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    Rainbows End: A Novel with One Foot in the Future
    Rainbows End: A Novel with One Foot in the Future
    Rainbows End: A Novel with One Foot in the Future
    Ebook526 pages9 hours

    Rainbows End: A Novel with One Foot in the Future

    By Vernor Vinge

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Four time Hugo Award winner Vernor Vinge has taken readers to the depths of space and into the far future in his bestselling novels A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. Now, he has written a science-fiction thriller set in a place and time as exciting and strange as any far-future world: San Diego, California, 2025.

    Robert Gu is a recovering Alzheimer's patient. The world that he remembers was much as we know it today. Now, as he regains his faculties through a cure developed during the years of his near-fatal decline, he discovers that the world has changed and so has his place in it. He was a world-renowned poet. Now he is seventy-five years old, though by a medical miracle he looks much younger, and he's starting over, for the first time unsure of his poetic gifts. Living with his son's family, he has no choice but to learn how to cope with a new information age in which the virtual and the real are a seamless continuum, layers of reality built on digital views seen by a single person or millions, depending on your choice. But the consensus reality of the digital world is available only if, like his thirteen-year-old granddaughter Miri, you know how to wear your wireless access—through nodes designed into smart clothes—and to see the digital context—through smart contact lenses.

    With knowledge comes risk. When Robert begins to re-train at Fairmont High, learning with other older people what is second nature to Miri and other teens at school, he unwittingly becomes part of a wide-ranging conspiracy to use technology as a tool for world domination.

    In a world where every computer chip has Homeland Security built-in, this conspiracy is something that baffles even the most sophisticated security analysts, including Robert's son and daughter-in law, two top people in the U.S. military. And even Miri, in her attempts to protect her grandfather, may be entangled in the plot.

    As Robert becomes more deeply involved in conspiracy, he is shocked to learn of a radical change planned for the UCSD Geisel Library; all the books there, and worldwide, would cease to physically exist. He and his fellow re-trainees feel compelled to join protests against the change. With forces around the world converging on San Diego, both the conspiracy and the protest climax in a spectacular moment as unique and satisfying as it is unexpected. This is science fiction at its very best, by a master storyteller at his peak.


    At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateApr 3, 2007
    ISBN9781429991896
    Rainbows End: A Novel with One Foot in the Future
    Author

    Vernor Vinge

    Vernor Vinge is the author of such acclaimed novels as True Names , The Peace War, Marooned in Realtime, A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky, and has won four Hugo Awards. A mathematician and computer scientist, he lives in San Diego, California.

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    Reviews for Rainbows End

    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      This is a near-future 'wired world' conspiracy theory story with some unusual and clever aspects. Written in 2005-6 and set in 2025, the protagonist, Robert Gu, emerges from the half-world of Alzheimer's via a new biotech cure to find his world, naturally, completely changed. Meanwhile, an international group of intelligence operatives are trying to infiltrate a plot to release a bio-engineered nanovirus into the world to influence populations remotely (read: MacGuffin), not knowing that the plot is lead by one of their number. These two plots come together through the protagonist and his family (though be warned, this is definitely not a 'happy families' situation; some of the situations as Gu begins to reinstate his place in the world are reflective of the sort of problems Alzheimer's sufferers experience on their way down that path. It is only reasonable to imagine that if a part-way successful treatment were to be found, restorees might experience similar issues on their way back up).From where I'm sitting, just over half-way between the writing and the events of the novel, there are many aspects of this book which look remarkably prescient. Technology has jumped the smartphone stage and gone directly to wearable tech. Everywhere is wired; (nearly) everything is visible. There is a lot of augemtned reality and automatous and semi-automatous tech; in one scene, a character walks across a busy freeway in the dark, and the automatous cars automatically avoid him, parting to miss him as though he were moving through water. Robert Gu is sent back to school to learn how to use the tech, alongside other Alzheimer's recoverees and high school kids. The clash of cultures can be quite creative at times, and in showing us this Vinge has some effective scenes. Some of Vinge's takes on technology are worth noting. He has spotted that there is a blank spot in the Internet's coverage of things. There's a period in Web coverage of events between, roughly, 1948 and 1998, where subjects that aren't immediately "sexy" haven't been picked up. I'd spotted this myself - I'm trying to research a British writer of novels and later books on engineering between the 1950s and the late 1970s, and it is almost impossible to find anything out about him. His books went out of print; he stopped writing before web publishing became A Thing; his publishers have ceased to exist and the company that inherited their backlists have no records from that time because they were all "dead" accounts and so there was no need to input them to current systems. The key events, especially in "hot" subjects, have all been recorded, but a minor Dark Age now exists for those forty years. Vinge has spotted this; it forms the basis of his characters' opposition to a plan to destructively digitise all the world's books.This group of counter-plotters, who are manipulated by the AI employed by the intelligence agents, are all Alzheimer's recoverees, but the process is far from perfect, with a success rate of 50% at best, and with an effectiveness drop-off that can be quite steep. Robert Gu is one of the rare cases where recovery is better than 90%. Obviously, the treatment cannot restore any recollection of the years when the illness ruled the patient's life; our protagonist was an acclaimed writer and poet, and he spends a lot of the book worrying over whether he can get his ability with words back. Ironically, the book name-checks Terry Pratchett as still being writing in 2025; publication pre-dated the announcement of Pratchett's own early-onset Alzheimer's by a year.Yet at the same time, all technology has to be approved by the Department of Homeland Security and (theoretically at least) the State has total surveillance in the name of "freedom" and "security". The intelligence operatives manage to avoid this; ordinary citizens cannot. Vinge's own writing is a bit hit-and-miss; the process by which Robert Gu emerges from the fog of dementia is quite effective, and throughout the novel the occasional turn of phrase made me smile. Yet there were sections which I found to be hard work. Given that Robert Gu is supposed to be a poet, this ratcheted the irony up another couple of notches.Overall, then, a creditable attempt to depict some of the issues of the wired world which works quite well on a technical level, but sometimes has surprising faults in the artistic department.
    • 2/5
      I admittedly haven't read much Vernor Vinge, but I know some of his books have won several Hugo Awards, including this one. But whenever I read him, I just don't enjoy his books. Admittedly, Vinge is an idea guy. He comes up with big ideas, world building stuff that can fascinate and allow the reader to explore new concepts and realms of being. But not in this book. In this book, the setting is just a few years in our future here on Earth and it's not a big concept world he creates. It's a little too plausible. A former "great" and famous poet from our current era (now) pretty much dies of Alzheimer's and is revived by his family roughly 10-15 years in the future. He has no clue what is and has happened. He discovers the world has changed and everyone uses wearable computers and are jacked into a worldwide network (Internet) and there is no demand for any type of former skills the elderly had. Indeed, the only careers I can recall people having in this book are kids and old people going to vocational tech high schools and normally aged adults joining the military. There's not much else. There are people who are about to be former librarians, because all of the books in the world's libraries are being destroyed because they're all being digitized. So, Robert Gu, the protagonist, is sent back to this votech high school to learn some skills that will translate into a real world job, one where information is the only source of monetary income and where data exchange is the only thing that most of that future's young people care about.One of the early things we learn about in the book is there is some secret plot to create a subliminal virus in a tv medium so it can take over the world and it is being brought about and handled by one person, one of the "good" guys, or so people are led to believe. There's also a super powerful AI named "Rabbit," who we never learn much about, but who plays a major role in the book. Speaking of never learning much about, that applies to most of the characters besides Gu, and we don't necessarily learn enough about him to care enough about what happens to him in this book. He turns from former world class poet into a data junkie with the help of a loser teenager who is always looking for a type of big score and they make an odd pair. And they collaborate on high school projects, but we never really see how. In fact, we're never really shown how much of this futuristic, yet oh so possibly real, tech is literally used. However, back to what I was saying. Gu's family is sick of him living with them, so they urge him to learn enough at high school to enable him to get a job (seriously? what type? doing what? he's taking shop!), so he can move out. Great family. Completely dysfunctional. We never learn very much about any of the characters. They're flat, they're not very important, most of the interesting ones don't even make enough appearances to allow us to get to know them. Characterization is a problem, then, in this book. So, too, the plot. I tried getting into it, but it just didn't resonate with me. This super secret horrible plot to take over the world, this international crisis, is being constructed at UC San Diego and yet, I didn't ever really get the idea that it was seriously that big of a deal. A subliminal virus? Oh wow, what a freaking nightmare! Worse than a nuclear bomb, clearly. Dear God, what will we do if it is released into the world? Oh man, who gives a shit? I just don't care. And that's a major point. In the end, what does the reader truly care about this book? Because to me, it was just not very interesting. I couldn't relate to the characters, I thought the plot was damn stupid, I thought the technology, while moderately interesting, was close enough to today's reality so that it didn't really stretch my imagination enough to actually call it sci fi. It's simply current reality, sped up by a decade. Big deal. And seniors who were successful CEOs, professors, career big shots returning to a vocational high school to learn new skills so that they can get a job in this futuristic society? That simply strikes me as stupid. On the whole, Vinge, the idea guy who's usually full of major universe shattering ideas, does almost nothing in this book to merit placing it up against his other works and I'm shocked this won the Hugo. I'd love to know what books were his competition that year, because it must have been a lean year for sci fi books. This book could have used some help with the dialogue, with character development, with plot development, with technology development, and perhaps a few others things. As far as I'm concerned, this book was a disappointment to me and I'm giving it two stars (although it probably deserves one) and stating that I simply can't recommend it.
    • 4/5
      Best aspect, for me, was the setting at UCSD, since I am there and it was fun to project the book onto familiar places. I recognize that isn’t a ringing endorsement for anyone not at UCSD! Some fun ideas, like using dna sequencing ideas to digitize shredded books...
    • 4/5
      First impressions: El comienzo es prometedor. Como anécdota: me hace mucha gracia que el primer capítulo (después del prólogo) tenga lugar en Barcelona.

      Onreading impressions: Imagina que eres un bastardo insensible... // Parece una distopía, pero no lo es // Cierto problema de "tono emocional" que mejora progresivamente (añadido después: mejora mucho) // Primera descripción creíble del ciberespacio que leo // ¡¡Sale Pratchett!!

      Afterreading impressions: Pues nada, que no retiro nada de lo dicho onreading. El libro está bien escrito, tiene recursos, los personajes son interesantes y la ciencia ficción estimulante. Apunta a una reflexión sobre el impacto de internet (y allegados) en la sociedad que a mi me parecía que iba a ir en una dirección y al final va en otra, un poco más "estética" y superficial, pero es un magnífico alimento para la imaginación. El final se dilata y se dilata y se dilata y se dilata hasta bastante después del desenlace de la trama principal, pero en realidad es para contar cosas que merecían ser contadas, así que no problem. Bastante recomendable.

    • 3/5
      I really love 'A Fire Upon the Deep,' and I feel like I keep waiting for Vinge to recreate that, in some form... and it keeps not happening.

      I felt like 'Rainbows End' aimed at being a near-future cyber-thriller a la William Gibson - but the 'thrilling' part was missing.

      There's a conspiracy to infect the world with some sort of suggestion-susceptibility, which its proponents see as the only way to 'save the world.' There's another group of NSA-types trying to stop the plan, but they don't really know what the plan is. There may be some overlap between the two sides.

      Meanwhile, there's a program in place to send rejuvenated old folks to high school to learn new skills which are supposed to help them re-integrate as productive members of society.

      And there's a big plan to destructively digitize the libraries of the world...

      There are a lot of interesting ideas in the book, but so many aspects of it are just too vague. I think I would've enjoyed it more if it were tightened up; if the reader was given a few more clues as to the goals of each character and what they're working toward. It's very amorphous: "We have to stop... someone... from doing... something." The reader doesn't know enough about what the ramifications might be to take a stance either way... or care.

      For a bit I was leaning toward two stars, but it's scraping in at three because there are actually lots of fascinating, thoughtful bits in here on a multitude of topics, especially regarding rapidly changing societies, the intersection (and conjunction) of personality and technology, interpersonal communication and understanding, the nature of talent and genius, etc...

      But it still feels oddly out-of-balance... plodding at times, and unsure of whether it wants to be humorous and tongue-in-cheek, or serious drama.
    • 5/5
      A really novel plot, combined with great characterisation makes for an unusual and absolutely beguiling book.
    • 4/5
      This story follows the egotistical protagonist, Robert Gu. Once, he was a renowned poet, but then he developed Alzheimer's. His character was angry and volatile as I know most Alzheimer's patients to go through, since losing one's mind is a bit frustrating. I expected his character to have bad qualities and make him an overall unlikable person. He is mostly unpleasant throughout the book and deeply manipulative to boot.

      In this different world, they've found a cure for the disease, and he gets it finding some added bonuses of becoming more youthful. However, there was a cost, especially since his disease was a brain disabling one. He lost his literary ability. Finding himself unable to do what he was used to in a world ruled by technology, he realized his technophobic tendencies. He attends high school again to learn things over, and finds himself in a plot to use the newest technology for mind control.

      This is a unique read, if at times difficult, that is funny and also serious. With a virtual rabbit making carrots stick around for weeks that one can't get rid of, to battles for mind control, it's the future one can easily imagine in our current world with all the advances in technology.
    • 5/5
      The odd future described by this book is both depressing and hopeful. It is a world in which humans regularly retreat into virtual reality, often corresponding to their chosen ‘belief circles,’ as an interface to the real world and yet they remain curious, productive and creative. There are large ‘Big Brother’ governments but they are mostly benign. There is very little privacy and yet people seem to respect one another’s individuality. There is an ever looming threat that terrorists will use real weapons of mass destruction against civilians but people in general seem to honestly abhor violence. People group themselves into belief circles with complex mythos based on various things from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld to something that sounds much like Pokemon but these seem to be viewed more as matters of taste than uncompromising religious “truths” so there remains room for compromise and agreement among their followers.
      This juxtaposition of positive and negative extends to the characters. It is told from multiple points of view, primarily that of Robert Gu, once a renowned poet and a complete jerk in his personal life who is being successfully treated for several aging related illnesses including Alzheimer’s. Once he begins to regain his mind, he starts out as the SOB he used to be but he grows into far more empathetic person. The antagonist, Alfred Vaz, is attempting to develop something that sounds very much like mind control but he is doing so in an effort to protect people and create a more peaceful world and he is honestly upset when Gu’s granddaughter is endangered because of events that unfold ultimately from Gu’s efforts to stop him.
      The book requires some work on the part of the reader. First of all the virtual reality aspect often makes it difficult to tell what is “real” and what isn’t. It also isn’t a simple good guy versus bad guy adventure tale. The characters are more complex than that and they grow and change through the course of the book. And there are a few loose threads left hanging, most notably who or what is “Rabbit?” But I hesitate to call these flaws. This ambiguity is part of the theme of this book and Vinge’s merging of dystopian and utopian views of the future make this an interesting and thought provoking read.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      There are a whole lot of ideas being thrown around here, and a whole bunch of plot threads left dangling by the end. Overall I thought it was sort of a mess of a book, albeit a fun mess.

      I thought there was a missed narrative opportunity with the main character getting treatment that made him appear and feel young again. The fact that he is an old man forced to relearn the world is harped on repeatedly, but the fact that he's an old man in a teenager's body is left unexplored. Oh well, maybe Vinge will use that angle in the clearly envisioned sequel.
    • 4/5
      This book has a great big list of characteristics I usually love in books, but for some reason, it just didn't quite add up.Here is what it has: a near-future setting that thoughtfully examines the implications of technology we are developing now (especially augmented reality); a mysterious, powerful, impish character who wreaks havoc (and might be an artificial intelligence); children and other underdogs who save the day; an absolutely ape-shit climax where lots of things go totally haywire and everything is totally utterly ridiculous; references to contemporary geek culture (Terry Pratchett!).But somehow, despite having that list of great characteristics, I just wasn't sucked in. I can't put my finger on what it was... perhaps I missed a few details at the beginning... it was also one of those books where I kept having to pause to ask myself, "wait, why are the characters doing this?" so perhaps the plot was a little convoluted. Whatever it was, this book just didn't quite come together for me.
    • 3/5
      Near-future novel set in 2025. Augmented reality - implemented by smart clothing and contact lenses - has become ubiquitous, but is also a tool for controlling others. Noah Smith sold this book as being about future labor markets where seniority rules do not apply and older people must go back to high school, but to me it was mostly a confusing mix of conspiracies, literature nostalgia and family affairs. It did not catch me.
    • 4/5
      A fun look at a possible future that seems eerily possible.
    • 1/5
      I remember hearing a lot about this, somewhere, at some point, so I picked it up in the library. I was rather bored in the first fifty pages, but decided to keep on going to a hundred pages and see if I could get on with it once the plot got going. But it's so heinously slow, and Robert Gu's mind is not one I want to be familiar with -- his obsession with his granddaughter being overweight, in the early chapters, and the sentence, "It was hard to dominate people when you didn't know what they were talking about." Not a person I can get on with, even as a character in a novel. And then there's the dismissal of ebooks stuff going on, which as the daughter of someone who can only read ebooks comes like a slap in the face.

      The technology and so on is interesting, but not that different to a lot of what's out there in cyberpunk and even mainstream spec-fic. It feels somehow dated, already, even though it was first published in 2006. And the prose is, oh my goodness, boring doesn't cover it. Stultifying is a nice word that just about does it. There was nothing there which -- for me anyway -- elevated it even above the level of Dan Brown, for goodness sake. Well, at least Dan Brown is readable.

      There's a scene where Robert Gu is eating, and all the food seems tasteless to him. That's what I make of this novel, pretty much.

      It seems to be a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it novel, judging from the spread of reviews I glanced over when deciding whether to continue. I'm in the latter camp, I fear, and won't spend any more time on it.
    • 2/5
      Though I loved Vinge's earlier works, particularly "A Deepness in the Sky" and "A Fire Upon the Deep," Vinge's 2007 novel "Rainbows End" falls far short of these works.Rainbows End has one strength: the originality and bizarreness of Vinge's vision of the near future. Computer technology has transformed the world, primarily through wearable computers (which people can interact with through tiny, imperceptible body movements), an omnipresent, high-bandwidth internet, and powerful governmental intelligence agencies which watch everything but struggle to possess the capacity to analyze everything they see. Not all of the technology Vinge postulates here is plausible. For example: people move too much to control a computer entirely through tiny body movements, contact lenses which overlay imagery on the world require miniaturization which is too advanced for the book's timeframe, and delivery of packages by cannon seems like something out of the Jetsons cartoon: an absurdly inefficient use of energy and resources. Nevertheless, I am willing to accept all of these technological flourishes, as they are absolutely necessary to support the plot, and much science fiction is grounded in unlikely or downright impossible technologies.The problems with Rainbows End can be summarized as: everything else. The prologue and first chapter of the book promise an exciting, incredible story about bioterrorism and advanced spy agencies in the SF future. Immediately after that, the book takes a U-turn, focusing on the trials of an inexplicably nasty literature professor as he goes back to "high school" to learn about the computer technologies which permeate the modern world. Many of the scenes related to the school are confusing, using language and concepts the author does not explain, likely in a conscious attempt to make the reader feel as disoriented about the future as the old literature professor.The problem with attempting to learn about Vinge's future gradually, as you go through the story, is that so many elements of it are absurd. Just to mention a few: A university administration decides to change its library into an interactive virtual domain modeled off a fantasy world, complete with earthquakes that physically shake the building. Media about large cartoon animals has a rabid, worldwide following of grown adult fans. Laboratory managers allow employees- and even the lab robots, such as forklifts and sample movers- to leave the labs on company time in order to take part in a destructive, flashy combination of a protest and live-action role-playing game. By design, occupants cannot stop their automated car or open the car doors without destroying the car's computer systems. Even the notion of a "high school" where kids and old people work together is far-fetched. As the book makes clear, kids and old people have very different strengths and very different learning needs; there would be specialized courses of instruction for each group.Unfortunately, the book's plot is founded on top of absurdity upon absurdity, all of which support the climax like a house of cards. (The worst of these absurdities I have not mentioned here, to avoid spoiling material elements of the plot.)The ending is also unsatisfying, leaving questions about two or three important characters unresolved. Similarly, we never learn the intelligence agencies' perspective on all the events of the book. I would have been horribly disappointed at these omissions if I wasn't so glad that the book was over.
    • 4/5
      Set in the near future in this book Vince toys with today's edge technologies and what they may become. Embedded in a post-cyberpunk mystery-adventure story this insight is a great read for all SF lovers...
    • 4/5
      Hard science fiction of the near future--very near. Features wearable computers and artillery delivered packages.Makes me want to see the 30s.
    • 4/5
      Weirdly I was directed to this book by Jason Griffey, inspiring keynote speaker at VALA2012 and it's recap in Perth (VALA is a Library conference) . So what's Librarianship got to do with sci fi? Well the expanding world of networked information is taking my profession into a future that looks more and more like science fiction, and this book gives you a great idea of what that future might look like... the power of social media, and message boards amplified with wearable computing and haptics, where you can interrogate millions of minds on the internet with a gesture and see endless overlays on the external world; overlays ranging from fantasy to maintenance information. We navigate this world through the eyes of recovering Alzeheimers patient Bob Gu and with him get caught up in a conspiracy that is being run by ...whom? And yes, digitisation of the world's' knowledge is a real project, the Giesel Library building does exist, so what else from this extraordinary book is coming to pass... Fun and slightly scary.
    • 3/5
      worst Vinge novel I've ever read, but still had some good bits, including a (typically) exciting final third of the book. Some neat ideas weren't enough to make up for the unpleasant, and poorly drawn characters though.
    • 2/5
      The concept was good, but the story was too verbose and there was too much inside-lingo to fully get into the book. This is odd, as many cyber/postcyberpunk books have their own set of lingo, but Vinge didn't present it that well.
    • 5/5
      Wow! Vernor Vinge comes through again. There is a reason this guy has 3 Hugo book winners and why this book won the award. This book is packed full of so many interesting aspects. It has a hard sci-fi bent with soft sci-fi flavor. The future technologies are well thought out. The details of one man's past, and how a medical procedure changes his present views and attitudes are so rich. The interplay and relationships of the Gu family are also a highlight of the book. And the edge-of-the-seat action to save the world keeps the reader glued. Combine this all together and you have Rainbow's End. This is the type of book that reminds me why I like good science fiction.
    • 3/5
      Vinge's strength is his insight into the psychological consequences of technological innovation. In his best work, he is able to explore these consequences by treating technology as his characters do--as a given, like we treat the computers in our cars and microwaves. This book tries to explore some real social and psychological issues using the gee-whiz approach to technology of Cyberpunk, and it's a poor combination. Vinge's characters get buried in all the techno-babble, too often becoming merely talking heads, and the technology can't dazzle because the plot keeps reaching for emotional drama that's far too heavy for the uneven characters. Even more disappointing is the futurism itself: sticking "wiki" in front of random words (e.g. the phone company is, incomprehensibly, wikiBell), and using clunky XML-ish tags to set off computer-mediated dialogue are two of the most painful examples. But "smart" contact lenses, supporting high bitrate data transfer through omnipresent laser communications, and projecting consensual virtual reality directly onto the wearer's retina in real-time, with no external power supply and no waste heat? Robots that can reconfigure themselves instantly to deliver a seamless imitation of physical interaction with a virtual world? In 2025? Change on that scale, at that speed, would surely leave more chaos than the equivalent of a few oldsters struggling with Internet Explorer while their kids post updates to Twitter in Math class. The end result, despite some good ideas, can only be described as disappointing.
    • 5/5
      "Fantastic book! Great insight into what is coming
    • 4/5
      This was a strange, fascinating book. On the one hand, it almost didn't seem as if anything worthy of mention was truly happening, while on the other hand, I found myself totally absorbed by it. I loved the touch with the white rabbit, and it says something about our times, abeit this is further in the future, that the people would freak out at loss of connectivity to the net.
    • 5/5
      An excellent book - the complexity and layers upon layers of meaning made it comparable only to 'Pandemonium' by Daryl Gregory. This book focused on the possible future of libraries and laptops and the combination of both is exhilarating. Really made me think about what the future might hold for us.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book, not because its the best written scifi book ever, but because I connected to this story concerning the future of education and libraries. The description of the books in the Geisel library being fed to the wood chipper or "digitizer" was so evocative of what it feels like when people tell us that print books are going the way of the dinosaur. I liked the characters and their development, I could barely put this book down.
    • 2/5
      In the past with Vinge I’ve often felt that, while his books took a long time to come together, if you stuck it out there was a payoff well worth the investment of effort. Unfortunately, I can’t say that for Rainbows End which I found lackluster on several fronts. I will grant that Vinge gives us a creative and interesting if not particularly plausible near future world. But it is a world in which unlikable and unconvincing characters do silly things for unconvincing reasons.None of the characters in this book worked for me. Robert Wu starts out as one of the least sympathetic protagonists in recent memory; I saw no good reason for the character transformation that accompanied his “rebirth” as a bumbling techno-neophyte. The other Wus, (Miri, Bob, Lena and Alice) were perhaps less dislikable, but no more convincing. Frankly I found none of Rabbit, the intelligence trio, the library fanatics, the fellow high school students, nor the delinquent biolab employees any more plausible. Perhaps it’s easier for me to willingly suspend my disbelief in characters set in the far future or on alien worlds than it is for those occupying a near future Southern California.But it wasn’t just the characters that left me disappointed in this book. I found many of the basic plot turns just plain silly. The “shop” class made no sense. The library fanatics storyline made no sense. The big belief circle riot was similarly ridiculous. The biolab security holes were not credible. The basic premise of the YGBM threat was too fantastic to resonate in a near future science fiction setting. I haven’t read any of the other 2007 Hugo novel nominees. I can only guess that Hugo voters found the setting of this one so deliciously validating of what they think is cool that they overlooked its serious weaknesses in characterization and plot
    • 2/5
      An infuriating book. According to his bio, Vinge has made a name for himself from crafting stories around speculative technology, and Rainbows End is so self-absorbed with slick, paper-thin, micro-gadgetry that large parts of the book read like an O'Reilly reference manual. This is annoying enough, but this level of fetishism tends to detract from character development; some of the ancillary players introduced in later chapters are more likable than the protagonist, Robert Gu, who is supposed to be an asshole, but Vinge gives us no real reason to despise him.As for the plot, it sways back and forth between a shadow mind-control conspiracy and endless high school-of-the-future scenes seemingly engineered to widen the generation gap. In Vinge's vision, telecommunication technology is ubiquitous to the point of being worn as clothing, so the "haves" and "have-nots" of old are transformed into power users and newbies.Not too terrible. Lost count of how many time "Google" was name-dropped, tho.
    • 5/5
      Interesting to read this book after reading the Big Switch by Carr. Carr postulates a future which this book demonstrates - one of fundamental change in education, and a rising digital divide in a world where everyone stands alone on their merits. A fascinating look at a very real near future.
    • 4/5
      Next, Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge. This is Vernor Vinge's third Hugo for best novel, after A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. I thought the first two were fantastic. I like this one as well, but it is perhaps not quite as interesting to me personally because it is not grappling with the big ideas involved in the physics of space travel and intergalactic civilizations and alien biology. Instead, it is a near-future novel that isn't quite cyberpunk and isn't quite as radical as Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, another spectacular Hugo award winner.Vinge continues to explore ideas about the future of humanity. Rather than following the cyborg trajectory of computer interfaces, Vinge describes a virtual reality superimposed on the landscape through a network of wireless transmitters and accessed through microprocessors integrated into clothing, contacts, and other personal paraphernalia. The communication technology and activities (such as silent messaging, or sming) he describes are only a couple steps removed from today. Sadly for us, the medical technology is far more futuristic and improbable. The pivotal character, Robert Gu, is a first-class asshole, or at least was in the old days before Alzheimer's set in, when he was a Nobel Laureate in Poetry who mentally abused pretty much everyone around him, especially his wife. The medical miracles reverse the Alzheimers and rejuvenate him to a second youth. That is the starting point of the story, along with the discovery of a possible conspiracy to mind-control the world. As a triumvirate of international security experts tries to hack into a U.S. research lab by means of their mysterious hireling, Mr. Rabbit, (plausible deniability, anyone?) who manipulates cluesless catspaws, Robert Gu tries to rediscover his poetic voice and cope with an unfamiliar world. As the storylines converge, mayhem ensues. The story is well-crafted, the plot is engrossing, the characters are sympathetically portrayed, and the myriad details are a romp. The pop culture references are hysterical. The author leaves many, many loose ends that beg for a sequel. I'll keep my eyes open for it.
    • 5/5
      Despite the awkward start, this is a hugely enjoyable riff on current trends in medical and computer technology, seen through the rejuvenated eyes of a disorientated old misanthrope. The familiar plot of well intentioned but evil world domination is really just a backdrop for exploring the characters, who are interesting and engaging. This is one I'll be coming back to.

    Book preview

    Rainbows End - Vernor Vinge

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