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avram ([personal profile] avram) wrote2004-06-02 01:45 pm
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The Golden Age

I stayed up to 2 AM last night finishing The Golden Transcendence, third book in John C Wright’s The Golden Age trilogy. Man, this is one grand series! It manages to thrill my inner twelve-year-old — the kid who’d probably have enjoyed the Lensmen books if he’d gotten to read them — while still keeping my 38-year-old self entertained. Right up till the mid-point of the third book, where we learn that our hero is going to defeat the bad guy with the amazing truth-discerning power of Objectivism. Um.

I managed to enjoy it anyway, but I spent a good chunk of the second half of the book arguing in my head with the author. Have you forgotten what a black hole’s singularity is? And what about Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem?

I still recommend it for anyone who’s in the mood for something that reads like a collaboration between Doc Smith and Vernor Vinge, with Roger Zelazny dropping by occasionally to make a suggestion.