Beyond Reality discussion

What other novels by Robert Charles Wilson have you read? Did you like them more or less than Darwinia: A Novel of a Very Different Twentieth Century? Do you see any similarities between Darwinia and any of his other books? And, if this is your first novel by him, are you planning to try more?

I haven't started Darwinia: A Novel of a Very Different Twentieth Century yet, but I've read several Robert Charles Wilson novels. The first book I read by him was for the Beyond Reality group when it was on Yahoo. It was The Chronoliths. I thought it was good, but I now know that he can do so much better. I thought Spin was incredible, as was Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America. I was really moved by his portrayal of a mother who's afraid of losing custody of her daughter in Blind Lake that I sent him an e-mail. He sent me a very speedy and friendly reply.

I have found each of his works to be quite different than any of his other works. Robert Charles Wilson has become one of my favorite authors and I plan to work him into my reading on a fairly regular basis.

I read and loved Spin several years ago for another discussion forum. However I was somewhat let down by the same thing that bothered me in Darwinia: that Wilson is a master at creating a fascinating mystery, but that the resolution of the mystery was a little disappointing. I thought Spin was much better than Darwinia, but I still felt a little unsatisfied by the climax of the story.

Haven't yet started Darwinia. Read Spin for our Beyond Reality group and really liked it, enough to buy its sequel, Axis (which I have not yet read). There will be a third book in that "series" called Vortex (not yet published).

I can see Shel's point ("Wilson is a master at creating a fascinating mystery, but that the resolution of the mystery was a little disappointing") from my experience with Spin. I'll have to see if I think it holds true in Darwinia as well.

Kathi wrote: "Haven't yet started Darwinia. Read Spin for our Beyond Reality group and really liked it, enough to buy its sequel, Axis (which I have not yet read). There will be a third book in t..."

That's right. Spin was for this group too.

I've totally gorged on RCW books for the last few months. I've read Spin, Axis, Julian Comstock, Chronoliths and Darwinia. Axis was by far my least favorite - it just didn't have that SF "zing" that RCW can bring to social sci fi. I hope Vortex picks the trilogy up a bit.

General comment: If you haven't read Julian Comstock, you should seriously consider it! It was my favorite book of 2009. It felt like 1 part Tom Sawyer + 1 part Handmaid's Tale + 1 part Thucydides. I didn't anticipate loving this book so much, because on the surface it's not my favorite SF sub-genre. Anyway, enough with the spiel.

I hope to read Blind Lake or Mysterium sometime soon. Any other suggestions?

I first read Wilson for Beyond Reality's read of Spin a few years ago and thought it was an excellent book. Since then I've read Axis, The Chronoliths and Darwinia. I'd say Spin is still the best out of them, it is fairly similar in structure to The Chronoliths and Darwinia (bizarre world-changing event shapes the life of the main character who eventually finds out the truth about the strange new world he lives in) but I think it combined the Science Fiction aspects with the characters' plot lines better than the other two, Chronoliths in particular had a fascinating premise but I never cared much for the characters and didn't find the main character's story arc particularly compelling. I think Axis possibly has better writing and characterisation than the earlier books, but the premise isn't quite as intriguing/compelling.

I am intending to read Blind Lake and Julian Comstock at some point in the future.

I have read The Chronoliths and enjoyed quite a bit. I also read Mysterium a long time ago. I don't remember it well, although I do not remember disliking it either. I put it on my "to-read" list for some point in the future.