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57 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ten Star Science Fiction!, October 20, 2002
This review is from: The Golden Age (Hardcover)
Life, 10,000 years from now. Read this and you enter into a world of immortal beings where consciousness takes many forms as minds find many diverse vessels in which to inhabit. Nanotechnology, computer science, and other technologies have transformed civilization into a true golden age where Sophotechs (conscious computers who think many times faster than humans) control nearly everything. The group called the Hortators exhibit much control also, so is this really a golden age as it appears to be at first glance? The primary character here is a man called Phaethon, who has lost a good part of his memory as a result of a process of selective amnesia, a result of previous actions he cannot remember. He becomes obsessed with discovering the missing memories, with much intrigue along the way, and this is at the heart of a great mystery, brimming with passion and intellect, and ambition. John Wright uses much reality based imagination here, this is far-future science fiction at it's best, without reverting to fantasy. I especially enjoyed the questions of personal identity and how that relates to whether or not a person is the original or a copy in cases of transferring minds from one medium to another, very thought provoking, speculation that will surely move from science fiction to reality someday, well done here. To use an old cliche', it does'nt get any better than this, with superb plot and character development. THE GOLDEN AGE is book one of a two book series, the concluding novel is THE PHOENIX EXULTANT, yet to be published.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Phaeton's Oedipal Odyssey, December 27, 2008
Ten thousand years in the future, during the Golden Age, humankind has been incorporated by the Sophotechs into a virtual utopia that allows its citizens the joys of immortality, competitive world building, neurological resurrection through downloading, and social transcendence--not to mention outlandishly silly masquerades. The Manorial elites interact entirely through a Matrix-like grid, although there are hints that others not so "fortunate" exist outside the network. The solar system's computerized administration and its nanotechnological bioforms support a world in which every "transformation took an eye-blink" (or what passes for an eye in hyperspace), and entire memories and dreamscapes and databanks are transmitted instantaneously.
Given the light-speed transactions available to this future civilization, the courtly greetings ("Hail to thee!"), garrulous dialogue, and brooding soliloquies of its inhabitants seem a tad out of place. But then again, these poor souls have nothing but time on their (virtual) hands. Into the midst of their inexorable talk, threatening to ruin the interminable fun, strides the hero Phaeton, who stumbles upon the twin realizations that he is somehow missing the most recent 250 years of his 3,000-year life and that there are powerful interests struggling to keep him from regaining those memories, apparently as punishment for an unforgivable crime.
On John Wright's desk, I imagine, are well-thumbed copies of Bulfinch, of Frazer, of Edith Hamilton. As the main character's name suggests, the plot of "The Golden Age" is peppered with classical references, or (more accurately) Wright's novel is a series of classical allusions enclosed by a threadbare Greek plot. To wit: Phaeton, the son of a "god," is oblivious of his past; he seeks to recover this past, in spite of the dangers this discovery might pose to his (and his wife's) blissful life; if he rebels, he would be forever banished from the realm. Alongside this familiar story is a nifty twist on an Oedipal subplot: Phaeton's actions, past and present, have also endangered his template-father, Helion, who may no longer technically be his father because a life-changing experience occurred to Helion's "original" after the last back-up had been saved to the Mentality an hour before his "death."
There's some interesting and mind-bending stuff here, but I'm afraid the stagy clunkiness of the dialogue, the show-offish hokum of the technobabble, the purple prose of the descriptions ("She was garbed in a gown of flowing emerald green, and her golden braids were twined to hold an emerald crown in place"), and the strain of the mythological references conspire to make reading a bit of a chore. Most of the characters, too, are either cartoonish or indistinguishable; several opening chapters, for example, are spent describing six powerful yet interchangeable Peers, but their supposed individuality seems not to matter much anyway (at least in this installment). And Phaeton's Odyssean journey doesn't really begin until the final chapters, when we find out that this encyclopedic 330-page short story is little more than a scene-setting prologue for a subsequent book (or two). In the end, this is one of those books that must be judged partly on the strengths of their sequels.
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19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Debut, March 13, 2004
First, lets be clear here, this is a trilogy, not a 2 book series as is indicated in the 'official' reviews. And, to get the entire story, you *must* read all three books. The Golden Age cannot stand alone, in doesnt 'end' in any way. It merely takes a break until you grab the second and third novels (The Phoenix Exultant and The Golden Transcendence) The publisher probably just decided to get 3 books out of the story, as opposed to one long story, which is what this really is, and should have been published as. (I believe i saw that the SFBC has them all in one volume) A second warning, is that The Golden Age is difficult to start. The author throws terms and uses of language at you that can seem daunting and baffling. I'd actually reccommend you get the third book first, just to read the appendix which is included in that volume, that does a marvelous job of giving you the neccessary background to understand the beginning of The Golden Age. (I read the hardbacks, maybe when the paperbacks came out they included the appendix in the first volume) That being said, The Golden Age is a marvel. Once you get past the initial confusion of who, and what, everyone is, it is a novel that you simply cannot put down. The story is engrossing, fast paced, and extremely well written. I saw it being compared to Perdido Street Station and it is a fantastic comparison. The books are just a bit different from, and far superior to, the typical fare that is offered up these days. Enough other people have given a sense of what the story entails that I wont go into that. Just remember, it is really a 3 book story, be prepared to read all 3 if you want the story to be finished, and secondly, it may take awhile to get into and understand what is occuring at the beginning of the Golden Age. Be patient, and you will be rewarded.
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