Synopses & Reviews
Begun with
The Golden Age, continued with
The Phoenix Exultant, and now concluding in
The Golden Transcendence, The Golden Age trilogy is Grand Space Opera, an SF adventure saga in the tradition of A. E. Van Gogt, Roger Zelazny and Cordwainer Smith. It is an astounding story of super-science, a thrilling wonder story that recaptures the elan of SF's golden age writers in the suspenseful and passionate tale of Phaeton, a lone rebel unhappy in utopia.
The end of the Millennium is imminent, when all minds, human, posthuman, cybernetic, sophotechnic, will be temporarily merged into one solar-system-spanning supermind called the Transcendence. This is not only the fulfillment of a thousand years of dreams, it is a day of doom, when the universal mind will pass judgment on the all the races of humanity and transhumanity.
The mighty ship Phoenix Exultant is at last in the hands of her master, Phaethon the Exile is at her helm and his dream of starflight in alive once more. He is being hunted by alien agents, the eerie and deadly Lords of the Silent Oecumene, who would steal the Phoenix Exultant and turn it into a weapon.
The all-encompassing Mind of the Golden Transcendence is waking. Will it endorse Phaeton's dream or face the first interstellar war?
Review
"A movie based on Wright's modernized space opera could easily appeal to fans of The Matrix.... Such a film would, however, lack the grand polysyllabism that sets the tone of this volume and its predecessors ... language both deeply literary and deeply essential."
--Publishers Weekly "Set forth with such effortless intelligence and confident verisimilitude that the author might be a denizen of the remote future, reporting back to us in the distant past."
--Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
The conclusion of the grand space opera begun in "The Golden Age and "The Phoenix Exultant is a story in the tradition of Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny (with a touch of Cordwainer Smith). It is an astounding story of super science, a thrilling wonder story that recaptures the verve of SF's golden age writers. Violating the sanctions against him, Phaeton has traveled across the solar system to recover both his memory and the marvelous Phoenix Exultant, the first true starship. Should the minds of Earth break out of the safe confines of the solar system and reach for the stars? So Phaeton argues at his trial, but a new enemy would deny them either choice, unless he can stop them. John C. Wright has launched on the first great space opera career of the new millennium.
About the Author
John C. Wright, a journalist and a lawyer turned SF and fantasy writer, lives with his wife and son in Centreville, Virginia.