Bookshot #71: Rainbow's End

Where to begin with Rainbows End?  Well for a start, it took me a hell of a long time to get through this book- but I don't want that to scare anybody.  This was a good book...  but not a knock your socks off, you have to read this right away, it will change your life type of a book.  This was a thought-provoking book and a vision of the future that isn't at all far-fetched- at least I don't think it is, but...  I don't know.  Just didn't really work for me when all was said and done, but let's unpack the plot a little bit and see if I can put my finger on just what it is that didn't work for me.

Rainbows End opens with Robert Gu, the famous poet slowly regaining his faculties as he recovers from Alzheimer's disease- he re-emerges into a world that is very different from the world he knew.   He was a world renowned poet with a notoriously volatile temper that was more or less estranged him from his entire family- he has to get to know them all, including his granddaughter Miri and try and rebuild his shattered relationships with them.

And, he has to do it while going back to school to learn about all the new technology that has emerged since his illness.   What the author Vernor Vinge describes sounds a lot like Minority Report- not virtual reality, but augmented reality- human now interact with virtual overlays of reality all the time.   Smart clothing with gesture recognition and contact lenses with virtual retinal display make it all possible- learning how to interact with new reality 'the wearables' as the characters call them is the challenge that faces Robert.

But incredibly powerful technology is now available to more and more people and Robert and his granddaughter are drawn into a plot involving a traitorous intelligence officer, a mysterious stranger disguised as an anthropomorphic rabbit and mind control technology that could be very dangerous indeed.   Robert, who has lost his 'spark' and finds himself unable to write poetry like he used to again is lured into the plot with promising of being able to get back his old abilities again and soon he, his granddaughter and colleagues old and new are caught up in plot that could radically alter the future and all their lives hang in the balance.

Overall: Realistic vision of the future, believable characters and a good story- and, I have to admit, good writing, produce a solid, if somewhat uninspiring novel.  I think what Vinge lacks is a touch of cyberpunk panache.  You look at books like The Diamond Age or Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson and they deal with many of the same topics and themes that Vinge touches on with Rainbows End, but while Vinge produces perfectly serviceable macaroni and cheese, Stephenson adds bacon and truffle oil.  (If you'll excuse the metaphor- that's making me hungry now!)  It's the difference between ** 1/2 and **** stars, I'm afraid.  They both might taste good, but if you've got a choice, you're going for the bacon and the truffle oil.