books

Collections
Science Fiction
Speculative Fiction

Books like Queen of Angels

Queen of Angels

1991Greg Bear

3.8/5

This book blew my brain and left my skull a cracked, smoking husk containing nothing but remnants of wows and questions. \ \ Don’t be dissuaded by my cowardly 3 star rating, fans of thoughtful, “big idea” science fiction that seeks to unravel the primordial question of “who we are” and the modern obsession of “what we are becoming” should definitely give this novel a go. My rating is based more on the admission that I think this story got away from me at some point and my not being entirely sure whether that’s I am not my fault or that of the Bear. This is either a work of singular genius that pierces and peers into complexities of humanity’s conception of identity and the nature of consciousness...or a hodge-podge of astoundingly clever ideas vomited onto paper and loosely held together by a simple yet meandering plot without sufficient narrative structure. In essence, either me or the Bear lost focus on this one. Smart money is on me but until I know for sure...3 stars it must be.Of one thing I am certain of with crystal clear clarity...Greg Bear is a mental goliath. A humbling, brilliant idea man who operates on a plane of genius that I can only hope to occasionally visit through works like his and other masters of the imagination millieu. He’s the kind of thinker that makes you feel small and inadequate about your own mental package.Brain envy....great!!\ \ PLOT SUMMARY:In the world of 2047 (just before the binary millennium), nanotechnology and other technological advancements have transformed society through a collection of treatments commonly referred to as “therapy.” A majority of the population of the United States have undergone some combination of neurological reconfiguration to address mental defects that lead to anti-social behavior or that make them more able to perform their job functions. Therapied individuals are given preferential treatment and there is growing bias against the untherapied. In addition to the therapied there is also a group known as “high naturals” who have an acceptable mental makeup without the need for therapy. These people are becoming increasingly rare. The central plot revolves around a series of brutal murders committed by a famous poet and high natural, Emmanuel Goldsmith. Murder is almost non-existent in the current society and the both the nature of the murders and the fact that the victims were friends and relatives of friends is a shock. Mary Choy is a high natural law officer put in charge of tracking Goldsmith down. Mary largely acts as our guide to the world of 2047 and shows us a dystopian view of a world thinking it is on the road to utopia. Her thread will take us from L, where vigilante organizations hunt down the untherapied (with tacit assistance from the powers that be), the to Hispanola, a not-so-pleasant-as-it-seems future country made up of the the former countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. A second thread, far less interesting to me, follows Goldsmith’s friend, Richard Fettle. Fettle is also a high natural and an artist and through him we are exposed to the world of the artist whose eccentricities and non-conformist proclivities make them increasingly marginalized in the brave new world. Some nice moments here but if there was going to be trimming of the book, I would have focused it hear. A final guide to the central plot is Martin Burke, a pioneer of psychotherapy who developed a technique allowing him to enter a person’s psyche and directly interact with their psyche. This mental construct is known as "Country of the Mind" and is a VR world that reminded me of the movies Dreamscape and The Cell. Burke is brought in to probe Goldsmith (assuming he is caught) in order to determine why he decided to go on a murder spree. Completely separate from the main plot is a fascinating exploration of AI as a computer prose sent to Alpha Centauri develops sentience and we are witness to its birth pangs as it tries to come to grips with its new status. THOUGHTS:Again...\ \ There is so much going on in this novel and Bear does not give the reader much in the way of training wheels to be able to keep up. There are few info dumps or catch up summaries and I found myself having some difficulty trying to tie the various revelations into a coherent “Ahhhhh...I get it.” Bear's depiction of the story's world is brilliant and felt like a blend of Blade Runner, Brave New World and some John Brunner to add a sense of pessimism to the tale. The novel touches on questions of identity (in both the main and the AI story-line) and the effect of rampant biotechnological reconfiguration. Another strong thread running through the whole story is the nature of justice and I really liked what Bear did with this but it was also where I found myself doing the most head-scratching. Again, probably my fault. Overall, there is much to like about this novel. There is even more to be intellectually impressed with about Greg Bear’s preternatural brain power. There is also a narrative that seemed very hard to follow at times and made me long for a AAA guide to the territory. 3.5 stars. Highly Recommended.

Filter by:

Cross-category suggestions

Filter by:

Filter by:

Filter by:

Filter by:

Filter by:

Filter by:

Filter by: