| Title | : | The Atopia Chronicles (Atopia, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 518 |
| Publication | : | First published August 1, 2012 |
| Awards | : | Kindle Book Award Sci-Fi/Fantasy (Semi-Finalist) (2013) |
In the near future, to escape the crush and clutter of a packed and polluted Earth, the world's elite flock to Atopia, a massive corporate-owned artificial island in the Pacific Ocean. It is there that Dr. Patricia Killiam rushes to perfect the ultimate in virtual a program to save the ravaged Earth from mankind's insatiable appetite for natural resources.
Now in development as a new TV series, The Atopia Chronicles (Book 1 of the Atopia series) is the tale of mankind's dark slide across the apocalypse as humans and machines merge in a world teetering on the brink of ecological ruin.
The Atopia Chronicles (Atopia, #1) Reviews
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Preface: I swear on my mother's iPad that I did not read any of the reviews or quotes at Amazon.com before writing this review, so help me Bezos.
Much has been written of how man and machine will interact in the future; whether it's Gibson's "Neuromancer", Stephenson's "Snow Crash", or any of a number of indie authors out there now. Matthew Mather's debut novel "The Complete Atopia Chronicles" takes artificial intelligence, distributed computing, nanotechnology, and the full range of humanity (hubris, love, addiction, selfishness, anger, happiness, etc.), portions them all into a blender, and mixes up the finest-tasting best-guess at just what Kurzweil's Singularity might be like.
Like all good SF writers, Mather extrapolates from our present global state of being (advertisements seemingly on every surface, the increasing effects of climate change, rising economic power of India and China) to build a world where distributed consciousness is in beta-testing and those chosen few are living fantastic lives both on a man-made independent island and in their own heads; but as good SF also does, we see how advancement comes with a price and no matter how much we build or how smart we think we are, in the end we are still human.
Of particular note is the device of telling each protagonist's tale in full before moving on to the next story. A more traditional approach would ironically skip from character to character, viewpoint to viewpoint, telling the tale as it unfolds; to truly obtain the full effect of each story occuring simultaneously one would need access to the distributed consciousness technology described in the novel. As it is we mere humans simply need to hold what we've read in our memory, but don't be surprised to find yourself scrubbing back to an earlier story to confirm that yes indeed, this is what was happening when that seemingly random thing occured; not to give anything away, that is. Of course, each tale of the Atopia Chronicles stands on its own and does not need the others to be enjoyed, or to educate.
Above all the future-gazing, techno-whizbangery and story-telling devices, the most important thing is the ability to tell a good story and to make you incapable of waiting to turn the page, which Mather accomplishes nicely in the Atopia Chronicles. While moving from one character wholly to another is jarring in the earlier stories ('Okay,' you say to yourself, 'why should I care about this guy? I still care about the last guy!'), as you keep reading you realize that your earlier friends are still out there, if only you could send a splinter off to check on what they were up to at that moment. -
I'm kind of conflicted about this book. It could have gotten 5/5, but...I just couldn't do it. Here's why.
The first two thirds of the book were awesome. The thoughts behind the stories were breathtaking. I have read some sci-fi about virtual realities before, but....this took it way further. And it explored all the deatils....what will happen when our thought become reality? What will we do to ourselves? What possible screw-ups can occur? Can we love a virtual character? How important would our bodies be, if our minds could feel the exact same things without our bodies actually experiencing anything? What would we do with this power? The book explored all this, and more....and I enjoyed it immensely. I was hanging on every word, thinking about all the possibilities and so on. Then, after about two thirds of the book, the plot set in. I mean...it was there, sort of, but....it was nothing compared with the revelations about virtual reality. But when it came to the forefront....I started to lose interest. I mean....It wasn't half as interesting to me, as the exploration of possibilities. I didn't care about the characters at all....and so, the plot actually kind of ruined the book for me. Also, I don't enjoy cliffhangers very much....and this certainly felt like one.
So...to sum up....the book is a masterpiece of explorations into the possibilities of experiencing virtual reality. This is it's strongest selling point, and a big one. The characters, especially later in the book weren't badly written, but they weren't quite what I wished for...and I couldn't bring myself to care for them, or remember their names. The plot kind of ruined it. It hinted at too much, it tried to go sci-fi all the way, when it could have done extremely well with just being about virtual reality in relation to humans. Writing wasn't bad, and the single scenes were very interesting....but when put together, I kind of didn't enjoy it as much.
Anyway...4/5 isn't bad, and the exploration alone is worth the read :) -
I am not a huge Sci-Fi fan. While I have (thanks to some recommendations from my brothers) read a few Sci-Fi stories in the past, it's never been an area I was that comfortable in or drawn to.
When I received notification that my pre-order for Atopia was in my library and ready for download, I was a little stumped; when had I ordered this? Why would I have? I read the synopsis and could see why I may have been drawn to it; dystopian undercurrents, with multiple narrators and points of view... The current senile me thanked the previous, unremembered me for having pre-ordered the story, and I began the book immediately.
As mentioned above, the story is told by multiple points of view with jumping and/or overlapping timelines. You may at times find yourself in the same conversation you've read before, but now from the other character's point of view. Each new section begins with a clear announcement of which character you are about to hear from. In the firsts half of the book, these sections are larger chunks and it takes a while to catch on to the intricate cobweb of shared history that connects all of these people (or perhaps I should instead say sentient beings) together. Then, as you become more comfortable with the format and players, these sections become shorter and faster as the narrative speeds up to it's final conclusion; or at the very least, the conclusion for now.
One of my favorite authors, Michael J. Sullivan, was discussing recently that one of the accepted, identifying qualities of the Science Fiction genre is that it provides us with a forum in which to look at, consider, and discuss moral and ethical ramifications of different choices and ideologies as they are extended into the future. I'd never considered that before, but between his recent Sci-Fi book (Hollow World) and this novel Atopia, I really see what he's talking about. This book gave us a great deal to consider regarding what we call "progress" and "technology" today, asking how far these ideas can be taken before they become something that controls us, rather than something we control.
I believe that for the great majority of people, this is a book that will greatly benefit a second reading; and I am greatly looking forward to mine. Now that I'm more comfortable with the players and the landscape, I believe I'll pick up on a lot of great stuff in the second read that I missed in the first one.
I recommend this book, regardless of what "genres" you typically listen to. -
The Complete Atopia Chronicles were bomb #3 (of 3) in my three-month Kindle Unlimited experiment. I have got to find a winner here, because this losing streak is killing me!
The world building is interesting, as we learn about a future world where man and machine are intermingled with interfaces that blur where one ends and the other begins. Through interwoven stories about people experiencing basically the same timeline, from different perspectives and different levels of virtual reality, we put together the pieces of what's happening in the US and in Atopia, a man-made floating pseudo-utopian island in the Pacific. The story meanders and is difficult to follow at times, but overall it poses a lot of good ethical and philosophical questions, and introduces some intriguing ideas.
But there was something off about the characterizations, especially the portrayal of women, as well as female avatars. There was too much emphasis on what they looked like, what they wore, how unbalanced or hysterical they were, even on the size of their boobs. It felt like I was reading a classic sci-fi novel from the 1960s that couldn't help but reflect the misogyny of its time. I looked at the publication date, and was shocked to see this was written only a few years ago. I don't think I want to know what that means about the author's current view of women. For that reason, I find it unlikely I'd read another book written by Mr. Mather. -
A character driven sci-fi story, with too many characters lacking any redeeming qualities. The first person narrative jumps between characters, making the story feel disjointed throughout. Too many lead characters that drives the story into too many directions. When the story actually starts to coalesce, it's past three hundred pages and too drawn out to actually care what happens. Interesting premise, hampered by trying to do too much.
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Good luck trying to follow this one.
The idea of this book is a set of 6 stories that are all loosely related. So I'm told they eventually intertwine towards the end. That's fine, I can deal with that. But the thing is that with 400 pages to tell 6 stories, the author has to rush though things at a good clip. He speeds through the setup of the situations at such a pace it was a little unclear of just what was the point. Combined with the fact that it's a book where reality is supposed to be hard to be pinned down, the dream-state of this book is just too much. I had nothing to hold on to and in the end I just let go.
I made it through the first two sections just fine. I thought it was an interesting premise, what the heck I'll keep going with it.
Well in book three it just starts to unwind. For a few pages your with this guy over here, then over there, then he's almost going to die any second yet we're not sure why. Ugh....
I'm just like hold on a second. What was the point of that whole scene three back again. I don't know maybe I need to read more than just 20 minutes at a time on the bus, but there's just not enough work put into the setup of these stories. That combined with the fact that I'm not sold on the technical concept of this book I give it a two star rating.
Your mileage may vary but this book never got out of 2nd gear. -
Matthew Mather; The Complete Atopia Chronicles Review
"Atopia" is what you would get if you could mix your own personal Garden of Eden, with addiction, escapism, schizophrenia, and the Matrix. The concept of the world is masterful in its creation, and is maybe the most unlimited series in its potential for future stories since Hugh Howey's "Plagiarism".
Science Fiction has always made the real world long for the creations it imagines, but I'm willing to trade all my light sabers, jet packs, and Stargates
for smarticles and a berth on Atopia, even if its in the bottom.
With Mather's creation of the "smarticle", the world can now look forward to science developing a drug that interacts with a cyberverse, turning all of humanity into an extension of the best massive multiplayer online games, but designed by and for every single individual. Living in multiple realities at once, editing your perceptions to your preferences, and turning all your fantasies into reality. All in wireless high definition of course.
This is six books in one volume, but at around 550 pages, its not overly sized, and the story moves quickly. Mr. Mather's writing is easy to follow while creative in it's explanations of the world's newest technological marvels.
I'm looking forward excitedly to the rumored sequel, hopefully coming soon. -
I loved these stories. There is so much greatness in these.
Although the story itself was amazing, there were two technical issues that frustrated my experience: 1) The copy editing could have been better. The number of extraneous words / missing words felt high to me--enough to be noticeable and distracting. 2) The repetition of several scenes from different POVs. While some of these were pulled off with great skill, adding layers of understanding to the story, others felt like they were just rehashed and did not new information. This hurt my immersion a bit.
Despite these two nits, I absolutely loved these chronicles. I am ravenous for more stories from Atopia -- either continuing the current story, learning more about the pssi-kids' childhoods, or both. :)
One of the best science fiction concepts I've ever read. Matthew pulled off transhumanist concepts that he articulated wonderfully. Some passages sent shivers through me.
I highly recommend this. -
Intriguing book.
This was not what I expected. This book raises many philosophical questions about the future of technology and the moral ramifications that may come with it. I would recommend this book to any open minded Person out there...but don't speed read it. This book needs to be read slowly so one can fully appreciate what is being said and to give oneself time to think of where you stand on the issues presented. It can also be read for entertainment however, but I that would honestly be a waste of this book. -
First off, the beginning of this was so freaking boring. Which is probably why it took me forever to finish. THANKFULLY, it got better.
Now, The Complete Atopia Chronicles is filled with six books. Six pretty short books - well for me. I'm not going to say that you'll move through these books with ease or be done with it in a day because some of them are kind of confusing are have a ton of information that you'll have to think about. Again, I could just be talking about me here because that's pretty much how I felt.
Yes, they are pretty interesting and will hold your attention span for longer than a minute. I liked how we got so many different point of views but I also feel like there was so much repetitiveness. It was really annoying and I'm pretty sure I rolled my eyes like one hundred times. Maybe more.
I'm glad I took a chance on this book recommendation from Kindle but I don't know if I would read anything else in this series (if there is any - I haven't looked) or if I will read another book by Matthew Mather. I'm going to have to think about it and maybe take a chance on him again next year. -
I had originally bought and read an excerpt in the form of
Brothers Blind and didn't like it. Therefore, I held off on reading the full collection until recently even though every recommender engine put it on my list. I finally gave in and, sadly, I really didn't enjoy this book and found it very difficult to finish. The characters seemed unrelatable, the overall plot line seemed a bit contrived and I had to force myself to pick up the book again. I just didn't get it and feel bad about saying it because the author clearly put love into this work and the writing wasn't terrible.
On the upside, the author really got into his characters and slightly altered the writing style depending on the point of view. Technically, it raised a ton of really interesting ideas and provided ample room for social commentary in the classic scifi tradition.
I wish I liked it more, I know I should have. I just didn't. -
I was torn at the end of this! I’m not really sure how to rate it. I just can’t decide if I am blown away or not really a fan.. is it possible to be both? This story has probably one of the more intricate sci-fi worlds that I’ve ever read about. It almost bordered on conspiracy theory in its epicness. I will admit at times that the technology was so advanced here that at times it was just a tad hard to follow but I easily reined it in and didn’t dwell on things when they got too techy. It’s a little twisted, a little out there... There is just soo much here. It sort of reminds me of that Netflix show “Black Mirror.”
The story itself, the perspectives of the different people, their stories weren’t all that good individually but as a whole the story together as each character is walking in and out of each other’s stories, the bigger picture slowly reveals and they are all part of a collective story. Individually though their stories were meh... The world building and concept however... mind blowing. We have all read the AI books and movies where they come to life basically and try to dominate the world.. this however a completely new concept. The AI here does exactly what it’s supposed to...it’s the people who mess everything up just like in real life. The kicker is that they are doing it in such innocent ways paving their path with the best of intentions. Some of the revelations were so thought provoking. I think that I loved the fact that in this story the AI isn’t the bad guy, the problem is just that humanity even though it is super advanced in this book, still has all the same flaws as they have always had and so all these characters run into one problem after another all in the pursuit of happiness. There were other parts especially that last “book” that were incredibly jarring and horrifying. As the book progresses through stories we see all these people, all with these different scenarios of how they turn to the AI for some semblance of happiness but in the end it can’t be found that way. A very hard lesson for some...
This is actually books 1-6 all short stories all fable like in their lessons while a broader view shows a long game story between all the books. I’m not even quite sure what to say... it’s so frustratingly confusing to not be that into a story and at the same time not being able to stop thinking about the world here! I think that this story may stay with me forever... that’s how “much” it impacted me. I’m not sure if I’m willing to step off into the twilight zone for more of this... but maybe someday I’ll revisit. -
PopSugar Prompt 31 - Manmade Disaster
This was an interesting story, though I really could have done without the Jimmy backstory (and honestly there should probably be a trigger warning for that.) I thought the plot twist about the storms was good, and I didn't really see that one coming. I did not feel like Olympia's storyline was resolved and we were left in limbo with her. Not sure that I'll go onto the next one. -
DNF gdzieś ponad połową
Czytałam to w 2016 roku i wspominam kiepsko. Może zrobię kiedyś re-read -
I actually read the combined Atopia series. Blue Skies is the first vignette. I'm torn about the rating because I think that some people will really love this and others will hate it. If you are interested in contemplating how "cyberspace" and distributed consciousness might affect humans, you may really enjoy this. I found it to be thought provoking. The ideas Mather has about things that could happen (what if we mutually inhabit other people's bodies? what if we could have virtual children who appeared to be entirely real? what if we could splinter our consciousness so that we could be in many places at one time? what happens if we no longer have any need for our real bodies?). He also considers very dark ideas, some of which are the flip sides of the previous list. And others are even darker such as what happens when child abusers can reach children in virtual reality? And what happens if a sociopath can distribute his consciousness into many other beings? For me, the dark parts of this were too horrifying. But what bothers me the most is that I didn't feel any connection to any of the people. It may be the writing technique which is first person from many different perspectives, but I had trouble following the characters. Mostly because I didn't care enough about any of them to care who they were. So I found the book thought provoking but disturbing and thought it had very little appeal as a cohesive story.
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I had high hopes for Atopia and was eager to listen to the story. I knew right from the start that the book was not going to keep my interest. I thought (based on the descriptions) that this was going to be a hard science fiction story. The first 100 pages showed this was at best a very soft science fiction, the kind where the author introduces a new technology without any explanation or background. This is not always a fatal flaw, if the author then moves the story forward with strict rules about the limits and functionality of the new technologies. In Atopia we have a lazy author that never tries to understand the technology they are writing about. Mather uses the technology as a magic wand that behaves differently depending on the immediate needs of the story.
Sometimes when the story is lacking the science, it can make up for it with powerful characters that draw the reader into the world. Again Mather fails in a big way, there are many characters and I did not like any of them. I had no desire to see what would happen to any of the one dimensional characters.
So I did not enjoy this book at all and would not recommend it to anyone. I can only hope there will not be any more of them, but I fear there will be an entire horrible series. -
There was a lot to like about this story, but there was a lot to dislike, too. First, some of it dragged in the wrong places and was repetitive. Then there were all the illogical logic bits where somethings just don't line up. I'm trying not to give anything away while explaining, so bear with me. There were references to the culture of the 1980s by kids too far in the future to know about them. Kids today don't know about them. Then there is the predictability of the story because of omissions. Ignoring a character long enough while repeatedly mentioning him and a certain incident paints a huge bullseye all over him. And the glaring flaw in the logic of how the initial damage could have happened and no one notice even though this was a technology introduced into the bodies of children is ridiculous. Finally, the end is a dud. Really? That's it? If the author is setting up for a sequel, there are better ways to leave it. If not, then WTF?
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This is a complex novel with a large cast of characters, each with their own agenda. Set in our near-ish future, the story focuses on the man-made floating city of Atopia, what seems to be the land of milk and honey. But all is not as it seems and there's a definite dark side. An exploration of post-humanism that will touch and terrify. It was difficult to put down, but interesting enough that I often had to, so I could process. At times it was tough to follow with all the point-of-view switching going on, but ultimately I enjoyed the ability to see from so many angles, and marveled at how he kept the details a mystery even with all the jumping around. A really nice read.
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I thought the first of the six stories in this book was a top notch sci fi story, very Twilight Zone. I like the idea of the sidequels, but some of the stories were only thinly related to each other until the very end. There were parts that seemed to just be dragged out to make the stories towards the end of the set longer and didn't really seem to enhance the entire tale. Overall, an imaginative view of how technology can be both beneficial and detrimental to man at the same time.
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Originalmente Atopia eran seis libros cortos autopublicados, de los cuales los primeros cinco se podían leer en cualquier orden mientras se dejara el sexto para el final. Ahora el autor decidió juntarlos bajo esa tapa hermosa que me sedujo para que lo lea, aunque no se si ahora está publicado oficialmente.
La idea general de esta historia es espectacular, pero eso sí, cuesta comprender el funcionamiento del mundo casi hasta el libro 6.
Cada libro está narrado en primera persona y cambia de protagonista de forma muy clara. Las personalidades de todos son muy diferentes y quedan definidas en poco tiempo. Algunos personajes se van a repetir de una historia a la otra, y a veces la relación o la aparición repentina de alguien toma por sorpresa.
No hay forma de hacer una reseña breve de este libro sin omitir cosas, así que separaré por libro. ***NO HAY SPOILERS***
LIBRO 1: CIELOS AZULES (Olympia Onassis)
Olympia es un personaje fascinante. Es básicamente una persona horrible, con una personalidad odiosa, un carácter espantoso y un nerviosismo crónico que la vuelve intolerante hacia todo y todos. Está resentida con la vida y con su familia, es impaciente, maleducada, desapegada, fría, intolerante e insensible. Y aún así, por alguna razón que desconozco, cae bien.
Para curarla de su estrés un médico le sugiere un tratamiento alternativo que no queda completamente claro porque Olympia lo interrumpe, y que parece ser algo así como un alterador mecánico de la realidad que hace que puedas elegir qué ver y qué no ver. Suena bien... por ahora.
El final es abierto y te deja expectante.
PUNTAJE: 4/5
LIBRO 2: JUEGO DE NIÑOS (Comandante Rick Strong)
Ahora estamos en la isla de Atopia y finalmente comencé a entender el funcionamiento de la tecnología (gracias a haber leído el 1 también). Es muy extraño, los gobierta una realidad virtual tangible. Es realmente un concepto muy loco y original. Como los Sims en la vida real prácticamente.
Esta es la historia de Rick (comandante de una base militar y meteorológica) y de su esposa Cindy, una mujer instable que sufre una depresión crónica y que odia vivir en Atopia. Él se desvive por ella, su vida gira al rededor de su mujer y ella solamente ve el lado negro de las cosas. Es por eso que Rick le propone adoptar pssy-niños, unos hijos virtuales diseñados específicamente como prueba piloto antes de tener hijos propios.
El final es tremendo y una vez más queda abierto.
PUNTAJE: 4.5/5
LIBRO 3: GOTAS DE TIEMPO (Vince Indigo)
En el prólogo Vince, el hombre más rico del mundo, empieza muriendo de forma horrible. La base de este libro 3 es muy, muy original: vamos a ver a su protagonista morir una y otra vez en unas premoniciones generadas por ¿computadora? y luego ver como trastoca su vida para evitar ese destino.
Ahora finalmente "terminé" de "comprender" (de nuevo, gracias a lo leido antes también) como es el funcionamiento de Atopia y su realidad virtual.
Con esta historia me aburrí un poco. Hay una enorme cantidad de charla tecnológica basada en el mundo inventado, así que al saber tan poco de él nos quedamos bastante en ayunas. También se conversa bastante de negocios, lo que a mi personalmente me resultó poco interesante.
El epílogo fue muy bueno y recapturó mi interés. Algo se está cocinando y es turbio.
PUNTAJE: 3.5/5
LIBRO 4: HERMANOS CIEGOS (Bobby Baxter)
Esta historia es más larga que las anteriores y cubre otro aspecto de la realidad virtual: los juegos.
El protagonista es Bobby, un hombre jóven adicto a las drogas, el surf y los videojuegos.
Durante una buena parte de esta historia me sentí entre aburrida e indiferente. Hay acción, pero como se sabe que es todo parte de un juego y no hay peligro real, es casi como estar sentado al lado de una persona que juega un videojuego. Es entretenido durante un tiempo pero luego cansa.
El último capítulo fue genial y el final muy, muy bueno. También abierto e intrigante.
PUNTAJE: 3/5
LIBRO 5: MUNDO IMAGINARIO (Nancy Killiam & William McIntyre)
Este es básicamente sobre negocios, trabajo y tecnología. Alterna entre la historia de Nancy y la de William y por momentos una resulta más interesante que la otra.
No hay lo que se dice un argumento en este, sino que simplemente vemos fluir la vida de ambos adictos al trabajo... trabajando y hablando de negocios.
A esta altura la charla tecnológica se vuelve muy espesa. Llegado un punto sentía como si hubiera leído mil páginas... y a penas había pasado la mitad del libro. Cuando los diálogos vuelven, sin embargo, la historia repunta.
Hay interacciones con situaciones y personajes de las otras historias, pero es básicamente... meh.
PUNTAJE: 2.5/5
LIBRO 6: GÉNESIS Y JANO (Patricia Killiam & Jimmy Jones)
Mi primer pensamiento fue "Uy no, Patricia interactuó con todos", es decir que ahora vamos a ver por enésima vez diálogos copiados textual sin ninguna innovación. Genial.
Recién ahora (63% del libro) se explica de forma clara uno de los conceptos principales del libro. Casi me dio la sensación de que con leer solamente esta sexta historia era suficiente porque por fin se explica con claridad muchas cosas que deberían haber sido dichas mucho antes.
Se supone que ahora es cuando los finales de las otras historias se explican, pero dichas explicaciones me dejaron bastante insatisfecha... y no pude dejar de sentir que varias de las otras historias fueron de relleno.
Me aburrí con este libro 6. Mucha charla tecnológica abstracta y climática abstracta, y poco de los personajes.
La historia de Jimmy es terrorífica y la de Patricia alarmantemente sosa, teniendo en cuenta que ella fue la gran creadora de Atopia y el sistema de realidad virtual.
El problema con el final fue que si la intención fue que sorprendiera, no se logró. Durante muchas, muchas páginas antes se viene anticipando con indirectas lo que finalmente ocurre, así que la sensación general que produce es "y, si".
Digamos que no es muy disimulado para sentar las bases del gran giro final... para colmo no hay un verdadero desenlace. Muchas cosas quedan con final abierto o ambiguo.
PUNTAJE: 2.75/5
Creo que a este libro le hace falta un poco de edición. Hay cosas que cuando eran seis libros individuales debían resultar beneficiosos -muchas repeticiones de diálogos exactamente iguales desde diferentes puntos de vista- pero que al leerse todas las historias de corrido resultan simplemente repetitivos, porque además no aportan nada nuevo.
Otras quedan poco claras y cuesta mucho llegar a comprenderlas. Esto no es bueno en este caso, en lugar de colaborar con el misterio sólo ayuda a crear más confusión. También hay puntas de ideas buenísimas que se desaprovecha, como es el caso del Libro 1 donde se menciona un novedoso medio de transporte que ya no se volverá a nombrar, pero que parece que involucra remolinos de agua y unas especies de cápsula taxi que se desplazan por él. No me quedó claro el funcionamiento, a pesar de que lo volví atrás para ver si me había saltado algo.
Los personajes hablan con total soltura de temas que nosotros, al no estar en la mente del autor, desconocemos. Hay ciertos diálogos en los que haría falta un manual de explicaciones porque es todo tan abstracto que, aún releyéndolos, uno se queda bastante sin saber de qué están hablando.
Lo que también resulta poco claro llegado un punto es qué pertenece a la realidad y qué a lo virtual. Si esa fue la intención del autor, tampoco me queda claro. Por momentos parece que si, y por momentos realmente no se qué estoy leyendo.
Las Crónicas de Atopia es una novela muy compleja. Están sentadas las bases para una historia espectacular (las posibilidades son casi infinitas), pero me parece que para una idea tan buena, no se la explotó todo lo que se hubiera podido. Matthew Mather definitivamente escribe muy bien, la idea es soberbia, los personajes están muy bien creados e individualizados y genera mucho interés contando muy poco. Sólo haría falta pulirlo un poco más, y listo.
Reseña de
Libros junto al mar -
2.5
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A very interesting way to tell a tale, this has several story arcs that weave around, overlap, and intertwine. I like how we see the same scene from two different points of view. The cast assembled on the audio version is fantastic. But while I like the way the author lays out the story it is also at times (for me) confusing. And while there are some intriguing characters the majority come across bland which, yes, may be the whole point of the book.
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It's not you, it's me. I read one pf Mathew's books last year and really enjoyed it so I tried this. Comparatively, I found this to be disjointed and hard to follow. I'm a little thick in the head when it comes to multiple plots, so it's probably me not getting it. I won't give up on Mathew, but probably won't follow this series.
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Woah, pretty much a new season of black mirror. Things get dark and twisted in this story. I liked the concept but the disjointed stories made it hard to get attached. Pretty entertaining nonetheless! Good read.
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So, I have to confess that I read
Matthew Mather's books in the opposite order in which they were written.
CyberStorm, which I read first, was well-executed and enjoyable, but primarily a solid entertaining novel.
Atopia Chronicles is so much more that I found myself truly, truly impressed with Mr. Mather's talent. Not quite five-stars-impressed -- there are still some rough edges in the telling -- but this novel is far more than entertainment -- it's a parable, a warning, and a work from the heart.
Atopia is a, mobile, independent nation-state-island floating around the Pacific. Created by wealthy intellectuals, it represents the promise of the 22nd century. New technology, called pssi, essentially allows humans to exist in alternate realities by stimulating the brain functions that control what we're experiencing. It also allows consciousness to be splintered intentionally so that people can be in more than one place at once.
Great plot device, but Mather takes it much farther, by exploring the moral consequences of such a technology (and without coming across as preachy). What happens when kids are raised with this technology? What happens when couples can experience parenthood without actually having a baby? What happens when the technology is accidentally or intentionally abused? That's essentially what this novel is -- an exploration of the impact of technology.
Not that it's not also a great story. There are power plays at work on the island and external forces who truly do not want this technology unleashed on the world. Atopia itself is threatened with destruction.
The same timeline (except for the ending) is told from roughly a dozen different points of view (another great example of splintered consciousness). This can sometimes make it hard to follow as the personalities, in many cases, don't have a rich enough voice for it to be obvious to the reader who we're working with. So, we have to work a little harder to learn the names. And there's a lot of jumping around from point of view to point of view.
Still, in the end, what results is really a powerful work. After reading this, I went and immediately bought the second book in this series (
Dystopia Chronicles). Now if I could only find a way to read this and several other books in parallel.... -
_Atopia_ is an interesting entry in the broad genre of 'Singularity' fiction. Some books, like _Halting State_ by Charles Stross and _Rainbow's End_ by Vernor Vinge, have technology recognizably connected to stuff under development today, but in a more advanced state and more widely deployed. Other, hard-core post-Singularity stuff like Stross' _Accelerando_, John C. Wright's _The Golden Age_ and Walter Williams' _Aristoi_ have technology so far in advance of ours as to be like magic.
_Atopia_ falls in between. The 'pssi' technology on which the titular Atopia is built is sufficiently advanced in the Clarkeian sense but the world-at-large is still more or less like ours. The future, as Gibson observed, is not equally distributed. The story explores the transition as this almost magical technology is prepared for widespread release. It's an under-explored and surprisingly fruitful niche.
I particularly appreciated the author's understanding that technology, no matter how advanced, is a tool, and can be put to good or bad uses depending on the choices of the users. And, more disturbingly, the illustration that having powerful tools doesn't change human nature. Abusive parents are bad enough -- abusive parents equipped with the power of singularity-grade virtual reality technology are the stuff of nightmares. And the average person's tendency to grant technological systems poorly-understood access to their lives has dangerous ramifications when that technology is all-pervasive. How many of us have clicked the 'I Accept' button on terms and conditions that we haven't read?
From a more literary standpoint, the story is well written and the characterization is engaging. It does have a somewhat complex structure, with plot threads following different characters through the same time period -- in some cases we see the same conversation from the perspective of each of its participants at widely separated points in the novel. The story also takes a little while to get moving, and the protagonist in the first part came across to me as somewhat unsympathetic. If you have that reaction, keep reading -- it gets better. My only other problem is that there are some significant issues left hanging at the end. The story reaches a good pausing point but it clearly isn't 'finished'. In some ways this book just sets up the pieces: the game is yet to be played out. Knowing that there is a sequel in the works eases the pain.
In summary, along with Hugh Howey's _Wool_ _Atopia_ is one of the rare gems I've sifted out of the flood of self-published books on Amazon. Absolutely worth the price. -
Interesting storytelling concept, good ideas (technology-wise), poor (in my not-so-expert opinion) execution. First two short stories/chapters were excellent. After that, the autor kept heaping new ideas and extrapolations without properly examining the ones he introduced just a few pages ago. The result was (for me, at least) that I was not sure what is and is not possible and what are the rules and limits of the technology around which the story turns.
And, to be honest, I feel that at least some of the plot twists and turns just wouldn’t work that way, technology notwithstanding. Also the fact that the plot itself was, I am sorry to say, mediocre and kind of obvious did not help.
Pity though. The first two chapters set my expectations very high and the single storyline examined from the different point of views resonated very well with the thema and was somehing I have not yet seen anywhere else. This one had the chance and ambition to sit up there with the best of Neal Stephenson, but at the end it had not enough steam to go all the way.
