Across Realtime

I read two of vinge's novels before I've started this one. So my expectations were very high from the start. and I wasn't disappointed for one second! The book contains two novels: 'Peace war' and 'Marooned in reatime'. both were interesting, entertaining and really, but really good.English is not my native tongue, and it is hard for me to write a literature review - But please get the message that goes beyond my poor writing: You should read this excellent book that stand on the same level of Vinge's Hugo's winner books.

I shall not bore you with another rehash of the outline of this novel, other than to say it is a sweeping saga spanning millions of years. Vinge really illustrates how we rely on our technology, and have largely lost our survival skills to cope with nature on an individual basis. Could we survive as a species if there were only a few hundred humans left? Vinge is a scientist by trade and it shows, he definitely makes you think! This novel has a very good base of scientific fact mixed with a great plot and excellent character developement, and can stand up to anything well known writers such as Asimov or Bradbury or Heinlein ever wrote, and that is saying a lot. As I began to read this book, I read perhaps ten or twelve pages a day, but I became so entranced by the story that later I found it hard to put down, it was so good. I loved the ending of the book, especially the last few paragraphs.

...And no one seems to miss it but those who read it. What happened? Across Realtime is by far one of the most incredible books I have ever read. It took me 5 years to hunt it down again (I only remembered the story, not the title). Now that I have found it, I discover it is no longer in print. I struggle to find a copy anywhere. Vinge never got the recognition he deserved. I was moved to tears as I read about the main character left to fend for herself alone in an almost primitive Earth, yet only inches from her friends and loved ones(Marooned in Realtime). She lived her life alone and she died alone. It was heart-wrenching. An incredible murder mystery set against the eerie echoes of that main character as she relayed her life eons previously. This is the perfect story for making you think. Just when you thought the story was as big as it could get, it explodes, making you see a whole different angle. I think the revewer previous had the right quote: "Ordinary people caught up in struggles of vast importance." Now thats my kind of book.