Innovative and intruiging
591188
An innovative approach to telling this story. Horowitz is an integral part of th3 storyline and includes factual details about his writings. He is engaged by a discredited policeman , Hawthorne, t9 write the story of a crime he is working on. Horowitz becomes totally involved I solving the murder of the wealthy lady who walked into the undertakers to arrange her funeral and is subsequently found murdered. The story has many intriguing twists and turns before reaching its climax and solution. Is this the start of a new series
4550285
A nicely, uniquely, and richly imagined world. A neat trick with so much of this genre out there right now.

The characters are a bit grey, or flat, but that is by design and it only adds to the book's narrative.

The story is fast paced and interesting throughout. And while at the end it seems to lose its way just a bit, it is nonetheless continues to be a good read.
2321341
Bacigalupi takes the ideas and themes from his award-winning short fiction and explores them in greater complexity and depth than ever before.  In The Windup Girl, he creates a post-oil biotech-driven world that contains the same share of oddness, unpredictability, and surprises that greeted those generations who started out in the horse-and-buggy/steam locomotive era but ended up in a world that ran on oil and nuclear power instead.

But make no mistake: this is not a story driven by calories or springs.  It is at heart a novel profoundly engaged with the ethics of biotechnology and wealth, and it offers us neither easy answers nor the simple (and all too common) warning to "Stop!"  Change is coming.  We aren't prepared for it, won't be prepared for it, and maybe can't be prepared for it.  How are we going to respond?  The various characters in the novel -- Anderson Lake, Jaidee, Tan Hock Seng, and Emiko, the Windup Girl -- chase different answers, none of which will or ought to make us feel entirely comfortable.

This is an intense and compelling story, a spectacular novel at every level.  You won't see the future the same way ever again.  But you might ultimately be a little less surprised by it.
28848
This is a book of astonishing scientific imagination, arresting observations, and rich and surprising descriptive passages that, in new contexts, give new meanings to the familiar. It tells the story of two fundamentally different responses to a phenomenon that threatens the earth  essentially the disappearance of parts of the earth through the transformation of particles into waves and, therefore, into nothing - and for which there is no even remote precedent. One response is collective; marshalling the bureaucracies, processes, big data and massive computer power of modern science and technology. The other is individual. A World Between is an exploration and celebration of the power of the individual mind unconstrained by the apparatus of reigning scientific paradigms, power-relationships, and prospects for funding and career. The measure of a man may be the stands he takes, Herzog writes, but a system is judged by what it can absorb. In A World Between, the system is found wanting. The novel portrays two scientists working together outside the system. One is a font of ideas made possible by intellectual daring at the far edges of plausible scientific extrapolation (Youre proposing a whole new look at fundamental particles and how they behave. Yes, exactly  Fractal Quantum Dynamics  FQD. As in  were fuqued!). The other deconstructs and tests those ideas without bias or expectation. In this portrayal, the apparatus of modern big science and technology, however productive within the established paradigms, gets in the way of achieving the radical insights necessitated by this threat. This portrayal of the limits of collective action ultimately questions the very constructs through which we think we know (Was the evolution of forms of knowledge governed by survival of the easiest? No Yogies at the fast food express.). It is the unencumbered individual  using computers, to be sure, but as adjuncts not substitutes for thinking - who can replace the most basic assumptions, forge completely new perspectives (One more fool who thinks hes dancing when its really the floor thats moving beneath him.), and develop the consciousness and will capable of meeting the threat. Threaded through the complexities is an unusual love story (Susan found it amazing how often she felt ill after a conversation with the man she loved.). With an array of memorably drawn supporting and minor characters, A World Between is a challenging, intense journey of the mind that moves to a gripping conclusion, preceded by a failed onslaught by big science and big technology that is both humorous and tragic.
3096608
Ibitz once again shows creativity in this intriguing story, which goes far beyond the standard vampire tale. Reapers, watchers, mortals and immortals mingle together in a story that transcends time. The characters work through relational and familial conflicts as well as internal struggles in a relatable fashion. They face challenges that keeps the reader turning the pages to see how the characters are going to get through the mess they are in. The resolution is satisfying, and I found myself thinking about the story and the characters long after I read the final page. I look forward to reading more of Ibitz's writing.
2105575
Although this is a book with a rather defined scope, Dr. Bobrow's treatise on these fascinating topics will satisfy any student of consciousness. Crafted and readable, it is approaches the topic of human expansion enjoyably and with soul.  It highlights the overlap in both disciplines in a creative and innovative way, leading the reader on a new journey from the viewpoint of one with deep and practical experience. The personal anecdotes enliven the material in a way that brings real life and insight to these two fields. Suitable for professionals, practitioners and the discriminating seeker, this book is a benchmark in what could be a new field in itself. A real success.
705144
This book is both entertaining and highly informative. The writing feels conversational and at the same time, highly educational.
The author creates a very interesting 'dialogue' amongst profound thinkers and innovators from distinct eras in history. I found this book very enriching and thought provoking.
1712856
An unusual talent to convey complex ideas in a very entretaining, readable way. I would recommend this book to whoever is interested in these topics for the first time - there are so many areas to drill down and the book does a great job at enticing further interest.
2279029
The Peripheral pulls the reader into a fully-realized world populated by characters who seem very real and worth caring about.  The driving ideas behind the plot are not necessarily original (e.g., contact between parallel worlds, a form of time travel, nanotechnology) but are combined in an original and quite interesting way.  The plot could be said to center on a mystery, the apparent murder of an inhabitant of the "original" world, witnessed by an inhabitant of its analog continuum in the context of what she believes to be a very advanced virtual reality game.  It jumps between the parallel continua and is enjoyably complex in its development, with political, economic, and paramilitary action and intrigue.  All of this is anchored by the main POV characters in the two worlds, as they work together and with others to solve the initial mystery, which is found to be only a very small part of a much larger scheme involving both worlds.  I've greatly enjoyed Gibson's earlier work, starting with Neuromancer, (I haven't read his more recent work after Pattern Recognition), and The Peripheral compares very well.
2609882
Well written and innovative. A good read for young and old.

Engages your imagination and takes you into the lives of the characters.
3024795
This is a thrilling and stimulating read. A novel that engages the mind as a whole. A fascinating exploration into the origins of Christianity embedded into an exciting read. Even as contemporary fiction continues to grovel at the feet of mediocrity and deal with myopic ideas about bourgeois self-importance and narrow brands of psychologism, Czyz is a writer who grasps the aesthetic of struggling with compelling ideas -- ideas that matter. His writing is rich, descriptive, but also subtle and humane. This is a book with much to offer.
3827515
Inventive, funny and with vivid colour palette and attention to detail in mis en scene that kept me hooked.  Also a very intriguing premise.
4875354
Verisimilitude, wit, character, story: it's all here; along with a splendid evocation of place, indeed of whole worlds.  He has an intriguing way of weaving Latin and Greek into names, too, leaving his inventions both strange yet familiar.
4904002
This book is creative, interesting and fun to read.
2296778
So different and so wonderfully nuanced. The novel is a step into and out of time. Almost legend and yet grounded in very human emotions and reality. The novel opens a span of possibilities that is surprising as well as enthralling. One of those books that occupy the special books shelf in your library.
509525
Highly imaginative; beautifully conceived and written.
3578894
Fresh, original, full-of-interesting twists of human nature.  An impressive work.