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Limit of Vision Linda Nagata 9780765342119 Books

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Limit of Vision Linda Nagata 9780765342119 Books

_Limit of Vision_ by Linda Nagata is an interesting relatively near future science fiction thriller, one that was a little slow going and perhaps even choppy at first, with disparate storylines and at least at first with characters fairly light on detail, but about a quarter of the way into the book became a riveting narrative with a brisk pace, great tension, and a wonderful sense of escalation. Though at least one of the main characters remained to me at least not as well formed as I would have liked and I thought the opening was a bit too open-ended, revolving some but not all (or even most) of the story's problems, it was all in all an enjoyable book.

What is it about? I will try to avoid spoilers, but here goes. At first, we have two entirely unconnected storylines. The first plotline introduces the reader to two daring young researchers (so daring in fact that they are conducting experiments in violation of international law). These two men, Randall Panwar and Virgil Copeland, employees of a company called EquaSys based in Honolulu, are illegally experimenting with something called an LOV (acronym for limit of vision), a tiny symbiotic synthetic species that is basically comprised of an artificially-created neuron called an asterid housed in a transparent silicate shell (the shell not only protecting the asterid but also permitting optical communication, as the colonial asterids communicate with pulses of visible light). Originally developed to be transplanted onto humans (where they would be visible on the host's head - generally the forehead - as glowing gemlike structures, easily concealed in a person's hair) who suffered from unbalanced brain chemistries, the LOVs would help stabilize the neurochemistry and emotions of those that possess them. It was found however that the semi-sentient LOVs could mutate and produce unwanted results, including deadly ones. After a mysterious event which we never learn anything about (referred to as the "Van Nuys Incident"), the LOVs were confined to a low-earth-orbit research facility called the _Hammer_ so that they could not escape into the environment and possibly pose a threat to people or animals.

Unfortunately, Panwar, Virgil, and their friend Gabrielle Villanti illegally removed some LOVs and transplanted them on to their persons. Conducting experiments in secret, they are discovered when Gabrielle dies (this happens during the first few pages of the book so I am not giving away any big secret here). Though I thought it quite remarkable that their bosses did not recognize the LOVs that they implanted on themselves (later this is explained away by the fact that Panwar, Virgil, and Gabrielle worked in a very loose administrative environment with fairly minimal supervision), the reader is not given much time to ponder this as their actions set into event a chain of events that includes the public discovery of LOVs on Earth, knowledge of a mutation of an LOV colony on the station to something approaching real sentience, and its escape from the station to avoid destruction.

The second plot thread at first seemed to have nothing to do with the one involving the LOVs, Virgil, Panwar, etc. The reader meets Elsa Suvanatat, a roving freelance Thai reporter, connected to a distant agent online (Else, like nearly everyone else in the setting, uses a sunglasses-shaped and sized item of headgear called a farsight, a device that allows one to be online all the time, pull up large amounts of information, make use of a personalized nearly sentient and individually customized computer program called a ROving Silicon Agent or ROSA, and even see in the dark). Virtually broke, she comes across a strange story covering a cult-like, locally feared group of kids in Vietnam called the Roi Nuoc (a Vietnamese name that means "Water Puppets"). The Roi Nuoc are a group of orphans and street kids who are fiercely independent, leery of authority, nonviolent but not exactly working within the law, united by a ROSA that is both motherly and aggressive by the name of Mother Tiger. Elsa also meets an another important individual in the book, a Vietnamese man by the name of Ky Xuan Nguyen, a locally influential businessmen who she thinks is either the head of (or a head of) the Roi Nuoc or possibly one of their members grown into adulthood (as apparently all Roi Nuoc members are kids and teens).

I don't think I am giving away too much when I say that the escaping LOV colony ends up in Vietnam and the events surrounding it entangle the Roi Nuoc, Elsa, and Ky. At this point in the book the separate plot threads unite and the story becomes fast and very interesting.

All in all a pretty good book. As I mentioned, I don't think all of the story elements were resolved and while it doesn't necessarily beg for a sequel, it did have an unfinished feel to it at the end. The LOVs themselves are very interesting and it was fun to read about their evolution. I also liked the fact that the book was set in Vietnam, not exactly a common locale for science fiction stories. I also like the title, which on one level simply mentioned the subject of the book, the artificial lifeforms, but at another level addressed the main problem of the authorities and the powers that be of the book's setting; their limited vision of the potential uses and benefits of the LOVs as well asan appreciation for the LOVs for their own sake.


Tags : Limit of Vision [Linda Nagata] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <div>A beautiful young scientist lies dead in a top-secret laboratory, a victim of an illegal experiment with the forbidden nanotechnology known as LoVs - intelligent organisms that live at the limits of human vision. In Vietnam's Mekong Delta,Linda Nagata,Limit of Vision,Tor Science Fiction,0765342111,Science Fiction - Hard Science Fiction,Fiction,Fiction - Science Fiction,Fiction Science Fiction General,Fiction Science Fiction Hard Science Fiction,Science Fiction,Science Fiction - General,Thrillers

Limit of Vision Linda Nagata 9780765342119 Books Reviews

I've read all of Linda Nagata's previous books. As a group, all of her previous books were enjoyable and reasonably well written. The characters were well described and the plots were interesting. The only complaint that I had was that the books really weren't that accessible because of the level of technical detail. While I enjoyed her "hard science" approach in her earlier books, I think it also kept her from getting a wider audience. From that perspective, I think that _Limit of Vision_ is an excellent attempt to broaden her audience while still remaining true to her original "hard science" roots. In addition, I think that with each book, Nagata's ability to create a thought provoking and challenging story has increased.
_Limit of Vision_ is set in the near future. A trio of scientists has been working on a project for a corporation basically exploring the feasibility of using organisms named LOVs (since they exist at the limit of human vision) for any practical purposes. Unfortunately, the scientists are hampered because all biotechnology is strictly regulated b/c of a horrible sounding accident caused by biotech gone awry. So, their LOV experiment actually lives on a space station in orbit around Earth. Before the LOVs were taken to the space station, the scientists stole some of them and implanted them on their foreheads.
This book is about the unexpected and unpredictable consequences of that action. Some of the questions that were raised in the book include what defines consciousness? At what point does an organism stop being "animal" and start being something else? If an organism has consciousness, then do we have the right to just destroy it? And if we don't destroy it, does it pose a threat to the very things that define us as humans?
It's not a perfect book. It does leave some loose ends. It might even be missing some details throughout the book. But, that said, I absolutely had a GREAT time reading this book. It read almost like a thriller rather than some dry biotech story. In my mind, it encompassed many of the things that make sci-fi fun to read - a fast moving plot, lots of technology well used, a real concern about what might happen in the future. With a little stretching, I could absolutely see the vision Nagata created in _Limit of Vision_ as being a realistic possibility of what our future might look like. I was also really impressed by the strides that Nagata has made in creating realistic characters.
I also want to stress that Nagata is not some "new SF author" attempting to re-write Bear's _Blood Music_. First of all, she's been around for quite a while. She has several other books out there that are really well written, although in a much different style than _Limit of Vision_. Second, Nagata has written about nanotechnology in basically ALL of her earlier books. She's not attempting to re-write _Blood Music_, she's continuing in exploring a subject that she's been talking about for quite a while. In my opinion, even if you just look at the quality of the WRITING, _Limit of Vision_ is a far superior novel.
_Limit of Vision_ by Linda Nagata is an interesting relatively near future science fiction thriller, one that was a little slow going and perhaps even choppy at first, with disparate storylines and at least at first with characters fairly light on detail, but about a quarter of the way into the book became a riveting narrative with a brisk pace, great tension, and a wonderful sense of escalation. Though at least one of the main characters remained to me at least not as well formed as I would have liked and I thought the opening was a bit too open-ended, revolving some but not all (or even most) of the story's problems, it was all in all an enjoyable book.

What is it about? I will try to avoid spoilers, but here goes. At first, we have two entirely unconnected storylines. The first plotline introduces the reader to two daring young researchers (so daring in fact that they are conducting experiments in violation of international law). These two men, Randall Panwar and Virgil Copeland, employees of a company called EquaSys based in Honolulu, are illegally experimenting with something called an LOV (acronym for limit of vision), a tiny symbiotic synthetic species that is basically comprised of an artificially-created neuron called an asterid housed in a transparent silicate shell (the shell not only protecting the asterid but also permitting optical communication, as the colonial asterids communicate with pulses of visible light). Originally developed to be transplanted onto humans (where they would be visible on the host's head - generally the forehead - as glowing gemlike structures, easily concealed in a person's hair) who suffered from unbalanced brain chemistries, the LOVs would help stabilize the neurochemistry and emotions of those that possess them. It was found however that the semi-sentient LOVs could mutate and produce unwanted results, including deadly ones. After a mysterious event which we never learn anything about (referred to as the "Van Nuys Incident"), the LOVs were confined to a low-earth-orbit research facility called the _Hammer_ so that they could not escape into the environment and possibly pose a threat to people or animals.

Unfortunately, Panwar, Virgil, and their friend Gabrielle Villanti illegally removed some LOVs and transplanted them on to their persons. Conducting experiments in secret, they are discovered when Gabrielle dies (this happens during the first few pages of the book so I am not giving away any big secret here). Though I thought it quite remarkable that their bosses did not recognize the LOVs that they implanted on themselves (later this is explained away by the fact that Panwar, Virgil, and Gabrielle worked in a very loose administrative environment with fairly minimal supervision), the reader is not given much time to ponder this as their actions set into event a chain of events that includes the public discovery of LOVs on Earth, knowledge of a mutation of an LOV colony on the station to something approaching real sentience, and its escape from the station to avoid destruction.

The second plot thread at first seemed to have nothing to do with the one involving the LOVs, Virgil, Panwar, etc. The reader meets Elsa Suvanatat, a roving freelance Thai reporter, connected to a distant agent online (Else, like nearly everyone else in the setting, uses a sunglasses-shaped and sized item of headgear called a farsight, a device that allows one to be online all the time, pull up large amounts of information, make use of a personalized nearly sentient and individually customized computer program called a ROving Silicon Agent or ROSA, and even see in the dark). Virtually broke, she comes across a strange story covering a cult-like, locally feared group of kids in Vietnam called the Roi Nuoc (a Vietnamese name that means "Water Puppets"). The Roi Nuoc are a group of orphans and street kids who are fiercely independent, leery of authority, nonviolent but not exactly working within the law, united by a ROSA that is both motherly and aggressive by the name of Mother Tiger. Elsa also meets an another important individual in the book, a Vietnamese man by the name of Ky Xuan Nguyen, a locally influential businessmen who she thinks is either the head of (or a head of) the Roi Nuoc or possibly one of their members grown into adulthood (as apparently all Roi Nuoc members are kids and teens).

I don't think I am giving away too much when I say that the escaping LOV colony ends up in Vietnam and the events surrounding it entangle the Roi Nuoc, Elsa, and Ky. At this point in the book the separate plot threads unite and the story becomes fast and very interesting.

All in all a pretty good book. As I mentioned, I don't think all of the story elements were resolved and while it doesn't necessarily beg for a sequel, it did have an unfinished feel to it at the end. The LOVs themselves are very interesting and it was fun to read about their evolution. I also liked the fact that the book was set in Vietnam, not exactly a common locale for science fiction stories. I also like the title, which on one level simply mentioned the subject of the book, the artificial lifeforms, but at another level addressed the main problem of the authorities and the powers that be of the book's setting; their limited vision of the potential uses and benefits of the LOVs as well asan appreciation for the LOVs for their own sake.