Rainbows end

A Novel With One Foot In The Future

Hardcover, 364 pages

English language

Published Jan. 28, 2006 by Tor/Tom Doherty Associates.

ISBN:
978-0-312-85684-7
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OCLC Number:
67711627

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3 stars (7 reviews)

From the back cover:

World famous poet Robert Gu missed twenty years of progress while he nearly died from Alzheimer's. Now, when he awakens in San Diego, in the year 2025, with his mind and health restored, reality's a shock. Books are just about gone. Computers are old news, replaced by "smart" contact lenses that connect him to the Internet via his clothes and wireless nodes just about everywhere. Buildings look low rent -- unless you're wearing. Then, they look like whatever you want. Even he is different. He's seventy-five, but his treatment has made him look almost a teen. And that's just the tip of the iceberg in the new Digital Age.

As Gu tries to catch up with his future, a mysterious stranger draws him and other innocents into a conspiracy that could have disastrous consequences. Before he knows it, he's in so deep that even his high-ranking …

6 editions

A Futuristic Rollercoaster of Mixed Emotions

3 stars

I picked up Vernor Vinge's Rainbow's End with a sense of excitement, expecting a hard-hitting, technological thrill ride with the kind of Gibson-esque flair that I absolutely adore. And while the novel certainly had its moments of brilliance, it left me with mixed emotions.

From the moment I read about the young-again poet, Robert Gu, I was intrigued by the concept. It seemed like an interesting twist on the usual sci-fi tropes, and I couldn't wait to immerse myself in Gu's journey. However, as I dove further into the novel, it became clear to me that Vinge was combining elements of a coming-of-age story into his futuristic narrative, which didn't quite suit my preferences. I felt a little out of step with these elements, as I'd been hoping for a more hard sci-fi experience.

As I continued reading Rainbow's End, I was initially captivated by the undercurrent of a global …

Subjects

  • Science Fiction - General
  • Fiction / Science Fiction / General
  • Fiction
  • Fiction - Science Fiction
  • Alzheimer
  • Memory
  • Science Fiction

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