A review by rossbm
Count to a Trillion by John C. Wright

adventurous challenging informative medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

 I first read "Count to a Trillion" by John C. Wright around 2015, and for the past few years, I have been trying to recall the name of the book. It was only recently that I was able to find it again, thanks to the help of one of these “AI” (LLM) powered searched engines. 
What I remembered from the original reading was: 
  • The story takes place in the near future, where the world is not much more advanced. The protagonist was a gunslinger in Texas.
  • The protagonist was a genius and selected to go on a space mission to investigate a mysterious monolith.
  •  
    The protagonist injects himself with a serum for intelligence, loses his mind, and wakes up years later after the end of the space mission with missing memories.
     
  • The protagonist needs to deal with the ramifications of the space mission to the monolith, and game theory is involved.

After reading it a second time, a couple of things stood out to me:
 
  • The book is more about ideas and the setting than plot. The plot is slow and uneven, and the characters are not very realistic.
  • There is a lot of techno-babble, which reminds me of "The Quantum Thief."
  • Even if it's not as good as I remembered, it's still an interesting book that I read quickly.

Overall, I would recommend this book to people who enjoy science fiction that deals with big ideas and respects the speed of light.