Review of: Flashforward by Robert J Sawyer

As I said to more than a couple of people on Twitter in the few days following finishing reading Flashforward, this book 'made my head go boom'. This was my first time reading something by Robert J Sawyer. Yes, there were parts that I didn't get, what could I expect from a book centered around two physicists.

Over the summer I kept seeing commercials for the new ABC show called FLASHFORWARD. I'm a LOSTie so I was interested in this new show by some of the same people. The I read that the show FLASHFORWARD was based on Robert J Sawyer's book of the same name. I'm one of those people that likes to read the book before seeing the movie that's based on it. I felt the same about Flashforward (and The Vampire Diaries). According to an article I read, Mr. Sawyer has been in negotiations for a TV show based on this book since it's release in 1999.

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. In an instant, everyone on Earth is "flashed forward" 21 years, experiencing several minutes of the future. 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.

Slowly, as recovery efforts continue, people realize that during the Flashforward (as it comes to be called) they experienced a vision of the future. 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). But those who saw everyday life 20 years hence have to come to grips with evidence of dreams forsaken (or realized). 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. Robert J. Sawyer has captured a truly compelling idea with Flashforward, and he fully explores what such an event might mean to humanity. Fans will find this to be his best work to date, although the ending seems rushed after a detailed buildup. --Therese Littleton

I am awarding Flashforward my Hyacinth award. You will be seeing more of these in the coming weeks. =)

Title: Flashforward
Author: Robert J Sawyer
ISBN: 9780312867126
Pages: 320
Published by: Tor (June 12, 1999)
Genre(s): SciFi
Grade: A What does this grade mean?

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