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Title/Author

Quarantine

Greg Egan

Average Review Rating Average Rating 6/10 (1 Review)
Book Details

Publisher : Millennium

Published : 1992

Copyright : Greg Egan 1992

ISBN-10 : PB 1-85798-590-7
ISBN-13 : PB 978-1-85798-590-0

Publisher's Write-Up

It's late in the 21st century and bioengineering has become so commonplace that people are able to modify their minds in any way they wish. It is an era which has been shaped by information systems so vast that security, in any form, is easily breached. You can be just exactly what you want to be, but the world outside and your life in it aren't going to run any more smoothly...

Because one night, thirty years ago, the stars went out and everything disappeared from the sky. 'The Bubble' - a perfect sphere centered on the sun - made its appearance and isolated the earth and its solar system from the rest of the galaxy. Humanity has been cut off... Quarantined.

'The universe may be stranger than we can imagine, but it's going to have a hard time outdoing Egan.'

New Scientist
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Reader Reviews

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Review by Nigel (270300) Rating (6/10)

Review by Nigel
Rating 6/10
T
his novel has been difficult for me to review since I have been a great fan of Greg Egan for years (see Reviewer Nigel). I have therefore read much of his later work before actually managing to read (took a while to find:) this debut SF novel.

Greg Egan's novel Permutation City changed the way I think about 'What We Are' in much the same way The Matrix made accessible to people the reality that the brain 'sees' the world via transducers and electronic signals. If you input signals directly then 'What is Real?'

I was therefore expecting great things and I must admit ended up a little disappointed. The novel is based on a great idea; multiple universes controlled in such a way that even the most impossible task can be undertaken. The story leads to the moment of revelation 'What is the Bubble?' Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Bubble is.......sorry about that. The point is when you find out you feel a little let down.

The thing that does come across is Egan's ability for discussing brilliant ideas through stories. I get the impression that his is a mind that thinks in prose (could be wrong of course:)
Nigel (27th March 2000)

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