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Title: Beyond Infinity by Gregory Benford ISBN: 0-446-53059-X Publisher: Aspect Pub. Date: 18 March, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.71 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Challenging Task
Comment: There is always a problem with stories set so far in the future that they have little or no connection to anything or anyone living today. _Beyond Infinity_ is takes place more than a billion years in Earths future, where so many races and have risen and died that nobody is close to even knowing the names of all of them even though the current race, the Supras" live more many centuries.
The scale of time is such that the sun has gone around the galaxy four times, and the continents are no longer recognizable.
Enter Cley, the heroine. She is an "Original" or one of the "Ur-Humans" which is close to our kind. Close as is desirable, since Supras in resurrecting our species added to the basic gene type telepathic abilities and the ability to live several centuries. It is so hard to latch on to her motivations that the author had to resort to more-extensive-than-necessary explorations of her sexual development. Her first affair is with a Supra, who dies in an attack that nearly kills Cley as well. It does kill off her entire tribe and she is the only one left.
The rest of the story is about the journey Cley has in the battle against the thing that attacked. In this she is saved, then abetted, then led by a raccoon-type creature that turns out to be another higher intelligence. Through all this she is understandably but frustratingly passive, doing little other than surviving while events unfold around her. Through it all she has obscure and occasionally enlightening conversations with Supras and her raccoon friend, centered around Benford's well-founded ideas of astrophysics, biology, and sociology.
Only if you are interested in these topics will you get anything out of this book. I give it four stars because I think Benford rises to much of the challenges of his topic, even though the resulting story will confuse the average reader and leave them unsatisfied.
Favorite line: "Cley could not help but smile. 'I think I prefer my lust in smaller doses.'".
Rating: 1
Summary: Beyond Belief
Comment: I would like to know what the writer of this novel has done with the real Gregory Benford. I honestly can't credit that this book was written by the author of the Galactic Center series.
This exercise was at best reminiscent of an early Andre Norton - heroine plus furry companion wanders through a jungle and some mild, uninvolving perils.
I started skip reading - about 1 paragraph in 4 - at 70 or so pages into the book. I know I didn't miss anything in character or plot development and it let me get to the denouement (such as it was) a lot faster.
Amazon insist on a minimum one star rating. This novel was so poor that even that rating is one star too many. Bad book - stay away.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good, but flawed
Comment: My main complaint with this book is the complete lack of character description. We get told that Seeker is like a racoon, so I think of a racoon. Only 150 pages later, the author casually mentions 6 legs. o_0 I want to know what these people/creatures/species look like, beyond some generalties.
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Title: Time's Eye (A Time Odyssey, Book 1) by ARTHUR C. CLARKE, STEPHEN BAXTER ISBN: 0345452488 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 13 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Pandora's Star by PETER F. HAMILTON ISBN: 0345461622 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 02 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Omega by Jack McDevitt ISBN: 0441010466 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Coalescent by STEPHEN BAXTER ISBN: 0345457854 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 02 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Ilium by Dan Simmons ISBN: 0380978938 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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