Rainbows End: A Novel with One Foot in the Future

Another terrific sci-fi adventure from Vernor Vinge, who once again makes the virtual world of tomorrow come stunningly alive. Aging poet Robert Gu, his granddaughter Miri, and the rest of their family become embroiled in a plot to deploy mind-controlling YGBM (You Gotta Believe Me) technology. The first half is much stronger than the second, more action-oriented half, as Vinge uses the setup to give us insight into the personalities in this very unusual family - their dreams and trials all very familiar, but strongly influenced by new technology. The major innovation is the wearable web interface, which I trust is in development somewhere at this very moment, but there are plenty of other interesting ideas presented in this vision of the not-too-distant future. Rather unusual for sci-fi is the way Vinge makes a point of keeping his technology flawed. They can cure Alzheimer's, but the cure isn't always perfect. There's a web interface that you carry around in your clothing, but it's not as user-friendly as one might hope. This seems like an element of realism - no technology is ever perfect, but just the best that can be done at the time. And while amazing marvels are possible, there's often a price to be paid or a risk to be taken, and this is part of life, too. Not many futuristic sci-fi novels are subtle enough to recognize these essential truths. Once the action gets started the story becomes a bit messy. There are so many opposing forces at work, creating diversions and switching to contingency plans, etc... that it's hard to keep track of who's trying to do what to whom. But Vinge's careful character development keeps us deeply involved up through the final pages. No matter how you feel about the science, the level of energy, suspense, and just plain fun is so high that nothing less than 5 stars will do.

One of the most useful books about the near future I have read, and the clearest vision of ubiquitous computing ever put forward. Get used to it, this is my future and that of many of my contemporaries. Thank you Vinge for another amazing piece of work, and one which addresses my life and the scepter of the Singularity. Only a few decades away now, buckle your seatbelt and enjoy the ride. Vinge paints what I am sure is a 90% accurate picture of the world of the 2020s or thereabouts. I am not sure about AI and YGBM's, but everything else in this book seems on target. Ubiquitous computing and biotech, collaborative uberthink, garage WMDs, and the participatory panopticon are already coming into existence. Books like this, though about the future, help us to guide that future toward a safer and more beautiful vision. I'm going to give it 5 stars because the world is so well presented, and the ideas are very strong and volubly told. But I agree with other readers that the story is weak and I found it very hard at times to relate to the juvenile high school setting, or to take seriously the belief circle battle at the library.

Looking through these reviews, I see that Mr. Vinge seems to have disappointed some of his fans, especially those who are most familiar with A Fire on the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. Those are classic (albeit much improved) space opera, set in a remote future with an entire galaxy for a canvas. Rainbows End is something different. I admit I was a bit turned off by the reviews billing this as a Singularity novel; although I've always liked Vernor Vinge's work, including his most explicitly "Singularity" stories (assembled in Across Realtime), I've never been a believer, and the Singularity cultists can be tiresome. But there's no preaching here, or not enough to worry about; instead there's an old-fashioned story suitable for all ages. Vernor Vinge has returned to his roots -- stories for very smart children, and the adults they turn into; stories like Tatja Grimm's World and the Witling -- and now he's a much better writer than he was then. So what's this story about? Two classic plots, intertwined. 1. Robert Gu is one of Fortune's darlings, and bears more than a passing resemblance to his semi-namesake, Robert Frost: A brilliant (and successful) poet whose brilliance is recognized by everyone. He's also an insufferable jerk, inflicting emotional pain on all around him. Alzheimer's disease leaves him dependent on his son, who tolerates him - barely - but does not love him. But Fortune smiles on him again, and a cure is found. It doesn't work on everyone, but it does on Robert, and not only is he restored to health and sanity, but even to youth. This isn't entirely welcome, as Robert Gu is cruel and dangerous; the emotional weight of the story comes from Robert's journey to redemption. This story is a familiar one: The hostile, reclusive old genius is re-awakened to his own humanity by two children -- his brilliant granddaughter, Miri Gu, and the slightly older Juan Orozco, misfit and budding poetic genius. To complicate matters, Robert has lost the Muse -- as a consolation prize, though, Fortune has given him technical brilliance, so he is quickly able to understand the strange new world he finds himself in -- and even, haltingly, to begin to help others. 2. The other plot thread: A misguided bureaucrat, with the necessary share of Bond-villain megalomania, has a plan to rule the world, for its own good, through mind control. A trickster artificial intelligence becomes involved, with unknowable motives. Robert and his friends (the first he's ever had, really) are co-opted by the AI; they think they're protesting the destruction of books at the UCSD library, and they are, but they're also being used. To complicate matters, Robert's son (also named Robert) and daughter-in-law (Alice) are Marine Corps officers responsible for stopping just this sort of thing. Eventually Robert Jr. is forced to place his father and granddaughter in terrible danger, to save San Diego (and, incidentally, the world). Will they survive? Well,

I was baptized with Vinge's writing with Fire Upon Deep. And even there, I thought the book was going to be one thing, and when I read it, it went a completely different direction from my expectations... when done reading, I just kept thinking "wow, that was great". When I first picked up Rainbows End, I was very hungry for another amazing, magical novel. The title itself, Rainbows End, set my mind afire with the wonderous plot potentials. Reading the description of the book, I thought... "ehh". Were it not for Vinge being the author, I probably would have passed on the book. As I read it, and got deeper and deeper into the world that Vinge had envisioned, the wonder started to creap in. This book is, to me, quintessential science fiction. Truly good Science Fiction envisions a future where technology has the "wow" factor, creates the people and plot living in this universe, tells the story with skill and depth of character, and holds it all together. Vinge does this and then links it back to present day in a plausible manner. Wow. So now I've read the book. And over the weeks since reading it, again and again I find myself thinking back on the future Vinge portrayed and seeing echos and foreshadowing of the Vinge created universe around me. Very cool. Thanks and well done Mr. Vinge!

_Rainbows End_ by Vernor Vinge is an excellent science fiction novel by in my opinion one of the best novelists in the genre. This story is in the same setting as his earlier novella "Fast Times at Fairmont High" which he finished in August 2001 and first published in _The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge_. The central character of the novella, a young student at a San Diego high school (really a middle school), Juan Orozco, makes a reappearance in this novel, though as one of several important characters, not the chief protagonist. The setting of the novel (and the short story for that matter) is San Diego in the year 2025, which the reader discovers is a world in which the internet connects people and places in ways not possible today. Miniaturization has advanced to such a degree that most people, all the time, have operating computers on them, embedded and weaved into otherwise normally looking clothing called wearables (if someone has on clothing with a computer in it with the capacity to go online he or she is said to be "wearing") and are able to interact with these computers and the internet via special contact lenses. When people first start mastering wearables and their associated contacts they often have to type in the air with their fingers on a phantom keyboard, made visible to the user thanks to their contacts, but as a user becomes more proficient they become able to access computer resources by much more subtle gestures, including particular facial and eye movements. Most areas of the civilized world allow people to maintain a connection to the internet at all times via a vast array of devices embedded in buildings, on the ground, even flying through the air (though areas called deadzones exist, where either thanks to a paucity of devices or a total lack of devices either only a much reduced connection is possible or no connection of any kind can be made; these areas might be found in parts of buildings not normally visited by the public or even those who work there - such as in sewers - or in wilderness areas such as might be found in national parks). Thanks to their wearables, contacts, and the network nodes that are readily accessible with no effort at all, most people are not only always online but always using some aspect of the internet. Access to online information and computational power is available in seconds. There is no need for cell phones, as one can connect with virtually anyone in the world in seconds. Anyone can interact and collaborate with anyone else on a shared project no matter how distant they are, whether it is a school science project or a business venture. Anyone can virtually attend a play, a sporting event, or just visit with friends, quite visible to those wearing and even able to interact with the real environment to varying degrees depending upon the user's skill and local available resources. Perhaps even more interesting, one can choose to see one's surroundings in an online, artificia