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Flashforward | Rating | |
| A | |||
| Robert J. Sawyer | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| N/A | N/A | ||
What would happen if you got a two-minute glimpse of your life as it would be twenty years in the future? You might find out you're married, or that your marriage didn't last. You could discover what your children would be like, or where you will work. You might even get lucky, and learn something that will make you rich. But for Theo Procopides, a physicist at CERN in Geneva, it's a bit more pressing, for he discovered he will be dead. As he tries to track down and prevent his death, colleagues are trying to figure out how their innocent experiment caused this worldwide Flashforward. And everyone, everywhere, is trying to work through what it all might mean.
Sawyer has a positive gift for telling stories that raise a lot of deep questions, while keeping the plot itself very easy to follow. This is no exception. The surface plot is about such things as Theo's death and Lloyd's upcoming marriage, and about the general turmoil caused by the Flashforward. The latter is wonderfully done with quick news bites at the start of many chapters, giving a wide sample of the consequences and reactions to the event. And the characters are all very believable, very human.
Add in those deeper issues and it only gets better. This is because Sawyer doesn't drum you over the head with them. Or when he does, it is done in such an interesting manner that you don't mind. All the possiblities, including the opposing view, are carefully detailed so that, even if you wind up disagreeing with the book's concusions, you're given some ammunition for your own side. That humanity was graced - or cursed - with a look twenty years ahead raises major questions regarding destiny and free will. Sawyer, through his characters, lays down the evidence, both philosophical and the fictionally real evidence brought to light through the Flashforward, and draws a conclusion that satisfies both logic and the needs of the story.
There are a few other matters to deal with, as well. Free will versus destiny is only the largest. Each is dealt with logically and quite plausibly. It makes the book a wonderfully thought-provoking piece. It's an almost perfect case of asking, "What would the results be if this fantastic thing happened?" Since that, in many ways, is the defining question science fiction seeks to ask, it makes Flashforward nearly the perfect example of the genre.
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