Nerdly Book Review:
Singularity’s Ring
February 6, 2010 by Kyle BradyTags: Book, Paul Melko, Review, Singularity's Ring
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In reading “Singularity’s Ring”, the reader is presented with various intriguing ideas that entertain far more than they were likely intended to, such as a post-singularity culture, the singularity as a catastrophe (rather than a moment of evolution), genetically engineered humans that interact as one, and substantially more – the problem, however, lies in that while this novel isn’t technically Young Adult SciFi, or labeled as such, it feels very much like it and is distracting on occasion.
The novel follows a group of five teenagers, or perhaps young adults, that are a “pod” and tend to communicate amongst themselves via the secretion and interpretation of pheromones that are unique to their little community; this may seem trivial in the opening pages, but it becomes immensely significant in terms of plot and character development. The quint, a self-reference to the number of people in their pod, gets involved in an interesting set of circumstances that leads them to travel their post-singularity environment, both planetary and beyond.
After overcoming the initial shock of Melko’s stunted writing style, one of the clues that it’s a YA novel, he does a fantastic job of not only demonstrating how such a pod would communicate and live, but also explaining the world, its technology, and its villains without going into the sort of extreme detail that many other singularity-oriented authors normally prefer. His first novel is a quick, entertaining read that approached the concepts of the singularity and post-singularity humanity in a unique, action-oriented fashion that leaves readers waiting anxiously for the inevitable sequel.
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