More Reviewer Praise for COUNT TO A TRILLION
This review come out this week from Rowan Kaiser :
http://www.avclub.com/articles/john-c-wright-count-to-a-trillion,67149/
John C. Wright also frames the novel as a discussion of the role of science fiction and scientific ideals. The book opens with Menelaus becoming inspired by watching a Star Trek-like cartoon, where racism and sexism have been eliminated by the pursuit of knowledge, and the show’s heroic patriarch always finds ways for good to triumph over evil. These dreams of a better future speak directly to the power of science fiction, but in spite of Menelaus’ beliefs, the future isn’t better. He grows up a world where Darwinism has become a dogmatic religion, and racism and religious wars have led to a “jihad” virus that wipes out much of the human race before a failed global-warming countermeasure freezes the disease. The world Menelaus returns to after more than a century between the stars isn’t much better, as a cabal of his fellow space-travelers have seized the planet and operate it as an aristocracy for their benefit. It’s never entirely clear whether Count To A Trillion is deliberately subverting its protagonist’s ideals, or if it believes they’ve never been implemented, but the book’s lack of thematic resolution is one of its charms.
Wright moves breathlessly from one exciting idea to the next, using science fiction to examine the biggest ideas he can. On one page, he might discuss the need for and possibility of “post-human” evolution, while the next deals with the political implications of widespread, intentional social change. The book’s excitement and thematic ambition are reminiscent of novels like Dan Simmons’ Ilium, although Count To A Trillion doesn’t fully reach the same highs. Characterization of anyone but Menelaus tends to fall by the wayside, and the book leans too heavily on its pulp roots when it makes its only female characters a mother and a princess. But it’s hard to argue too much with the book’s exhilaration. It’s about big ideas and questions without answer, but it’s also in love with how wonderfully science fiction can engage with those big ideas.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
