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bundy23's review against another edition
2.0
Interesting idea but ultimately I found it dumb, misogynist and annoying.
tpietila's review against another edition
1.0
A well-known book which I put on my reading list as it was mentioned in a positive way is the book edited by Jo Walton, An Informal History of the Hugos.
The premise of the book is fascinating: there is a strange artifact on the moon, which apparently is more than three-dimensional. It is hard to see and understand and going inside will kill you - at least if you don’t follow the exact protocol which can only be discovered by trial and error. And making an error always means death. Fortunately, a device for instantaneous travel can be used for making copies of people. For some strange and convenient reason, the memories of the dead copies are retained by the new body. Unfortunately, the act of dying makes everyone go crazy and even catatonic. The researchers find a daredevil who apparently has a death wish, and he commonly does stunts which might very well kill him at any time. It turns out that he is able to survive death. (Finding this man, before any real plot starts, takes about half of the book). The premise sounds very interesting, but the actual science fiction story takes about six pages of the book. Everything else is spent while very irritating characters discuss with each other, flirt and compete for attention. And all that in a very, very dated way. For example, according to a female character, one man is very strange as he treats women as humans. And apparently that isn’t all good. The book was a chore to read, so dull that I have rarely seen anything like that and it was really, really dated. One of the worst books I have read in a year or so.
The premise of the book is fascinating: there is a strange artifact on the moon, which apparently is more than three-dimensional. It is hard to see and understand and going inside will kill you - at least if you don’t follow the exact protocol which can only be discovered by trial and error. And making an error always means death. Fortunately, a device for instantaneous travel can be used for making copies of people. For some strange and convenient reason, the memories of the dead copies are retained by the new body. Unfortunately, the act of dying makes everyone go crazy and even catatonic. The researchers find a daredevil who apparently has a death wish, and he commonly does stunts which might very well kill him at any time. It turns out that he is able to survive death. (Finding this man, before any real plot starts, takes about half of the book). The premise sounds very interesting, but the actual science fiction story takes about six pages of the book. Everything else is spent while very irritating characters discuss with each other, flirt and compete for attention. And all that in a very, very dated way. For example, according to a female character, one man is very strange as he treats women as humans. And apparently that isn’t all good. The book was a chore to read, so dull that I have rarely seen anything like that and it was really, really dated. One of the worst books I have read in a year or so.
daynpitseleh's review against another edition
3.0
I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
So, this is a bit of 'classic' science fiction, and you have to go in with that in mind. It's an interesting piece of work that raises some important questions about humanity, but at the same time, the portrayals of women are really quite terrible. Overall, it was alright.
So, this is a bit of 'classic' science fiction, and you have to go in with that in mind. It's an interesting piece of work that raises some important questions about humanity, but at the same time, the portrayals of women are really quite terrible. Overall, it was alright.
tronella's review against another edition
2.0
How can you take such a cool concept and make it so boring and lol men? D:
thomcat's review against another edition
2.0
Being about an early exploration of the moon makes it sci-fi, but the central portion of this book is primarily a character study. The two main characters are men driven to succeed; a third character identifies them (and himself) this way but is soon cast aside. Two female characters are paper thin, the second existing primarily so one of the main characters can talk about his feelings - something that wouldn't be done with other men apparently.
I found the tech interesting and the morality discussion intriguing; I couldn't develop a solid interest in the psychological back and forth. Reads primarily like a screenplay, and the right actor would make these passionate lines indeed - the actor in my head would have been dismissed during the audition.
I found the tech interesting and the morality discussion intriguing; I couldn't develop a solid interest in the psychological back and forth. Reads primarily like a screenplay, and the right actor would make these passionate lines indeed - the actor in my head would have been dismissed during the audition.
baldingape's review against another edition
3.0
I think this would make a good film with the same animation effects as 'a scanner darkly,' but that might be because I imagined this all as a cartoon type of thing in my mind.... not sure why. Like I imagined Barkers eyes and hawks eyes making sounds as they blinked when they looked at one another... again, I don't know why.
bloodravenlib's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book back in 2003. By the way, the paperback cover I have is different from the one pictured here in GR, even though it is the same edition from what I gather. Still, a good book. Here is what I wrote back then:
>>The paperback edition is less than 200 pages (184 or so). The story is fairly simple: there is a mysterious artifact on the moon that kills anyone who approaches it. Technology enables on adventurer to go in, get killed, then get revived and go in again, and again, learning a bit more each time. The book is well paced. The hero is very masculine (read here "macho," not too PC for those who fuss over that), but it makes a good read. The ending is both intriguing and packs a good punch when we find out the real price of the transmission technology that enables the exploration. Anyhow who reads science fiction should read this.<<
>>The paperback edition is less than 200 pages (184 or so). The story is fairly simple: there is a mysterious artifact on the moon that kills anyone who approaches it. Technology enables on adventurer to go in, get killed, then get revived and go in again, and again, learning a bit more each time. The book is well paced. The hero is very masculine (read here "macho," not too PC for those who fuss over that), but it makes a good read. The ending is both intriguing and packs a good punch when we find out the real price of the transmission technology that enables the exploration. Anyhow who reads science fiction should read this.<<
alkyzi's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This story seemed like it was going to be a horror story about a mysterious thing on the moon. But honestly, I found this to be a surprise character piece, which I have no opposition to. I think I empathise with Hawks far too much, talkative, thinks he’s super important and tries to remain stoic and intelligent. Barker is fascinating and their growing dynamic and satisfying ending was pretty much what I needed from this book.
I kinda wish it had a twist ending or like an OMG moment where the Thing reveals something, or maybe I don’t because the vagueness of the end of the thing is more a mystery. Who knows
I kinda wish it had a twist ending or like an OMG moment where the Thing reveals something, or maybe I don’t because the vagueness of the end of the thing is more a mystery. Who knows
frakalot's review
dark
lighthearted
reflective
slow-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? Yes
3.0
An alien object has been discovered on the moon and it's acting like a death maze. Each time the artefact is approached the person can get a little further than the previous attempt before being killed. The head researcher, Hawks, teams up with the human resources guy to hire a psychopath, Barker. The plan is to clone Barker by some method that leaves him telepathically connected to his clones and to send the clones into the artefact one after another.
None of the characters are sympathetic to readers; Hawks is happy to repeatedly kill his subjects, the HR guy keeps a list of psychopaths on call for odd jobs, Barker is, well, a fkn psycho and his girlfriend is just trying to bang everyone.
A lot of the narrative has little to do with the actual psychological experiments and I found most of the story was rather boring as a result. It's an excellent premise but the story focused on adding background for Barker and Hawks more than on exploring the current dynamic of their interaction.
First published in 1960 this book calls ahead to the free loving hippy movement with Barker giving us his views on why he lets his girlfriend run around and a fair chunk of word real estate being taken up by the girlfriend flirting with Hawks.
There was also a passionate paragraph or three about why women are as intelligent as men which was probably necessary for the books contemporary audience.
Overall I thought this was a great idea but a boring book.
None of the characters are sympathetic to readers; Hawks is happy to repeatedly kill his subjects, the HR guy keeps a list of psychopaths on call for odd jobs, Barker is, well, a fkn psycho and his girlfriend is just trying to bang everyone.
A lot of the narrative has little to do with the actual psychological experiments and I found most of the story was rather boring as a result. It's an excellent premise but the story focused on adding background for Barker and Hawks more than on exploring the current dynamic of their interaction.
First published in 1960 this book calls ahead to the free loving hippy movement with Barker giving us his views on why he lets his girlfriend run around and a fair chunk of word real estate being taken up by the girlfriend flirting with Hawks.
There was also a passionate paragraph or three about why women are as intelligent as men which was probably necessary for the books contemporary audience.
Overall I thought this was a great idea but a boring book.
the_dave_harmon's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.5
read the novella, not the full novel (thankfully)
long parts of the story that dont have any relevance. characters who arent important to the story that take up a lot of pages and dont make sense. poor writing also.
long parts of the story that dont have any relevance. characters who arent important to the story that take up a lot of pages and dont make sense. poor writing also.