WWW: Wake

By: Robert J. Sawyer

Narrated by: Jessica Almasy, Jennifer Van Dyck, A. C. Fellner, Marc Vietor, Robert J. Sawyer

Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Caitlin Decter is young, pretty, feisty, a genius at math - and blind. Still, she can surf the net with the best of them, following its complex paths clearly in her mind.

But Caitlin's brain long ago co-opted her primary visual cortex to help her navigate online. So when she receives an implant to restore her sight, instead of seeing reality, the landscape of the World Wide Web explodes into her consciousness, spreading out all around her in a riot of colors and shapes.

While exploring this amazing realm, she discovers something - some other - lurking in the background. And it's getting more and more intelligent with each passing day.

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

©2009 Ace (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The thematic diversity - and profundity - makes this one of Sawyer's strongest works to date." (Publishers Weekly)

"Unforgettable. Impossible to put down." (Jack McDevitt)

"Thoughtful and engaging, and a great beginning to a fascinating trilogy." (Robert Charles Wilson)

great storyline and very plausible.

this is a fun story and I can totally see this happening in real life. great read

Fiction on the Edge of Reality

I thoroughly enjoyed Book 1 of this trilogy. The concept, a bit hackneyed by earlier attempts and competing against big budget Cameronesque visuals, was cleverly, carefully and faithfully developed in a novel way. I like the Catlin Dexter character, although I can't help feeling that she's just a few years too young. However, I guess that the youth control the real web (at least they seem to understand it more tha us a few generations on) so it makes sense to have a teenager make the connection. It also provides a nice metaphor for her awakening, both visually and as a young woman. I'm looking forward to the development of the censorship theme and the inevitable confrontation when Big Brother meets its younger, smarter sibling. A terrific read for adult and adolescents (say 15 plus) and a very promising start to the trilogy.

Emerging digital consciousness

Wake is Robert J Sawyer's first book in his WWW trilogy. The overall theme and plot concerns the emergence of a digital consciousness from the electronic detritus that accumulates over time within the internet as a consequence of transmission protocols. A teenage girl with a rare form of blindness is the subject of an experimental procedure that restores her sight, but also allows her to visualize the web as a result of her unique brain development. Her ability creates the opportunity for the emerging consciousness to evolve.

The sci-fi elements are mainly digital along with her blindness, that is a signal processing defect, rather than a pure organic defect. As a result, her treatment is an implant along with a computer that reconfigures her optical signals. At the same time, because she has lived her life entirely blind, her visual cortex has developed for an internet / web based navigation that forms the basis of her capacity to also visualize the web. The boot strapping of the emerging digital consciousness is also handled in a realistic manner. Side stories provide backstories for the origin of these unique occurrences.

The narration is handled by an ensemble cast which is appropriate for the multiple perspectives of the story. In particular the teenage girl's role is handled quite well. Even the limited involvement of the author is reasonable as he takes over when a purely pedantic interlude is required (although Sawyer may simply be channeling his inner Stan Lee in this regard).

This is a pretty Good Book :}

This is a good Book with a lot of potential for a series I just hope that he Hurrys up with the next one ....

What an inspiring collection!

Everytime I listen to this collection, it gives me hope for the future. This is an upbeat story, full of exiting twists and ensightful thoughts.

Somnolent Awakenings

A blind teemager has her vision restored, a monkey learns to paint portraits, the Chinese president does some nefarious megalomaniacal Chinese president stuff, and the internet comes to life in time to send the formerly blind girl birthday wishes in Robert Sawyer's Wake, the first installment in his WWW trilogy.

What Sawyer does best here, as he does in his other books, is to choose a theme (or two), research it pretty well, and present a technically satisfying fictional portrait of that theme (or two). In WWW, the main theme is consciousness -- how it may have developed in humans during earlier stages of evolution, how it could morph within an intelligent modern day human when her primary senses are altered, how it might develop in non-human entities such as lower primates and (artificially) in machines.

Where Sawyer stumbles is in plot and character development. The operative weaknesses are a) it all unfolds too slowly, no doubt a function of originally being published in serialized form, as well as being stretched out into a trilogy, and b) it is all too familiar, too stock, despite taking so much extra time to work it all out. The confluence of those two factors is that there is too much time spent explaining the technicalities behind the plot and themes (although, as I said previously, those technicalities become the saving grace).

I realize that seems contradictory -- what I like best about the book is, so I claim, fluff that detracts from plot and character development. To get five stars and a rave review from me, Sawyer would have had to come up with a better story and more complex characters while retaining the great background material. Perhaps that happens later in the trilogy. I'm not sure yet whether I will take the time to find that out for myself.

Just average

I didn't find the acting for the girl protagonist endearing, actually it grated on me. She seemed so shallow, so valley-girl. Her mathematical prowess was not evident either, more used as a short cut for a few things that she needed to do. Also, the emergence of the internet AI was not very convincing. If only there was more backstory on it, e.g. an experimental AI that evolved versus evolving from the internet itself with no AI core. The author also seems to revel in adding geeky and overly specific details but the way this detail is imparted seems so badly tacked on that it derails the flow of the story. A summarised description would have worked better. This is not a character-driven story, it's a story on rails. I haven't read other books from this author but I see he is well regarded, so will try another of his other series.

Incredible!!

This story is without a doubt the most imaginative I have read in way too long!! Can't wait to read the next one....audible, u guys did a super special fantastic job, heck I ran out of adjectives!! Thank you 😘

Be ready to invest in the serires

I enjoyed Wake thoroughly. Having reached the end of this book though, I can only hope the many unresolved, disjointed and seemingly unconnected plot lines will be handled deftly and neatly in the future two books of the series.

The readers are first rate and greatly helped to manage and control the disparate story lines happening in Wake. I look forward to completing the series and the arcs of the characters.

Calculating God author's unique view of mind&sight

Loved it. As always, Sawyer's work opens the mind to new ways of looking at the world.