Vast

by Linda Nagata

Book Overview

Aboard Null Boundary, a giant starship thousands of years old, four survivors of an ancient alien war are making a desperate journey: Lot, son of a fiery prophet and carrier of an insidious virus that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553576305
• ISBN13: 9780553576306
• Release Date: August 1998
• Publisher: Spectra Books
• Length: 403 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.1" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

The only book I've bought good enough to review

This book is close to perfect, although not for everybody. The prose is sparse, smart and literate, as well as being communicated in a number of styles ranging from truly obtuse alien lingo, to raygun space opera. The novel makes allusions to several human myths and paradoxes, some of which are stated by other reviewers. The thing that's great about this book is it's assumption that you, the reader, are bright enough to figure out what's going on. It drops you in very foreign territory and gets you thinking about the what ifs of science - basically it made me remember why I love science fiction when it's good. But if you prefer bad me-too cyberpunk it won't be your cup of tea. However, it isn't a slow read if you enjoy a good solid peice of fiction and it begs you to think about it even when you've put it down. It's subtlety has stayed with me as I think about it - the main complaint I've heard is, in many ways, the point of the book - that the characters are less real than the artifacts of their short existence, and that evolution most times is about divergence. It's the continuation of another book (second half repackaged by the publisher? - either way it worked out for the best), and if I had read that one first, I wouldn't have picked it up. Something special. Read it.

not a hackneyed plot device in sight!

I sought out this title after an annoying run of 2-dimensional, flat science fiction. You know the type - guy must solve riddle, shag the chick and win fame in his own life-time whilst eluding the bad guys! And all in teenage nerd prose. This can be fun if it's well-written, but very boring otherwise.'Vast' is not one of those books. Read 'Vast' if you are searching for some characters with a bit of meat on them and you don't mind a bit of vertigo. The setting is far in the future, the human race is all but extinct. The reader travels on the Null Boundary, a ship whose captain and passengers are seeking answers about the Chenzeme, a long-extinct race whose automated weapons still search space for intelligent life in order to wipe it out. Each character has brought along their personal demons, which the reader glimpses in the confinement aboard Null Boundary. In contrast to the yawning vacuum the ship travels through, this setting is enough to make both claustrophobes and agorophobes squirm.Ms Nagata does not patronise the reader by keeping the plot simple, nor are the motives of the characters clear. Her books "The Bohr Maker" and "Deception Well" are well worth reading in advance as they set the scene for Vast, though this book stands alone in its story.If you want something original, imaginative and substantial, then 'Vast' is well worth the read. I'd recommend this book for those who liked Peter Hamilton's imagination, but found his male characters irritating. Also worth checking out if you're a fan of Iain Banks' science fiction. Of course - I loved it!

This book caught my attention on the first page

I enjoyed this book very much. This is the kind of book that you want to talk about when you finish it. I am still thinking about the characters and the ideas that Nagata presented. It is an exciting story and I recommend it to anyone who likes high tech science fiction. It is like William Gibson's work without the film noir feel. I just ordered another Nagata book, and I look forward to seeing what else she has in store.

Fascinating and intriguing.

The author does an excellent job balancing narritive with the information needed to understand this strange future. I also recommend Robert Doherty's THE ROCK for those looking for sci-fi with action.

Excelent

An excelent nano-tech book with many interesting ideas. I stayed up way too late reading it; I recomend it highly.