The Chronoliths
Scott Warden is a man haunted by the past-and soon to be haunted by the future. In early twenty-first-century Thailand, Scott is an expatriate slacker. Then, one day, he inadvertently witnesses an impossible event: the violent appearance of a 200-foot stone pillar in the forested interior. Its...
show more
Scott Warden is a man haunted by the past-and soon to be haunted by the future. In early twenty-first-century Thailand, Scott is an expatriate slacker. Then, one day, he inadvertently witnesses an impossible event: the violent appearance of a 200-foot stone pillar in the forested interior. Its arrival collapses trees for a quarter mile around its base, freezing ice out of the air and emitting a burst of ionizing radiation. It appears to be composed of an exotic form of matter. And the inscription chiseled into it commemorates a military victorysixteen years in the future.Shortly afterwards, another, larger pillar arrives in the center of Bangkok-obliterating the city and killing thousands. Over the next several years, human society is transformed by these mysterious arrivals from, seemingly, our own near future. Who is the warlord "Kuin" whose victories they note? Scott wants only to rebuild his life. But some strange loop of causality keeps drawing him in, to the central mystery and a final battle with the future. The Chronoliths is a 2002 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel and the winner of the 2002 John W. Campbell Memorial Award.
show less
Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780812545241 (0812545249)
Publish date: June 17th 2002
Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
Pages no: 320
Edition language: English
Category:
Fantasy,
Science Fiction Fantasy,
Science Fiction,
Cultural,
Speculative Fiction,
Time Travel,
Apocalyptic,
Post Apocalyptic,
Canada,
Near Future,
Fiction
This book had a fascinating premise and some nice mystery building up. Unfortunately, the main character's link to the premise and mystery was flimsy and there wasn't much resolution. Also: lots of women getting hurt as plot device for men to angst over (particularly the daughter) in this one. I exp...
A weak ending did not spoil the excellent story. It is more modern day drama than scientific fiction, but a good story never-the-less.Robert Charles Wilson writes very well. I stopped reading a few times just to admire a clever turn of phrase.
I may be over my Robert Charles Wilson kick after this book. I found it boring, and it ultimately went nowhere. *sigh*
This book is a bit of a hard sci-fi with political (and even religious) overtones, but the great thing about this book is that "our hero" is not really at the center of things, but is rather giving his perspective of what is going on from just off of center - he is familiar with the people most deep...
A software engineer, Scott, is 'on break' in rural Thailand when he and his drug-dealing buddy Hitch happen to be in the right place at the right (wrong?) time to be some of the first people to view the first of the Chronoliths - giant obelisks that appear out of nowhere, announcing the military vic...