Golden Fleece
Tor, 1999 (revised edition)
ISBN: 0-312-86865-0
Monika says:
The spaceship Argo is on its way to the planet Colchis with more
than ten thousand people on board when one of them is found dead. A
scientist who is the ex-wife of technician Aaron Rossman, also present on
the ship, has died under mysterious circumstances. Was it an accident or
murder? But who would have a motive for killing her? The new Argonauts
have been selected carefully for this mission, and none of them should
have a criminal predisposition. When Aaron starts investigating the case,
he discovers an appalling secret capable of turning the whole mission into
a failure if the rest of the crew gets wind of it...
Golden Fleece, Robert J. Sawyer's first novel, is a successful
genre crossover between mystery and science fiction, though it reads more
like science fiction in my opinion. The unusual point of view reminds you
of Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 - A Space Odyssey, because the reader
learns most things from JASON, an intelligent quantum computer that is
also the main board computer. As the plot moves on, it becomes evident
that JASON not only controls the ship but manipulates the crew as well -
or at least he tries to do so.
Artificial intelligence, a topic playing a major role in The
Terminal Experiment, one of Sawyer's later books for which he won
the Nebula Award, is already omnipresent in this first novel. To what
extent should we allow computers to control our lives? Do they really make
better, more rational decisions than the human mind? As JASON tries to
find out how human beings think, the reader learns bit by bit why Aaron
decided to be part of this mission. 250 pages not being enough to develop
all the characters, most of the supporting characters stay rather
one-dimensional, but Aaron appears to be fully fleshed out in the end and
I got the impression that he was a real person showing all the strengths
and flaws one can have.
Some readers may think that the author tried to tackle too many topics,
but to me the book felt whole and I found the ending satisfying enough,
even though not all loose ends got tied up. It will make you think, but if
you don't like open endings, this novel might not be for you. For a first
novel, it is rather well written, though the author hadn't developed his
full potential yet. |
Any comments? Write us:
Monika
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