Thoughts on Spin

Speculative fiction often (not always, but often enough to make such generalizations useful) breaks out into one of two kinds of story: idea or character. The works at each end of the genre spectrum, both hard-science SF and the most unapologetic sword-and-sorcery fantasy, are often idea stories. The science, world, magic or talisman is the thing; the characters are essentially interchangeable.

The best stories, of course, combine mind-bending ideas with heart-wrenching characterization. Robert Charles Wilson's Spin is one of those.

Patrick Nielsen Hayden extolled the novel's virtues here, and I would not deign to add much more than my brief introduction to his lucid analysis.

Highly Recommended: GOOD ENOUGH TO BUY