5.5 KiB
[RT] The Jumper Series by Steven Gould
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Author: u/alexanderwales Time flies like an arrow*
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/2g4jjk/rt_the_jumper_series_by_steven_gould/
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Score: 13
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Created: 2014-09-11T18:26:43
Post:
Amazon links for Jumper, Reflex, Impulse, and Exo.
The fourth book in the Jumper series, Exo, came out a few days ago, and seeing as this hadn't been posted here before, I figured now is the time.
Davie has the power to teleport to a place that he can see or that he's been to before. He uses this for most of the things that you would think about using that power for. Most of why I'm suggesting this here is that the power is rigorously explored and explained, and it's pretty clear that the author put a lot of thought into making sure that everything made as much sense as possible (not just in how the power works, but in the things that you could do with it, and the technical details).
So with that said, here are a couple of counterpoints; the writing is more or less on the YA level in terms of complexity, and (like Stephenson) Gould gets wrapped up in showing his work, which on occasion is a detriment to the story. The third book is also the weakest of the four, but I'm about two chapters from the end of the fourth book and consider it a return to form with that same holy-crap-that-was-cool feeling that the first two books gave me (and features a lot of ingenious stuff that made me think that this series needed a link in this subreddit).
There's a movie, which is okay but not nearly as good as the book. There's also a tie-in novel that takes place in the movie continuity which I don't really recommend.
Comments:
u/narfanator [+9] (2 hours later)
There's a thing I'm noticing about the Young Adult genre, in combination with, well, anime - There's very little adult content out there about people becoming healthier individuals. In other words, there's little [scifi/fant] fiction and media for adults that's uplifting - it's pretty much all about broken people getting more broken, because /drama/.
u/None [+2] (a day later)
There are entire media I've stopped paying attention to because:
it's pretty much all about broken people getting more broken, because /drama/.
u/alexanderwales [+4] Time flies like an arrow (a day later)
To be clear, the Jumper series is the opposite of that (at least, in my opinion). Almost to the point where I almost expect the characters to talk things over and go see a therapist if they're experiencing any psychological distress.
u/Terkala [+1] (5 hours later)
To be fair, stories about someone getting better and more well balanced tend to lack the sort of tension that keeps a book engaging.
u/None [+4] (a day later)
That doesn't make much sense. In real life, getting better and more well-balanced takes a lot of struggle that would seemingly make for good drama. It doesn't happen all on its own.
u/SaintPeter74 [+3] (2 hours later)
I absolutely adore these books. The protagionist is highly rational and the books are well written. I've read some of Gould's other work and it is at least as good as this series, so check those out as well.
There is also an excellent short story available for free on Tor's site. It takes place between the 2nd and 3rd books. It shows some of his charity work.
http://www.tor.com/stories/2008/08/shadeDespite the movie stinking on ice, Gould also write a pretty decent prequel to the movie called "Jumper: Griffin's Story". He brings his normal stellar writing to give life to what was an otherwise shit movie. It's almost like reading an author writing Fan-Fic of their own universe.
u/alexanderwales [+3] Time flies like an arrow (an hour later)
u/EliezerYudkowsky [+2] Godric Gryffindor (5 days later)
I had trouble sympathizing with the first book because this idea was not mentioned and it felt super obvious to me, so I'm glad to hear the process is starting.
u/Transfuturist [+2] Carthago delenda est. (an hour later)
The movie was really disappointing. The opponents were a religious strawman, who objected for really wrong reasons, and overall the movie was too short (and the plot twist was boring and hackneyed). I wasn't aware there were more books in the series.
u/None [+3] (a day later)
THERE IS NO MOVIE IN BA SING SE.
u/EXOrocks [+1] (8 days later)
I read EXO and I liked it, a bit on the technical side, but overall I hope it leads to more novels. I bought it the day it came out.