Linda
Written on Jul 4, 2014
The start of Lockstep is very slow, but once I got into the story, I was completely hooked!
When seventeen-year-old Toby McGonigal finds himself lost in space, separated from his family, he expects his next drift into cold sleep to be his last. After all, the planet he's orbiting is frozen and sunless, and the cities are dead. But when Toby wakes again, he's surprised to discover a thriving planet, a strange and prosperous galaxy, and something stranger still--that he's been asleep for 14,000 years.
Welcome to the Lockstep Empire, where civilization is kept alive by careful hibernation. Here cold sleeps can last decades and waking moments mere weeks. Its citizens survive for millennia, traveling asleep on long voyages between worlds. Not only is Lockstep the new center of the galaxy, but Toby is shocked to learn that the Empire is still ruled by its founding family: his own.
Toby's brother Peter has become a terrible tyrant. Suspicious of the return of his long-lost brother, whose rightful inheritance also controls the lockstep hibernation cycles, Peter sees Toby as a threat to his regime. Now, with the help of a lockstep girl named Corva, Toby must survive the forces of this new Empire, outwit his siblings, and save human civilization.
Karl Schroeder's Lockstep is a grand innovation in hard Science Fiction space opera.
- ISBN10 0765337266
- ISBN13 9780765337269
- Publish Date 25 March 2014
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 29 August 2015
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Starscape
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 351
- Language English
Reviews
The start of Lockstep is very slow, but once I got into the story, I was completely hooked!
Rinn
Written on Feb 17, 2014
In case you haven’t already guessed, I love science fiction. One thing that frustrates me is the stigma that comes with the genre – it’s geeky, it’s nerdy, it’s for people with no lives. Which is all a load of rubbish, and since YA sci-fi has become increasingly more common, I hope it’s a stereotype that will soon disappear. One thing I have noticed though, is that the majority of YA science fiction tends to be on the ‘lighter’ side, and I’ve been looking for something a little ‘heavier’. And Lockstep fits the bill quite nicely.
The story of a teenager who finds himself fourteen thousand years in the future after a malfunction with his ship, Lockstep really explores the idea of space and time travel (or at least the ‘freezing’ of time). The title of the book comes from a system called the Lockstep, where all inhabitants within hibernate on the 360/1 system – asleep for thirty years, awake for one month. Robots and A.I. systems maintain the cities and settlements during hibernation, as well as producing food – leaving less work for the people to do when they wake, and meaning they have more free time. It also means that people live for thousands of years – and is also a clever way of getting around the fact that there is no faster than light transport. Cargo ships may have to travel out to planets thousands of years away – but the Lockstep system ensures that the people aboard do not outlive or outage their relatives. It seems for all accounts and purposes like a perfect system.
Toby, our protagonist, soon discovers that things are not quite what they seem (when are they ever?!), and ends up with a ragtag group of friends who introduce him, and the reader, to this futuristic world. Schroeder has invented some wonderful technologies for the book, for example the Denners – cat-like creatures that seem part organic, part machine, and who will support a human through hibernation. There’s also a partial virtual reality element to the book, that may appeal to fans of Ready Player One – Toby and his younger brother build a virtual reality world together, known as Consensus – and Peter has brought Consensus to life in creating the Lockstep. Some parts of the book, such as Toby’s brother and sister, also reminded me of Ender’s Game.
There were a few parts of the book that I felt let it down. Toby’s reaction, for one, on learning that he is now fourteen thousand years in the future. His life, his family, his home – all gone, ancient history. Sure, he freaks out – but not for long, not to the extent that you would expect someone to after learning that everything they once knew and loved is now dust. Of course, his family are still alive – but he doesn’t learn that until later on. This brings me onto the point that this fact was given away by the blurb, but when revealed in the book it feels like it should have been a surprise – which it mostly definitely isn’t to the reader. I also feel that perhaps some more flashbacks of life before Toby set out on the journey would have been beneficial – the reader doesn’t have that much in order to compare young Peter and Peter the Tyrant, so it’s hard in places to understand Toby’s shock. And finally, the ending was a complete anti-climax for me. I loved the story up until that point – it felt like the easy way out, like a build up to a massive action scene and then… nothing.
Despite the disappointing ending, I really did enjoy this book. It is a brilliant introduction to heavier science fiction for those perhaps a little wary of diving straight into the genre – advanced technology and the more ‘typical’ elements of heavy sci-fi, whilst still keeping the feel of a Young Adult book. Schroeder has built up a fascinating universe, which makes it all the more a shame that this is not going to be a series! And also, as previously mentioned: a definite recommendation for fans of books such as Ender’s Game and Ready Player One.