The Peace War (Paperback)

by Vernor Vinge (Author) "The Old California Shopping Center was the Santa Ynez Police Company's biggest account-and one of Miguel Rosas' most enjoyable beats..." (more)
Key Phrases: bobble generator, bobble burst, sortie craft, Peace Authority, Middle California, Hamilton Avery (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Peace War is quintessential hard-science adventure. The Peace Authority conquered the world with a weapon that never should have been a weapon--the "bobble," a spherical force-field impenetrable by any force known to mankind. Encasing governmental installations and military bases in bobbles, the Authority becomes virtually omnipotent. But they've never caught Paul Hoehler, the maverick who invented the technology, and who has been working quietly for decades to develop a way to defeat the Authority. With the help of an underground network of determined, independent scientists and a teenager who may be the apprentice genius he's needed for so long, he will shake the world, in the fast-paced hard-science thriller that garnered Vinge the first of his four Hugo nominations for best novel.


From the Inside Flap
After the World Ends

Fifty years before, the "Peace Authority" took control of governments worldwide with a radically different weapon, the "bobbler," which encased its targets within an impenetrable force field, rendering resistance impotent. After the decimation caused by severe plagues, civilization fell into a semifeudal state, and all high technology was banned.

But Paul Naismith, inventor of the bobbler, has never given up hope, and having hidden from the usurpers for decades, he is finally ready to lead the tinker underground against the evil he helped to create. The odds against them seem impossibly long. Nothing has been able to defeat the Peace Authority's bobbler.

Until now . . .

"Combines the tautness of a political thriller with strong characterizations. A suspenseful story."
--Library Journal

"Conveys the excitement of a conceptual breakthrough as well as the gap between theory and actuality."
--Publishers Weekly

"A fascinating scientific concept worked into a colorful, carefully thought-out future."
--Locus


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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (December 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765308835
• ISBN-13: 978-0765308832
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,787 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All Bobbled Up, April 20, 2004

By	themarsman (Georgetown, TX) - See all my reviews

Stumbling upon this book in my local library, I decided to once again enter a world created by Vernor Vinge. Several years ago I read both of Vinge's awarding winning books: A Fire Upon the Deep & A Deepness in the Sky. Simply put, I have yet to be disappointed by Vinge.

In The Peace War, a rogue research group, later calling itself the Peace Authority, takes control of the world after perfecting the art of conjuring and projecting bobbles...impenetrable spherical force-fields. Fifty years after they've taken down nearly every national government on the planet by negating the governments' every weapon with the bobble, a rebellion is finally stirring, a rebellion led by Paul Naismith...a Tinker whose mastery of Banned technology (high-tech stuff was banned by the Authority because it presents a threat to the Authority's power...namely the sole proprietorship of the bobble technology) puts Naismith in the perfect position to help bring about an end (with the help of his fellow Tinkers) to the Peace Authority's tyrannical rule. But Naismith is an elderly man (around 80), and knows his time is waning. Because of this, Naismith takes on an apprentice, someone he can pass his Tinker secrets to...an heir. He chooses (or has thrust upon him, depending on the point of view) Wili Wachendon...for most intents and purposes a thief...but also a mathematical genesis of the highest caliber -- once Naismith instructs him on some fundamentals anyway. Naismith and Wachendon, along with their Tinker friends and a few others, ultimately confront the Peace Authority on their own turf...in more ways than one...where nothing short of the fate of the world lies in the hands of Naismith, Wachendon, and their friends.

Once one puts aside the unbelievability factor -- conqueroring every government in the world, even with a technology as incredible as the bobble -- the book is really quite good. The bobble is an interesting concept that Vinge handles quite adeptly...for instance, in the shadows of the large bobbles that surround entire cities, the surrounding ecosystem is dramatically altered because of a change in climactic patterns brought forcefully on by the bobbles. I found this to be a very plausible and common-sense consequence of using the bobbles that I'm not sure every author would have considered. Also, I found it interesting that at least one of Naismith's devices (I won't say which, because it is one of the minor mysteries that gets solved early on in the book) seems to be an "ancestor" to one of the devices used in A Deepness in the Sky written about 15 years later.

Overall, The Peace War is certainly worth reading if you are a fan of Vinge, a techy, or are just plain interested in good scifi.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best Vinge, May 16, 2006

By	Caribbeing (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews

I am a HUGE fan of "A Fire Upon the Deep" and "A Deepness in the Sky", but this book doesn't measure up. It's got an interesting idea (if implausible), but nowhere near what Vinge came up with for his other two books.

I also found the characters a bit thin. Paul, Wili, and the rest just don't seem real to me. I don't have a sense of how these people got to where they are now. So, Paul is a genius, and has something to do with the origins of the bobbles. Great, but what happened to him in the 50 years that the bobbles have been around? How did he get to where he is? Unanswered questions.

Overall, I'd skip this and stick with the other two books I mentioned.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars riveted, February 15, 2003

By	russender "russender" (Galveston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Peace War (Hardcover)

I'm a new reader of this author and I have to say this book kept me going through the pages. The plot is well designed and the imagination involved is amazing. Vinge reminds me strangely of Orson Scott Card in that his characters aren't necessarily well-developed in their personalities but they are sufficient to move a well-crafted story to its purpose. I really liked the book and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fun read.