Rainbows End
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 First edition cover |
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| Author | Vernor Vinge |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
| Released | 16 May 2006 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 368 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-312-85684-9 (first edition, hardback) |
Rainbows End is a 2006 science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge, set in San Diego in 2025, in a variation of the fictional world Vinge explored in his 2002 Hugo-winning novella "Fast Times at Fairmont High" and 2004's "Synthetic Serendipity". Vinge has tentative plans for a sequel, picking up some of the loose threads left at the end of the novel.
The many technological advances depicted in the novel suggest that the world is undergoing ever-increasing change, perhaps destined for a technological singularity, a recurring subject in Vinge's writing (both fiction and non-fiction).
- "Your hack was noticed. Back when I was young, you could have got a patent off it. Nowadays—"
- "Nowadays, it should be worth a decent grade in a high-school class."
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The novel introduces us to Robert Gu, a man slowly recovering from Alzheimer's disease thanks to advances in medical technology. As his faculties return, Robert (who always has been slightly technophobic) must adapt to a very different world, where almost every object is networked and mediated-reality technology is commonplace. Robert, formerly a world-renowned poet but with a notoriously mean-spirited personality, must also learn how to change and how to rebuild relationships with his estranged family. All while Robert and his granddaughter, Miri, are drawn in a complex plot involving a traitorous intelligence officer, an intellect of frightening (and possibly superhuman) competence hiding behind an avatar of an anthropomorphic rabbit and ominous new mind control technology with profound implications.
Indeed the entire concept of security in such a world is another major theme of the novel. It looks at the implications of rapid technological change that empowers both the disgruntled individuals who would threaten to disrupt society and those that would seek to stop them, and the implications for the age-old "who watches the watchers" issue. Security in an increasingly digital/virtual world has frequently been a theme in Vinge's work. Although the 2001 attacks are only mentioned once, there is an unmistakable post-9/11 feel to parts of this novel, though it has been supplanted in the minds of the characters by more recent history. Vinge mentions offhandedly, "Chicago was more than a decade past. There hadn't been a successful nuclear attack on the U.S. or any of the treaty organization countries in more than five years."
[edit] Trivia and release details
- Rather than the traditional book dedication to a person or group of people, Vinge dedicates the novel: "To the Internet-based cognitive tools that are changing our lives — Wikipedia, Google, eBay, and the others of their kind, now and in the future"
- In "Fast Times", Miri Gu's father and grandfather were called Bill and William. In Rainbows End, they are changed to Bob and Robert, perhaps so that Miri's parents have the names of the cryptographic personalities, Alice and Bob. Eve is also present.
- Vinge makes a passing reference to his own 1992 novel, A Fire Upon the Deep: "Who heard of Tines anymore, or the Zones of Thought?"
- 2006, USA, Tor Books (ISBN 0-312-85684-9), Pub date 16 May 2006, hardback (First edition)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Rainbows End publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era, 1993 - An essay by Vinge about the possible causes and effects of technological singularity.
- synthetic serendipity, one of Vinge's two novellas set in the same world as Rainbow's End, complete with illustrations.
