Will Sargent reviewed Clockwork Rocket by Greg Egan
Review of 'Clockwork Rocket' on 'Storygraph'
3 stars
It's a Greg Egan novel -- which means that half of it is an extrapolation of theoretical physics in another universe. Which all the characters understand right off the bat, or even worse, understand implicitly. Half the fun of Egan is working out what underlying physics model is responsible for half the odd things you see in the beginning of the book, but once the protagonist becomes a physicist and starts laboriously explaining it, it becomes fairly obvious that you're reading an arXiv paper.
The physics of this one is tricky, as initially I had thought that it was set in our universe with their planet under extreme time-shifted velocity relative to the rest of the system. It is not. It is different from beginning to end, it just looks deceptively similar. See the video here for more details.
So what's the rest of the novel like? The protagonist is …
It's a Greg Egan novel -- which means that half of it is an extrapolation of theoretical physics in another universe. Which all the characters understand right off the bat, or even worse, understand implicitly. Half the fun of Egan is working out what underlying physics model is responsible for half the odd things you see in the beginning of the book, but once the protagonist becomes a physicist and starts laboriously explaining it, it becomes fairly obvious that you're reading an arXiv paper.
The physics of this one is tricky, as initially I had thought that it was set in our universe with their planet under extreme time-shifted velocity relative to the rest of the system. It is not. It is different from beginning to end, it just looks deceptively similar. See the video here for more details.
So what's the rest of the novel like? The protagonist is a female in a species with a particularly nasty biological quirk, and has to deal with the sexism and cultural expectations in a world where females are not expected to rise to a position of strength. She has to deal with males who think her professional existence against nature, and resist the attractions of males for her duty. All like our own world, but not quite. Again, you can clearly see Egan's hand at work underneath the scenes, but the rigorous rational nature of the book and the protagonists ensure that there aren't too many surprises here.
All things considered, it's a fun read, but limited by the lack of personal fulfillment in the protagonist's life -- she is attracted to science, but defending herself against the society around her. With that in mind, it's at least workmanlike if not joyful.