Proteus Rising

Review 1 :

Proteus Rising - impressions after reading the first four chapters:

I love the grand sweep of the scale, and pacing of the story. Many first time scifi stories end up bogged down in unimportant world building detail, and never get rolling. Less commonly, stories can go too fast, and too easily, losing all believability. Proteus, at least in the first four chapters, has a good pace, not being dull and not being frenetic.

The descriptions of the cities on Mars really seem tangible and genuine.

The weakest part might be the main character. He might be stretching the suspension of disbelief a little. Is he a computer genius or a biology genius or a poly-sci genius or what? Oh that's right, he is a Professor of Physics. I will have to see how the rest of the tale plays out before I can fully judge the character. He might be spawning new species too easily (computer and super-human) for my ability to believe.

The political situation, with several groups (some quite shadowy) each with their own agenda, and willing to resort to whatever means necessary, makes for a very tense and interesting situation. That part of the story is as good perhaps as anything Frank Herbert designed. I hope the tension and intrigue continue as well in the following chapters.

Grammar and word choice wise, the story is very good. Readability is high, the descriptive passages are clear and crisp, and interesting. There are a handful of grammar/typo issues, but only about five or six in over forty pages of text - much better than say the ratio on MSNBC.com or most newspapers these days.

The four chapters completely held my interest, and I recommend them without reservation.

John Gilbert

Review 2 :

Great fiction - interesting science

Dingus writes of evolved computers, evolved minds, and evolved personal relationships. However, it's the theme of imperialism and ethnic bigotry that drives the plot. The tale would make a great visual story in a flick, but it would be a shame to miss the prose from this gifted writer. Dingus writes convincingly, developing new technologies, story line and characters very believably. I couldn't put the book down.

Review 3 :

Proteus Rising is a Powerful Tale

In Peter Dingus' new book, it's the 24th Century and humanity has been on Mars long enough that Martian inhabitants can be distinguished at a glance from Terran visitors and newcomers.

The Department of Reproductive Affairs has done much to enhance these changes-The accelerated adaptations allow the inhabitants adjust to the lower gravity and increased radiation of their new environment. But George Mills, physicist, has far outstepped this modest mandate.

George has manipulated the gene pool to the point where his clientele, the children listed in the Proteus file, have such an accelerated adaptive physiology that they are a new species. His ambition is to make mankind so attuned to each other that collaboration is natural and contention unthinkable. George's goal; the new species will be so intellectually advanced that wars would be obsolete.

For these noble efforts, the goons from Terra will order George to cease his activities immediately. As to why the Terrans in Proteus Rising were so adverse to the children puzzled me. It puzzled me almost as much as why the Terrans and Martians teetered on the brink of war, but then I considered ignorance, power and self-interest will most likely be in no danger of becoming separated from each other, even in the advanced civilization of the 24th century. The author has done a good job keeping up the pace in this book. The gee whiz factor is there, as is the action, even to the last page of this 468 page tale.

In the end, I found myself wondering: What will become of the Proteus children? Or conversely, "Will the rift between Martians and Terrans ever be resolved? -Perhaps.

Proteus Rising being such a big story, I must warn the fastidious reader that the version I read could use a closer copy edit. For instance--

What exactly is the Sea of Storms? This conveyance never did seem to be fully visualized for me.

George's explaination of his AI protégé Will's intelligence struck me as obscure--His AI was based on a highly complex formula involving "complex conformal maps whose components are fractal functions... (transposing)...arbitrary states to physical geometries." Obscure to me, but then I'm not a physicist.

While my review has focused on George, his ambitions and battles, there are other characters in the book who keep George grounded, notably Joanne Zhu, a fellow researcher and close friend as well as the aforementioned computer, Will.

I would say more, but surprise is half the pleasure of reading and I don't want to give away too much of this compelling story.

Ted Magnuson, author of Moses Probe

Review 4 :

Good book! This could happen—although not for a while.

Proteus starts by following physicist George Mills during the days after returning to Mars from Earth. Seeing Mars through Mills’ eyes is a little disorienting—although familiar—like going to work on a weekday morning after a night out that you only scarcely remember. As Mills renews acquaintances, we begin to understand who he is, the paranoia grows, and so did my desire to turn the page and find out more about the Proteus people, who we’ve only briefly glimpsed.

I wasn’t disappointed. Usually in books like this the malevolent forces, as expected, descend; out of control technologies reek havoc on the protagonists, and cyber super intelligences turn on their creators. Not in Proteus. We get a tantalizing glimpse into alien minds—which turn out to be interestingly sympathetic. We also get a fascinating look at the cyber mind, “Will,” in a dreamscape simulated world, the VNex (Virtual Nexus), as he explains to the sexy computer scientist and genetically enhanced Earther, Margaret Gates, the basis of what it means to be conscious.

And for those who like future soldiers and special forces like cat and mouse games between bad guys and good guys, the battle sequences are suspenseful and pack a punch. The nice twist is that it's not always clear who the good guys and bad guys are—just like real life.

A powerful story well told, based on the conflict that occurs when humans are significantly improved by genetics and normal humans see their mastery of the world slipping away. Stephen Hawking predicted this dilemma in 2000, and Peter Dingus has brought it to life on a Martian colony in the twenty-fourth century. The details are solid, the plot moves, and guess what— this could happen. I thought the future world and technologies Dingus came up with were very cool and realistic—Five Stars!

Review 5 :

Plausible Science + Great characterizations = Great Sci-Fi.

I started reading Science fiction in the mid to late 70's when a friend recommended James P. Hogan's "Genesis Machine." Since that time, I have read most the classics and some that were just plain outright terrible. How many of you have started reading a Sci-Fi novel only to discover 1/3rd to 1/2 of the way though that you had previously read the novel, which by the way wasn't exactly the greatest you've ever read? This will not happen with "Proteus Rising." There is no way that you will forget this novel; not this year, next year or twenty years from now!

It is a joy to read a Sci-Fi novel in which the science is plausible. As a computer Science graduate student, I studied artificial intelligence and programmed neural networks. You can train (i.e. teach) neural networks. It is entirely plausible that the artificial intelligence in "Proteus Rising" can learn from its actions.

I found myself one than once (quite a few times actually) getting a chuckle from the dialog. The author chose his words very carefully. The sentence had that one word that perfectly described situation. You find yourself thinking "yes, that's exactly right!"

I highly recommend "Proteus Rising" and I look forward to reading the next novel by Peter Dingus.

Review 6 :

Peter Dingus is the real deal!

It’s the years 2320s and Mars has been colonized by mining concerns, turning it into a planet-sized company town. An earth-born professor, George Mills, has immigrated to Mars and built a super-intelligent computer reminiscent of HAL in 2001, but far more sophisticated. George and his lady friend, Dr. Joanne Zhu, have used the computer to alter the gene structure of fifty Mars-born children, thereby creating a race beyond superhuman in abilities and intelligence. The earthly military/industrial complex finds these developments so frighteningly threatening they respond violently.

Those who grew up cutting our teeth on superb science fiction classics and their authors often bemoan the fact that they don’t write them like they used to. This is because too few scientists are also science fiction writers—at least until now. Peter Dingus is the real deal, a research physicist and computer expert, he brings his science training and knowledge to his writing. In my estimation, he has picked up the standard Arthur C. Clarke dropped when he passed on. This is classic sci fi at its best. We rated it five hearts.

Heartland Reviews

Review 7 :

Couldn't put it down- the short description of this book doesn't do it justice

Based solely on the description of this book, I might have passed... but instead I stumbled across a great thought-provoking story that I couldn't put down. This book was better than Michael Crichton's genetic thriller "Next." Unlike Crichton's books that are set more or less in current times, Proteus Rising is a sci-fi book set far in the future so it's a bigger challenge to suspend disbelief. But the author manages to pull it off nicely. At its core this book is about flaws in human nature that have plagued us throughout history. We fear people who are different, and our first response to conflict is usually aggression. Proteus Rising's plot unfolds around an ingenious way to correct these flaws through genetic engineering. Ironically, this likely solution to chronic war, bigotry, and social conflict is very threatening to a society comprised of a species that's accustomed to being dominant. The very existence of a solution triggers the fears and aggressive response it was intended to solve.

When reading this book, even the most pacifist among us will be inclined to consider whether they could accept a path to peace and harmony that would involve surrendering control and eventually being replaced by a new species. At a more current level, this is not unlike the questions some societies face when political or religious revolution loom.

Review 8 :

Written by a particle physicist, PROTEUS RISING reads like something from David Brin. With our technology continually coming up with new ways to read e-books, consumers will be in the market for science-fiction that’s as progressive as the medium we choose to read it with. This book should be on that list if you like the concepts of mankind living on Mars, and genetic manipulation. What does our future hold? This is one possibility….

Proteus is a program designed by a professor of physics at a university on Mars. It is a secret program that important people on Earth want desperately to acquire. And, as long as Earth has sent several battle-cruisers to Mars to put down a rebellion, there’s muscle to apply to this problem as well. Just what is the Proteus project? And how in heavens does the shy Dr. George Mills always seem to be one step ahead of Earth’s intelligence services?

Mars wants independence from Earth. George Mills, his AI friend Will, and a handful of very unusual children suddenly find themselves as a pivotal part of that rebellion.

PROTEUS RISING is well written with just the right proportions of action, description, characterization, mystery, and plotting to keep the reader hooked. It does bog down in a couple of places with data-dumps--but no more so than a David Brin story does!

KC Heath, Yet Another Book Review Site