Count To A Trillion

by John C. Wright

Hardcover, 2011

Series

Count to the Eschaton (1)

Genres

Science Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

New York : Tor Books, 2011.

Description

"John C. Wright burst upon the SF scene a decade ago with the Golden Age trilogy, an innovative space opera. He went on to write fantasy novels, including the popular Orphans of Chaos trilogy. And now he returns to space opera in Count to a Trillion. After the collapse of the world economy, a young boy grows up in what used to be Texas as a tough duellist for hire, the future equivalent of a hired gun. But even after the collapse, there is space travel, and he leaves Earth to have adventures in the really wide open spaces. But he is quickly catapulted into the more distant future, while humanity, and Artificial Intelligence, grows and changes and becomes a kind of superman"--

User reviews

LibraryThing member gypsysmom

I can't remember being so disappointed in a book. I read about this book in John Scalzi's blog (he fairly regularly has other science fiction writers write about their "Big Idea") and I thought it sounded like something that I would really like. Hard SF, a message from aliens couched in scientific

terms, how humans deal with that message, all those things that really tweak my interest. But in my opinion, what could have been a great story, was destroyed by a lack of attention to grammar and spelling. I would guess that at least once in every 10 pages there was an egregious error that leaped off the page at me. I came very close to putting down the book and sending it back to the library unfinished. But I wanted to give it a chance, to see if the story would overcome those editing problems. Sad to say it didn't. I felt like the author was trying to show how much smarter he was than me by throwing in every mathematical concept known too date. Maybe he is smarter than me but really smart people don't have to show off their intellect. And really smart people don't have males fighting duels while the women are safely asleep in their beds. Really smart people also don't say "ain't" and call women "girl".

So don't make my mistake and fall for the reviews of this book (including one by a favourite author, Spider Robinson, who should be ashamed of the accolades he heaped on this book). There are many, many more books deserving of your attention.

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LibraryThing member Drakhir

I love the prose, the ideas, the twists... I would have given this 5 stars, but it is not a complete book. As with Wright's 'The Last Guardian of Everness', this is clearly part 1 of 2 book series, and it has not ended with... well, an ending.
So take it as part 1, and you will enjoy it. Maybe wait

until part 2 actually comes out...

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LibraryThing member alclay

Interesting book. Alas, but for the horrible dialogue, flat characters, and lugubrious expository bits, it would've been enjoyable.

LibraryThing member capiam1234

This is one of those books that you have to be careful not to get lost. With the wide array of characters and time that passes through you have to either be impressed at the skill that was put into developing this story, or you just scathingly hate it. I loved it despite the end ending like it did.

Hopefully The Hermetic Millennia offers some help.

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LibraryThing member smcamp1234

Hopefully The Hermetic Millennia offers some help.

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LibraryThing member chaosmogony

Had good parts, had some bad parts in that way that only kooky science fiction writers can be bad.

I liked the main character for the super-smart redneck that he was, but I'm not sure what I think about the story as a standalone. This is supposed to be the opening of a series, and this volume leaves

off on a cliffhanger of Neal Stephenson proportions. I give it four stars for now pending further developments, as there's a lot of interestingness to keep my curiosity piqued.

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LibraryThing member gregandlarry

Good story but a bit incredible in places.

LibraryThing member Xandylion

This book is *thick* with data and jargon from the various involved subject matters (mathematics, programming, semantics, biology), but even so I found it extremely enjoyable. There's a little bit of a cliffhanger at the end, but I didn't find it infuriating (which cliffhangers normally do). I

found the main character fascinating and likeable and the future he eventually ends up in creatively different from most of the sci-fi I read. I think, if you liked Asimov's foundation series, you'll be able to appreciate this book. I look forward to reading the next in the series.

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LibraryThing member miken32

Interesting premise, but bogged down in exposition and bland philosophizing. And the trope about the "perfect" woman engineered by a bunch of men, who falls for our protagonist, ugh. Got about 3/4 of the way through before it was due back at the library. Did not renew.

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