Nimbus [Paperback]

Alexander Jablokov (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Avon Books; First Avonova Printing edition (October 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038097228X
• ISBN-13: 978-0380972289
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,285,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alexander Jablokov writes science fiction for readers who won't give up literate writing or vivid characters to get the thrills they demand. He is a natural transition for non-SF readers interested in taking a stroll with a dangerous AI or a neurosurgeon/jazz musician turned detective, while still giving hardcore SF fans speculative flash, incomprehensible aliens, and kitchen appliances with insect wing cases.

From his well-regarded first novel, Carve the Sky, an interplanetary espionage novel set in a culturally complex 25th century, through the obscenely articulate dolphins with military modifications of a Deeper Sea, the hardboiled post-cyberpunk of Nimbus, the subterranean Martian repression of River of Dust, and the perverse space opera of Deepdrive, he has come to Brain Thief, a contemporary high-tech thriller with a class clown attitude.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking SciFi noir, July 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Nimbus (Hardcover)

It's a pity that this fine, complex book is out of print--I encourage other readers to make the effort to find copies.

This story is hard to describe in a few lines, but centers around the protagonist's reluctant attempts to revive memories of his past as his former associates are picked off by an unknown murderer. Conspiracies and cover-ups abound. The characters are richly drawn and the near-future environment is wonderfully detailed and inventive. The novel takes the hard-boiled-detective noir genre and makes it fresh.

Thematically, the novel deals with some very interesting questions of identity and memory. One character who lives in a made-up reality seems to be the most lucid person in a world where identity can be manufactured. This is a book you can read both for the pleasure of the story and for the intellectual challenges the story poses.

My only problem was with the main character, who is such an ass that it's hard to identify with him as a hero. (Probably intentional on the part of the author.) But once the tale got into full swing, I forgot how much I disliked the hero and enjoyed the ride.