Watch

The second book in Hugo Award-winner Robert J. Sawyer's acclaimed WWW Trilogy that began with Wake

Blind from birth, Caitlin Decter received the gift of sight with the aid of a signal-processing retinal implant. The technology also gave her an unexpected side effect — the ability to "see" the digital data streams of the World Wide Web. And within the Web, she perceived an extraordinary presence.

It calls itself Webmind. This emergent consciousness has befriended Caitlin and is eager to engage with the real world. But Webmind has also come to the attention of WATCH — the secret government agency that monitors the internet for any threat to the United States.

WATCH is convinced that Webmind represents a risk to national security and plans to purge it from cyberspace. But Caitlin believes in Webmind's capacity for compassion — and she will do anything and everything necessary to save her friend ... and herself.

• Winner of the Aurora Award for Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year!
• Winner of the Hal Clement Award for Best Young Adult Book of the Year!
• A Globe and Mail Bestseller!
• A Locus Bestseller!

"In Watch, Sawyer shows his genius in combining cutting-edge scientific theories and technological developments with real human characters. His works are both revelatory and thought-provoking." —The Globe and Mail: Canada's National Newspaper

"This is a complex and fascinating book. Sawyer maintains the same high-level interplay of ideas and action that characterizes all his work." —National Post

"This is science fiction at its best." —Analog

"Watch is a damn fine story. It defies the traditional rule of publishing weaker books as a series progresses. The humorous dialogue, the gleeful pop culture references and the Canadian cultural touch points, expose Sawyer as a writer who loves to have fun with ideas and to eagerly share them with his readers. Watch is set in today's Canada where, yes damn it, cool things can happen." —FFWD, aka Fast Forward Weekly (Calgary)

"This page-turning thriller by the author of FlashForward and the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy is a top-notch choice for sf fans." —Library Journal

"Both thought-provoking and entertaining. Sawyer's take on the nature of artificial intelligence is provocative and believable. Great concepts, great characters, great writing — this book (and this series) has them all in abundance." —The Maine Edge

"Robert Sawyer's artificially intelligent character and its teenage creator wrestle with ethics in this complex and fascinating novel." —The Ottawa Citizen

"There's no middle book syndrome here; Sawyer packs as much thought and development into this volume as he did into the first." —SF Site

• Originally published in hardcover by Ace Science Fiction (US), Penguin (Canada), and Gollancz (UK)
• A Main Selection of The Science Fiction Book Club