Customer Reviews

Vectors

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ugh. I thought I had liked some of his stuff in the past, this was really crap. Scientist takes pictures of brainwaves, unique as fingertips, discovers identical ones from an old man and a kid born after the old man's death. His Wiccan, video game genius new girlfriend is killed by gang-bangers after he has scoffed at her suggestion that this is proof of reincarnation, so he goes on a mission to prove her theory. After a bunch of plot, he kills himself so he can be reincarnated soon after she is, so he can hook up with her again ASAP -- good plan.
I had thought he was more of a hard science guy, what's with the fuzzy reincarnation bit???

Someone else mentioned staying up all night to read Vectors. I found myself once again getting far too little sleep because I just wanted to read "one more chapter!"

Other reviewers have been more eloquent than I but I agree that one of Kube-McDowell's strength's has always been making science interesting to a non-scientest like myself. However, I'd say that what I love best about all of Mr. Kube-McDowell's writing is the way he takes an interesting subject, presents all sides of it, and writes characters you really care about to play out the story.

I'd highly recommend this book, especially to anyone curious about the blending of science and spirituality.

This is a story that explores the unknowable and tries to put the lie to the phrase "the country from which no traveler returns". Do we have a soul? Can it be measured?
The background and texture of the very near future is well crafted. I was impressed by his vision of our society's development under "Homeland Security". The on-going issues of university politics, and the general tendency of science to be more reactionary than many would expect make this believable and real.
I very much look forward to any future books in this universe.

I am perhaps not the most objective of sources, as Mike is an old friend of mine. We met our first day of college at Michigan State University (mumble mumble) years ago and have been close friends ever since.

However, what I lack in objectivity, perhaps I can make up for with scope. I've read pretty much every piece of fiction Mike has ever published, a few that he hasn't published, and some of his non-fiction as well.

The story is well enough described in the cover blurb and other materials, so I won't go into that.

All of Mike's books and stories are good, but this is the best yet. In it he combines all his numerous strengths as a writer and human being. Mike has always been able to make the science part of science fiction intelligible to non-science types like me, without talking down, and he weaves the needed explication into the narrative far more seamlessly than most. He was an unusually thoughtful and inquisitive college freshman, and has become an unusually thoughtful and inquisitive mature writer. Without simply falling into credulity, he manages to make the topic of reincarnation, if not yet scientifically respectable, then worthy of cautious inquiry.

More than in most "hard" SF, his characters are fully human and fleshed out, warts and all. The all-too-common "tell the readers what they need to know about quantum mechanics for the story to work, why don't you" kind of dialog is replaced with real conversation between believable human beings. Humor and tragedy interweave in the lives of his characters, just as they do in real life.

I could effuse a lot more, but you get the point.

Do yourself a favor and buy this book. Do some of your friends a favor, and buy them copies, too.

Mr. KMD weaves a wonderful cautionary tale of the near future. There is hard neuroscience mixed with speculative spiritualism, but the bottom line is living, loveable characters who adapt and grow. And the ending is a shocker...but the very next page is a sneak peek into the sequel ("Fragments"). By the time this series is over (feels like at least three, maybe four books in all), Michael will have turned the whole universe upside down. If you read it only to see a dark vision of where we shouldn't go in his setting, you should read it. But there is also an orchard full of ideas, some hard science, others ehtereal, to be savored. I can hardly wait for book 2. This novel is a triumph; albeit act one. Buy and read if you like sci-fi at all, and for sure if you are either a) of open-minded spritual grounding, but especially if b) you think you know how the universe works (because you have a wake up call...)

the climax. Totally ridiculous ending that makes NO SENSE in light of what preceeded it. The main character's climactic actions are hinted at once in the middle of the book, but the motivation behind them are never fully explained. I really liked this book up to the last four pages, but I could have written a far, far better ending, absolutely no lie!

I bought this book based on someone's recommendation and the positive reviews here. I was intrigued because of my interest in the subject of reincarnation. I have yet to come across a good piece of fiction on the subject... this book certainly isn't what I was looking for!

Grammatical errors, inconsistencies in the text (such as the spelling of the cat's name), and a general aura of disbelief on the part of nearly every character in the book made this a tiring read. No conclusions were drawn by the end, and the author's handling of the ending was dismal.

I can think of a bunch of things that would have made this book more interesting and easier to read. Unfortunately, the author didn't. Save your money.

I am baffled at the five-star reviews on this book. I bought it because someone recommended it, and because of the reviews here. If you're looking for a well-written piece of fiction that incorporates the concept of reincarnation, look elsewhere.

The only reason I give this book two stars is because the premise in intriguing. The writing, however, is awful. I found grammatical errors and inconsistencies throughout. The worst part of this book, though, has to be the ending. It seems as if the author dug himself into a hole and then took the easy way out. Having read other books on the subject of reincarnation, I can think of many other possibilities that would have made the ending more palatable, and perhaps a lot more interesting.

If you want to read a book that was obviously published without the benefit of an editor, a book that takes the easy way out when confronted with a life-and-death dilemma... go ahead and read this one. For those who are looking to read about reincarnation, try the non-fiction section. The books by Michael Newton, Brian Weiss, and others who have experience in this area are much more interesting... in some cases, more interesting than fiction.

Sometimes, things just seem to come together. A brilliant scientist meets a creative pioneer. Science meets philosophy. And a mystery meets a mystery.

When was the last time I stayed up all night reading a book, even when I didn't really have the time, even when I had things to do the next day, because I simply could not bear to put the book down? When was the last time a book beat sleep? When was the last time I finished a book and then had to keep it with me the next day so I could go back and start reading it all over again?

Well, these days, that doesn't happen for me all that often, but it happened with Vectors. I stayed up all night reading Vectors (the first time; I'm halfway through the second reading), because I could not, would not, not even at the promptings of family and friends--not even when I knew where we were going and no one else in the car did--put it down. Everything else paled when placed next to my engagement with this book.

Vectors is full of unlikely meetings, seeming coincidences and risks. Kube-McDowell breaks every rule in the hard science-fiction author's canon. There's spiritualism, having tea with neuroscience. There's a respectful nod to the neopagan community, dallying over questions of evidence and data. There's a sweeping love story that encompasses everything else and makes this story sweet and real without being cloying or predictable.

Everything is vivid, from the science to the characters to the descriptions of a not-too-distant future Ann Arbor. Kube-McDowell's prose is gorgeous, lush without being purple, almost romantic. The characters are alive. You want to know them. The story itself is a roller coaster ride that will engage you from page one. I wasn't able to put it down. I'm having trouble putting it down for the second time. I put it down to write this review, because I don't want it to end again. It's going on the reread-every-year-or-so shelf with books like Stranger In A Strange Land and Jitterbug Perfume.

Michael Kube-McDowell has taken some risks, writing a book like Vectors. And Vectors is a risk worth taking.

He is an obsessed scientist focusing on one goal, to prove that the mind and personality is unique using the scientific method. Jonathan accepts a position at the university of Michigan because they have the equipment he needs to map brain activity and photograph minds. He is so enthusiastic about his quest that he has most of the students and faculty volunteering to be research subjects.

At a conference where he tries to the sell the concept that all people do not think alike due to personality differences he meets and falls in love with Alynn Reed. They move in together and between his love life and research, he is a very happy man. An anomoly appears in his research showing two identical brain matrixes, that of a five-year-old boy and of a deceased senior citizen who died just before the child was born. Alynn suggests it is the same mind in two different bodies and that proves reincarnation is a reality. When Alynn is murdered, a grief stricken Jonathan tries to prove that Alynn's belief system is correct despite the humiliation he receives at the hands of his colleagues and the suspicions of the police who consider him a suspect in his lover's death.

Michael Kube-McDowell tackles some very tough questions that have haunted mankind down through the centuries. The protagonist is stuck on one paradigm until the evidence takes him in another direction, a journey where the data embraces a different scientific theory scorned by his peers. VECTORS is good work of speculative fiction, filled with wonder and hope.

Harriet Klausner