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klambson's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book a lot, maybe even more than the first two in the trilogy. It was the first to introduce real, present conflict, which was fun. I wasn't a fan of how blame for stalls in technological development was put squarely on religion, but the plot as a whole was intriguing.
pjonsson's review against another edition
4.0
This book is quite a different story from the previous two. The original focus on mystery and research is more or less gone and replaced by a more traditional adventure/thriller story. During the first half of the book I actually started to despair and thought the series where taking a real nosedive. This part dives straight into an all too classic story about political manipulation and deceit. The UN where brought in as the chief villain used by the bad guys to stall any meaningful progress and decisions. Yes, that’s what UN mostly is today but that doesn’t mean that I want to read about it, it’s just depressing.
Luckily the book was still as well written as the previous ones and as from a little before the half way mark it took off and became a lot more interesting as the bad guys plots where slowly unraveled by the humans (of course). Once the Ganymedes and the Humans starts to foils the Javalense plans it becomes really good.
The book continues the unraveling of the story of the human development (or as is the case in much of this book non-development) but not at all to the extent that is done in the previous books. The book certainly has some interesting explanations, although entirely fictional, to all the religious nonsense that is still plaguing our planet.
The end was indeed a surprising one. I can still not make up my mind if it was brilliant or just another cheap time travel trick. It sure as hell makes for a nice time paradox.
Anyway, this is definitely a book in the good to very good range.
Luckily the book was still as well written as the previous ones and as from a little before the half way mark it took off and became a lot more interesting as the bad guys plots where slowly unraveled by the humans (of course). Once the Ganymedes and the Humans starts to foils the Javalense plans it becomes really good.
The book continues the unraveling of the story of the human development (or as is the case in much of this book non-development) but not at all to the extent that is done in the previous books. The book certainly has some interesting explanations, although entirely fictional, to all the religious nonsense that is still plaguing our planet.
The end was indeed a surprising one. I can still not make up my mind if it was brilliant or just another cheap time travel trick. It sure as hell makes for a nice time paradox.
Anyway, this is definitely a book in the good to very good range.
wholcomb's review against another edition
4.0
I think this is my favorite of the three. Without putting in a spoiler, I like how Hogan brought in a lot of ideas about how the social structure of the human race developed.
bobmanasco's review against another edition
3.0
A satisfying end to the trilogy, although not as well-written and well-thought-out as the first two books in the series. I, personally, have problems with time travel and paradox (where did the Jevlenese ORIGINALLY come from, if they are their own decendents?), but that's a pretty forgivable sin. I do not believe I'll be reading the fourth and fifth books, though. But I do highly recommend the original trilogy.
readerette's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I didn't find this book as engaging as the first two in the series. It went too far into the weeds of political intrigue for my taste as opposed to the greater sci-fi focus of the first two, and Victor Hunt's star seems to have inexplicably dimmed compared to Danchekker. Women characters played a more prominent role in this story than in the first two, and not just as secretaries or love interests, so that boosted the overall rating for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia and Sexism
andyg's review
4.0
This book has many flaws, so I can't give it 5 stars, yet it is so in my wheelhouse that I can't give it less than 4. Without spoiling it too badly, I can say that it involves nonviolent solutions to violent problems, incomprehensibly different aliens, engineers solving fun signal processing problems, intelligent women written from a man's perspective, AI and a futuristic Soviet Union. I mean really, I was going to like this book.
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