Review
Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer
Some people start on their appointed roads early, others give up on life because of what they've seen. This first-rate, philosophical journey, a terrific example of idea-driven SF, should have wide appeal. gFYI: Sawyer is the president of the Science Fiction Writers of America.. Using a third-person omniscient narrator, Sawyer shifts seamlessly among the perspectives of his many characters, anchoring the story in small details. Trapped by his guilt for causing so much destruction and driven by a need to rationalize, Lloyd tries to prove that free will is a myth. Vehicles whose drivers passed out plow into one another; people fall or maim themselves. Theo discovers that he will be murdered and begins to hunt down his killerAtempting fate as in the Greek dramas of his ancestors. In April 2009, Lloyd and Theo, two scientists at the European Organization for Particle Physics (CERN), run an experiment that accidentally transports the world's consciousness 20 years into the future. Sawyer has captured a truly compelling idea with Flashforward, and he fully explores what such an event might mean to humanity. Slowly, as recovery efforts continue, people realize that during the Flashforward gthey experienced a vision of the future. After the horror is sorted out, each character tries desperately to ensure or avoid his or her future. But that's just the beginning. What would you do if you got a glimpse of your own personal future and it looked bleak? Try to change things, or accept that the future is unchangeable and make the best of it? In Flashforward, Nobel-hungry physicists conducting an unimaginably high-energy experiment accidentally induce a global consciousness shift. But those who saw everyday life 20 years hence have to come to grips with evidence of dreams forsaken (or realized). But while everyone is, literally, out of their minds, their bodies drop unconscious; when the world reawakens, car wrecks, botched surgeries, falls, and other mishaps add up to massive death and destruction. Soon, the physicists who caused the Flashforward are struggling to help the world decide whether the future is changeable--and whether the experiment is worth repeating. Fans will find this to be his best work to date, although the ending seems rushed after a detailed buildup. --Therese Littleton A science experiment that unwittingly shuts down all human consciousness for two minutes is the catalyst for a creative exploration of fate, free will and the nature of the universe in Sawyer's soul-searching new work (after Factoring Humanity). In an instant, everyone on Earth is "flashed forward" 21 years, experiencing several minutes of the future. Robert J. The range of visions is astounding--those who would be asleep in the future saw psychedelic dream landscapes, while others saw nothing at all (presumably they'd be dead).