Unfortunately for John C. Wright, the sci-fi of today must exist in the shadows of its predecessors. Wright has tried to live up to standards set by authors such as Aldous Huxley and Philip K. Dick. He has created a utopian society of the future. He included the initial of his middle name on the cover.

The Golden Age is an NMP: novel of mass production; as potentially dangerous for the literary world as any country’s WMDs for our world. In an attempt to overcome this problem, Wright created another. The horrendous amount of scientific jargon. The reader is mercilessly bombarded with Wright’s habit of displaying his scientific knowledge. Sure, the intricacy of the setting and theme demands some scientific explanation but Wright has gone too far.

It is hard to feel a part of Wright’s world, which is an important aspect of any good story. You should be transported to the fictional world and perhaps haggle for a beard with one of the characters. You simply cannot relate to a character named Nebuchednezzar! No bullshit! Get on your knees in the bookstore and find out for yourself. The scientific jargon and unpronounceable names serve only to inhibit the flow of a good story.

In the end, I do not regret reading this book. It was enlightening – I now know never to read John C. Wright again. But seriously, for what it is – a sci-fi NMP – The Golden Age is worthy. You will never be bored with the myriad of characters and ever changing settings. Some trippy scenes spark a competent reader’s imagination well.

To finish on the best note possible, the concept behind the book – though borrowed from the above authors amongst others – was great. Set 10, 000 years in the future, The Golden Age is a story amongst intergalactic worlds. It is a prediction of what our world could come to be, should it survive our mistreatment of it.

If you’re a sci-fi geek, you’ll love this book. If you’re a pseudo literary critic, steer clear.

This review was originally published in On Dit, the student newspaper of Adelaide University. ( )

Dull and pointless: Imagine a couple of interesting concepts wrapped in enough ridiculous minute details and pointless characters. Or don't imagine it and read this book.

The 'Jack Vance' wikipedia entry listed this as a book based on Jack's style of storytelling, world-building and language use. Just so! Not derivative, just a fabulous homage, yet truly its own tale of a future society gone awry, and a look at what happens when we can consciously edit our own reality to fit our preferences. One stunning concept after another... to be continued! ( )

The beginning of this book was so confusing that I almost stopped reading. The world created for the story is complex and rich, but it is not explained very much. I was on my own to figure out what was going on. Eventually, I caught up and the plot was worth the effort. I really came to enjoy the idea of a future society of immortal humans who use machines as extensions of their bodies and minds. Unfortunately the book ends abruptly with a note announcing that the story will be concluded in the sequel. ( )

A novel set in the far, far future, where everyone is about as posthuman as you can imagine. A little reminiscent of Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time, in tone, but with more obvious humanity and human characters. It appears that the main character, now happily going about his business, was some sort of maverick in the past. The current group of people in power, including his father, removed a large chunk
of his memory. This is a long period of time, some centuries, are the people in this era are functionally immortal.

He tries to find out why, and what he should do about it. He gets into some serious amount of trouble as a destabilising influence in a society that is being manipulated into stagnation by its masters.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2006/12/golden-age-john-c-wright.html ( )