One night in October when he was ten years old, Tyler Dupree stood in his back yard and watched the stars go out. They all flared into brilliance at once, then disappeared, replaced by a flat, empty black barrier. He and his best friends, Jason and Diane Lawton, had seen what became known as the Big Blackout. It would shape their lives. The effect is worldwide. The sun is now a featureless disk--a heat source, rather than an astronomical object. The moon is gone, but tides remain. Not only have the world's artificial satellites fallen out of orbit, their recovered remains are pitted and aged, as though they'd been in space far longer than their known lifespans. As Tyler, Jason, and Diane grow up, a space probe reveals a bizarre truth: The barrier is artificial, generated by huge alien artifacts. Time is passing faster outside the barrier than inside--more than a hundred million years per year on Earth. At this rate, the death throes of the sun are only about forty years in our future. Jason, now a promising young scientist, devotes his life to working against this slow-moving apocalypse. Diane throws herself into hedonism, marrying a sinister cult leader who's forged a new religion out of the fears of the masses. Earth sends terraforming machines to Mars to let the onrush of time do its work, turning the planet green. Next they send humans...and immediately get back an emissary with thousands of years of stories to tell about the settling of Mars. Then Earth's probes reveal that an identical barrier has appeared around Mars. Jason, desperate, seeds near space with self-replicating machines that will scatter copies of themselves outward from the sun--and report back on what they find. Life on Earth is about to get much, much stranger.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Loved it!:
I got this book as a free download (promotional book from the publisher) a while back and finally got a chance to read it. FANTASTIC! Oh, and the freebie...it did it's job. I'm on the lookout for his other books now, too. Added bonus: I think I learned about 20 new words while reading it. :-)
Spin- A well written epic SF adventure!!!:
I ordered this book in June '08, and finally got around to finishing it. I read it in little bits at a time, over a period of several weeks...and as an old Sci-Fi fan, I can attest to the fact that this is truly a great "read". A well written epic adventure with well developed characters, this book is simply as "good as it gets". There is not a lot I can add to the prior reviews, except to say that I add my highest recommendation.
A Remarkably Well Written SF Novel:
SPIN may very well be the best written Science Fiction novel I've ever stumbled upon. Robert Charles Wilson, a Canadian SF writer I know very little about, is a truly superb wordsmith. Most of the characterization in this book is first-rate, with all the major characters achieving a depth and complexity that I almost never find in a novel of this type. Much in the same way Stephen King elevates the horror genre, I think Wilson elevates SF with this effort. I wish I could say that Wilson's plotting... more info
Very well done:
Spin is one of the best Sci Fi novels I have read in a long time. It is not only a unique and throught provoking story, but it is also full of great characters that are developed throughout the book. I really enjoyed it and it was a great look at humanity as well. Great read.
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