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silvae's review against another edition
1.0
[TW: alluded incest, mentions of rape, inappropriate sexual acts in front of a minor, paedophilia, sexism, medical descriptions]
What the fuck, Frederik Pohl. I thought your weird forays into writing a "queer" character (that was only actually "queer" due to childhood trauma) was just you being goofy, but the continuous hypersexualized descriptions of a 14(!!!) year old girl by her 40 year old brother-in-law and another overly sexualized teenager of undisclosed age made this book incredibly difficult to read. I enjoyed the parallel Broadhead storylines in Gateway and was very sad to see them swapped out for multiple perspectives in this book. There was not one character I liked, and the slow unraveling of the mystery of the Heechees also fell very flat. I genuinely enjoyed the horror of the unknown Gateway brought with it - sitting on edge every time someone entered a Heechee ship, unsure of whether they would return, and whether this would be alive or dead. Pohl obviously aimed to make a whole series out of it, though sadly lost the charm of the first book while doing so. I'm just angry I wasted so much time reading about men who wanted to do sexual things to a minor and unravelling a mystery that didn't need to be solved. Also why did one character have to be a Nazi son? What point was THAT supposed to make? And why do people never prepare for something they call the 130 day fever? Why would you risk billions of dollars of damages every 130 days instead of just... shutting down the world for a bit? I don't get it.
What the fuck, Frederik Pohl. I thought your weird forays into writing a "queer" character (that was only actually "queer" due to childhood trauma) was just you being goofy, but the continuous hypersexualized descriptions of a 14(!!!) year old girl by her 40 year old brother-in-law and another overly sexualized teenager of undisclosed age made this book incredibly difficult to read. I enjoyed the parallel Broadhead storylines in Gateway and was very sad to see them swapped out for multiple perspectives in this book. There was not one character I liked, and the slow unraveling of the mystery of the Heechees also fell very flat. I genuinely enjoyed the horror of the unknown Gateway brought with it - sitting on edge every time someone entered a Heechee ship, unsure of whether they would return, and whether this would be alive or dead. Pohl obviously aimed to make a whole series out of it, though sadly lost the charm of the first book while doing so. I'm just angry I wasted so much time reading about men who wanted to do sexual things to a minor and unravelling a mystery that didn't need to be solved. Also why did one character have to be a Nazi son? What point was THAT supposed to make? And why do people never prepare for something they call the 130 day fever? Why would you risk billions of dollars of damages every 130 days instead of just... shutting down the world for a bit? I don't get it.
travelgirlut's review against another edition
2.0
I'll give it this, there were no annoying sessions with the shrink in this one. I hate the way Essie talks. She's supposed to be amazingly intelligent, yet she can't manage to speak English properly? I wanted something really cool to be revealed in this book about the Heechee, but in the end it felt like a bunch of lectures about science. I was only mildly entertained, and I have no inclination to read the next book in the series.
laplaine's review against another edition
5.0
A great follow up to Gateway, I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the series. A great mix of space science and good storytelling.
katmarhan's review against another edition
3.0
7/10
This is a book of contrasts. There are the very human stories of the Herter-Hall expedition, of Wan, and even of Robin and Essie, which are engaging, frightening, frustrating, funny, and sad. These stories are set against a backdrop of alien technology and actions and serious theories and questions about physics, astrophysics, and astronomy. It is those theories and questions that require some pretty hefty infodumps, mostly handled by the Albert Einstein computer program/personality. While they are central to the overall story, they also pull the reader out of the flow of the characters’ lives, notwithstanding Pohl’s efforts to make Albert a unique character and relieve a little of the tedium of the infodumps. And then there’s the tantalizing final chapter—our first from the Heechee POV!
This is a book of contrasts. There are the very human stories of the Herter-Hall expedition, of Wan, and even of Robin and Essie, which are engaging, frightening, frustrating, funny, and sad. These stories are set against a backdrop of alien technology and actions and serious theories and questions about physics, astrophysics, and astronomy. It is those theories and questions that require some pretty hefty infodumps, mostly handled by the Albert Einstein computer program/personality. While they are central to the overall story, they also pull the reader out of the flow of the characters’ lives, notwithstanding Pohl’s efforts to make Albert a unique character and relieve a little of the tedium of the infodumps. And then there’s the tantalizing final chapter—our first from the Heechee POV!
madly_reading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Best to read the first volume, but OK if you don’t
cesarbustios's review against another edition
4.0
Ha sido casi tan bueno como Pórtico, los últimos capítulos del libro se vuelven emocionantes y terminé dándole un 4.
Robin, ahora millonario por los eventos ocurridos en el primer libro, financia una expedición a una nave Heechee que funciona como una Factoría Alimentaria. En este segundo libro se dan a conocer nuevas cosas sobre los Heechees y también sobre los motivos por los que Robin inició la expedición en primera instancia. Es, sin duda, un gran libro. Pohl es un maestro de la ciencia ficción.
Esta imagen parece ser el interior de una nave Heechee con ese azul tan característico.
Imagen creada por Vidom
Robin, ahora millonario por los eventos ocurridos en el primer libro, financia una expedición a una nave Heechee que funciona como una Factoría Alimentaria. En este segundo libro se dan a conocer nuevas cosas sobre los Heechees y también sobre los motivos por los que Robin inició la expedición en primera instancia. Es, sin duda, un gran libro. Pohl es un maestro de la ciencia ficción.
Esta imagen parece ser el interior de una nave Heechee con ese azul tan característico.
Imagen creada por Vidom
scottaf's review
3.0
Ultimately this isn't a great book. It's a good book, with plenty of interesting ideas that are presented well. The writing is good, but it lacks the creativity and depth of the first book, just as Fall of Hyperion lacked the subtlety and creativity of Hyperion. Nevertheless, it was still enjoyable, and has done its job of moving the series forward by answering many questions from the first book, while presenting enough new ones to make the reader excited to pick up the next volume. It is, though, definitely only for the more hardcore science fiction fans out there.
For more (non-spoiler) head here.
and if you want all my thoughts on the book, including spoilers go here
For more (non-spoiler) head here.
and if you want all my thoughts on the book, including spoilers go here
djwudi's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Much like _Gateway_, the prior book in the series, there's a lot of really neat hard SF worldbuilding. Unfortunately, there's also a lot of uncomfortable-by-today's-standards focus on whether the 14-year-old girl is going to jump in bed with her brother-in-law or the raised-by-horny-computers orphan. _Gateway_ had a little bit of this sort of thing — the main character at one point in that book is in a relationship with a woman who is described as said-she-was-18, looked 16, but even that was questionable — but here it's a fairly major thread for the first half of this book. Thankfully, it more or less fades away in the latter half, but it was rather painfully obvious that Pohl (who was in his early 60s when he wrote this book) was absolutely part of the "old white men indulging their puerile fantasies" crowd of mid-century SF. In the end, the interesting SF parts kept me invested and I'm proceeding to the next book in the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
criis's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0