Circuit of Heaven (Hardcover)

In this future world, humanity has largely downloaded itself to a virtual reality, a Matrix-like cybernetic environment called "the Bin," where everyone can live forever. The protagonist, Nemo, is a young man who rejects society's move to the Bin, and prefers to stay behind in the real world, now inhabited mostly by fundamentalist Christians.

I was emotionally convinced by Nemo's principaled refusal of the Bin. Through his eyes, we see the Bin as a realm of claustrophobic denial and stultifying artifice. The Bin is a symbol of a society that is decadent, corrupt and complacent; Nemo is the idealistic rebel who refuses to go along with the herd. The Bin is hell, but Nemo is on the side of the angels.

The novel is fast-paced, fun and easy to read, and seems to have a classic story hook: Nemo falls in love with a woman who exists only in the Bin. There are several overt references to Romeo and Juliet, and so I steeled myself for a tragic conclusion.

SPOILER ALERT: I can't voice the main objection of my review without giving away the ending, so please don't read on if that sort of thing bothers you. The author seems to have chickened out, or perhaps been bulliied by his publisher. The tragic ending which seems so clearly intimated earlier in the book never materializes. That's fine; I like happy endings. But this conclusion is only superficially happy. Nemo abandons all his objections and downloads himself into the Bin to be with the woman he loves! If you were convinced, as was I, by Nemo's initial rejection of the Bin, then you can't accept this reversal. It seems that Nemo simply "sells out," which is perhaps tragedy in itself, but the author doesn't seem to realize it.

I believe this author has committed an unforgivable sin: the betrayal of both the reader's trust and the integrity of his own story.

"Constructs," for instance, are intelligent creatures that are, literally, created to fulfill service roles such as child caregiver or garbage collector. And in order to distinguish them from flesh-and-blood humans, they have incongruous features, such as scales or blue skin.

Then there is "the bin," a giant computer into which people can upload their personalities and live in immortal perfection, leaving their bodies to be burned and us to question what happens to their souls.

And there are loads of nifty plot ideas too, like the "fundies," who are religious fundamentalists who choose to stay on earth and not upload themselves into the bin, travel agents who can send a human into the bin on a short-term vacation, and a hero whose passion is old Aimee Mann CDs that he finds in the local landfill.

This is one of the most creative and thought-provoking books I've read in a long time and I highly recommend it to those who are looking for fresh ideas and meaningful humor.