Aristide, a semi-retired computer scientist turned swordsman, is a scholar of the implied spaces, seeking meaning amid the accidents of architecture in a universe where reality itself has been sculpted and designed by superhuman machine intelligence. While exploring the pre-technological world Midgarth, one of four dozen pocket universes created within a series of vast, orbital matrioshka computer arrays, Aristide uncovers a fiendish plot threatening to set off a nightmare scenario, perhaps even bringing about the ultimate Existential Crisis: the end of civilization itself. Traveling the pocket universes with his wormhole-edged sword Tecmesssa in hand and talking cat Bitsy, avatar of the planet-sized computer Endora, at his side, Aristide must find a way to save the multiverse from subversion, sabotage, and certain destruction.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Not Free SF Reader:
There once was a time when if a book said Walter Jon Williams, I would get it, as long as I knew about it and could find it. Some I still have not. I detested Days Of Atonement, however, and though the Dread Empire's Fall book I tried was very average - the same for the short stories related to this series. A highly eclectic writer, with that much variety an older me now realises that it is extremely unlikely that you will like everything written by a man with such range. Now we come to Implied... more info
Surprise!:
I read a ton of sci-fi, and most of it is quite forgetful--something to pass the time, a western or mystery set in the future (or sideways). _Implied Spaces_ is almost a summation of the sci-fi genre. Take your un-defeatable hero (though with enough flaws to be lovable), extrapolations of future technologies kept just shy of the Singularity (imagine if Stross had decided to go for balance), love stories not taken too far, the predictable villain, a novel way of introducing Deux ex Machina (or is it... more info
Good entertaining story, but lacks focus:
I read this book in 3-4 days, tops. It was very enjoyable reading, as I have been a big fan of WJW ever since his first short story in Omni. Great fun: evil villains, dashing swordsmen in a World of Warcraft type setting, AI sidekicks, big combat scenes... But I don't think it measures up to his best books like Aristoi, Voice of the Whirlwind or Angel Station. One problem is that he starts throwing out what could be fairly serious themes: re-incarnation, the relationship of self-aware AIs to humankind,... more info
A bit of a rehash but an enjoyable rehash:
Walter Jon Williams isn't really breaking any new ground here, although it takes a little while to notice. The prologue is three chapters long, far too long, but stick with the book because it gets more interesting. The story is set a millennium or two in the future where humanity has used massive AI supercomputers orbiting the sun and wormhole technology to created artificial pocket universes where most people live. The main character is Aristide, a scholar who investigates what he calls "implied spaces",... more info
Privacy policy: we don't collect information
about visitors except for the standard technical server logs. We don't send unsolicited emails. We don't
sell the information that we don't collect about you to anyone. When you follow
links to other sites, their privacy policies apply. Thanks for visiting!
