A King of Infinite Space

First, I thought it was neat how part of the novel was located in the Saint Louis area, I know some of the places in the book as I grew up there, and I am also a fan of cryonics, so this book and I have a lot in common. I enjoyed the description of how a cryonic suspension works, it seems realistic for the most part. Some other reviewers gave this book poor ratings, I read a lot of science fiction and I consider this novel to be excellent, the ratings from those other reviewers are questionable to me. For me this novel was a page turner, in fact I devoured it. Steele is very adept with including human interst in the story, with technology in the background as it should be. Character development and plot are first rate, and I will have to disagree with some of the other reviewers again as I thought the ending was very much acceptable. This would make a great science fiction action movie with a bit of cerebral stimulation thrown in! This is good stuff. Steele has the main character, Alec, suspended via cryonics after a fatal accident, and he is re-animated at some point in the future, no more details here so I won't be a spoiler, but if you read it I think you will agree with me that this is a fascinating account of what may someday actually take place, with Steele's no-holds-barred style, my kind of writer indeed, and with the recent Ted Williams cryonic suspension in the news this novel takes on new immediacy.

While intensely binging on SciFi books in the last five months, I found myself putting aside Asimov and A.C. Clarke in order to read the too few, still available books Allen Steele has had time to write. Actually, "A king of infinite space" was the first A. Steele novel I have read, which prompted me to immediately purchase "The Jericho Iteration" and "The Tranquility Alternative". From novel to novel, Allen seems to be consistent in his delivery of suspensful and ingeniously crafted science fiction. The relentless pace of events leaves the reader gratefully exhausted but still wanting more. "How soon can you write another novel, Allen?".

I can't recomend this book highly enough. Steele manages to paint a suitable bizarre enough picture of the future that you could see it happening. The strong science and brilliant character development, as well as some truely original and entertaining storytelling all combine to glue this book to your hands. I couldn't put it down. This is easily one of the best sci-fi books I've read!

I was so enchanted with this book that I set it down after the third page, albeit with difficulty, and typed the text from pages 1 through 3 and sent it out as an email to my friends. Steele's writing is _that_ good.This "Near Space" future of Steele's is a complex and exciting place, but the good pacing and delightful writing feeds it to us a piece at a time in a very believable fashion; I felt that I missed nothing from not having read the earlier works in this universe, although I plan to correct that misfortune soon. :)William Alec Tucker, III's recovery from a mindlessness brought on by his resurrection through learning the intricacies of late 21st century living is more than just a device to introduce that world to the reader. It is also the vehicle for a character development that is especially exceptional for this genré. While Steele's "Near Space" is reminiscent of Niven's "Known Space" in its breadth, consistency, and believability, the journey of self-discovery that William Tucker goes through reminded me more of Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."The technical correctness, strong coherency, and brilliant character development are joined by Steele's good command, and use, of the English language. Although not up to the lofty linguistic levels of, say, Mark Helprin's "Winter's Tale", (one of my all-time favorite examples of good writing,) the vocabulary is nonetheless rich and full of facile description. I look forward to reading something where Allen Steele is not restricted to a first-person narrative.This is writing of rare quality, and I heartily encourage any serious science fiction reader to savor "A King of Infinite Space."

I started this book (I bought it in the supermarket check-out line) at 6pm and COULD NOT put it down until I was done at 2:30am. I got so into it that I just had to hold my own New Years celebration and broke out the green and black olives, cubed cheese and fruit punch.Steele is a prose poet. Funny,insightful and able to actually put movement onto the page that the reader can feel with her eyes!!!Break out the champagne, snuggle up in your feety jammies and prepare yourself for... a truly unique ride.