Name: Old Twentieth
ISBN: 9780441013432

Joe Haldeman

Jacob Brewer confronts a dangerous sentient machine that has become obsessed with humanity when he investigates the mysterious deaths of passengers on the starship Aspera during the thousand-year journey to Beta Hydrii.

Old Twentieth

Kirsten Simkiss

Though interesting, the character wasn't enough to make me enjoy the book. I'd give this one 3 stars, maybe 3.5 at a push.

The main theme of this book is the ethics of virtual reality, which is really something that's been done time and time again. However, the aspect of addiction to it and how people view it differently was very interesting. When do you call something an addiction? Is it when it starts hurting people or is it when it becomes a normal part of your life? It was fun to see it from that perspective.

However, the main character Jacob is thoroughly a boring guy. While he does carry the story on his own for the most part, Jacob is more an observer in the plot than an activist. Nothing he does in the course of the book is ultimately an attempt to change what is happening. Instead? He mostly seeks to understand, which is fine if you feel like reading a 257 page lecture about addiction to virtual reality and immortal life. The side characters are similarly difficult to get attached to.

On the subject of immortality and the general state of the world, I never felt that it was really necessary to make anyone immortal at all except to make it super extra sci-fi. A bunch of immortals go on a long trip just because. Big deal! The story would have been just as interesting without the immortality plot in there. (view spoiler)[Especially regarding the final chapter where it's explained that he's been reliving the past two years over and over again to keep from going brain dead in cryo, you really didn't need to have them be immortal to have them only last 80 years in cryo before they're past their sell by date. (hide spoiler)]

It is also a very slow paced book. It took probably six chapters to even bring up the main conflict, and then it was mired in page upon page of unimportant scene-setting. I wish more had been done to make us care about the character because had I been able to empathize with him, it would have been much more compelling for me.

Ultimately, I found the book to be very similar to a Michael Crichton novel. If you fear robot overlords and the addiction to technology, this is definitely the book for you. If you're looking for interesting or relatable characters, this is absolutely not for you. Please also be advised that a reasonable love of history is required for this book, as the virtual reality is made up of trips to prior time periods.