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Golden Age (Volume 1 of The Golden Age) by John C. Wright check out website: www.tor.com
Whilst a novel set in such a complex and fascinating advanced society is incredibly interesting, it can also be a bit hard work to digest. John C. Wright has made an audacious book in 'The Golden Age'. The colonised Solar System he has created is believable and original. Artificial minds rule alongside immortal humans who, combined with mind-changing technology and the computing power to be as Gods, believe themselves to be in a perfect society which they can keep the same for the next million years or more.
Enter Phaethon, son of one of the ruling lords. Considered a threat to
the perfect society, Phaethon has had the memory of the last two hundred and fifty
years erased and he doesn't know why. The entire political structure of the Solar
System is at odds over the issue, with everyone secretly plotting ways to have
him remember or forget utterly the issue. The story, the first of a
trilogy, is set during the millennial celebrations and Phaethon wanders from fantastical
set-piece to another, continually meeting weird characters hinting at a truth
that is locked up. He has the option of opening the memory storage and remembering
but if he does, he faces exile. It took me a good hundred pages to
start enjoying this one. The problem with creating such an alien future is that
it alienates the reader picking it up. I found it difficult to empathise with
these characters, the constant intrusion of computer software on the way they
interacted and their general lack of passion. But the more I read on and got to
grips with the milieu, the more I understood that this was precisely what Wright
intended, that this was a society stifled by its supposed Utopia. Once I'd got used to the abnormal thought-processes and styles of the characters, they drew me in further and further. The complex politics built on thousands of years of the same men living in command is a fascinating concept and the plot really hits its strides towards the end. There are still moments when things are
a bit too complex to read on the first pass and a careful re-read of a page to
try and work out exactly what had happened was not an uncommon practice. On
the whole, though, 'The Golden Age' does everything expected of it as the first
book in a trilogy. It sets up the interesting main character Phaethon and after
a difficult start gradually involves us in the complex setting. The plot reaches
a palpable climax at the end of the novel and sets up the second book with an
air of anticipation. Worthy of the attention. Tomas L. Martin
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OTHER REVIEWS - August 2004
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The distant future is a complicated thing. At the rate
at which technology and science is advancing, the state of normal life could look
utterly different to us in ten thousand years time to the point that we wouldn't
understand it as much as a caveman looking at a TV set. 
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