Golden Age, The

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Golden Age, The

by: John C. Wright

Topics include: emergency persona, personal thoughtspace, star colonization, memory casket, memory chamber, central cube, forbidden memories, space elevator, public box

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First Sentence:
On the hundred-and-first night of the Millennial Celebration, Phaethon walked away from the lights and music, movement and gaiety of the golden palace-city, and out into the solitude of the groves and gardens beyond. Read the first page

Amazon.com
The Golden Age is the most ambitious and impressive science fiction novel since China Miville's Perdido Street Station. Amazingly, it is John C. Wright's debut novel. In the far future, humans have become as gods: immortal, almost omnipotent, able to create new suns and resculpt body and mind. A trusting son of this future, Phaethon of Radamanthus House, discovers the rulers of the solar system have erased entire centuries from his mind. When he attempts to regain his lost memories, the whole society of the Golden Oecumene opposes him. Like his mythical namesake, Phaethon has flown too high and been cast down. He has committed the one act forbidden in his utopian universe. Now he must find out what it is--and who he is. A novel influenced by Roger Zelazny, Jack Vance, and A.E. van Vogt, yet uniquely itself, The Golden Age presents a complex and thoroughly imagined future that will delight science fiction fans. John C. Wright has a gift for big, bold concepts and extrapolations, and his smoothly written novel pushes cyberpunk's infotech density to a new level, while abandoning cyberpunk's nihilistic noir tone for SF's original optimism. Big ideas are joined by big themes; Wright provocatively explores the nature of heroism, the nature of power, and the conflict between the rights of the individual and those of society. Fiction as ambitious as The Golden Age is never flawless. Action fans will find this novel too talky. A change of quests late in the novel is jarring. And, while this Romance of the Far Future suitably examines the heroic virtues, its unfortunate subtext is "heroism is a guy thing." This far-future novel published in 2002 maintains a credulity-shattering mid-20th-century sexual status quo. Not all plotlines are resolved in The Golden Age, and a sequel is forthcoming. --Cynthia Ward From Publishers Weekly
This dazzling first novel is just half of a two-volume saga, so it's too soon to tell if it will deliver on its audacious promise. It's already clear, however, that Wright may be this fledgling century's most important new SF talent. Many millennia from now, his protagonist Phaethon disrupts the utopia of the Golden Oecumene to achieve "deeds of renown without peer." To write honestly about the far future is a similarly heroic deed. Too often, SF paints it as nothing more than the Roman Empire writ large. Wright recognizes that our society already commands many of the powers the Romans attributed to their gods; our descendants' world will be almost unimaginably magnificent and complex, and they will be able to reshape their own minds as easily as they engineer the heart of the sun. To make their dramas resonant today, the author uses echoes of mythology both classic (like his namesake, Phaethon is punished for soaring too high) and contemporary (SF fans will enjoy nods to modern masters Wells, Lovecraft and Vance). And he wisely chooses simple pulp-fiction plots to drive us through the technological complexities of Phaethon's world. The hero's quest to regain his lost memories, learn his true identity and reach the stars is undeniably compelling. As a result, having to wait for the next volume is frustrating. Wright's ornate and conceptually dense prose will not be to everyone's taste but, for those willing to be challenged, this is a rare and mind-blowing treat. (Apr. 24)Forecast: Intellectual SF fans should make this a cult favorite akin to Vernor Vinge's Marooned in Real Time or Greg Egan's Permutation City. If the novel finds a wider readership, it will be because, like William Gibson's work, it reflects and inspires current developments in virtual reality and AI. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal
In a future where humans, artificial personalities, and other exotic life forms coexist in the now-settled solar system, Phaethon, a scion of Radamanthus House, discovers that sometime in his past his memories had been locked away from him and that his familiar identity is a false one. Driven to discover his true history and his real name, Phaethon journeys across the solar system, seeking answers among human immortals, intelligent machines, and digital personalities among others. Bursting with kaleidoscopic imagery, Wright's first novel chronicles the quest of a far-future everyman in his journey of self-discovery. Reminiscent of the panoramic novels of Arthur C. Clarke, Iain Banks, and Jack Vance, this allegorical space opera belongs in most sf collections.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Booklist
The sacred Millennial Celebration is enormous, and countless life-forms from countless worlds attend its masquerade ball, hosted this time by Radamanthus House. Phaethon Radamanthus wanders among his guests but can't join in their gaiety. Feeling restless and strangely alone, he leaves a copy of himself to fill in at the party and slips away to a nearby garden, where he meets an elderly, eccentric artist who accuses him of being an imitation of himself, the old man. Soon after, a Neptunian claims to be his friend, dating from a time Phaethon can't recall, and also that the hallowed government Radamanthus House serves so loyally has taken Phaethon's memories and stored them away for his own safety. The two encounters shake Phaethon deeply, and he begins searching for his lost life and the secrets he permitted the Hortators to take from his mind. In the hedonistic, science-worshiping world of Wright's wonderfully complex first novel, Phaethon becomes an awakened truth seeker among determined sleepers. Paula Luedtke
Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved Review
"The Golden Age offers an intriguing and stunning look at future society - and its problems."--L. E. Modesitt, Jr. "Think Coleridge and Xanadu -- except this is no fragment, but a beautifully realized, sprawling space epic of an evolved humanized solar system teeming with artificial intelligences and life-forms. Wright wields a poetic vision that is at once intimate and intricate yet vast and dazzling. I'm pretty sure the last novel I read like this was by Olaf Stapledon." - -Paul Levinson, author of The Consciousness Plague "The Golden Age is aptly titled -- it evokes the best of the golden age of science fiction. Transcendence, big ideas, slam-bang action -- it's all here, in the first significant debut of the new millennium."- Robert J. Sawyer, Nebula Award winner and author of Hominids Review
"The Golden Age offers an intriguing and stunning look at future society - and its problems."--L. E. Modesitt, Jr. "Think Coleridge and Xanadu -- except this is no fragment, but a beautifully realized, sprawling space epic of an evolved humanized solar system teeming with artificial intelligences and life-forms. Wright wields a poetic vision that is at once intimate and intricate yet vast and dazzling. I'm pretty sure the last novel I read like this was by Olaf Stapledon." - -Paul Levinson, author of The Consciousness Plague "The Golden Age is aptly titled -- it evokes the best of the golden age of science fiction. Transcendence, big ideas, slam-bang action -- it's all here, in the first significant debut of the new millennium."- Robert J. Sawyer, Nebula Award winner and author of Hominids About the Author
John C. Wright, a journalist and a lawyer turned SF and fantasy writer, lives with his wife and son in Centreville, Virginia.

Hugo/Nebula contender (and likely winner)
For all the talk of 'space opera' and other genre/author comparisons, _The Golden Age_ is one of the most original novels to come out in years. John Wright lays out and tosses away more inventive, imaginative ideas in a few pages than many SF authors manage in a whole book. And not only has he developed a long-term extrapolation of human/technical evolution, he has done so in a story built on various intersections of myth and philosophy. Wright's writing is intellectually challenging without being condescending or obtuse (deliberately or otherwise). He never forgets the need to be a good storyteller, yet probes close to the bone on such core issues as the determination of truth, the nature of reality and the tension between individual freedom and social good. Utterly outstanding. I hope Wright gets the accolates he deserves. ..bruce..

Reviews:

Ten Star Science Fiction!
ife, 10,000 years from now. Read this and you enter into a world of immortal beings where consciousness takes many forms as minds find many diverse vessels in which to inhabit. Nanotechnology, computer science, and other technologies have transformed civilization into a true golden age where Sophotechs (conscious computers who think many times faster than humans) control nearly everything. The group called the Hortators exhibit much control also, so is this really a golden age as it appears to be at first glance? The primary character here is a man called Phaethon, who has lost a good part of his memory as a result of a process of selective amnesia, a result of previous actions he cannot remember. He becomes obsessed with discovering the missing memories, with much intrigue along the way, and this is at the heart of a great mystery, brimming with passion and intellect, and ambition. John Wright uses much reality based imagination here, this is far-future science fiction at it's best, without reverting to fantasy. I especially enjoyed the questions of personal identity and how that relates to whether or not a person is the original or a copy in cases of transferring minds from one medium to another, very thought provoking, speculation that will surely move from science fiction to reality someday, well done here. To use an old cliche', it does'nt get any better than this, with superb plot and character development. THE GOLDEN AGE is book one of a two book series, the concluding novel is THE PHOENIX EXULTANT, yet to be published.

After picking up Robert Reed's "Marrow" (2001) while perusing my local public library's "Books You May Have Missed" bookcase, I was a little wary to try another author I hadn't read. I found John C. Wright's "The Golden Transcendence" (2003) in the same section, and noticed it was "Book Three of the Golden Age." I located Wright's first book in the series, aptly titled "The Golden Age" (2002). Super-science abounds here, with engineering projects well beyond the scope of current technology. All the same, Wright is able to clearly show how these high-tech advancements directly affect human beings and their variant forms. Overall, a capitivating read if you let it suck you in. Despite its flowery and somewhat dense verbiage, this book is a pageturner. Unfortunately, I counted 5 spelling errors, which seem to be more common in books published here in the early 21st century. Whether that means copy editors are having to race over an exponentially increased number of manuscripts these days is hard to tell, but entirely possible. And now, for the *really* bad news. You'll want to read all three books in this trilogy back to back, just so you can find out what happens next. The good news is that they've all been published, so you may want to check your local public library before hitting the bookstores. No doubt about it, I'll be tracking down more of this author's work. "The Golden Age" series has made me a John C. Wright reader.

Space Opera meets Classics Lit Seminar
This book took me straight back to high school. Not only was I reading a sci-fi book a week at that time (Heinlein, Asimov, etc.), I was also taking English lit and reading the Greek classics (Sophocles, Homer, etc). The golden age of (Western) humanity combine with the golden age of sci-fi in this immaculately crafted novel. The protagonist, Phaeton, is a classic tragic/epic hero. He even labors under the most traditional of the epic hero flaws, hubris. I found many of the ideas in this book so inspiring I had to put the book down and just think about them for a few minutes. Wright's approach to sci-fi writing is of the "drop them in the deep end" style, a la William Gibson (Neuromancer), Anthony Burgess (Clockwork Orange), and Richard Morgan (Altered States). You see and feel everything, never once suffering through a character lecturing the reader (often lightly camouflaged as lecturing the off-worlder or the guy who's been asleep for two centuries, or whatever). What's really stunning is that Wright adds the metaphysical and metafictional twists of Italo Calvino (If on a Winter's Night a Traveler), with the stunning big sci-fi ideas of Vernor Vinge (Deepness in the Sky) and Neal Stephenson (Diamond Age). The plot is actually beside the point here. It's fascinating, but the book's really about character, identity, freedom and culture, all of which it drives from the classical greek notion of "nous" (translates in English as "mind" or "intellect", and forms the root of the adjective "noumenal" used in the book). This book is as good as anything by Gibson, Stephenson or Vinge, and that puts it in rarefied territory indeed. I only wish the two sequels were half as good.