DIMINISHED EXPECTATIONS

IT COULD END AT ANYTIME
Well, that is what you keep telling yourself and hoping. I became a fan of Wilson after reading Spin. I also liked Mysterium. He has also written several books I would give four stars to. This book seemed to have little to do with the Science it advertises. It is instead another story about divorce. It is heavy on divorce. I listened for over four hours and nothing has happened on the planet they are watching. The aliens are described by those in the book as being very boring. So, why am I reading this. The stuff about the girl with Autism is interesting, but that is not what drew me to the book, nor is it interesting enough for me to care.

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Synder has a great narrator voice. He also does well with male voices. When he does female voices it is laughable. He makes all females and kids sound like cartoons.

PUNCTUALITY IS THE THIEF OF TIME

12 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Amazing concept, thrilling story

In Blind Lake, Robert Charles Wilson again brings us his unique brand of science fiction: a character story wrapped around a mystery with a meaty sci-fi center. Blind Lake is set in a top-secret government research facility in Minnesota. The facility is doing ground-breaking research into what appears to be a sentient alien species. The strange thing is that no one really understands how the alien images are being recovered by the facility's self-evolving quantum computers. And when the entire facility is quarantined with no warning or explanation, things really start to get weird.

While the characters are well done, most of the story taking place at Blind Lake is actually pretty boring as far as sci-fi goes: we spend a lot of time with Chris, the self-loathing journalist, a mildly autistic little girl, and her narcissistic and paranoid father. The interaction between these characters is standard fare for daytime drama. Frankly, I found some parts of it perfectly yawn-worthy. The only other complaint I have is that the phrase "It could end at any time," was repeated so often that I felt like I was playing a drinking game.

That said, the ideas underlying Blind Lake are incredible. Not since Sagan's Contact and Wilson's later novel Spin have I found myself truly awed by a story's concepts. In addition, this novel contains some of the most beautiful passages I have ever read regarding the human species and our desire to learn and evolve. Wilson breathes life into a seemingly dead universe. He is a true genius.

The narrator a deep, commanding voice that works perfectly for Chris and Ray, but he struggles a bit with female voices. This isn't uncommon with male narrators and Snyder performs admirably. His reading is, for the most part, quite good.

9 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Decent Tale; you could do worse

Wilson is a good writer, much better than a lot of the SciFi tripe out there. It's an interesting premise. And, the account of the debate on human narrative vs. dreaming that takes place somewhwere around Chapter 23 is insprired! It's not a bad story. (Snyder sounds like a good narrator, although his voice for the child really starts to grate after awhile.) I do have one pet peeve: what is up lately with authors layering up perfectly good stories with interminable and tiresome narratives about mothers and / or fathers endlessly obsessing about their oh-so-adorable and innocent young daughters? (For example, Matthew Reiley's "Contest") After a couple hours of this sappy filler, you just want to scream "Get on with the bloody story, why don't you!!" It's like they all want to see how many pages they can wring out of this ... and show just how parentally sensitive they are as authors.

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

See the truth at Blind Lake

If you could sum up Blind Lake in three words, what would they be?

Big
Occasionally overdone
Entertaining

What was one of the most memorable moments of Blind Lake?

The set pieces in the middle where the author gives voice to Roy and Margaritte and allows them full throttle to frame thoughtful ( albeit somewhat obtuse ) thoughts on alien cultures, and the like.

Have you listened to any of Jay Snyder’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, and this one is excellent. Jay does a wonderful, understated job at bringing this book to life. I recommend his work always, esp. in this one.

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

Definitely. Couldn't stop listening.

Any additional comments?

I feel this is Wilson's best standalone work. A fascinating concept, that requires the reader to pay attention and think ( which is , admittedly, not what everyone wants to do with a BOT).

It's easy to relate to the characters, and the story leaves just enough to reader to add their own colour and body to make the story their own. I really enjoyed this work, and I honestly feel you will as well.

Highly recommended.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Mediocre - not as good as Spin

I read Spin and Axis, and then A Bridge of Years.

Blind Lake isn't terrible, but it follows a similar formula - a big unknown happens which isn't understood by a population, people react, things slowly escalate, then a (in my opinion) somewhat under-satisfying conclusion is reached.

If you haven't read Spin yet, try it instead. I thought it was quite brilliant and I'm eagerly awaiting Vortex, the 3rd book of that series.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Liked Spin, This is good too but less details

I liked Spin, this is a good idea too but failed to develop the idea or clarify how all this took place. With better descriptions and theme development details, this works. I would say okay if you like the idea but don't expect too much.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Boring human drama

The voice that the narrator uses makes this already boring story feel like even more of a chore to get through. The human characters feel very generic and I can't sympathize with any of them. The "first contact" bits of text are interesting, but few and far between. That between consists mostly of unnecessary drama from horrible characters. Save your Audible credit and find a plot summary instead of wasting hours on this book.

Too much boring human drama, too little sci-fi

I was expecting hard sci-fi but this book turns out to be quite a disappointment. After suffering through the excessive characterisation and mundane human drama, one is only to be greeted with a pseudoscientific/New Age ending.

Alien contact without the contact

Robert Charles Wilson's Blind Lake is a tale of alien encounter, but without physical contact. The title derives from the name of the town where a special installation relying on an AI-like computer system reconstructs astronomical data to provide television like quality images of another planet with apparent intelligent life. In the midst of this scientific enterprise, the facility goes into lockdown mode with no contact with the outside world and no explanation. Within the facility, there is a messy divorce between senior scientific staff, a disgraced reporter, and girl with mental issues that has some sort of connection with the AI.

Much of the tale is focused on the notion of truly being unable to interpret the actions and behaviors of another intelligent species without any context to the underlying cultural drivers for the actions. At the same time, there is the suggestion of AI powered computers displaying similar inscrutability. Lastly, the actions of most of the main characters, although seemingly arbitrary, reflect the confusing, convoluted history each person possesses.

The narration is reasonable with a decent range of voices and good pacing.

Not Wilson's best, but close

If not for the male narrator rediculously trying to voice female parts, this would have been much more enjoyable. Why can't they have more thsn 1 reader on these books?