Specify Appertaining To Books Souls in the Great Machine (Greatwinter #1)
Title | : | Souls in the Great Machine (Greatwinter #1) |
Author | : | Sean McMullen |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 608 pages |
Published | : | December 15th 2002 by Tor Books (first published 1999) |
Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. Steampunk. Apocalyptic. Post Apocalyptic. Fantasy |
Sean McMullen
Paperback | Pages: 608 pages Rating: 3.89 | 761 Users | 57 Reviews
Description Concering Books Souls in the Great Machine (Greatwinter #1)
The great Calculor of Libris was forced to watch as Overmayor Zarvora had four of its components lined up against a wall and shot for negligence. Thereafter, its calculations were free from errors, and that was just as well-for only this strangest of calculating machines and its two thousand enslaved components could save the world from a new ice age.And all the while a faint mirrorsun hangs in the night sky, warning of the cold to come.
In Sean McMullen's glittering, dynamic, and exotic world two millennia from now, there is no more electricity, wind engines are leading-edge technology, librarians fight duels to settle disputes, steam power is banned by every major religion, and a mysterious siren "Call" lures people to their death. Nevertheless, the brilliant and ruthless Zarvora intends to start a war in space against inconceivably ancient nuclear battle stations.
Unbeknownst to Zarvora, however, the greatest threat to humanity is neither a machine nor a force but her demented and implacable enemy Lemorel, who has resurrected an obscene and evil concept from the distant past: Total War.
Souls in the Great Machine is the first volume of Sean McMullen's brilliant future history of the world of Greatwinter
Identify Books During Souls in the Great Machine (Greatwinter #1)
Original Title: | Souls in the Great Machine |
ISBN: | 0765344572 (ISBN13: 9780765344571) |
Edition Language: | English |
Series: | Greatwinter #1 |
Rating Appertaining To Books Souls in the Great Machine (Greatwinter #1)
Ratings: 3.89 From 761 Users | 57 ReviewsCritique Appertaining To Books Souls in the Great Machine (Greatwinter #1)
I give it a 4 star instead of a 5 star rating, because for me, the plot got too bogged down in some parts, slowing down the action too much. But, it was a fascinating piece of SF, and thanks to another reviewer, I found out that it was released as two separate books in Australia, explaining the sudden 5-year gap in the story. I would have liked to have known more about what happened to Lemorel during those 5 years, because it may have explained better her motivations for what she did later.TheThe writing style is more passable than most science fiction but still not literary. The last thirty or so pages form an awkward hodgepodge of a denouement, tying together strings that weren't there before and giving a general bad impression of the author: Maybe the publication deadline came too soon. That said, the concepts are ingenious and addicting, and the characters start out better than the usual scifi breed. Four stars for standing out from the dreary genre horde.
Overall this would be best classified as a fun book to read. Lots of action and lots of fun characters. The characters remind me quite a bit of characters from Ayn Rand's books, which means they seem to be slightly one dimensional in the behavior, but that does get toned down some later in the book. It loosely qualifies as steampunk. The post-apocalyptic nature of it sets it in a different era than a lot of steampunk. The setting for most of the book is Australia (in later books it seems that
Set in Australia after a cataclysmic event killed all technology and millions by cold weather. A young woman who was studying Mirrorsun (a silver band in the skies) and the Wanderers (spy satellites which destroy attempts at engines) designs in secret a computer (the Calculor) based on humans working a system of beads and levers. There are many interesting characters (e.g. Overliber Zarvora who challenges and shoots anyone standing in her way, Abbess Theresla who eats grilled mice on toast, John
Just couldn't go on. My first dnf in ages. At about page 300 I started to get embarrassed at how awful the interaction between characters was. Especially the female characters, who by the way, started out as strong and resourceful and ended up standing in front of a mirror naked and scoring themselves out of 10. At some stage, it felt like the author stopped writing and his 15 year old son took over and suddenly all the powerful nation leading women suddenly needed to compare breasts and work
Originally published on my blog here in August 2004.There are plenty of post-apocalyptic novels, and plenty of science fiction about computers, but Souls in the Great Machine is the first story I have read which combines the two. Set about seventeen hundred years from now, following a nuclear winter, Souls in the Great Machine is about the effects of the development of a new form of a religiously proscribed machine, the computer. Because electronic equipment has become unusable (due to still
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