Arkwright in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Apr 08, 2016 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, 2016-shelf, worldbuilding-sf

This SF was pretty much awesome, and more, it was awesome for entirely different reasons as the book progressed.

I've never read Allen Steele before now, but he's just made a fan of me. It's obvious he's well read and respectful of the entire genre from the get-go, and reading about the early days of SF was a huge treat. Nathaniel Arkwright was a fictional author, sliding into one of the Big Four Golden Age SF masters, ranking up there with Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, Anderson, Pohl, Williamson an This SF was pretty much awesome, and more, it was awesome for entirely different reasons as the book progressed.

I've never read Allen Steele before now, but he's just made a fan of me. It's obvious he's well read and respectful of the entire genre from the get-go, and reading about the early days of SF was a huge treat. Nathaniel Arkwright was a fictional author, sliding into one of the Big Four Golden Age SF masters, ranking up there with Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, Anderson, Pohl, Williamson and so many other great names that I, too, have read and loved, and we read about hob-nobbing and the sheer wonder and the excitement that they all felt about a singular dream of imagination, hope, and, in a few very specific cases, SPACE.

Is this all it's about, though? Of course not. I grew to love Arkwright's granddaughter as she discovered what her estranged grandfather was up to with his colleagues, how he wanted his legacy to continue after his death, and beyond all the damn cool nostalgia aspects, we then get into some very nice riffs with other classic SF tales, such as Sagan's Contact as a plot device, then Anderson's Boat of a Million Years, then Asimov's Robot series about not putting all our eggs in one basket, and then we're suddenly in space, for real, and it's all about Real Science, Real Hope, and then we've even got a taste of dystopia and a classic Big Save for the planet, and if that wasn't enough, we even get a full world-building plot and a classic Save From Ignorance plot, and I was absolutely delighted.

Why? Because the author not only made all my favorite Golden Age SF authors into walk-on characters involved in their own schemes of greatness, but we also changed the whole world into some of the greatest SF ideas and explored so many of the most wonderful plots and hard-science beauties to ever grace the page, as well.

What could make such an SF novel better? Good writing, clear characters, and the love of the genre that just oozes across the page, and here's the beauty... Allen Steele has it. :)

I am FANBOY! :) And this is even better if you're conversant with the old field, too. :) ...more

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Jan 13, 2016 Robyn rated it liked it

Shelves: 2016

3.5 stars. I really enjoyed the infectious optimism of this book, infused with the spirit of mid-century faith in science and science fiction. On the other hand, I felt that it retained some of the flaws of that period as well - everything felt almost the same as 20th century America, no matter where we were in the future. Nonetheless, a fun little book.

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Mar 06, 2016 Justine rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016-read

[G]oing to the stars says something that digging a hole in the ground doesn’t. It says you’ve got hopes for the future that goes beyond mere survival.

Nathan Arkwright is a popular science fiction writer whose dream is to see humans explore space. When he dies, he leaves behind a legacy devoted to seeing that dream to fruition. This book follows the Arkwright family through the years it takes to plan, to create, and to simply watch and wait faithfully for Nathan Arkwright's vision to unfold.

It is ...more

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Mar 06, 2016 Lindsay rated it really liked it

A generational epic describing the realization of fictional golden age SF author Nathan Arkwright's plan to finance and build humanity's first interstellar colonization effort.

Nathan Arkwright creates a Foundation with his estate instructing his friends and family to invest it in technologies that are critical to interstellar flight and reinvest profits until an actual interstellar colonization effort can be launched. The book follows the setting up of the Foundation and the generations that fol A generational epic describing the realization of fictional golden age SF author Nathan Arkwright's plan to finance and build humanity's first interstellar colonization effort.

Nathan Arkwright creates a Foundation with his estate instructing his friends and family to invest it in technologies that are critical to interstellar flight and reinvest profits until an actual interstellar colonization effort can be launched. The book follows the setting up of the Foundation and the generations that follow as the starship is built and launched, and then the generations that follow on Earth as the starship nears its destination. The last section covers centuries in the future as we see what's become of the colonization effort.

This is a fun book that captures and re-presents hope for the future of humanity in the stars while not ignoring the commitment of several life times that this would take to achieve. However, it takes aim at the standard places that scientists and engineering professionals often blame for roadblocks in their work: religion and politics, with absolutely no nuance whatsoever. It's also really sketchy on a lot of the science, particularly around the "soft" sciences. This is precisely the sort of SF thinking that Robinson was criticizing so strongly in Aurora. It's also quite astonishing how much society several generations down the track from us on Earth feels exactly like early 1990s society, both in terms of tech and social change. It's a family epic, but at no point does the family deviate from a traditional nuclear one. Everyone's hetero. Everyone has two parents. Everyone falls in love and has kids, and there aren't any divorces. Generation after generation.

That being said there are a number of really emotionally resonating moments throughout the story that made me let a lot of the basic shortcomings of the story go. Overall, I thought it was ok, if undemanding, and I had real problems with suspension of disbelief, and not even regarding the SF elements. ...more

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Jun 09, 2016 Liam || Books 'n Beards rated it it was ok

Shelves: science-fiction, nope, specfic-group-reads, 2016, bought-2016

This was disappointing.

For the longest time it has been my fondest wish to get a decent space exploration/colonisation book. I really need to go back and read Red Mars and the rest of the trilogy because as time goes on it is becoming increasingly clear that nothing is going to top it.

Arkwright is less a science fiction novel and more of a very short-form soap opera with the pretence of existing in a science fiction novel. It is split into several parts - beginning with the death of Nathan Arkwr ...more

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Jun 14, 2016 Denise rated it liked it

Sigh.... Maybe a 2 3/4?

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Oct 14, 2017 Jessica rated it liked it

Shelves: audible

overall I like the book okay. it was a little slow going for me but I understand why you need it all the backstory of all the family. but I finally enjoyed it in the end. The writing is very well done and I think it's a very good quality book. it just didn't really satisfy my Syfy itch until the very end. I wish the last part of the book was a higher percentage of the story. Then I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more than I did. ...more

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