This is a work of 'quantum' fantasy, as cutting edge science on the nature of matter and the linkage between observer and observed blurs into a traditional fantasy quest. A party of beings from the city of Kalpa, at the end of time (in sections dated 14 zeroes) journey out into its surrounding nullity, and, in parallel, a group of quirky individuals (in sections dated 10 zeroes) from our time and before, all bearing potent talismen, end up in a Seattle in a universe shrunk into the environs of a bookshop. Of course, all these creatures/people are the same beings, at different points in time.

One of the quaint things about this book is how much books are valued in it. Alongside all the physics meets fantasy extravaganza, books get worshipped for their role in preserving experience. Borges and his idea of the infinite Library of Babel, in which all possible texts are present, get subborned into an important role in the stew of ideas floating around.

Yet somehow it all fails to catch fire. The writing is excellent and the ideas are certainly there, but the story just takes too long. There are too many switchbacks in the plot and the science/fantasy setting starts to wear thin as the same old mysteries and truths keep coming around again and again. ( )

One of the best of current science fiction writers, this is Bear's latest novel. It takes place well beyond the end of the universe as we know it at a time when the universe has decayed into almost total chaos. The humans that are left are reaching back to an earlier time (our time) to try and save something from the encroaching chaos. We follow several of these people as they prepare to enter this chaos where none has returned.

We also follow a myriad of contemporary characters in modern Seattle (Bear's hometown) as they get recruited into this cause, which has everything to do with books and ancient knowledge.

This book left me a bit flummoxed. The plot appears to be a mating of ancient religion and current cosmology. I was left with the constant feeling that I was either missing something or simply didn't have enough knowledge of either of these subjects to completely enjoy the book.

On the other hand I did like that housecats help resolve the plot's crisis and that a major theme is about the power of books and of the written word. One of the more perplexing notions of modern physics is how observation changes the observed and Bear has extrapolated this notion to suggest that the universe needs to be observed to exist. Of course he also posits that words in books can change when they're not being read but I'll leave that idea as one more thing I don't understand about this book.

Recommended if you're familiar with Bear and want a good puzzle, otherwise go for one of his earlier works.

Greg Bear is the author of the Forge of God series, as well as one of my favorites, Darwin's Radio, and Moving Mars, for which he won the 1994 Nebula Award.

Would have probably made an excellent short story at most. This book is 90% padding to bring it out to novel length.
There is just not enough material here to justify a novel. While it has some interesting ideas it's incredibly repetitive and mind numbingly tedious to read.
A less renowned author would have had his editor cut him off firmly at a quarter the size though I doubt it would have ever been published at all in anything but a short story format. ( )

An interesting read. Took me a while to get into this book, and for the plot lines to come together for me. I tend to like the ideas of parallel universes, and how time can fold inupon itself, but Bear takes this to a whole new level, and wraps it up well with stories, books, time, and history being interdependent upong one another. I liked one particular instance he mentions in the book - cats can be found wherever there is a good story, they go hand in hand, or rather in lap with good books all over the world. ( )

This book is premised on the notion that time is a matter of perspective. At its core, there is one central story about the far future, trillions of years out, where what is remaining of humanity in all its shapes and forms is struggling to survive an onslaught from a presence alien to our universe. There are mixtures of stories and anecdotes thrown in from many themes. Personally, I feel the author himself failed to keep a coherent story going, poorly defined characters, and rushed with an ending that smacked of "let's wrap this up". I was really disappointed in this book, as I have so greatly enjoyed previous works by this author.

Sean ( )