Present Books To The Long Run: A Tale of the Continuing Time (The Continuing Time #2)
| Original Title: | The Long Run |
| ISBN: | 1576466396 (ISBN13: 9781576466391) |
| Series: | The Continuing Time #2 |
Narration Supposing Books The Long Run: A Tale of the Continuing Time (The Continuing Time #2)
Even on well panned riverbeds, one can still find gold. And this is just what I found, via the Goodreads discussion groups, a golden book from the 80s. The Long Run is the 2nd book of the Continuing Time series by Daniel Keys Moran. It's primarily the story of Trent Castanaveras, 2nd generation genetically engineered human, who unlike Carl of the 1st book (Emerald Eyes, an amazing book in its own right) is not a telepath but instead is physically enhanced. Trent is a thief and a (cyber-)Player who is moved to payback the atrocities of the world-dominating military, the Peacekeeper Force, in particular, of the cyborg Vance Mohammed. The book covers the pursuit of Trent by Vance from subjugated earth to the Lagrangian stations and onto the moon. That pursuit in and of itself is engaging, although there are instances of fortunate coincidences to help Trent along. What is memorable is the inventive use of the back story and its science fictional elements that avoid the sensation of "plucking things out of thin air" that can be found in similar chase stories. Along the way, Moran presents a view of both the physical and cyber worlds of his future that is amazingly contemporary and, except for one aspect noted below, does not feel dated at all.
Moran's prose has a schizo tendency to jump about in short bursts, particularly during action sequences, from one point of view or point in time to another. This may be a jarring style that takes time to get used to. Since I made through the first book, I was used to this by this second book. In fact, I think Moran is more linear in his approach here. Anyway, I view this technique as supplemntal to the "coolness" factor of the story-telling reminiscent of Neal Asher's Gridlinked or William Gibson's Sprawl series.
Trent is an interesting character. The comparison to Case of Neuromancer comes up immediately because of the cyber skills, but ultimately Case is a victim of circumstances outside his control while Trent makes his own destiny. Another comparison is with Wade of Ready Player One, this time with the game Player dimension, and I think, with their relative youthfulness. Both reluctantly find themselves "King of the Hill" and give the powers-that-be a kick in the b. Trent survives the reading process better because of his intransigent nature that seems to say, "you thought you knew me, but you actually don't" weeks after the final page.
For all the imaginative extrapolation of Moran's world-building, especially in relation to the development of the worldwide net and cyber culture, he did miss out on Moore's Law. While the book considers 700 TB of memory as a pinnacle of technical achievement, other authors have projected singularity based on the progressing speeds of digital computation. But this minor issue does not detract from the overall quality of the book. Take this as just a wise-ass comment from a lowly reviewer. Regardless, Moran has made a fan out of me, and I am adding him to my list of must-read authors.
I am looking forward to reading the next two books in the series. For fans of the books mentioned above, this one is highly recommended.
Be Specific About Containing Books The Long Run: A Tale of the Continuing Time (The Continuing Time #2)
| Title | : | The Long Run: A Tale of the Continuing Time (The Continuing Time #2) |
| Author | : | Daniel Keys Moran |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 350 pages |
| Published | : | March 31st 2002 by Quiet Vision Pub (first published 1989) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. Cyberpunk. Fantasy. Science Fiction Fantasy. Dystopia. Thriller |
Rating Containing Books The Long Run: A Tale of the Continuing Time (The Continuing Time #2)
Ratings: 4.55 From 657 Users | 43 ReviewsCommentary Containing Books The Long Run: A Tale of the Continuing Time (The Continuing Time #2)
The series gets better!The pacing is insistent, the characters becoming more and more real. Definitely worth moving on to the next book. Still a bit too much info-dumping but forgivable. Trent remind me a bit of Ender.My absolute favorite book ever. I have read this at least a dozen times since I bought it in high school. That reminds me . . . it's been a while.
The original 1970s version is better. He "fixed" it in the late 90s, but the 'improvements' were not.
One of my favorite books. Underdog style hero mixed with (at the time of writing) plausible future happenings. The author is particularly good at making assumed background knowledge seem real. Still a good read ~20 years later. Of course, some of that may be nostalgia.
3.5 stars. I picked this up because of a secondhand recommendation and didn't learn anything about it before starting. Two paragraphs in, I knew it was one of those books from the 80s where the UN invades and nukes the US (it was always the USSR or UN) and some people have psychic powers. The main character is handsome, witty, athletic, total nerd wish-fulfillment. And while he has one true love, he won't hesitate to bang his way out of a situation. I wasn't wrong about any of those, but the
I'm pleased to discover Moran however belatedly. I just read Emerald Eyes, The Long Run and the Last Dancer in that order. The Long Run is the tightest and most satisfying of the three. Comments have been made about it as a heist story and and a long chase--yes that's the form of the book but that's not why it's good. There are lots of tightly written genre novels with similar forms and often I don't like them enough to finish or forget them after I do. The Long Run is good because Moran can
Better than I remembered!
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