Chapter 37 【Guide】

The Blank Space of Cosmic Waves Wilson's "Timeline" / Lin Hanchang, Master of Science Fiction Studies, University of Liverpool, UK "Time Cycling" is undoubtedly Wilson's most successful work since his debut. It perfectly integrates existing sci-fi materials, boldly explores various issues from the small family to the wide universe in a single text, and is accompanied by a unique The story is laid out, thus winning the recognition and love of many readers.Also because the content covered is very broad, the author cannot explain clearly one by one in the book, and the creation plan of sequels and even trilogy has become inevitable.However, from a creative point of view, it is a daunting challenge to continue the achievements of "Wind in Time" to the top.So Wilson adopted his most familiar creative mode, making "Timeline" read more like a typical Wilson-style story.

The well-known critic Wolf pointed out Wilson's consistent approach: on the one hand, he pays attention to the human nature close to reality, such as individuals, families and even independent communities, and on the other hand, he continues to shock readers through large-scale sci-fi changes.Even if the scale is not comparable to the space-time dialysis membrane that surrounds the earth, the inexplicable fall of dust in Equatoria and the subsequent strange development are enough to arouse readers' curiosity.Knowing that all of these are related to imaginary intelligent creatures, human beings have not made progress in their cognition, which makes people think of the alien life forms described by Clarke.Taking place in the independent fourth-year community, the main storyline of cultivating Isaac as a bridge between humans and imaginary intelligent creatures fully reflects the desire of some people to try to understand unknown things, and later developed into religious fanaticism.Although the author criticizes this concept from the perspective of ethics and morality through the individual representing rationality in the book, readers probably have to admit that the behavior of this community also reflects their own yearning to some extent.

When the author visited Wilson last year, he mentioned that "Timeline" is a very intimate novel, almost no different from a mystery story, so in terms of family and interpersonal relationship, this book has more considerable points .Liz and Turk, the only two ordinary people who participated in the whole incident, each had ambivalence about their families who were constantly cutting and rationalizing. Witnessing how they slowly clarified their thoughts and feelings after being involved in the storm, also gave them insight. To Wilson's delicacy is very different from ordinary science fiction writers.Although the purpose of the big family deliberately created by the fourth-year community is to cultivate Isaac, it is full of functional orientation, but careful readers can use it to think about the true value of home.This book also describes Su Lian's memories on Mars during the period of time reversal in a large amount of space; this action not only uncovers the mysterious Martian veil in the previous work, but also the most moving moment in the book.As for the actions of the Genetic Safety Agency, it brings a little tension to the story, but it does not affect the real topic of the book.

Another interesting thing about "Timeline" is that most of the characters appearing on the stage belong to the fourth-year post-humans, which makes this life-extending technology, which is slightly magical in "Time Cycling", has a more equal and more balanced life in this book. A fair description.We can find that the fourth year is just a state, it will not make people better, and it is still inseparable from the human category in essence.Isaac is the only representative of human being's ascension in the book. However, just like the super children's theme works in the golden age, the process and behavior of the ascension individual are often too obscure, leaving readers with unlimited imagination.

After reading the whole book, there are still many mysteries to be clarified and many messages to be revealed.Just as Equatoria is not where humans belong after all, "Timeline" is only a turning point in the trilogy.Although we have to wait until "Vortex" (Vortex) to get the final (?) answer, this book may serve as a blank space in the waves of the universe, allowing us to stop for a while and think back about the basics of people and things around them. question.