Innerverse

Rating:
Summary: Dangers of Nanotech
Review: After many stops and starts I managed to find the time to finish INNERVERSE by John DeChancie. This book is different form his other works. It is not the star-flung adventure of the Starrigger books, light fantasy of the Castle series or even the suburban fantasy of MAGICNET. No, INNERVERSE is more 1984 disguised as WALDEN TWO, or something like that.

Enter Special Operative Frank. He has been assigned to enter the Federation, the old Eastern portion of the United States. Twenty years previously all communication was cut off and all attempts to discover what is going on have failed. Satellites show active cities but no air transportation. The secret is Innerverse, a nanotechnology for regulating behavior. Microscopic machines in your blood stream and other areas that condition you against negative emotions, thoughts and impulses. Frank discovers a society without any apparent leaders or government. People just follow their orders and go about their lackluster days with no thought of the future. Frank needs to report back on his findings but he has been given Innerverse and it prevents thoughts of leaving.

What follows is a series of tense actions mixed with social commentary and several interesting characters. If you are looking for something resembling a previous DeChancie novel then don't look at this one. For those looking for an interesting suspense story or a nanotech story then you should take a look at this one.

Rating:
Summary: Dangers of Nanotech
Review: After many stops and starts I managed to find the time to finish INNERVERSE by John DeChancie. This book is different form his other works. It is not the star-flung adventure of the Starrigger books, light fantasy of the Castle series or even the suburban fantasy of MAGICNET. No, INNERVERSE is more 1984 disguised as WALDEN TWO, or something like that.

Enter Special Operative Frank. He has been assigned to enter the Federation, the old Eastern portion of the United States. Twenty years previously all communication was cut off and all attempts to discover what is going on have failed. Satellites show active cities but no air transportation. The secret is Innerverse, a nanotechnology for regulating behavior. Microscopic machines in your blood stream and other areas that condition you against negative emotions, thoughts and impulses. Frank discovers a society without any apparent leaders or government. People just follow their orders and go about their lackluster days with no thought of the future. Frank needs to report back on his findings but he has been given Innerverse and it prevents thoughts of leaving.

What follows is a series of tense actions mixed with social commentary and several interesting characters. If you are looking for something resembling a previous DeChancie novel then don't look at this one. For those looking for an interesting suspense story or a nanotech story then you should take a look at this one.

Rating:
Summary: Attention MST3K Fans - The best/worst sci-fi book ever!
Review: I bought a dog eared copy of this years ago and stupidly got rid of it when I moved to the UK so now I'm ordering it again just for the comic value. fans of MST3K will absolutely adore this book as it's seriously some of the worst sci-fi I've ever written. As an added bonus it has a sex scene that climaxes with the line "He did the thing." You just can't ask for anything better.

(...) A great read when you don't want to think and can't find any B-Grade movies on TV

Rating:
Summary: Attention MST3K Fans - The best/worst sci-fi book ever!
Review: I bought a dog eared copy of this years ago and stupidly got rid of it when I moved to the UK so now I'm ordering it again just for the comic value. fans of MST3K will absolutely adore this book as it's seriously some of the worst sci-fi I've ever written. As an added bonus it has a sex scene that climaxes with the line "He did the thing." You just can't ask for anything better.

(...) A great read when you don't want to think and can't find any B-Grade movies on TV

Rating:
Summary: An eerie science fiction audiobook
Review: Innerverse by John DeChancie is an eerie science fiction audiobook (5 hours, 4 cassettes) drama about a nation, once part of the United States, now utterly controlled by nanotechnology that absolutely dictates the will of its zombie-like citizens. DeChancie story is brought to life in a full-cast dramatization presentation that offers the listeners a frightening glimpse of the logical extension of totalitarian power, and a powerful dark dystopia of technology at its worst, Innerverse is a captivating listening experience and highly recommended for science fiction fans and community library collections.

Rating:
Summary: It's been done before, it's been done better.
Review: Normally I'm a big DeChancie fan, and I give much praise for the fun-to-read "Castle" books, but "Innerverse" was a lame attempt at future distopia that's been done before and been done better. If you're looking for frightening futuristic government take over, try 1984 by Orwell. DeChancie tries to throw in a twist by using nanotech as his instrument of subjugation, but it was just another means to the same end, and weakly utilized throughout the book. Nanotech, like distopia, has been done before and been done better. To top it all off, John throws in a little romance that's cliche all the way. If anything, this book is less than the sum of its pathetic parts.

Rating:
Summary: Trashy, yet intellectually dead...Give it up, dont read it.
Review: Ok, I have to be objective here, and not just rip the crap out of this book, which would be easy to do. First, it has no premise other than bashing the stuffing out of nanotechnology, a technology that I have come to really respect and admire. The hero is your classic neo-schizoid-male-loner-demon-plauged-loser-type. In other words a cardboard cuttout. I had high hopes for this book because of my interest in nano, but it became clear to me that this author had probably read one of those blurbs about new technology and said to himself: "ooh, this looks like a good thing to debunk in a novel." A very poorly written one at that. The premise is very Orwellian, with large clumsy dollops of 1984 splattered carelessly throughout the charred ruin of a plot. It can be summed as thus: Man, haunted by past, goes on secret mission, finds girl, gets girl, defeats global plot, kills mad scientist, has barbecue. A stunned herring could think of a better plot. For all those folks who read this as their first intro to nano, do not let this turn you off. READ THE DIAMOND AGE. It is like comparing a Bently to a matchbox car.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant novel of ideas blended with action/adventure.
Review: This is a stunningly brilliant and original novel that goes far beyond Orwell in exploring utopia and the people who try to build them. Thrilling action and suspense dovetail nicely with fascinating philosophical exchanges between characters. DeChancie never fails to entertain, and this novel is especially rewarding on many levels. Ignore any bonehead reviews to the contrary. This book deserves your attention.