Null-A Continuum (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "A torment of fire raced along Gilbert Gosseyn's nerves as he stood on the promenade deck of the great space liner Spirit of Liberty..." (more)
Key Phrases: games machine, absolute intelligence, distorter circuit, Shadow Effect, Shadow Galaxy, Greatest Empire (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Questions of identity and personal purpose fill this inconsistent sequel to A.E. van Vogt's 1940s SF pulp thriller The World of Null-A. Gilbert Gosseyn, a double-brained telepath embroiled in intergalactic intrigue, struggles to undermine legendary clairvoyant Enro and his plot to take over or destroy the Milky Way. When one of Gosseyn's clones kills the leaders of the Interstellar League, Gosseyn is left to battle Enro on his own. The often dizzying narrative acquires an ever-widening scope, eventually spanning all of space and time. Wright attempts to flesh out and make sense of van Vogt's world while retaining a respectful distance from the original story. A mixed bag results, fluctuating between hectic action and a dense, plot-slowing web of conspiracy and psychology. The characters' individual voices are sound, but their personalities do little to hold the reader's interest. Though inventive, this problematic love letter to a long-gone era misses the mark. (May)
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From Booklist

With its exuberant exploration of such now commonplace themes as teleportation and cloning, A. E. van Vogt’s seminal The World of Null-A (1948) made an inestimable impact on the sf universe. For continuing the adventures of van Vogt’s superhuman, double-brained protagonist, Gilbert Gosseyn, no one is better qualified than rising star Wright, whose acclaimed Golden Age trilogy—The Golden Age (2002), The Phoenix Exultant (2003), The Golden Transcendence (2003)—pays homage to the fiction of van Vogt’s era. Gosseyn’s previous adventures included being fatally wounded, waking up in a genetically enhanced body, foiling a plot to destroy Earth and Venus hatched by galactic tyrant Enro the Red, and exiling Enro to an asteroid prison. Now Gosseyn’s friend, Venusian detective Eldred Crang, has been murdered, and Gosseyn is pegged as the culprit, initiating a chain of events that leads improbably to Gosseyn traveling into the future and saving the human race from extinction. Wright faithfully emulates van Vogt’s labyrinthine plot twists and energetic prose while answering questions about Gosseyn’s origins that have burned in fans’ minds for decades. --Carl Hays

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (May 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765316293
• ISBN-13: 978-0765316295
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #849,243 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another flawless effort from Wright, June 21, 2008

By	R - See all my reviews

Not much else needs to be said. If you liked his other books you'll love this one too. One thing I'll say: the book is full of wicked plot twists which, while very rewarding, may challenge some readers. I'd tackle The Golden Age first. (Which I still think is Wright's best. This book may tie the ending together better, but Phaeton was a much more compelling character than the somewhat detached and mechanical Gosseyn. Gosseyn's rivals are great though.) I read this before reading van Vogt's Null-A so I can't say how it relates.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Word is not the thing it represents..., July 4, 2008

By	Steven Smith (Maine, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

...not true in this case, the Word is all that we have.

This is an excellent conclusion to Van Vogt's first two Null-A books (we won't count the third one). Be sure to read World of Null-A and Pawns (Players) of Null-A before reading this book, or you will miss a lot of what is happening. If you read this one first, the previous two await.

John Wright's emulation of Van Vogt's style is *very* successful. There is a lot happening in this book. New events and concepts assail you from every side--this is very like the better Van Vogt books. You are a far better reader than I if you won't be going back to re-read it and see what you missed.

Many plot elements and plot directions in the originals that just seemed to be dead ends have been revived and carefully woven back into the whole. I think this is key to how much fans of Null-A will enjoy this book.

I am amazed at how much effort this book must have been. Thank you John Wright.

Steve

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Null-A Sequel, September 16, 2009

By	Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: Null-A Continuum (Mass Market Paperback)

Null-A Continuum (2008) is a SF novel within the Null-A series. It is a sequel to the original sequence by A.E. Van Vogt. In the previous volumes, non-Aristotelian logic is a system that provides a sane view of life. Null-A has developed various means of stripping the emotional interpretations from thoughts, including the cortical-thalamic pause.

The Games Machine was built on Earth to select the rulers. The Machine tested the minds of applicants and rejected those who had not mastered and internalized Null-A principles. Some were given posts in the Earth government, but those who scored the highest were allowed to live on Venus among a same population.

But the Games Machine was subverted through the action of a distorter, a device for shifting matter and energy through space. The device had been supplied by Thorson, the commander of an invasion force from the Greatest Empire. President Hardy and his gang ruled the Earth under the Empire.

Gosseyn came to the city of the Games Machine to test his knowledge of Null-A. Yet he was exposed as an impostor by someone from his own village and was thrown out of his hotel. Then he met a girl who also lacked a place to stay.

Gosseyn was later killed and returned in a new body. Gosseyn Two met Thorson and then discovered that he had a second brain. After killing the Imperial commander, Gosseyn Two discovered that Lavoisseur was another copy of himself.

Gosseyn Two discovered more about the Greatest Empire and foiled the invasion with a little help from Crang. He met Leej -- a Predictor -- on Yalerta. Then another version of himself was awakened accidentally. Eventually, Gosseyn Three captured and imprisoned Eron.

In this novel, Gilbert Gosseyn is a man with a double brain and serial immortality. If he dies, his memories are transferred to a younger body. His second brain provides the ability to shift himself and other things through space like a distorter. But his earliest memories are lies. Who has created him and why?

Lavoisseur was the head of the Semantic Institute, the organization that built the Games Machine. He was an older copy of Gosseyn, but has additional memories. Gosseyn suspects that he is the Chessplayer, the man who is manipulating him.

X was a member of President Hardy's gang. He was also another Gosseyn body who was damaged and had a higher metabolism. This allowed his thoughts to be received by Lavoisseur. Apparently he was planted on Hardy as a source of information.

Eldred Crang is a Venusian detective who discovered the invasion forces and infiltrated the Imperial organization. Later, Crang returned to the Greatest Empire as Patricia's husband.

Eron the Red is the Emperor of the Greatest Empire, the largest principality in the galaxy. He has the ability to see through walls.

Patricia Hardy is the woman who Gosseyn remembers as his wife. But she was also the daughter of President Hardy and the sister of Eron. So who is she?

In this story, Gosseyn Two is visiting Nirene. As the space liner is making its last distorter jump to the planet, Gosseyn is separated from the liner and diverted to an apartment. There Gosseyn finds the charred body of Crang and indications that Patricia has been there.

Gosseyn decides that he is on Nirene. Then he uses a device in the apartment to view the murder. He sees Eron appear as a Shadow and kill Crang.

Then the police appear and Gosseyn is arrested. At the secret police headquarters, Gosseyn learns that agents of the defeated Greatest Empire are active within the Interplanetary League. They have also held back some Imperial warships.

Gosseyn visits various planets within the League and discovers that Imperial agents have infiltrated many of them. Solar systems start disappearing into Shadow. Then he gains the memories of Gosseyn Three from the Shadow Galaxy.

Later Gosseyn meets X in a younger body. X is still insane and is now working for Eron. He commits multiple murders and leaves Gosseyn to take the blame. He also destroys a lie detector before he shifts out of the area.

Gosseyn contacts the Venusian Null-As and reports his findings. They analyze the lie detector and start working on countermeasures. Then Gosseyn finds himself within false realities or alternate timelines. In some, he meets future versions of himself, but in others he meets the Ydd, a corporate entity that exists outside the physical universe.

This tale takes Gosseyn and his avatars further into the conspiracy to change the future. He discovers that he knows much more than expected. And he keeps encountering Patricia.

The author displays an amazing familiarity with Van Vogt's works. This story is based on Van Vogt's fourth SF novel -- World of Null-A -- and its sequels. But it also contains scenarios and themes from his first three novels -- Voyage of the Space Beagle, Slan, and The Book of Ptath -- as well as elements from The Universe Maker and probably other works.

Highly recommended for Van Vogt fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of mind training, superpowers, and puzzling plots.

-Arthur W. Jordin