Voice of the Whirlwind [Hardcover]

Walter Jon Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1987

[This is the Audiobook CD Library Edition in vinyl case.]

[Directed by Emily Janice Card]

[Read by Don Leslie]

This second installment in a classic cyberpunk series is a fast-paced ride through a gritty, well-imagined world.

Steward is a clone, a beta. His memories are fifteen years old because his alpha never had a brain-scan update. And in those fifteen years, the entire world has changed. An alien race known as the Powers has established relations with humanity. The Policorp that held his allegiance has collapsed. He fought and survived the off-world Artifact War, but dozens of his friends did not. Both his first and second wives have divorced him. And, more importantly, someone has murdered him, causing the activation of the beta backup. Now Steward must probe into the horrors of the war, its politics and betrayals, to find out who wanted him dead--if he doesn't want to die again.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Williams's novel Hardwired was a well-written but standard entry in the cyberpunk sweepstakes launched by William Gibson's Neuromancer. This followup, however, is much more interesting and successful. Etienne Steward is the clone ("Steward Beta") of a hero of the Artifact Wars, in which multinational corporations fielded armies to plunder alien ruins. He's been given Steward Alpha's memories minus the last years of the hero's life: the war and its aftermath. Now Steward Beta begins an investigation, tracking down Alpha's wife, friends, enemies and fellow vets to fill in the picture and learn why Alpha was murdered. In particular, Beta probes the war, its horrors, its betrayals and The Powers, the aliens who ended it. Resonances of Vietnam-era moral concerns make this deft updating of the postWorld War II genre of psychological thrillers about amnesiacs one of the best of its kind.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

''Slick and intelligent entertainment. The tension remains high throughout. A taut, satisfying tale of space-age skulduggery.'' --San Francisco Chronicle

''Resonances of Vietnam-era moral concerns make this deft updating of the post-World War II genre of psychological thrillers about amnesiacs one of the best of its kind.'' --Publishers Weekly --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 278 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (May 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312930135
• ISBN-13: 978-0312930134
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,737,104 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can't stress enough how superb this book is, June 3, 2006

By 

Peter J. Johannsen "whandall" (Saint Paul, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Voice of the Whirlwind (Paperback)

It's probably a good idea to take my review with a grain of salt. I like this book so much there's a passage from it tattooed on my thigh. Yes, you did read that correctly.

Walter Jon Williams is one of the heavyweights of science fiction. His characters are intellegent and engaging, and his books always have a message, but he doesn't go out of his way to beat you over the head with it.

Voice of the Whirlwind, however, is in a class by itself. It has martial arts, love, betrayal, creepy aliens, dry humor, corporate currencies, synthesized drugs, chess, self sacrifice, Uzbekistan...well, basically everything you could ask for in a relaxing, engaging read. Why this book never made the best sellers list is one of the bigger mysteries.

I could rant for hours, but the fact is, the crazier I sound, the less likely it is that you'll listen. So *please* give this one a try.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and tightly-written, December 14, 2007

By 

Brian A. Schar (Menlo Park, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Voice Of The Whirlwind (Paperback)

I picked this off my bookshelf after not having read it for a number of years. Wow, did this book manage to hold up over time! Walter Jon Williams has always been an underrated and underappreciated SF writer; all of his books that I have read have been at least good, with many being great. "Voice of the Whirlwind" falls in the great category. Williams crafted a tightly-written novel that eschews the bloat that often creeps into SF (any genre, for that matter). This book is laser-focused, with no surplusage. The characters are believable, and the story is interesting. It's a military-ish novel without the jingoism and space opera of military SF; a cyberpunk-ish novel that isn't a Gibson clone, and a first contact-ish novel that puts a fresh spin on alien-human interaction. If I have any quibble with the book, it's that part of the plot seems a little overcomplicated to me, but not enough so to be more than a minor distraction than a major problem.

If you like SF, you will almost certainly enjoy this book. I'd even recommend this as a blind purchase for yourself or as a gift. If you don't feel that adventurous, "Voice of the Whirlwind" is definitely worth seeking out at your library.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Buddhist work, October 5, 1998

By 

Michael Ratner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Voice of the Whirlwind (Paperback)

WJW is one of my favorite writers and "Voice.." is one of his best books IMHO, on par with "Hardwired" if not quite as good as "Aristoi". This book is a masterful work of Buddhist literature, made even more delightful by being written in the SF genre.