I didn’t think I was a big fan of the science fiction genre, but Rayner may have just converted me.

The novel is elaborately planned out and detailed. The characters especially stand out as being intricate and meticulously created. Every single character in this novel held my interest and had me wanting more. You find yourself fully immersed in everyone’s back story. I’d love a full novel on Bella Gunn alone – a character unlike any I’ve read about before.

Rayner’s novel is dense, but enjoyably so. It’s definitely a story you could read over and over again and always discover something new. It’s much different than his other work, but just as excellent.

At first glance, The Amadeus Net seems like a bizarre tale of a post-apocalyptic world, but on a deeper reading, we see it’s not too far off from our own present lives. That in itself makes the novel even more compelling. ( )

A recent review (not mine):“Strange? Yes. Implausible? No, because Rayner successfully crafts an inherent logic into his surreal story with a collage of plausible first-person narratives, which includes the first-person ‘thinking machine’ narrative of the actual setting of the story—the post-apocalyptic, utopian city-state of Ipolis, located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.“Furthermore, Rayner’s flair for sustained humor, and compelling story telling enhances the preposterous premises, characterizations, and worthy themes of art, love, and the search for self-identity and sex in the day-to-day existence of an eclectic cast of characters making their way through the end of the world.” — Janet Paszkowski, Flash Me Magazine (April 2009) ( )

In the novel “The Amadeus Net, Mark A. Rayner has imagined a post-apocalyptic world in which machines have developed a conscious, Mozart is still alive in 2028 and the parts of the world that survived after the acpolayptic episode, the Shudder, are attempting to obliterate each other with nukes. (Oh, right. That last part doesn’t sound so much like fiction, does it?)
The reader is taken to Ipolis, a utopia in the southern hemisphere for those able to escape the devastated parts of the world. For the most part, admittance is permitted only to artists of some kind with the exception of a few wealthy inhabitants who must turn their money over to Ipolis. It is a land that has abolished work for monetary gain and is made up of people all creating passionate art for art’s sake. It is also under the operation of ‘One’, the collective conscious identity of the computers that operate Ipolis.
The story is infused with sensational characters that feel realistic emotions and combat realistic internal issues. Mozart (or Will, as he is called in the 21st century) has found himself in quite a predicament. Blessed (or cursed) with eternal life, he is on the verge of being discovered and decides he must alter his appearance by switching genders. In the meantime, he falls in love with a lesbian who doesn’t feel the same. Bella was raised in the Canadian wilderness until she was a teen and her father was killed. It is a constant struggle for her to control her carnal desires that manifest themselves in dangerous ways, such as murder. Katerina is a nurse in Dr. So’s Sex Change clinic, where she assists others in making their decision whil she struggles with her own sexuality. Also among these are Helen Printo, a reporter on the prowl for Mozart and who also contributed to the worldwide nuclear crisis via her reporting and Burton, who is trying to find Mozart so he can sell him to scientists and fund his way to Mars.
“The Amadeus Net” touches on a variety of relevant social issues and raises questions on every page. How far away are we from computers controlling us? If it happens, do we even have a prayer of retaining power? And what about that nuke situation? For me, Mozart’s eternal life made me question what the world will be like in 200 years. If anything resembling Rayner’s imagination comes true, who knows what the state of the world will be. ( )

Set in the year 2028, shortly after the destruction of half of the world’s population due to an asteroid-Earth collision (known as The Shudder), "The Amadeus Net," by Mark Rayner, tells the story of love and survival in Ipolis, the man-made utopia dedicated to the preservation of art and to scientific exploration. While Ipolis itself may appear to be paradise, the world around it is certainly not. Divided still by wealth, the world is put in danger of destruction by the religious fanatics of the poverty-stricken South, who give the North an ultimatum: Distribute wealth and resources fairly, or suffer global annihilation.

Living among this global turmoil, in Ipolis, are: Bella, the sadistic artist struggling with her past as a warrior-like survivor of The Shudder; Les, the Canadian consulate desperately and obsessively in love with Helen Printo, a world famous reporter; Alex Burton, the power-driven egoist determined to rule Mars; and the beautiful Katerina, who is set on chasing after unattainable women, and yet is loved by a man.

Run by One, the mind of the Ipolis machine, the inhabitants of this futuristic civilization are under constant surveillance and surrounded by technology: their multifunctional data-pads, 3Vs (the future’s TV equivalent), robotic bartenders, etc. However, one citizen of Ipolis is monitored by One more closely than the rest: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, believed to have died in 1791. The 272-year-old composer, in love with Katerina, now goes by the name of Will Armstrong, yet continues to compose the music of Mozart. This does not become a problem until dedicated news reporter Helen Printo is set on discovering the truth, and One becomes intent on keeping the man safe.

"The Amadeus Net" is a compelling read from start to finish, containing engaging characters, an intricate plot, and powerful insight into what it means to be human in post, and possibly pre, apocalyptic Ipolis.

Most poignant to me was its examination of the nature of art, love, and sex: What drives an individual to love and to create? How important is the existence of art? It delves also into the mind of the computer as it controls its “children,” the people of Ipolis, and reworks their fates. I wonder too: How do the members of a technologically advanced society still maintain freedom, privacy, and a unique identity? ( )

I loved the premise of this novel--I have a thing for post-apocalyptic stories--and loved that the novel wasn't just from Mozart's point-of-view, but from all of the main characters, including One's. Truthfully, I found One's point-of-view to be the most interesting. It reminded me very much of the robots in I, Robot who take over to "protect" humanity from itself; One was very much like that, controlling what and who came into Ipolis, stopping information from being sent out (information that would have harmed Mozart), and trying to stop the war between the North (the haves) and the South (the have-nots).

The other characters had compelling stories and I loved how many of their stories were wrapped around Mozart's. We have Bella, the psychopathic artist, born after the Shudder who grew up with her survivalist father. She's beautiful, twisted, insane, and completely devoted to her art. There's Les, the boring Canadian diplomat with an obsession for Helen Printo, a self-serving investigative reporter who will stop at nothing to get a story. She's "friendly" with Alex Burton, a cruel, former black-ops solider who is desperate to get the funds together for an upcoming trip into outer space. He's got plans to sell Mozart to the highest bidder. Oh, and we can't forget Katerina, the beautiful Czech woman Mozart has found himself in love with. Did I mention she's a lesbian? Or that she's half in love with Helen Printo, and half in lust with Bella?

And it wasn't just the characters and their stories that I found so compelling, but the ideas that this novel incorporated into the story. Like how do you define your worth in a society where money doesn't exist? Or what is art, how is it defined, and how far should someone be allowed to go to produce? And what about the idea of the truth at all costs? I don't really think we want a transparent society, no matter how much we want the truth. I haven't even touched on the idea of immortality (through living forever and through works of art) or artificial intelligence. Honestly, the idea of AIs scares me. I don't want one thing, one intelligent computer running my life, not ever.

The Amadeus Net was a very thought-provoking novel and I'm looking forward to my rereading of it this summer. There was so much to take in, I'm sure I missed something. And I still haven't made up my mind about the ending; it's kind of left up in the air.

Or is it? ( )