Unmissable

I've been captivated by the www series since the first novel and Jessica Almasy blew my head off with her first rendition of "Calculass!" I'm a SF/AI freak, so the book was made for me anyway. What is wonderful is how Sawyer creates this band of flawed characters who then go on to fight the good fight with charm, courage and heart.

All three of the books are heart-warming and exhilarating. I didn't find the concepts at all hard to believe, except maybe for the rather stereotyped Government bad guys. That's probably personal, I used to be a Government bad guy and I was, er--good:)

While all of the readers(Mark Vietor, Oliver Wyman, Anthony Haden Salerno) play their part, and do so well, Jessica Almasy, as Caitlin Decter is perfect. When you hear actors talk about "creating a role," this is it. Writ large. She IS Caitlin Decter, you believe, and you dance and whirl as the teenager she is. Wildly excited as she works her way through crisis and wonder and the difficulties of the teen years. It is a simply stunning performance and I can't listen to it without a smile or a tear.

There are no grim bodies stacking up for the hero/ine, (blessedly) no Vampires, just normal-ish folks dealing with a somewhat extraordinary dilemma. I loved the front cover, I can see that girl. Wonderful, and for me, best of year.

I loved this series, and I've now read them through time after time. Kindle, Audible and Print. They are that good, but Almasy makes the Audible version UNMISSABLE.


brendan

18 people found this helpful

such an amazing book.

wake started slow and interesting. Watch was full of new things and understanding of webmind. And Wonder, was the best thing, full of twists and great things happening in it. The given ending is great, and a bit sad at the same time. But this ending makes you think what happened afterwards.

its such an amazing trilogy, and i wish if there could be such a biography for Webmind :) i really want to know what happens in the world with webmind in the future.... very interesting.

highly recommended. :)

13 people found this helpful

Good Guy AI

Fun series that presents a lot of good ideas. It's nice to have a story about a Artificial Intellegence that is not evil. Story is a bit Utopianish but still lots of fun. Readers are also great. Usually I hate multiple readers but it works for this series. This is not a good stand alone book. Start with the first in the series.

10 people found this helpful

Wonder

Sawyer is original, exciting, and good at creating new plausibilities often in a contemporary setting. A bloody good story teller who unashamedly and genuinely tackles the pivotal issues that have and will define what it means to be a conscious human being living on a planet teeming with other life forms. Great trilogy and definitely worth the five stars

10 people found this helpful

Great conclusion to great series

I loved listening to this entire series and can say that the author has a fun way of opening your imagination up to fun concepts even if they are a bit out there, the only negative thing about the entire series was at the very end you truly realize just how lonely an existence for Webmind would be with the way the author puts it, and I guess that also was his point he wanted to make so hence the books were all well written and hard to stop when started before finished.

10 people found this helpful

Wow

this is a great series with a worthy end - wonderful. Great narrators too. Highly recommended

8 people found this helpful

Very Enjoyable

An odd combination this 16 year old blind girl and her first crush crossed with the philosophical and incredibly intelligent Webmind. I think I would have chosen a more mature human central figure but it works out just fine. There is plenty of material here to inspire thought. An interesting take on artificial intelligence. This one was a lot of fun.

7 people found this helpful

Great Series!

I just finished listening to Wonder having previously listened to Wake and Watch. I thoroughly enjoyed each book. These books are not only good story-telling, but the best audio productions I have ever heard. The readers were perfect for each part they played and totally believable. Jessica Almasy in particular nailed the part of Caitlin. Thank you to everyone involved!

6 people found this helpful

More plot holes than plot

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

This book is aimed at someone with low technical knowledge. It is full of technical errors starting in the preface with a misunderstanding of Moore's law up to fundamental flaws that spoil the story. The writer simply doesn't do his research. The plot itself has more holes than plot; I'll avoid the big things which would involve spoilers, but even when the hackers go missing, their leave their families thinking they're dead just because nobody thinks to tell them they got jobs for webmind. It's full of examples where if you think about what's going on it drives you nuts.

The author is also more concerned about pushing his own political agenda, and many times sacrifices the story to score a political point. This also causes many flaws in the plot.

Has WWW: Wonder turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, I knew up front Sawyer is a horrible writer, but this was bad even for him.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

The narrators were perfectly cast and did an excellent job. In that respect it's actually one of the best on Audible and the performance quality is the main reason I bought the book since I expect very little of Sawyer. The only criticism is the pronunciation of

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from WWW: Wonder?

The China story line. It's just about the author spouting political babble and only weakens the rest of the story.

Any additional comments?

It's a very insightful story with some great ideas. In the hands of a competent author it could have been one of the great genre-transcending works of the 21st century. With the high quality of the narrators it could have been an excellent audio book too. As it is, it falls flat in the hands of an a lousy writer.

5 people found this helpful

Very creative and original

It is so rare these days to encounter new ideas in science fiction. Okay, it isn't a brand new idea, but the care and thought Robert Sawyer has put into crafting the concept into a story is remarkable. Although I felt that it was aimed at a younger audience, it was nonetheless highly listenable. This isn't the same old same old. Refreshing and most entertaining.

5 people found this helpful