Customer Reviews

Worldwired

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Worldwired" goes off, yet again in new direction. The three-part saga that in the author's "Hammered" seemed to be establishing itself as a cyberpunky "band of outlaws up against globalism and the corporations," but turned into an international thriller cum space opera in "Scardown," now adds a first-contact puzzle thread to the proceedings. (And a spectacular scene at the United Nations.)

This time out Jenny Casey takes more of a supporting role (although she gets plenty of action) as Richard, the super-intelligent artificial intelligence, moves front and center here. Certainly, he is the one who keeps all the plotlines together. But Jenny herself gets plenty of chapters in which to tell her part of the story in her wisecracky first-person-present style.

The author brings back the characters who survived the first two tales, and tosses in a few more (she puts a few of the returnees essentially on hold for a while, but do not fret, because she plugs them in when they're needed again), and once again uses her jagged multiple pov style. There's plenty of action here, but you have to resist the temptation to gobble down the pages, because if you do, you won't have the time to relish Ms. Bear's fine-honed prose style.

I hope that Ms. Bear will return to this "universe" she's created, although advertisements at the back of the book would seem to indicate that in her next novel she intends to go in another direction. No matter. I'll travel that road with her.

Watching Jenny grow and change from "Maker" in the first book, to a starship pilot in the second, to a complicated 50 year old combat veteran and reluctant hero in this book has been a fascinating journey. Bear's characters: heroes, villains, and bystanders, are all clearly lit and sympathetic (even when you know they are on the wrong side). If you liked "Patriot Games" or "Hunt for Red October" for Jack Ryan and the rest of the characters, I think you'll like this story, too. Gritty writing with an involved plot that keeps you guessing.

It also has an AI (artificial intelligence) patterned after Richard Feynman, famous physicist and drummer and a personal hero of mine. Marvellous.

I never would have guessed where this trilogy would end. The plot was interesting and the characters compelling. I also really enjoyed the writing style of this author. A few of her more descriptive images really stuck with me.

A Canadian Master Warrant Officer Jenny Casey, in her 50's, is in the starship Montreal. The year is 2063. Chinese and Canadians are fighting for the space. The Earth is polluted and in a bad shape. The PanChinese have flung an asteroid at Toronto and killed millions. At the same time Jenny Casey attempts to first contact with the aliens who have arrived on the scene -- to establish communication with the ships of the mysterious Benefactors.

The world is hanging on an ecological disaster. A sacrifice of deliberate crashing of a spaceship into the ocean caused the alien Benefactor nanotech to spread throughout the ecosystem. It took the Richard, the self-aware ghost in the AI, some time to work his magic to take control of the fallen nanotech to make things right again. In the process the worldwire emerged. Richard becomes self-replicating. The book concentrates on two equally strong story lines. One about the difficulties of learning to communicate during first contact with aliens. The other is about war crimes tribunals and global politics between Canadian prime minister Riel and PanChinese government represented by Xiong to held responsible for their actions. Communication with lifeforms no one has yet to understand, is also having troubles as two scientists are being abducted.

Two (2) stars. Written in 2004 this is book 3 in a trilogy. Jenny's ability to be plugged into the worldwire, the AI, demonstrates cleverly the interplay between human and machine. The shortcoming of human race are demonstrated when AI is needed to testify in court. Events are very convincing and real. Jenny continue to be master sketch of a woman with a lot of past, and quite a bit of baggage. There are frequent jumps between the virtual and real worlds but at many times this is confusing. In spite of more front lifted subplots, the reader may have difficulties following the chaos. The execution is a mixed bag as many questions about their nature remains unanswered. This is all too evident at the appearing Benefactor, which isn't holding interest with the slow pace it takes to establish communication. The sense of wonder of this alien encounter did not get realized fully. The story is a hit-and-miss but probably a required read to plow through for previous book readers.

A brilliant finish to the Jenny trilogy, and definitely my favorite out of all three. Elizabeth Bear shines during action scenes where she grips the reader with intense action and immediacy. The science and technology woven into this are intriguing and really absorbed me. From start to finish she created a wonderful tale. The characters are deep and complex.

I will admit that the jumpy POVs are hard to get used to to begin with, and some will find her style of writing hard to digest. Also, there were points where I grew impatient with the slow sense of deliberation in everything, but those were few and far between.

Worst part: The static pace towards the middle of the book.

Best part: fight scenes (particularly between the AIs) and explanations of alien technology

Although (luckily for us) there appears to be plenty of room for sequels, Ms. Bear brings a nice wrap to an essentially self-contained arc of what feels like a much larger story. Although (speaking as a male reader) some--not all--of the male characters seemed a bit flat, the star of the show, Jenny Casey, is one of the best and deepest female heroines I have come across in ages. This is good, character-centered writing, and it's good sf, with a sense of scope and scale that push the genre forward, without requiring too great a suspension of disbelief.

I liked all three of these (HAMMERED and SCARDOWN are the previous novels in the series), and look forward to reading more from Elizabeth Bear.

Elizabeth Bear's WORLDWIRED is easily the weakest book in the trilogy she began in HAMMERED. It's hard to say exactly what makes WORLDWIRED so bad, but the book is certainly not helped by frequent changes in point of view, awkward attempts at humor, awkward attempts at romance, excessive focus on indistinguishable tertiary characters (the scientists sent to make contact with and make sense of the alien spacecraft orbiting Earth), and the author's success in making alien first contact seem pointless and boring. Highlights of the book--it does have some--include the Chinese conscientious objector Min-xue (though he was more central and more interesting in SCARDOWN), the political by-play between the Canadian prime minister (who comes across more like a sweet innocent than a veteran pol) and the Chinese prime minister, the budding friendship between Genie and Patty, and the climactic shootout at the UN.

The plot, in very broad strokes, is as follows: When the Chinese dropped an asteroid on Toronto, obliterating Lake Ontario and my home town of Buffalo in the process, they created a nuclear winterish situation that Richard the AI is trying to fix using the alien nanotech that Leah Castaign dropped in the ocean while sacrificing her life. Jenny Casey is in space fighting off Chinese attempts to hack her spaceship and attempting to make contact with the aliens who recently arrived. Communication proves impossible until she and her scientist friends defy orders and land on the two ships. They quickly learn that the aliens are at least as different from each other as they are from us. Meanwhile, down on planet Earth, the Chinese sabotage Richard -- obviously hellbent on preventing anybody from cleaning up the mess they've made. The Canadian prime minister attempts to keep the military general apparently behind all of the destruction from taking over the Chinese government, an effort that comes to a head in a meeting at the UN. And that's pretty much it.

My recommendation is to stay away from this series and stay away from Bear's novels. If you've already read SCARDOWN, however, you might as well tackle this one, too. If you start with really low expectations, you won't be too disappointed.

Big rock blast sacrifice aftermath.


In the wake of a large object being dropped on Canada from a very great height, the problems of the planet still remain, evne with the sacrifice of one of Jenny's pilot proteges to help ameliorate the damage. Space exploration is still vital, and Jenny Casey is considering her own expedition given her current position and materiel.

Luckily for the meat-based population of the planet, Richard Feynman is happy to use his basically now planet-sized brain resources to help with the rebuilding effort on the surface of the planet.

Political enemies who want things to stay as they are would really like to stop any successes Casey and her allies might be able to manage. Not all of them are human.

Again, a book that is tricky to sum up in a phrase, and well worth a look. It is perhaps even a bit better than the last two.

I'm one of those people who usually finish a book, no matter how painfully boring. This book tested that theory. Granted, I will note here that this is the first book I'm reading in the series, and perhaps that contributed to the lack of interest I had in the characters. They all seemed the same to me. The action scene near the end was pretty good, (hence 2 stars) but I found the book only slightly more interesting than that Era-crap (to which I had to resort to coffee and mandatory pages-read a day in order to finish).

Jenny is an interesting enough character, but all the other characters seemed like little wooden miniatures. Again, if you've read the other two books and know more about the series as a whole, you may like this book. Definitely not one of those series you can enjoy from any point.

The writing style didn't impress me, but it wasn't too painful. Dry but with hints of flavor.

The end of the trilogy is by far the best book of the series, in contrast to most multi book novels, which typically start strong, and limp to an end. Not that the first two books are at all weak. The first book "Hammered" is very strong, with many absorbing characters, but the second, "Scarsdown" is, perhaps due to the extigicies of editing, a little compacted for easy reading.
This work could easily have been expanded to four books, but that's the publisher's decision, not Ms. Bear's

Totally worthwhile and expansive read, with quite a bit of moral and social commentary between the lines. A very dense but readable debut into Scienece Fiction, and i cant wait for her next work. Anybody who thinks SF is not a mature field is urged to read Elizabeth Bear.