Robert J. Sawyer – MostlyFiction Book Reviews We Love to Read! Mon, 04 Jan 2016 19:14:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.3 WWW : WATCH by Robert J. Sawyer /2010/www-watch-by-robert-j-sawyer/ /2010/www-watch-by-robert-j-sawyer/#respond Sun, 09 May 2010 02:30:54 +0000 /?p=9325 Book Quote:

“Caitlin was wrestling with the implications of this, but it was her mother who got it first. “And Webmind sees through Caitlin’s eye, right? Caitlin is his window on our world.”

Caitlin found herself looking down, pleased but a tad embarrassed that the conversation had suddenly come around to her and –

And she saw what Webmind had written at the end of her transcript of Kuroda’s comments, glowing blue: You really did uplift me. You gave me the perspective and point of view and focus I needed to become truly conscious. Without you, I wouldn’t exist.

Caitlin looked up and allowed herself a warm, satisfied smile. “Go me!” she said.”

Book Review:

Review by Ann Wilkes (MAY 8, 2010)

In Robert J. Sawyer’s WWW : Wake, the first book of this trilogy, Caitlin Dector acquired sight through an optical implant that communicates with a device she calls her Eye-pod, which decodes the scrambled signals going to her brain from her eye. But before that she became the first person to “see” the World Wide Web, as a byproduct of the Eye-pod along with her own acquired ability to conceptualize Web connections. Caitlin encountered something else in the background of the Web: an emerging intelligence she dubbed Webmind. Caitlin adjusts to seeing the world around her for the first time, while Webmind began to see it through her.

In WWW : Watch, Caitlin realizes that the responsibility of guiding this emerging intelligence is too much for one teenage girl. Her parents help her to enlist the help of Doctor Kuroda, the inventor of the device which gave her sight, to give Webmind the ability to see the Web the way humans do, to access the images and videos.

Meanwhile, the NSA’s WATCH (Web Activity Threat Containment Headquarters) closes in. Caitlin teaches Webmind right from wrong and urges “him” to intervene rather than just watch as he sees people hurting each other or themselves. The exponential rate of his growth along with his insatiable curiosity keep Caitlin, her parents and Dr. Kuroda busy keeping it occupied through instant message communication.

A charming element introduced in WWW : Wake comes to fruition in WWW : Watch, as the communicative, expressive, half-bonobo, half-chimpanzee artist, Hobo, meets Webmind.

Caitlin turns sixteen in WWW : Watch, which means there’s got to be a love interest, even if it’s puppy love. The really cool thing is that since she hasn’t grown up with sight, she also doesn’t have preconceived notions of what’s beautiful. She falls for the guy with a beautiful mind, and though the world thinks he’s not good looking, Caitlin decides he is.

Sawyer has Caitlin wrestle with many mature and complex concepts. She’s a philosopher at heart, reflected in her Live Journal handle, Calculass. Caitlin has been exposed to physics and mathematics by her parents, who have multiple degrees. Hungry for knowledge, Caitlin read up on difficult subjects both by Braille and on the Internet. Caitlin’s youth combined with so much intellect and curiosity make her a very effective protagonist. Her development plays counterpoint to the emerging intelligence that is growing up with her.

It’s very rare for a second book in a series to surpass the first. Sawyer has done it with WWW : Watch. I enjoyed WWW : Wake as well, but things really come together in this second book. There are more players and all the story lines intersect at last. And the pages of WWW : Watch are filled with suspense of a different kind as Webmind’s friends race to stay ahead of the intelligence agencies who want to bring him down.

Caitlin obviously did something right because Webmind, with no help or prompting, presents her with a remarkably thoughtful birthday present. Caitlin considers Webmind’s altruistic, compassionate intervention, which is facilitated by his surveillance, and weighs it against Orwell’s concept of “Big Brother.” Watch raises a number of interesting questions.

I can’t wait for the conclusion, WWW : Wonder.

AMAZON READER RATING: stars-4-5from 26 readers
PUBLISHER: Ace Hardcover; 1 edition (April 6, 2010)
REVIEWER: Ann Wilkes
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK? YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE: Robert J. Sawyer
EXTRAS: Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION: Read our review of:

WWW : Wake

Bibliography:

Quintaglio Trilogy:

Neaderthal Series:

WWW Series

]]> /2010/www-watch-by-robert-j-sawyer/feed/ 0 WWW : WAKE by Robert J. Sawyer /2009/wwwwake-by-robert-j-sawyer/ /2009/wwwwake-by-robert-j-sawyer/#respond Fri, 29 May 2009 14:36:21 +0000 /?p=2075 Book Quote:

“An unconscious yet conscious time of nothingness.
Being aware without being aware of anything.
And yet—
And yet awareness means…
Awareness means thinking.And thinking implies a…
But no, the thought will not finish; the notion is too complex, too strange. “

Book Review:

Reviewed by Ann Wilkes (MAY 29, 2009)

In this first book of Robert J. Sawyer‘s WWW series, Caitlan Decter is a teenage math whiz who’s getting used to her family’s new digs in Canada. They moved from Texas where she attended a school for the blind. Now she’s entering a public school as a sophomore. But she’s not worried, because she’s “made of awesome.”

With the help of cutting-edge technology, Caitlan spends a lot of time on the internet where her disability is unnoticed—until she gets an email from a Japanese researcher offering a new advancement that could restore her sight. Caitlan and her family fly to Japan where the scientist implants a device in her head that reorders the scrambled signals from one of her blind eyes. Through a monitoring and software update function of the external part of the device she calls her “eyepod,” Caitlan sees the World Wide Web.  

And now the web sees our realm, through her.

Sawyer’s treatment of the awakening of a consciousness from a man-made construct (in this case the web) coupled with the awe and wonder of a blind person’s journey to sight is brilliant. Caitlan became blind at such an early age that she doesn’t know what anything looks like. Everything is new. She sees colors in the web, but without any frame of reference, doesn’t know which are which. As she regains her sight, her journey is paralleled by an emerging intelligence in cyberspace. And to delight readers further, Sawyer introduces Hobo, the chimp who paints portraits from memory. Another kind of emergence.

Sawyer captures the complex personality of a confident, ambitious teenage girl who craves acceptance. Teenagers say what they feel, making her a great choice of protagonist. Even if she’s only “saying” it on Live Journal.

The web intelligence has all the information in the world, yet cannot comprehend it.  Because the entity is like a newborn, not understanding what it is and how it fits into the world, how can it have words for anything? It gradually grasps simple concepts and learns, but it’s not clear where it is getting its insight. The process is, nonetheless, fascinating.

Without revealing the ending, I have to say it had one. So many authors of multi-volume works don’t bother tying up enough of the loose ends to keep the reader satisfied at the end of any but the last volume. When we have to wait at least a year for the next installment, I think the author owes us one. Sawyer came through with a most satisfying ending—not even rushed. Wake also ends with a perfect last line. But no peeking!

Sawyer has won numerous awards for his science fiction both here and abroad. ABC just bought the TV series based on his novel, Flashforward. It will air in 2010 in the spot LOST now occupies. A film adaptation of his short story, “Identity Theft” is also in the works. The sequel, www : Watch is in his publisher’s hands. He’s currently working on www : Wonder.

AMAZON READER RATING: stars-4-0from 54 readers
PUBLISHER: Ace Hardcover; 1 edition (April 7, 2009)
REVIEWER: Ann Wilkes
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK? YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE: Robert J. Sawyer
EXTRAS: Ann’s interview with Robert J. Sawyer and Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION: Read our review of:

WWW :  WATCH

Also check out:
GENESIS by Bernard Beckett

RAINBOW’S END by Vernor Vinge

Bibliography:

Quintaglio Trilogy:

Neaderthal Series:

WWW Series

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