| Title | : | The Dystopia Chronicles (Atopia, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 418 |
| Publication | : | First published August 12, 2014 |
As Robert pieces together the puzzle, he realizes that mankind's ravenous consumption of natural resources is no longer the most immediate threat to this world. As full-scale global war erupts and an ancient apocalyptic threat resurfaces, Robert must risk losing the ones he loves to save the planet from destruction.
The Dystopia Chronicles (Atopia, #2) Reviews
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Earlier this week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's all-employee email included the following:
"We live in a mobile-first and cloud-first world. Computing is ubiquitous and experiences span devices and exhibit ambient intelligence. Billions of sensors, screens and devices - in conference rooms, living rooms, cities, cars, phones, PCs - are forming a vast network and streams of data that simply disappear into the background of our lives. This computing power will digitize nearly everything around us and will derive insights from all of the data being generated by interactions among people and between people and machines. We are moving from a world where computing power was scarce to a place where it now is almost limitless, and where the true scarce commodity is increasingly human attention."
So scarily true. We barely have the time to spend our attention on deciding how to spend our attention, and, rest assured, it will not get better. In fact, if you want to picture what it might be like in a hundred years, Mr. Mather's book gives one of the best predictions I've seen for our future, a future in which we have virtual selves to extend our self far beyond what is currently possible, so that those selves can explore our multiverse, looking at future possibilities and advising avoidance of the unpleasant ones, and even screening what we, the "primary self" see, so that we are not overrun with advertisements and other attention-grabbing devices. Add to that some other technological advances, such as the technology to use weather to wage war, and add in a trillionaire's complex life in the multiverse, along with the lives of other important and interesting characters, all having some sort of flaw, but all (well, almost all) likable, and you've got a helluva good book. And it is.
But, that's only half of the picture. The other half involves how the "end of time" is brought about, and this is just as fascinating, if not more so, than the technology of distributed consciousness. I have always enjoyed end-of-time scenarios, and this one takes the prize for most inventive of all.
And, I must say that I really appreciate the research that Mr. Mather puts into his work. He has clearly done his research on AI, philosophy of mind (consciousness), biology (Simon Conway Morris' "convergent evolution"), and the various myths regarding the end of times.
I also like the fact that he keeps the action going, keeping your mind engaged throughout.
I highly recommend this book and the two predecessors in this trilogy (Atopia and CyberStorm)
Note that I was provided an Advance Review Copy at no cost. -
Having just finished “Dystopia Chronicles”, I am in awe of the enormous undertaking by author Matthew Mather in creating this epic science fiction novel.
I read “Atopia Chronicles” and would recommend to other readers to read this first before beginning ‘Dystopia’. A glossary of terms appears at the back of the novel and this certainly helps a reader to understand terminology but I enjoyed re-visiting the characters that appeared in ‘atopia’ and finding out more about their future. While saying this, I realized that I also referenced “Cyberstorm” in my review of ‘atopia’ and yes, that is an excellent novel and a great place to begin reading as some characters make their first appearance in ‘Cyberstorm’.
I don’t want to give away too much information on the storyline but take into consideration the title of ‘dystopia’ and you can figure out where this is going. However, there is so much more here than the usual dystopia/apocalyptic stories that are out there. I purposely looked up the definition of dystopia and it is according to Merriam Webster – an imaginary place where people are unhappy and usually afraid because they are not treated fairly. Exactly!
This is a novel that many hard science sci-fi readers will enjoy, a novel that those who enjoy science fiction with a bit of fantasy will enjoy and finally, for those who enjoy a novel that presents some debatable philosophical viewpoints. And, it’s a trilogy so the reading keeps going. Enjoy!
I received a free ARC of this book for reviewing purposes from NetGalley and have presented an honest review of this book. -
Mini-Review:
4.5 Stars for Narration by Nick Podehl
4 Stars for Concepts
2.5 Stars for Lopsided Progression
Currently on KU Read & Listen
Overall, a fun SF that pulls together a bunch of interesting tropes. This is a story you have to experience and it's best if no one tells you what happened. I knew I would get a nice payoff if I made myself stick with the story to the end and I got it! It's impossible to enjoy all of the events at the end without the building blocks put into place before. I figured out what was going on as the story unfolded and enjoyed how my guesses were revealed.
Cool Bits:
- Futuristic World, Tech, Bending of Virtual of the Fantastic/Bizarre/Nightmare/Beautiful
- Solid Characters (Not all are meant to be likable but great parts to a whole.)
- Cool showing of different perspectives/arguments/choices/consequences.
Meh:
- Abstract ideas that are not well expressed.
- Relationships are very cookie cutter but good enough to float the raft of ideas.
- While parts of the boundaries of belief are pushed hard, the story plays it safe & becomes YA in a few events. YA vibe is not in the whole book, but does come into play at parts. -
Ugh. What a major disappointment. The first book was smart, boundary-pushing without being alienating, and reminded me of some of the great "thought experiments as stories" books I read from Asimov and Clarke. This book was a mess. The boarders of reality and virtual spaces were so muddled and poorly delineated that I was constantly asking myself what was happening - What was real and what was virtual. I know he has a third book planned for this series and I think I'm going to have to pass. What a waste.
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Dystopia – Matthew Mather
DYSTOPIA (book two of the Atopia Chronicles) was given to me by Matthew Mather in exchange for a fair, honest and unbiased review. This is it.
Book one sets the scene – an artificial island state is developing a synthetic reality system and incorporating this into the willing population’s everyday life. It’s about to sell it wholesale to the rest of the world but there are competitors who would stop at nothing to prevent this software getting onto the market. Even destroying the island and its inhabitants would not be a step too far.
Now, in book two, the same gang of friends and associates we grew familiar with in Atopia are on the run from government agencies, criminal gangs and bounty hunters. Is Jimmy really that evil? Is Bob the key to stopping the ever escalating cycle of violence overtaking the world? Where is Wally? (Yes – I really did type that.) Who are the Four Riders of the Apocalypse? Do we know them by name? Will Bob save the universe in time?
As the story becomes darker, science fantasy overtakes science fiction. We readers have a better understanding of the nature of threats facing surfer dude Bob, his friends and every world, real and imagined, in the multiverse they inhabit.
You've got to hang onto this story by its coattails. It is a difficult story to summarise – without giving it all away. On the surface there are good guys, bad guys, kids that grow up, kids that don’t. Inadequate husbands, obsessive wives, corporate greed, alternate societies and ‘strange’ new religions (as well as some very old ones). Dictators, blackmailers, friends that would do anything for you, and some that can’t. Just below the surface are doubts and moral questions. Imagine if our current Darknet went VR.
This is a world questioning reality and perception, and the end explains all.
Scattered throughout the story the clues are there: in ancient religious texts, media sound bites, a quote from Freud, Bob’s muddled historical dreams, a message captured from deep space that’s reverberating back from the beginning of time.
This is a wonderfully complex book. There is one rare passage where I think the technical explanations are too detailed (there is only so much I need to know about the composition of crystals) but the story is sufficiently paced that this just creates a small blip in the ongoing mystery. This is also balanced by the author’s well described, vivid imagination – genetically engineered chimeras, alternative worlds, the beach at Durdle Door (described as an early to mid- 20c English watercolour with its white cliffs in the background and children playing in the rock pools), birds in a Borneo jungle ( book one: ‘feathers ... like splashes of flickering paint against a knotted green canvas’). Sumptuous Baroque interiors.
As a reader you have your doubts. You catch up. You think you understand. Then comes the end. And the three most terrifying words you could imagine, in the circumstances, finish the book.
This is good. It’s not the lightest book in my library, but that’s OK. There are times when I want something to get my teeth into, something other than a quick fix, and this does it for me on a series of levels. This is the third book of MM's that I have read, all dark, all dystopian and designed for long winter evenings when you want to scare yourself just a little as you snuggle up to the fire and listen to the rain. -
Virtual or more appropriately, synthetic reality; distributed consciousness, information everywhere-all the time, what really constitutes the self? An infinite set of parallel universes, the complete isolation of the wealthy from the hard realities of life, while the great masses live in squalor. Peak population, wars over water, space, solar power, even the use of weather as a weapon. The computing power necessary to model future outcomes, doomsday scenarios depicted in ancient texts, prophets of the end of days.
Matthew Mather has managed to wrap many of the hottest topics in technology, medicine and science thinking people are talking about today into a science fiction thriller of the first order. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Often fiction paints a scarier picture of our possible futures.
The Dystopia Chronicles, the eagerly anticipated follow up to Mather's The Atopia Chronicles (and I would strongly recommend reading Atopia Chronicles first). [[ASIN:B00DUK1RKY The Atopia Chronicles (Atopia series)]]Questions get answered, mysteries unraveled. A solid author produces a sequel that doesn't disappoint but rather, delights. The new release is a headlong rush into a future we could see unfolding in many of the social behaviors and technological adaptations occurring at an ever increasing pace in our world today. Continuing the story of the most interesting and important characters from Atopia, Mather takes the "pssi kids along with the mysterious creator of Phuture News on a thrilling chase through virtual and physical locations teaming with characters made both sad and fearsome by mans' experiments gone awry. Collecting information from an amazing variety of well crafted characters and superbly described locations, the group must find answers to enormous questions so they can derail the sinister plans of a troubled former pssi-kid who has truly gone off the rails.
Mather's imagination is on full display here. This book takes a huge, thundering swing at concepts hard to describe, let alone craft a story around. The result is a resounding success. The book maintains a rapid, exciting pace while never leaving the reader wondering about the complex concepts woven into its story line. The end contains a twist that will make you wish for more. This story, the story of our existence, our past and quite possibly our future, like the multi-verse in which it ultimately takes place never has to end. I for one am looking forward to another installment.
Top Notch Science Fiction!
I received an advance review copy of this book. -
I loved Atopia and could not wait to get my hands onto this one! Matthew Mayer just has a way of bringing the reader into this fantastical world that he has imagined. But the scary thing? Not only can I imagine it for fiction, I can actually see this happening in our future!
I recommend reading the Atopia Chronicles before delving into this one. He brings back quite a few of the people that we met in Atopia and their background stories are important to what happens to the plot in this one.
In Atopia Chronicles the narration jumps from one character to another and you're not sure where you're standing with each character until close to the end of the stories. This one is much more stream lined and due to that I think it was a better read. Instead of being a little choppy it flowed quite well. This does start RIGHT where Atopia Chronicles left off too, leaving the questions that were left at the end to be answered! I love when an author does not skip portions. It has been a little while since I read the first but I was able to immediately fall into this story. There are just enough reminders to help that transition be very smooth.
The only thing I question is how the story progresses. Even without being as choppy as the first with narration at times I had to move backward to be able to figure out where I was. Or re-listen to a portion to ensure I got the entire story right. This also may have something to do with the fact that this is getting into some serious science fiction, which is definitely not my normal genre!
Over all I thought the narration by Nick Poedhl was done very well. The audio was very clean and easy to stay with, minus the few story portions where I got lost! I absolutely love when a narrator takes time to really tell the story. This includes adding pauses. I can get lost when the pauses are not done correctly but Nick Poedhl did a fantastic job reading this and the voices were pretty easy to tell apart.
In short: A few downsides but all in all it was a good read. I loved listening to this one even with the few times I had to look back.
Received from Audiobookreviewer for an honest review. -
Pass on this one. The first volume was a compelling book of ideas with a very loose narrative thru-line between them. It worked because the technology described was inventive and the scenarios presented were compelling snapshots of what such a technology (augmented reality on a massive scale) could produce. Characters didn't need to be developed beyond the confines of their individual short stories (except where they made brief cameos in the other stories).
The second volume loses it by trying to take that loose narrative and those generally underdeveloped characters and attempting to spin an entire book out of it. As other reviewers have noted, it becomes exceptionally difficult to keep track of whether scenes are where the characters are physically present (and therefore in real danger) or if it's merely a virtual projection using the "pssi" technology.
Add to that some VERY tacked on Biblical imagery and Indiana Jones-esque archaeology hunts and this book just falls very very flat. What's worse is that it sort of teases a sequel. A shame because the first novel stands so well on its own. -
This book has a different feel than the first. The first was completely a sci-fi novel, showing the possibility of technologies in the future. This book has some fantastical elements and confusing spiritual things. There's an Apocalyptic prediction and I won't reveal how that goes, but I just didn't get the thought-provoking sci-fi feel I got from the first one. If The Atopia Chronicles was about technology and sociology, The Dystopia Chronicles is about humanity and mythology.
Religion is very present in this novel. All opinions of religion are showed from the far skeptic to the priest. This story is far more fantastical than its processor.
I give this novel a 3/5. I enjoyed it, but definitely not as much as the first book. The ending is interesting, but it's a very slow way to get there. -
For me, this book was hard to follow and easy to put down for that reason. Too many characters, plots and technologies. It bounced around way too much and my interest just wasn't held. In short, I didn't really care about the characters. I did enjoy the first book of the series, as well as CyberStorm, and will read the author again. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I read it straight after the Atopia Chronicles but I don't have time to reread a lot of books in prep for a sequel . . .
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I did not enjoy this book the way I did the first one in the series. It was confusing to keep up with the characters and what was taking place in the real world vs. virtual reality. I felt like I was just pushing through it to finish it.
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I find some of the reviews interesting, as I had a very different experience. There were many points in the book where it's hard to tell what's synthetic and what's kinetic, but I feel that drove home some of the points about whether synthetic worlds are real or not (which is sort of critical to the ending). The biblical references didn't feel tacked-on at all, but an integral part of the story, not because "good vs. evil" but because the whole thing feels like a new interpretation of the various mythologies that humanity has developed throughout time. And, as the characters pointed out, it doesn't matter whether or not YOU believe it, the influence on the world is still the same.
Some of the science confused me a bit, and I could do without so much detail about it, but I can see where it would appeal to others. For me, it just felt a little like an interruption in the middle of a great philosophical discussion. Overall, though, I enjoyed it more than the first, and am looking forward to reading the third book. -
I enjoyed Atopia #1. I remember it was hard to get into and then finished strong. This one was also hard to get into but it didn't finish quite as strong. It's also completely confusing. Each person has a proxxi. The writing just isn't clear enough to be able to consistently tell when people are in the real world, when they're in an augmented reality, when their proxxi is in a real world, or augmented world, or a virtual space. Who's where? Who's talking to whom and in what space? How many proxxies can a person have? How can proxxies in virtual spaces be manually manipulating reality? The "science" of the sci-fi is inconsistent. It's so muddled. And yet still, somehow, the story is pretty good. If Mather had focused more on the story and less on the skimming around realities, augmented realities, and virtual spaces it would have been a stronger book.
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Hard Science Fiction
This is hard science fiction, a story of science and technology intertwining with human life resulting in some fantastical repercussions, but based in some part on real science and what real science could perhaps accomplish one day. It is also hard science fiction, in that sometimes I had to reread sentences and paragraphs to try and understand what was happening. The author is a man of superior intelligence and that comes across. However, not always having a firm grasp on the scientific concepts did not prevent me from enjoying the story. It is rip roaring, buckle up adventure. It is hard science fiction, but it is easy to enjoy this. On to part three! -
The Dystopia Chronicles (Atopia, #2) by Matthew Mather
This book was so engrossing, that I literally read it in one day! Yes, it's *that* good! As we move deeper into the global conflict that our pssi enhanced friends and foes have caused, the plot has some very unusual twists and turns. We have most of our old friends, and a few new ones as well. Once again, because the characters are so well developed, and have many layers, they drive the plot. And they drive the plot into some very strange waters indeed! It is to the author's credit that as impossible as some of these twists and turns are, yet they do hold together very well!
Unfortunately for me, I have some (supposed) real life chores to get done, so I won't be able to read the third book in a day. But maybe that's okay too. -
The author has changed stylistically for book 2 of the Atopia Chronicles, and it's definitely for the better. The Dystopia Chronicles is written in third person, as one story - rather than the disjointed first person short stories of the first book.
The Dystopia Chronicles allows the story to shine and pull the reader through. You're able to start to connect with the characters and really get invested in their future. At the end, you're left wanting to read the next story, rather than feeling obligated to because it's the next installment. -
A good follow up to Atopia #1, and a fun exploration of the social, moral, technical, and religious issues related to what might happen if/when we start being able to augment our consciousness with networks. Most books looks at what happens before or after that critical point where "mind uploading" becomes possible, and this book lands right at that moment when the possibility opens up. I hope there's a follow up, to see what Bob and crew get up to in other, um, places. :-)
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4 Stars!
The Dystopia Chronicles is the second book in the Atopia Series. The book follows Bob, Sid, Vince, and Nancy each on separate adventures looking for Willy's body. This book is quite different from anything else I've read. There were parts of this book that left me confused and frustrated but for the most part it was enjoyable and entertaining and I can't wait to start the last book in the series. -
A quick note. It has been months since I have been on GoodReads, and I have read a ton of things. When I logged in, I saw that at my last login had just started Dystopia. That having been said...
Two and a half stars. I liked the first book just enough to check out number two. But I ain't going to number three. -
All I am going to say is I'm confused!!! felt like the writer had multiple voices in his head that wanted to write a piece of the story and instead of telling them to calm down he was like go ahead. Too many ideas, everything was all over the place...or maybe it was just too complex for my average brain to comprehend.
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Got weird
I know it's far fetched to say that scifi got too far, but this one went too far. It feels like the author is just stretching the book so there can be another one. I enjoyed very much the Atopia book, this one stopped being exciting right from the beginning. Sad. -
Sigh. The science fiction in this book is great, but seems to be brought down by it's story in the end. Just like the first book, it can be hard at times to follow who is talking to who and from what space. Also the book doesn't explain how much time has passed between events. One thing to keep in mind is people with pssi see their proxxis and the virtual world as if you they were looking through Microsoft's Hololens. I found this to be very interesting and the science behind it is great and is explained enough to understand how it works and the purpose it serves them in the future. The problem happens when religion is brought into the book. I hate when books do this. I find it to be lazy and just an easy way to add conflict or try to add an explanation for why everything has happened. It came out of nowhere also. The book started slow, gained momentum in the middle and the end was meh after learning about the religious history behind what was happening.
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So, I am going to review this as a series (such as I generally do)
Atopia starts out a little disconnected, but then pulls you into a well planned scifi future. A few stay threads stayed loose, but it was overall enjoyable and was clearly meant to be followed by the sequel.
Dystopia continues the story, wrapping up a few of the loose ends from book one, but mysteriously starts trying to hint that a technological driven book might actually be secret aliens. There is where it falls apart.
Utopia is a completely unnecessary and overly complicated third installment. It drags out the story from one and two by trying to make is possibly aliens (a plot thread that makes no sense and is poorly explored), possibly religious, (but not a specific one), and possibly existential. It loops around like Groundhog day without any connection or payoff. It is possible the trilogy used the same storyboarding technique as the TV show Lost. -
Better storyline than Atopia
After reading Atopia with some confusion in my mind, it was a great relieve to find the sequel book are being told in a more reasonable point of view.
The storyline is better here, but I found the story is not so strongly difussed into reality, and remained totally a science fiction story. Personally, I like to read sci-fi stories that have a link into reality, as it creates a more interesting point of view, rather than a story that completly detached from reality.
Nevertheless, I need to be fair here and give a proper rating for this book. 4star it is then.
