SF that I have seen in a while. Of all the stories that deal with the subject of black holes, I don't think it ever occured to anyone before that they can be mere tools in the hands of humans. What would that mean for human endeavors and history?

McCarthy creates a world where this does happen, and it so happens that a public works project goes awry, the consequence would be the death of the sun! Oops. It would be a spoiler to tell you what happens.

There are some disturbing aspects to this world that arises from very specualtive technology. For example, they have "fax" machines that can transmit a human from one place to another, a form of travel. But the device can also be used to create a complete duplicate of that person. With memories and everything, the duplicate has no idea that they are not the original. The problem is that the law is that the duplicate does not have any legal rights whatsoever. Imagine an enemy being able to steal a copy of you and torture that copy for their own amusement, then dispose of and then go get another. Would that bother you? Yikes.

Very much worth it.

This one really took me away from the humdrum of 21st century earth. McCarthy takes you on a wild ride where physics is almost magic. I had a great time with this one!

______________________________________
Rating: science "A+", fiction "B-" -- a dazzling hard-SF opening fades to melodrama. Worth reading for the opener and the bleeding-edge sci-tech.

The Collapsium opens with a wonderful novella,"Once Upon a Matter Crushed" (first published in SF Age 5/99). In the late 25th century, in the eighth decade of the Queendom of Sol, gravitation and the zero-point field are pretty well understood. "Neubles," diamond-clad neutronium spheres, are in everyday use -- a standard industrial neuble masses a billion tonnes, and has a radius of 2.67 cm. Our Hero, superscientist Bruno de Towaji, is experimenting with collapsium, a dangerous, metastable material made of proton-size black holes, when he receives a Royal Summons: the new near-solar collapsiter ring is unstable, and will fall into the sun (and eat it) unless Something is Done....

The book is written in an engaging neo-Victorian style -- McCarthy's first experiment with literary Style, vs. his previous 'transparent' prose. I liked it. Witty repartee, amusing pratfalls and shrewd insights abound. Bruno meets a well-married couple at a celebrity fund-raiser on Maxwell Montes, Venus: "The love, shyness and exasperation between them radiated out in invisible rays, like infrared. Warming." Befuddled by a bottomless beer mug, Bruno warms to the pitch: "Would, ah, would a hundred trillion dollars be enough?"

McCarthy's sci-tech extrapolation is exotic, fun and reasonably plausible. He's clearly done his homework -- the book includes 30 pages of appendices, a glossary, technical notes (including the working equations to synthesize neubles), and respectable references. Fun stuff (really!), one of the highlights of the book.

The range and depth of McCarthy's imagined technologies are dazzling -- I'm reminded of Drexler's pioneering "Engines of Creation," and I hope McCarthy (or someone) does a speculative-science article on the technological implications, if the zero-point field explanation for gravity turns out to be correct. (If you've seen one, I'd appreciate hearing about it.) Lots more neat SF ideas where these came from....

So I was really pumped, reading the first hundred pages -- cool science, nice Style, nifty characters, a big-screen space-opera storyline. What's not to like?

Well, the rest of the book? The first thud comes when Bruno is recalled to the inner system -- to fix the same problem again! Then he has to fix it a *third* time, with even sillier, pulpier results. His scientific competitor, and rival for the Queen's affection, turns out to be a really Horrid Villain.... And the characters are hard to kill, because they have backups, except when they don't -- but wait, maybe they do, after all.... And characters start acting, well, out of character. And there's a pointless, dangling subplot, among other loose ends. I suppose McCarthy intended to write a good old-fashioned super-science melodrama, except with real science -- but the last two-thirds of the book just didn't work, for me anyway. Dammit.

Which is a pity, because "Crushed" is brilliant, and the science is so cool. Oh well -- I'd rather read an ambitious failure than a potboiler. If you're already a McCarthy fan, or crave bleeding-edge hard SF, you won't want to miss The Collapsium -- the good parts anyway. And who knows, your tolerance for melodrama may be higher than mine -- other reviewers have been more generous.

But if you're new to McCarthy, I'd start with Bloom or another, earlier book -- and you should try him, he's very good. Usually. Maybe next time he should coast a little on the science -- both the Bloom and Collapsium universes have plenty of room for more stories -- and work harder on the fiction.


review copyright 2000 by Peter D. Tillman
[Published 2000 at SF Site]

I've been waiting for a long time to get a hold of this book since it's out of print here in Japan. But I'm glad they published it again.

Like one of the reviews says, this book's really a fairy tale.

No, seriously, it's a scifi told in a very fairy-tale-y style. Even the ending ends like a fairy tale! But I loved it!

The hero is a bit too whiny, but it works well with the story, so the effect is Ok overall. I love the queen and the Queendom. I know she's not supposed to be European as she came from one of the pacific islands, but the image that always seem to come to mind is that of Natalie Portman as Amydalla.

I also love the appendix and glossary! So unique! It's not creative, mind you - since technical papers do that a lot - but it *is* a good way to remove the clutter of back-stories and technical discussions that seem to get in the way of the main story (a feature especially prominent in scifi novels). The glossary/appendix also works well to enhance the equally novel super-science concepts of the book.

Overall, a wonderful novel with a unique story-telling style that has a "fresh" feel to it. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book "The Wellstone".

'Light' on the science and heavy on fiction but fun to read and that the most important part.