In the not to distant future the stars all suddenly go out. So does the moon. So do the satellites. Earth has been put inside a bubble. Everything inside the bubble moves at only one second for every three years that passes on the outside. We're shielded from stellar radiation so we don't have three years of sunlight hitting us every second. An artificial sun shines down from the inside of the bubble. Someone has done this and that someone doesn't want us dead.
Tyler Dupree grew up with Jason and Diane Lawton. They were from a rich family. Tyler's dad and theirs were friends. Tyler and his mom got to live on the estate in a small house while she worked as the housekeeper.
The story focuses on Tyler. As he lies in a hotel room undergoing some painful medical treatment he feels a compulsion to write what he remembers before it's gone. He tells the story of growing up with Jason and Diane. He tells about the stars going out, the discovery of the spin barrier, and growing up in that world. When you know that in 60 years the sun will envelop the Earth what do you do? Follow wacky religions? Becomes a genius to solve the spin problem? Establish a network of communication weather balloons? Launch rockets beyond the barrier to learn more? Nuke the things in orbit that likely created the barrier? Terraform other worlds? All of the above?
In the short periods when he's lucid we watch Tyler fleeing forces unknown who want to control whatever treatment he's taking. And while fleeing them he needs to find a way to get through that arch outside his window. The one plunked right down in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Robert Charles Wilson has created an interesting world and writes it well. This was one of the few books I've read in awhile that I found myself eager to pick up and reluctant to put down.
I recommend this book fairly highly. And so do others. It got both a Hugo Award and was nominated for a Locus Award and a John W. Campbell Memorial Award.
No comments:
Post a Comment