WWW: Watch

By: Robert J. Sawyer

Narrated by: Jessica Almasy, Marc Vietor, Oliver Wyman, Jennifer Van Dyck, Robert J. Sawyer

Length: 12 hrs

Publisher's summary

Webmind is an emerging consciousness that has befriended Caitlin Decter and grown eager to learn about her world. But Webmind has also come to the attention of WATCH - the secret government agency that monitors the Internet for any threat to the United States - and they're fully aware of Caitlin's involvement in its awakening. WATCH is convinced that Webmind represents a risk to national security and wants it purged from cyberspace. But Caitlin believes in Webmind's capacity for compassion - and she will do anything and everything necessary to protect her friend.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by author Robert J. Sawyer.

©2010 Robert J. Sawyer (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Nominee - Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Audiobook, 2011

"Original and intriguing. Sawyer makes complex sci-fi understandable and thoroughly entertaining." (Romantic Times BOOKReviews)

"Watch is a helluva fun read and an excellent science fiction book." (SF Signal)

"Cast members complement one another and are effective in differentiating the various characters and story threads. They drive forward the momentum of the plot and flesh out the novel’s distinct personalities." (AudioFile)

Political views

Is there anything you would change about this book?

If I were the author I would avoid slamming the United States at every chance. He seemed intent on giving his political views and they were not pertinent to the story. I disagree with many of his opinions and therefore by the end of the book, I was turned off, and even though I enjoyed the story line, his little innuendos made me decide to find another author that could take me away in a wonderful story but not make drag me back into political drama that plagues us each day.

What other book might you compare WWW: Watch to and why?

This was the first book of this kind of story line, I will be looking to find more along this story line,

Do you think WWW: Watch needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

There is a follow up, however I am apprehensive to proceed with it

Any additional comments?

I love Audible books and will continue to explore

Good thoughtful writing. Great middle of Trilogy.

Really intriguing sci fi about a conscious mind emerging from the world wide web. The characters are very engaging and sucked me into the story. And although it deals with serious themes it avoids cheap melodrama. If I have any complaints it would be that parts of the book are almost "preachy". The narration is good, featuring múltiple voices, but because of that is not always the same quality.

Priceless fodder for great & average minds

You're not prepared for the 2020's unless you're reading relevant scifi. RJS's www trilogy should be mandatory for all youngsters, but it's critical for 80s kids & older. We laughed at our parents, but the exponential returns of technology (partly due moores law) guarantee we will be surpassed even further. Be sure to also see childhoods end.

Nice idea driven sf

Robert J Sawyer has his flaws as a writer. His books are not exactly breathtakingly thrillers and his characters are often simple. I can understand why some people is annoyed by his liberal world view and morals. Even for a progressiv Scandinavian as me, it can get a bit to politically correct. People just aren't that nice, I find myself thinking while reading his books. And in this one especially the autistic father is a bit to much a construction for me to believe in him, Sawyers research about autism shines through the description of him.

But i really like his books. The Neanderthal trilogy and now this one are very entertaining and impossible to put down when you've started reading them. They are classic science fiction stories, driven by ideas, rather than plot and characters and as a reader you shouldn't expect more. Or less.

I am really looking forward to the last book in the series.

Info dumping and internet surveillance

I listened to this on a long drive to a friend's house. Audible had put it on the 2-for-1 credit sale, where they had offered several second-book-in-a-series books. I read the first book of this trilogy three years ago when it was nominated for a Hugo Award.

In the first book of this series, Caitlin has gained sight for the first time, and ends up also being able to see the world wide web from her implant. Not too long after, she starts communicating with WebMind, an unknown consciousness brought up from the web itself. This book starts with her communicating more with [him], telling her parents, and the worldwide internet security people learning about it.

It is interesting to read a book about internet security in light of recent events. Robert J. Sawyer actually uses Caitlin and WebMind to make the argument that surveillance isn't bad, in fact people do less illegal activity when they know they're being watched. So that was an interesting conclusion, and that idea combined with the multiple narrating voices made the ending very creepy. I'm not sure he meant it to be, but I definitely found it to be. 1984 isn't true! Surveillance makes society better! What.....

The author's info-dumps are a little silly. We learn a lot about evolution during a makeout session. I don't like it when a main character knows everything, is wiser than everyone, or can figure out anything on her own. It actually makes the book less exciting to have everything laid out for the reader that way. Her parents are so supportive! She can outsmart the NSA! Yeah.

For the most part, the audio production by Audible Frontiers was well done. The woman narrating Caitlin was great, but seemed to use accents on a whim (Caitlin and her mother are from Texas but their accents only show up every once in a while), and the two American characters' sections had such low volume that I had to keep adjusting in my car. I don't want to be thinking about production as I listen to a story, and I had to. The other misstep was having the author introduce the story.. usually a good idea, but RJS was a bit pompous about how his 2nd books of trilogies are always the best, and how LUCKY I was going to be to hear this, which might be his BEST BOOK EVER. I almost turned it off right then! I was glad I stuck with it, but fair warning.

Super continuation of the story begun in "Wake"

This is not a book that stands on its own. It is part of a trilogy and you really should read WWW:Wake before you read this one. That being said, this is very good. The concept Mr. Sawyer advanced in the first part of the series is flushed out and made even better in this one. I think I enjoyed this second piece more than the first one. The characters were more real and fully actualized than they were in the first piece, This is very fine concept-based science fiction. In other words, this is not a space opera or a thriller set on another planet. It's the real deal, genre-wise. It made me think. That's why I read ... especially sci fi! Read part 1 then definitely read this. Haven't gotten to the 3rd installment yet, but looking forward to it.

Best of the three

The author states in the forward that he thinks of this book has his best book ever. It's clearly the best book of the three in the series.

I loved the meta reference to the narrator of this Audible book, Mark Vietor, being the perfect voice for which the self-aware entity, WebMind, chooses to speak as when he presents himself to the world. Very funny, and a nice compliment to one of the narrators of the book.

The author has a lot of different things he wants to teach the listener and uses this book to flush out those topics. The nature of consciousness, how Darwin's Dangerous Idea permeates everything we know and understand, emerging properties arise from complex systems that originate from incredibly simple procedures, and so on.

I appreciate these books because my wife and I listened to them on a long car ride and I really don't like fiction, and my wife really doesn't like non-fiction and these are definitely a compromise between the two. She gets to learn about the world in the guise of fiction and I get to learn empathetically through the experiences of others while delving into the nature of being about being (Dasein) and how the other must first experience presense in the world in order to realize existence.

Great book

I loved this book, it greatly expands on the concepts of the first. Also, I enjoyed the AI's personality even more in this sequel.

Great book; okay performance

Would you listen to WWW: Watch again? Why?

I would listen again because the story is wonderful.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Webmind is my favourite character because of his growth.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I'm sorry but I can't get past the supposed Canadian accent especially noticeable with the character Matt. I live in Canada and have never heard that accent.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Sawyer's Best Book

Watch is Sawyer's best book to date. It was engaging and exhilarating throughout. The author's opening comments talk about how middle books are usually the worst, but I agree with him that this will end up the highlight in the trilogy. The entire narrator cast reunites for the sequel with perfect voices. One of the actors was a little low in volume for some reason, so I had to keep adjusting the volume for his sequences. The only detractor of an otherwise awesome audio book.