Customer Reviews

The Golden Age

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The Golden Age takes a smorgasbord of science fiction tropes (transferable minds, artificial bodies, artificial intelligence, hive societies, cyberspace, planetary colonization, genetic engineering) and runs wild with them, resulting in an breathtakingly baroque universe that somehow manages incorporate mythological themes, a murder mystery, political intrigue, romance, neo-Victorianism, and complex scientific discussion.

It's a "wow!" kind of book -- a stunningly inventive and highly detailed universe that is a real treat for fans of the sf genre.

But (without revealing any spoilers), it ends with a cliffhanger, so you are forced to go on the second and third books of the trilogy.

And I am very sorry to tell you that the rest of the trilogy is terrible. So bad, from my point of view, that I almost didn't go on to the third book.

The second book feels rushed, and it is mired in very tedious and cartoonish dialogues between the principal male and female characters. (Think of Robert Heinlein at his worst -- chapter after chapter of tedious quasi-philosophical conversation alternated with flat, stereotypically driven sexual flirtations that are meant to develop character but don't).

The third book is slightly better than the second, but neither come even close to the first. The writer's worst faults -- pretentious writing, poor plot pacing, flat characterization, sexual stereotyping straight out of the 1950s, a reliance on technobabble -- were forgivable and possible to overlook in the first book, but they come to the fore in the second and third books, making for a cringe-worthy reading experience.

It really feels like the writer lost his inspiration, or was simply under the gun to crank out the rest of the trilogy. The Heinlein influence (and again, I mean the worst of Heinlein) is not so apparent in the first book, but the second and third read almost like a pastiche of Heinlein.

4 stars because it doesn't stand on its own as a complete work, and the rest of the series is virtually unreadable.

But I will nonetheless recommend this book (and only this book) of the trilogy on the basis of its sheer inventiveness and brilliance -- I dearly wish it had delivered on that promise in the rest of the series.

For all the talk of 'space opera' and other genre/author comparisons, _The Golden Age_ is one of the most original novels to come out in years. John Wright lays out and tosses away more inventive, imaginative ideas in a few pages than many SF authors manage in a whole book. And not only has he developed a long-term extrapolation of human/technical evolution, he has done so in a story built on various intersections of myth and philosophy.

Wright's writing is intellectually challenging without being condescending or obtuse (deliberately or otherwise). He never forgets the need to be a good storyteller, yet probes close to the bone on such core issues as the determination of truth, the nature of reality and the tension between individual freedom and social good.

Utterly outstanding. I hope Wright gets the accolates he deserves. ..bruce..

In a world where human intelligence varies as the whim of each individual, the tension in this book slowly builds around the identity and the moral crises of the hero, Phaeton, (Phaeton Prime, Rhadamanth Humodified (augment) Uncomposed, Indepconsciousness, Base Neuroformed, Silver-Gray Manorial Schola, Era 7043 ("The Reawakening") and his decision to excise 250 years worth of his memory and endeavors. The Golden Age opens with the slow deliberation of an excellent Georgette Heyer historical novel, introducing not only the scenario but the detailed and cleverly wrought setting: An old man creates a shadowy garden of silver flowers designed to seek sustenance from, and point gently toward, the rings of Saturn. A full council of Peers debate the future of the world and we learn that the old man's garden is a political and artistic slur against the machinations of one paramount threat to peace and security: Phaeton himself. But until Phaeton wandered (by accident) into this bit of performance art, he had no knowledge that he was not (literally) himself, nor that uncounted millions view him with distrust and contempt.

Despite the stately beginning, the hook is set: Who is this man and why do total strangers seem to know more about him (and to abhor him) than he does? And are they, perhaps correct? To my mind,
Phaeton's world of the Golden Oecumene is as much a character (and as compelling) as Phaeton himself. As the plot unfolds, so too does our knowledge of the world, increasing detail and depth making a nice counterpoint to increasing complications and danger. Villain and hero trade places moment to moment within the same personae, as the reader begins to doubt which reality is the truth.

John C. Wright (in other reviews) has been compared (aptly) with both Cordwainer Smith and with Jack Vance. The graceful and beautiful use of language and the generosity of invention in The Golden Age are no doubt the touchstones for these comparisons. Wright has also mastered Vance's skill of creating the impression of a Tolkien- or historical-style depth of reality, so that the reader enjoys the delicious sense of another (and perhaps more fascinating still) story "off-stage". But The Golden Age reminded this reviewer most strongly of a much earlier fantastic adventure; Patricia McKillip's The Riddle Master of Hed. Including, alas, the cliffhanger ending. In this respect, The Golden Age is much like Peter Jackson's movie, The Lord of the Rings, ending at an appropriate point in the narrative arc, but leaving the reader impatient to continue the story.

The Golden Age and the subsequent two books in the series explore the question of what it means to live your life, as opposed to simply continuing to exist. The world of the Golden Oecumene has created amazing wonders of technology and conquered death and crime. But what can give meaning to life in a utopia? What can inspire people to great deeds that differentiate a golden age from the dark ages? The Golden Oecumene may have perfect tranquility, but it also is stagnant and unimaginative. People have become increasingly withdrawn into their own little worlds, a term with a literal meaning in this society, as each person is free to reshape his perceptions to see the world exactly as he wants to see it instead of what it really is.

The novel's plot pits the world's entrenched oligarchy and their desire to keep things as they are, preserving their privileges, wealth and status, against one man who wants to do great things with his life. Phaeton's plan to send out colonies to other stars threatens to destroy the social order and the future security of the ruling class, whose monopolies in nearly every part of the economy would be destroyed by competition, and who will have no way to impose their will on the millions of those colonies. Furthermore, once the sun finishes its evolutionary course in a few hundred billion years, these immortals would have nowhere to escape if the nearby star systems are already colonized, and would have to die or to fall to the lowest strata of those societies. Needless to say, Phaeton is not a popular man with these people, and they try to put him in his place. Ultimately, they fail (not in this book; in The Golden Transcendence : Or, The Last of the Masquerade (The Golden Age)), demonstrating the futility of trying suppress humanity's progress.

Admittedly, the book can be heavy reading for non-technical people. Even today, technology pervades our world, and just as a savage would gaze incomprehendingly upon our computers, iPhones, and airplanes, so do we have difficulty with the ideas that must be understood to live in the Golden Oecumene, many millenia into the future. However, the technology really is central to the plot, as it is the underlying cause of that society's stagnation and corruption. A reader who takes his time to understand it would not only enrich his understanding of the plot, but of his understanding of where our continuing efforts to integrate with computers will take us. Today we already are facing many of the issues discussed in the book, like electronic privacy, intellectual property, and life in virtual environments, to name a few.

The book's philosophical base can also be a turn off to some readers, who might recognize the same symptoms of stagnation that plague the Golden Oecumene's citizens in themselves. Just like Phaeton, we are permitted by our civilization to choose a tranquil life of no consequence, where one day is just like the one before it, and a man can live his entire life and die without accomplishing a single thing. But Phaeton chooses the other path, to strive for greatness. At one point in the book he has an explicit choice to recover his memories, and I think that the inscription on the box that contains them applies to the book as well:

"Sorrow, great sorrow, and deeds of renown without peer, within me sleep, for truth is here. Truth destroys the worst in man; pleasure destroys the best. If you love truth more than happiness, then open; otherwise, let rest."

The book deserves 4 1/2 stars more than just four, but half-stars aren't options within the reviewing system. It didn't quite cut it 5 star level.

Well written story with a lot of interesting SF ideas.

I felt a little lost at the beginning, but it was the kind of "lost" that creates interest in continuing. As you mentally organize the myriad of characters from the book, it story begins to roll along more smoothly. The book has a character list in the beginning to help you keep track of all of these characters. Interestingly enough, even this character list at the beginning helped pique my interest.

This is also one of the few books with a sequel that is nice enough to warn on the cover that it has a sequel. Too many times I got to the last page to find the "To be Continued". It's perfectly understandable that some stories will need 2 books to be told correctly. Just let the reader know before he arrives at the last page. This book does that.

Plot Summary (as much as this thing can be summarized by me anyway): The time is the far future where mankind can live for as long as he/she/it wants. Most of life is spent in various dream states where living computers and various other things transmit your desired appearance onto mannequins in other peoples aesthetics when you want to visit them. The solar system is colonized and energy is harvested from the sun. No one need suffer, ever. Have a bad day, have your memory erased and stored somewhere. Anyway, to start the story the protagonist, Phaethon, is walking around the masquerade that is part of the Transcendence festivals which occur every 1000 years. It comes to light to him and to us that a large chunk of his memory was erased, like 250 years worth of memory. It is further discovered that he agreed himself to this arrangement, but does not understand or know why since he has been forced to erase that part of his memory. Phaethon leaves the masquerade to various different places to try and understand why he made himself do this, why the government (such as there is one) will banish him if he attempts to rediscover his lost memories, and who he, his wife, and father really are.

Opinion: Wow! It took me a while to figure out all the language in the book (there are many large, compound words full of meaning that I'm sure I missed alot of). Once I got the basic grasp of the structure of the societies involved, I was engrossed. This story has many facets, many of which I listed above in the summary. I seriously need to pick up the second book in this series because This book just ends. Not much is resolved, yet many things seemed to have been resolved. The resolutions bring up many more questions. The descriptions did get a little tedious at times, especially with all the strange vocabulary, but it didn't occur enough for me to lose interest. I feel that the universe is set up enough now and expect more action in the next 2 books. I'm not even really sure how many books this story will take. I really loved this book though. 4.5 out of 5

Recommendation: I would highly recommend this book to anyone who like sci-fi. I would not call it cyberpunk, but it does have a cyberish mentality to it.

If this book were titled "Brilliant new ideas for SF writers" and simply listed alphabetically the ideas Wright packs into his story it would still be worth the money. There are single paragraphs in "The Golden Age" which contain more original concepts than the entire works of other SF writers. I had the distinct sense that Wright has had a very pregnant mind for far too long and that finally writing everything down was an incredible release for him. This all begs the obvious question: What hideous ogre has kept him off the shelves? Why are we shackled with "Picard Gets a Hangnail, Part IV" when we could have books like the "The Golden Age". Someone in the publishing world needs to be fired.

Wright seems to take particular glee in tackling some of SFs stickier ideas head on just to prove he can. For example: How do you write a character a thousand times smarter than you are? What would such a character say and how do you extrapolate its actions and thoughts? By page 28 he's already hit this one out of the park. The main character's exchange with a bizarre creature called the Neptunian deserves to be studied by other authors as a shining (and hillarious) example of how an alien super intellect might behave.

Far future novels featuring technology that controls all the perceptions of the characters often fall apart. If authors have to extrapolate too much they lose credibility and discerning readers inevitably have to break out their B.S. shovels. But Wright is so comfortable and fluent with his ideas you get the impression he's not extrapolating so much as explaining the world in which he lives. I kept wanting to review some huge stack of technical notebooks from which these concepts were obviously drawn. Even the things he casually tosses out just to show off have a kind of critical mass of detail that hints at much deep thought. Throughout the book there's a constant undertone of Wright daring you, "think about this for a month or two and you'll come to my same conclusions."

With his first novel Wright brazenly cuts near the front of the line of my favorite authors. I eagerly await more.