The Golden Age (Golden Age, Book 1) – John C. Wright

Title: The Golden Age

Series: The Golden Age, Book 1

Genre: Science Fiction

Author: John C. Wright

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I picked this up. I have to admit, the cover intrigued me, but at the same time it also was just a little cheesy in my mind. All that aside, it took my breath away, in the end. I say that because at first, I was in way over my head with all the scientific mumbo-jumbo Wright was throwing around. Nothing really wrong with it, it just took me a little bit to get accustomed to it. After I got used to the terminology, I really began to enjoy the book.

I definitely don’t recommend this as the first Science Fiction book for someone to read. I think you need to be used to some of the more “out there” concepts which are integrated into this book from the get-go.

I found myself completely captivated by Phaethon and the amazing complicated predicament he literally finds himself in as he attempts to discover why 250 years of his memory are missing…at his request! And I think Wright did an incredible job of introducing you to character unobtrusively and then
“quietly” revealing them through the progress of the story.

Sad to say, this is the first of a trilogy of books, but from the other reviews I read, they are all worth the read. I do highly recommend this book to anyone daring to dive this deep into Science Fiction. But please, be forewarned, you’re going to have to be able to digest some pretty abstract concepts to really enjoy this book.

Worldview: Secular

Recommended Age: High School, just because of some of the “deeper” concepts. Overall it is a very clean book, though the morality is definitely secular. If a Middle School age child was able to handle the abstract concepts, I think they would be fine reading it as well.

Additional links:
Wikipedia page on The Golden Age
John C. Wright’s blog
A specific blog entry explaining his conversion to christianity (though it seems more to be Catholicism than Christianity to me)
FantasyBookSpot.com interview with Wright
SFF.com interview with Wright
The Golden Age on Google Books
sfsite.com review of The Golden Age