Diaspora: The dark, post-apocalyptic thriller perfect for fans of BLACK MIRROR and Philip K. Dick
£0.90
After the extinction of humans, how do you define humanity?
Since the Introdus in the twenty-first century, humanity has reconfigured itself drastically. Most chose immortality, joining the polises to become conscious software. Others opted for gleisners: disposable, renewable robotic bodies that remain in contact with the physical world of force and friction. Many of these have left the solar system forever in fusion-drive starships.
And there are the holdouts: the fleshers left behind in the muck and jungle of Earth-some devolved into dream apes, others cavorting in the seas or the air-while the statics and bridgers try to shape out a roughly human destiny.
But the complacency of the citizens is shattered when an unforeseen disaster ravages the fleshers and reveals the possibility that the polises themselves might be at risk from bizarre astrophysical processes that seem to violate fundamental laws of nature. The orphan Yatima, a digital being grown from a mind seed, joins a group of citizens and flesher refugees in a search for the knowledge that will guarantee their safety-a search that puts them on the trail of the ancient and elusive Transmuters, who have the power to reshape subatomic particles, and to cross into the macrocosmos, where the universe we know is nothing but a speck in the higher-dimensional vacuum.
Readers are having their minds blown by DIASPORA:
‘Diaspora is a work of staggering imagination’ – Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘Diaspora is one of the greatest science fiction books I have ever read. Reading it brought into my mind a sense of wonder and of sheer visceral infinity that I hadn’t felt for years’ – Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘Absolutely stunning concepts are fired at you every couple of pages . . . Spectacular’ – Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘Egan takes us into areas of multi-dimensional maths and wormhole physics that stretch the readers’ minds . . . all told with a clarity and skill that makes Egan one of the finest and most important writers working in SF today’ – Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘Totally mind-blowing sci-fi. It manages to be plausible but audaciously imaginative’ – Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
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Additional information
| Publisher | Gollancz (30 Dec. 2010) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 1031 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Not Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 352 pages |
by collywobbs
How a book this technical manages to make me ask so many philosophical questions of myself is amazing. I have read this five times and it gives me something new and beneficial every time.
by treefroghogbog
I nearly gave up on the book after the first 20 or so pages. The initial story is somewhat confusing, but starts to fall into place as the narrative unfolds. There is a lot of hard science in the book (be prepared to consult Wikipedia on several occasions) and some of the pages devoted to scientific theories (real or imagined) do baffle (well, me anyway) and thus drag on a bit. However, the time and space encompassing aspects of the book, as well as the relationships between the main “characters” pull you in. Two suggestions before reading! Firstly, there is a Wikipedia page devoted to the book which will help explain the first few chapters and, secondly, if you are not aware of the meaning of “gestalt” look it up (I did as I wasn’t too sure)…the author uses the word a lot.
by Erik1843
This was an excellent, hard science fiction novel. It is set fairly far in the future, where humanity is, initially, still confined to the solar system, but has split into three groups: those who remain biological, and experiment with genetic adaptation to different environments; those who have adopted mechanical bodies, with digital minds; and those who are wholly digital, living in virtual environments.
The story begins by describing the creation, and early development of a new member of the digital society. This was, perhaps a little too lengthy and detailed, but interesting enough to keep me reading. Then this new citizen and their friends and acquaintances, carry on their lives in the virtual environment, until they discover a potential disaster about to happen. How they deal with this, and an even greater one they discover, takes up the rest of the book.
The book is full of ideas and interesting characters, who develop as the story unfolds. There is a fair amount of science based speculation, which gets further beyond current physics as the book progresses, but follows its own logic and worked well within story.
Once I got past the first section of the book, I thoroughly enjoyed it, so don’t be put off by the first few chapters.
by Atilla
Review of the story
This is a rather interesting story. Despite having long and technical descriptions, which sometimes are hard comprehend and imagine, let alone follow, I quite enjoyed it. It felt “real”, plausible. It really screams that a lot of thought went into it. The math and physics were as real and as detailed, that it was hard to tell the fiction from the reality. Unless you are a physicists.
I liked the book, only gave 4 stars because it was hard to follow at some places, despite being interesting at the same time. It’s that kind of book which has places, where if you stop reading, it’s difficult to pick up again. Like the very beginning, when Yatima was being born.
* minor spoilers below *
I missed that we learned exactly nothing about the Transmuters. Also the end of the book was plain weird. I didn’t understood Paolo at all.
Kindle ebook review
This book desperately needs x-ray to be enabled. I don’t understand why is there no x-ray, especially that there is every important phrase already collected at the end of the book.
Audiobook review
The narrator was spot on, doing excelent job on voices for the different characters. Though his normal.narration voice took a lot of getting used to, at least for me.
Having the audiobook as.well as the ebook really helped, especially at the long, detailed descriptions, some of which was hard to follow i n the ebook, as I got distracted easily. Listening to these parts really helped.
Recommend it!
by Reluctant IT Guy
I can see why Diaspora might prove popular, but it didn’t hit the spot for me. The “generation ship” storyline still has milage despite many re-tellings, but this version didn’t take advantage of it’s exciting backdrop. Pity, because it introduced some new ideas to consider about the plight of those journeying to the stars. Unfortunately it took a couple of those ideas and flogged them to death while other promising themes were not explored fully.
by Bernard A
A book to admire rather than just just enjoy. Truly mind expanding science fiction. I’m not sure it’s truly that dark but it’s certainly not a barrel of laughs. I was left with both a sense of our insignificance and a hope for the future of humanity.