Rainbows End

By: Vernor Vinge

Narrated by: Eric Conger

Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Vernor Vinge doesn't write novels very quickly, but when he writes one, it's well worth the wait. His last two novels have won the coveted Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novel of the year. Rainbows End is set in the same near future as his novella "Fast Times at Fairmont High", which won the Hugo Award in 2002 for Best Novella. Set a few decades from now, Rainbows End is an epic adventure that encapsulates in a single extended family the challenges of the technological advances of the first quarter of the 21st century. The information revolution of the past 30 years blossoms into a web of conspiracies that could destroy Western civilization. At the center of the action is Robert Gu, a former Alzheimer's victim who has regained his mental and physical health through radical new therapies, and his family. His son and daughter-in-law are both in the military, but not a military we would recognize, while his middle-school-age granddaughter is involved in perhaps the most dangerous game of all, with people and forces more powerful than she or her parents can imagine.

Filled with excitement and Vinge's trademark potpourri of fascinating ideas, Rainbows End is another triumphantly entertaining novel by one of the true masters of the field.

©2006 Vinge Vernor (P)2007 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

• 2007 Hugo Award winner, Best Novel

"This [is] top-drawer hard SF - fast-paced, packed with action, intellectually challenging and, above all, capable of invoking SF's grail: a genuine sense of wonder." (Publishers Weekly)

confusing at times

Interesting ideas, but there were times it was difficult to keep track of all the characters. I found myself hoping for the end.

Fascinating view of the near future

This is a great book - by far my favorite Vinge novel. The technical ideas are very plausible and the characters are engaging. The performance is wonderful - especially how the reader captures the old Robert. I did think the ending was a bit of a let down - I was left wanting some more resolution. But it was very good anyway. I highly recommend this book.

Worth Reading

I found Rainbow's End interesting and entertaining, so it is worth reading. That being said, I'd rate it 3 1/2 on the scale of good science fiction. I can't quite put my finger on why it wasn't a solid 4 or 5 other than the ending was a bit flat and the story is probably more aimed at a younger audience. The events are a bit too much of a stretch, so you have to suspend logic to some extent. Otherwise, I found the pace, story-line, and plots very interesting and captivating throughout the audio book. I recommend this book to all science fiction and futurist fans.

The future of computing + a good spy story

Vernor Vinge's "Fire upon the Deep" was one of the first 'real' sf books I read when I was a young teen. Once I read it, I looked for everything VInge and devoured it. Unfortunately, Vinge doesn't publish too frequently, but when he does...ka-blam-oh!

"Rainbows End" is great sf. It's got good science, developed characters and an engaging story arc, plus there's a nicely veiled, implied reference to some of the AI stuff in "Neuromancer."
If you're into spy thrillers, espionage and plausible future tech, this will be a book for you.

My only beef is that I'm not a Pratchett reader, and there was a whole section that I feel would have been much more interesting had I been. Oh well, still a good read.

Eric Conger is a fine narrator, not fantastic, but he does his job well.

A Good Story Even If You Are Not A Sci Fi Fan

My son recommended this book. All he reads is sci-fi. I don't. I started the book with a bias against it, however it turned out to be a good story and the performance was excellent. Good character development. It kept my interest.

Not bad

It was a bit odd, slightly too fantastical. Interesting concepts and vision for an Augmented Reality world, though. 4/5

silent messages

I really like VV, but one thing that bugged me were the readings of the silent messages. without the accents that were assigned to different charaxters, it was sometimes difficult to keep track. does start a little slow and the surname goo seems odd. still good listen

Disappointing

Would you try another book from Vernor Vinge and/or Eric Conger?

yes

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The introductory fram of the first 15 minutes was SOOO compelling and exciting that I was really unprepared for the small, personal redemption narrative that is really the heart of the book.

Was Rainbows End worth the listening time?

Sure

Possibly the most useful near-future scifi

This book eases the reader into a vastly different, yet completely plausible world where ever-shrinking computers, surveillance, globalization, and privacy change all human interactions, and reshape the purpose of humans in civilization.

The overall state of technology in this book is the most complete and well-thought in all of scifi.

Good work, Vinge.

Incomprehensible worldbuilding

If you’ve listened to books by Vernor Vinge before, how does this one compare?

A lot of time is spent describing augmented reality worlds. But it doesn't really move the story along; it's like those sci fi novels where they spend half the book describing how cool the spaceship is. Vinge names fantastical creatures without describing what they look like, as if you already knew what they were, so when they do things, it's impossible to visualize. There just wasn't enough effort put into the human or non-human characters.

A promising premise for me, but I was very disappointed, coming off of A Fire Upon the Deep. The last third of the book was nearly incomprehensible to me.