Flashforward

This book has two things going for it. A great premise and CERn (the protagonist was on D0 + 1 star).

Unfortunately the writing is poor. Far too much time is spent exploring the philosophy and cod physics of the flash forward and not enough exploring the characters and the impact on their lives. As for the ending. Bleachh.

This author writes the kind of books I want to read, like Calculating God, but without any literary quality. It feels like a stereotypical scientist, one who seats in a lab all day and has no knowledge of human interactions, decided to learn what that is like from a 50 page book he picked up in a Walmart, and he kind of understood.

The result is a very “square” prose, with lots of telling/not showing. Everything feels very artificial. “... and she lost her child. It felt bad, and she cried, because that's what humans do when they are sad.”

The premise of the book is that an amazingly interesting phenomenon hapended, where the humanity's mind collectively jumped 20 or so years ahead in the future, and then went back after a few minutes.

34% into the book and NOTHING interesting to show for. He tries to describes the humane aspect of the event, how it affected peoples lives. I wanted a mystery and/or a thriller, maybe some time travel fantasy mixed in. There is none. Just a plain day-by-day description of the lives of some of the people affected by the event. Who to blame, a guy who finds out he is going to be murdered, and tries to prevent it, people getting divorced, life insurances bankrupting, etc.

A good first act, but you get the sense that this was a short story or novella that was dragged out a bit. I didn't really care about the murder plot.

Also, the interesting bit with Cheung–I could swear it was an homage to Baxter and Clarke's The Light of Other Days, but Sawyer's novel actually came out a year before that.

I didn't even know this book had been used as the basis for a TV show, I'll have to watch it. This is the first Robert J. Sawyer book that I read that wasn't in Canada. Still, he must have visited CERN to be able to write such rich details. I liked how the characters wrestled with the ideas of a fixed fate and the quantum observer.

Not much like the TV-show based on this book, but that in my opinion did not matter. I really liked the TV-show and I really liked this book, even though they use the same premise and develop it very differently.

The book focuses on the research team at CERN who believe they inadvertently caused the whole of humanity to get a vision of 20 years hence. During this vision everybody lost consciousness causing among other things plane and car crashes and a huge loss of life.

Much of the book focuses on the science and everyone trying to figure out what happened and then in good scientific fashion trying to recreate the experiment.

But we also have time to look at some of the characters' reactions and thoughts as to what they saw in their visions. Is it worth it to put time into a relationship you know won't last? Why did some people not see anything? Is the future fixed?

I found the story to be really intriguing and it had me hooked from start to finish (read it in one sitting).

Just a heads up: The book differs significantly from the TV show. So, do yourself a favor; don't start reading this book expecting it to mirror the TV show, and then come here and give it a bad rating because it deviated from your expectations.

Sometimes the book gets a little too technical. However, I see this as a quality since it provides two things:

- Pushes the book more into the Hard Sci-Fi genre;
- I got to learn some pretty interesting things about physics (explained in an accessible way) while reading a literary book;

Bearing this in mind, my biggest problem with this book was its third part Two scenes dragged a little bit too much: The description of Simcoe's vision for the second FlashForward and Theo's pursuit inside CERN. Also, I kind of wished that it would be impossible to have a second FlashForward. Nonetheless, I've appreciated that the writer didn't use the same formula as before. Making some humans immortal and taking them almost to the end of time was another way to add even more philosophical questions to the book, focusing once more on how relative time is for the human race. Recalling two characters from the past that didn't seem all that important at the time was also a nice gesture.

All in all, I do recommend this book. Certainly, it is not for everyone, and people with no interest in science whatsoever may not see the its appeal.

For such a short book, it took me a really long time to read it. The concept was interesting enough as were some of the theories about time, the future, and free will, but honestly I never felt any real connection with the story or the characters, and that kept me from finding much enjoyment in the book.

I doubt I ever would have picked it up if it weren't on the Sword and Laser list. Time-bending stories always leave my head hurting a little bit, so they aren't my favorite thing to read. The conceit of this book is that the consciousness of humanity offers them a brief glimpse of their future at a precise moment in time 21 years and change in the future. The characters spend most of the book dealing with these visions while trying to decide whether or not they can be changed. It's an interesting idea, but the characters don't drive it for me.

I had no interest at all in Lloyd and Michiko's relationship. I had no evidence of their love other than Lloyd saying it so often, and can't think of many details about either character. Theo's storyline is a little more interesting, but still if you asked me to describe him as a person and not as a scientist... I couldn't do it. Without investing in him, I didn't really care if he lived or died at the end.

Much of the book is spent giving us Sawyer's interpretation of the future (where no one wears blue jeans anymore). These details generally threw me out of the story because they didn't seem to have a logical fit. Big fingers kept pointing at all the differences in a way that made them almost annoying, like the author was trying to show how clever he is by these wacky little flavor details of the future.

The ending, too, went way off center. It was so different from the rest of the book as to feel out of place. Since most of it centers on Lloyd, my interest was pretty minimal. I just couldn't make myself care.

If you're into time travel and procedural stuff, you might enjoy this more. Likewise if you have a rudimentary grasp on physics which I really don't. I'm sure that there's plenty of in-jokes for people more versed in both the genre and the science. For me, though, the book just didn't gel.

I heard about it on the back of the TV show. Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson were talking about it on Security Now.

I was an enjoyable book in a similar vein to Dan Brown. There was some good science in it which, to a non-science person like me, seems to have been well researched. I always enjoy books that make me think, and time travel is a thing that really fascinates me. It was dealt with very well in this novel, but it wasn't turgid to the point where the story was lost or the pace was slowed down.

I give it three stars.

a könyv sokkal közelebb áll az elképzeléseimhez és a várakozásomhoz, mint amit a sorozattól kaptam. tele tudományos magyarázatokkal, filozofálgatásokkal, kedvelhető, jól megírt karakterekkel. nem is értem, hogyan bírták ezt a zseniális alapötletet így elcseszni a forgatókönyvírók?! akit érdekel a történet részletesebb magyarázata, annak jó szívvel ajánlom a művet, noha sok mindenben eltér a tévés változattól.

The short and sweet of it is that the book is ok. Certain sections prompt thought on the concept of time and our place in it and how we perceive time. some of the characters struck me as incomplete, and I couldn't find a reason to care for others. I have not seen the TV series at all. Reading the book hasn't moved me to the point of checking out the series.

The premise of Flashforward in intriguing and thought provoking. Fate versus free will with a cast of characters trying to make sense of it from a scientific and emotional perspective. Sadly though, I found the execution of the story lacking. There were two many heavy handed scientific conversations - both between characters and with only themselves - that left my brain wandering, wishing the book was more like the television show.

The second half the book moved faster and made the characters more three dimensional, more emotional. And while not the best climatic chase scene I've ever read, the hovercraft scenes were what what finally pushed Theo into a likable lead character. It was those scenes that took the story from 2 to 3 stars for me.