first read about this on the Big Idea blog ( http://whatever.scalzi.com/?s=big idea ), then I encountered it on the new releases shelf at the library, so I figured I'd give it a try. The concept is provocative, unfortunately sometimes the dialog is a bit stilted -- the dangers of a middle-aged man writing with a teenage girl as his main character.I'll definitely look for the sequel when it comes out. ( )

Normally love/ingest Sawyer books. This one made me skip ahead and check my watch to make sure it hadn't become tomorrow already. The chatter just didn't engage me and there is a hell of a lot of name-dropping. It seemed like every other page included a reference to a real person and the protag's remark about how 'cool' that person was. I stopped counting at ten.

I don't know. I'll probably try the next one, but I won't have high hopes. Definitely a library read rather than a book bought. Time to re-read the Neanderthal trilogy ... ( )

The ideas in this book were quite interesting and I was definitely drawn into all the three of the main story lines. I just didn't enjoy Sawyer's writing style all that much. I've read a couple of his other books and have felt hints of this, though never as strongly as in Wake.

Maybe it's because I live in Waterloo region (the primary setting for this novel), but I couldn't get over the feeling that he was "name dropping" with many of the locations and people that were thrown into this. It always seemed to feel forced; like he was mentioning places simply to assert his Canadianism - as if he were trying to play to the "hometown Canadian" crowd. Did writing that the breakfast sausage was from Schnieder's or that the cookies were from mennonites in St. Jacobs really add anything to the story?

I also didn't buy his take on a 15-year old girl. Most of Caitlin's internal dialog and conversation felt more like a middle aged man's impression of a young woman rather than an actual 15 year old. I found myself rolling my eyes at much of it.

All that said though, I still thoroughly enjoyed the ideas presented and will certainly be on the lookout for the followup novels in this trilogy. I'm hopeful that Sawyer's writing style matures along with Caitlin. ( )

A very intriguing story about a blind girl who gains sight of the web and of the real world through an implant. This implant lets her discover an artificial intelligence forming in the world wide web. The story is clearly geared towards a second book and even though the main plot comes to a nice conclusion, some of the sub-plots end a bit abruptly. The audio recording is amazing with multiple narrators and discreet sound effects. ( )

The main storyline involves 15-year-old Caitlin, who was born blind. She is contacted by a doctor in Japan who has an experimental device that he believes may give her vision. Once her “eyePod” is up and running, however, she finds that instead of seeing the world around her, she can see the structure of the World Wide Web. She eventually also gains regular sight, but not before realizing that something is "alive" in the Web, and it is trying to communicate with her.

Meanwhile, in China, an outbreak of bird flu causes the government to take drastic measures, and to cover it up by disconnecting China from the outside world by severing communication temporarily. One young man, who goes by the online name “Sinanthropus,” suspects that the loss of internet access to the outside world is no accident, and puts himself in danger by beginning to investigate.

In America, Hobo, a chimpanzee/bonobo hybrid, begins to paint one of his keepers after having a video conference with an orangutan at another zoo.

Robert J. Sawyer is at the top of his game in this book, not only in the interesting ideas he has presented and the research he has done but also in character development. Caitlin is a very engaging character, and I was impressed with how well Sawyer was able to create this teenaged character and have her seem real.

More things to like: I like the idea of the www gaining consciousness, and of that not being presented as a scary thing that will end in the destruction of the human race. Of course, there are two more books coming…maybe Skynet will make its appearance later. I also like the short chapters, shifting from story line to story line. Sawyer handled it well, making for good pacing. I like all the different types of “waking” that are happening here: the entity within the web waking to consciousness, beginning with the realization that there is “self” and “other”; Caitlin’s awakening sense of sight changing her perception of the world around her; Hobo’s awakening intelligence and abilities. I love how Sawyer has Caitlin refer to her favorite book, Helen Keller’s The Story of My Life, another story of waking.

Since this is the first book in a trilogy, there are several loose ends that are left dangling. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the story. ( )