Chris McGrath Mar 06, 2013

it was amazing bookshelves: science-fiction, own-in-trade-paperback

's review

Anyone who has been reading science fiction for a while, or has ever read some of the classics of the genre, knows that its greatest strength (along with its sister genre, fantasy) is in being able to explore ideas about real life in a setting that divorces itself from all our preconceived notions about those ideas. You can write about robots and explore the intricacies of slavery, or tell the truth about the Vietnam War by writing a book about spaceships and time dilation. This is what classic science fiction has pretty much always done, and done quite well.



But at some point in more recent history, the genre took a turn and people lost sight of that. Writing about the future as a way to examine where humanity's current choices might lead eventually just became about figuring out what cool new stuff we might invent as we got more technologically advanced. The ideas being explored were more scientific than anthropological or psychological. Of course, who better to have these interesting ideas than scientists? And so these brainiacs came up with all sorts of interesting visions for our technological future, and the hard science fiction genre came into favor.



The great loss I have felt from this shift is that with so much focus on science, stories built out of visions of technology rather than humanity, the stories and characters tended to suffer. The novels often seem to me to be excuses to make believe about cool gadgets or scientific theories, rather than telling a compelling story or creating believable and sympathetic characters whose fates matter to the reader.



That brings us to Hollow World, a traditional science-fiction story written by a guy who has really interesting things to say about humanity, and who knows how to tell a story. Sullivan follows in the tradition of Heinlein and Vonnegut, using time travel and a speculative future to explore interesting ideas about people, and tells an interesting story with compelling characters in the process. What would happen if we really achieved world peace, ended hunger, and all those other great dreams that seem so out of reach? Every unique person today craves a place to fit in, but what if the situation were reversed? How does one find fulfillment when there's no such thing as important work to be done? What is love, really, and is there any such thing when everyone's needs are already met?



This is the kind of science fiction novel I love, in every sense. It probably helps that I am both a Christian and a time travel junkie, and both are concepts this book focuses on pretty heavily without getting preachy (I get the sense that Sullivan has thought a lot about God and faith but there's little indication of his own personal beliefs; another success, in my opinion).



I'm glad I Kickstarted this project sight unseen, my expectations were easily surpassed. But I'm terribly sad that the big publishers didn't see a market for this, or more accurately that they might be right. I hope this sells a million copies and shows the industry that people still want stories they can connect to and which get them thinking about our own humanity.



4.5 stars