Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge. Hugo Award

(Brought to you by kat impatientreader.com)  The prologue gives us a summary of the conflict, which will underpin the novel:  in the year 2025, various intelligence agencies notice several unusual incidents of crowd behavior.  It seems that someone may have perfected the art of mind-control.  Masses of people can be infected with a virus that causes them to be susceptible to programmable commands. 

The Europeans get especially paranoid because they don't trust the world's two superpowers: the United States and China. A German agent named Gunberk Braun starts tracking down leads.  He hooks up with a Japanese cult-expert and a secretive Indian national known as Mr. Vaz.  The three of them meet in Barcelona, Spain to discuss their options.

Vaz, physically present, speaks with the avatars of the other two. An avatar is a virtual projection that can hide one's true identity.  A hacker named Mr. Rabbit joins the conference.  They've decided to employ him though his avatar possesses the annoying diction and demeanor of Bugs Bunny.  He seems an agent of chaos who could switch sides at any time, but they need his skills. Vaz, who is not what he seems, keeps an eye on Mr. Rabbit who might be smart enough to figure him out.

Meanwhile, we go to sunny San Diego to meet Chinese-American Robert Gu, a world-renowned poet who has been dying of Alzheimer's for twenty years. But now medical science has a cure.  Robert finds his mind restored and housed in a youthful body. Or at least he's mostly restored: he can understand poetry, but he now lacks the spark of genius.  How bitter it is to know what he's lost! In addition, he has twenty years of catching up to do so he gets packed off to the local high school along with other elderly lost souls to learn how to be productive in society once more.

Kids today have no trouble adapting to the advanced technologies of 2025.  They connect to the worldwide web via contact lenses and tiny computers woven into their clothes. They project virtual images onto the air in front of them and initiate complicated subroutines with arcane hand-gestures. All this has a very steep learning curve, and Robert and the other oldsters struggle to keep up.

Robert, by the way, is a total bastard.  Arrogant and nasty, he drove his wife away long ago and alienated his son. Now his son and daughter-in-law, who are both high-ranking officers in the U.S. military, reluctantly take him in. Being cured from Alzheimer's hasn't mellowed Robert one bit.  He vents his spleen upon them and his endearing granddaughter Miri who earnestly tries to teach him the new technologies. 

He also runs roughshod over a school-kid named Juan who attempts to befriend him and recruit him into some kind of affiliate program. Miri and Juan get viewpoints, and soon it seems that Mr. Rabbit is making friends with them online, pretending to be a ten year-old.  Does this remind you of pedophile behavior or what?

Soon people draw Robert into a protest at the San Diego University library where administrators destroy physical books once the text gets entered into a database.  This leads to Robert's further involvement as a pawn in the bigger espionage plot.  But, to be honest, I must admit that I got way too bored to force my way past these first 100 pages.

Is this a valid review, you might ask? It's the best I can do under the circumstances.  The gear-heads among us may enjoy this book but I found it heavy on the technical concepts and light on action and characterization.

Read a review of another Hugo winner, Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. Check out the Hugo Award list. Buy Rainbows End on Amazon:   Rainbows End

Noteworthy Links:   Wonderquest - Science Q/A! The Connection - Tech blog! Author site - John the Eunuch Historical Mystery series, Cozy Mystery List for all your cozy mystery needs, Obsidian Bookshelf - reviews of gay-themed fiction.
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