Count to a Trillion
Book One of the Eschaton Sequence
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3.6 • 27 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Hundreds of years in the future, after the collapse of the Western world, young Menelaus Illation Montrose grows up in what was once Texas as a gunslinging duelist for hire. But Montrose is also a mathematical genius—and a romantic who dreams of a future in which humanity rises from the ashes to take its place among the stars.
The chance to help usher in that future comes when Montrose is recruited for a manned interstellar mission to investigate an artifact of alien origin. Known as the Monument, the artifact is inscribed with data so complex, only a posthuman mind can decipher it. So Montrose does the unthinkable: he injects himself with a dangerous biochemical drug designed to boost his already formidable intellect to superhuman intelligence. It drives him mad.
Nearly two centuries later, his sanity restored, Montrose is awakened from cryo-suspension with no memory of his posthuman actions, to find Earth transformed in strange and disturbing ways, and learns that the Monument still carries a secret he must decode—one that will define humanity's true future in the universe.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Decades after the world has descended into anarchy, Menelaus Montrose dreams of making it better. He jumps at the chance to escape backward Texas, now an independent country, to participate in a daring expedition to recover antimatter from an alien relic in a nearby stellar system. Montrose's misguided self-experimentation leaves him comatose for years; when he regains consciousness, he learns his surviving crewmates have used the antimatter to conquer and reshape Earth. They have also left the planet obligated to the alien hierarchy responsible for the antimatter's creation. Wright (Orphans of Chaos) is at his best when he abandons his trite characters and cardboard terrestrial setting to contemplate the Stapledonian implications of a government able to function across the vast expanses of space and time, appealing to readers interested in glimpses of the unfathomable immensities of our universe.
Customer Reviews
Wordy but interesting
This first book of the new trilogy is not quite the equal of the Golden Age, but touches on many of the same themes and was entertaining as an update of an old fashioned space opera. I wondered if the main antagonist was nicknamed Blackie as a nod to The Skylark of Valeron series from "Doc" Smith of the golden
age of pulp fiction. The plot concerns the rise of post humans in the face of an impending invasion of alien super beings. There is a lot of dialogue in the middle sections, I would have liked more action, but a space cowboy, a post human princess and a showdown gun battle with the villain "Blackie", all with super science, you gotta love it if you like space opera, and I do.
Fabulous
The critical reviews on here are a bit harsh I think. Yes there is a little ridiculous Texas future speak, but it is minor and not distracting. There isn't character development per se, but that is not what Wright books in their best are about, they are about fabulous futures with Randian supermen and they are intimidating and grand. I read it with addiction and finished in just a couple days. And now can't wait to start the next one.-
Remarkably poor
As a long time fan of John C. Wright, I was happy to find this novel. In his best work Wright manages to create sparkling futures, weave into them fascinating ideas, and power engaging Sf plots with them.
Sadly this is a huge fall from that work. The main characters are paper thin stereotypes. The protagonist is a 22nd space farer and genius mathematician who talks like a cartoon cowboy. Most of the bulk of the book is taken up by pointless talk/debate about incomprehensible fantasy math/science/politics. What little plot there is makes no sense.
Reading this book is a chore. I powered through it in hopes of a plot emerging; it never did.
So: avoid at all costs. For the reviewers here who liked the plot, I really cannot believe they read the same book I did.