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pescarox's review
3.0
Yes, a little derivative. But still pretty satisfying. Carried much more emotional resonance than I expected.
lizshayne's review
3.0
Greg Bear is on my list of hard SF writers who I will pick up without reservation. His books are thoughtful, interesting and tend towards the somewhat philosophical. This book is no different and, while I enjoyed reading once I finally got past the rather twisty beginning, it was not my favorite work of his. What he did, as a writer, was stylistically interesting, but the actually story grounding the book just didn't have enough of a hold on me for me to truly love it.
zetasyanthis's review
4.0
That was a hell of a thing. I don't quite know what to think, but it was good.
cisko's review
4.0
Quality book in typical Bear style - humans trying to understand an alien environment, complicated consciousnesses working towards unknown purposes, and hidden forces working at cross purposes. Similar in many ways to _Anvil of Stars_, which is probably a better book, but this has better moments of terror and WTFness. Not a classic but definitely worth your time.
sniperpumpkin's review
3.0
While I enjoy SF, this particular novel didn't work well for me. Bear is obviously an acomplished author and there were no techinal issues; the prose is smooth and clear. I was turned off by the surrealist nature of this novel. The format of the text is odd, it reads almost like a stream of consciousness. He uses this to explore the nature of self, and memory, additionaly, he explores some of the morality with genearation ships and stelar colonization. An interesting and relatively breif read, recomended provisionaly.
terminatee's review
3.0
One of those books that is not that easy for me to understand. And it was hard to keep up with all the different creatures the author invented for the story. But it was interesting and I liked it.
nakedsteve's review
2.0
Greg Bear keeps getting mentioned on "excited to read" lists from all over the science fiction universe, and I keep giving him a chance to impress me. He never has.
"Hull Zero Three" is the story of a generation-ship going haywire. But it's told from the perspective of one of the confused individuals on board, and the narrative thus echos that confusion. Mostly, what we have is a set of adventurers going through a sequence of odd battles, with a "what has gone wrong?" mystery buried underneath.
It feels very much like the old TSR space RPG called "Metamorphosis Alpha", from way back in the late 70s...
I never felt like I cared about any of these characters; many of them were non-human to begin with, so any kind of sympathy was hard to feel. And any kind of plot that evolves by moving from place to place with little reason leaves me frustrated.
I was not impressed.
2 of 5 stars.
"Hull Zero Three" is the story of a generation-ship going haywire. But it's told from the perspective of one of the confused individuals on board, and the narrative thus echos that confusion. Mostly, what we have is a set of adventurers going through a sequence of odd battles, with a "what has gone wrong?" mystery buried underneath.
It feels very much like the old TSR space RPG called "Metamorphosis Alpha", from way back in the late 70s...
I never felt like I cared about any of these characters; many of them were non-human to begin with, so any kind of sympathy was hard to feel. And any kind of plot that evolves by moving from place to place with little reason leaves me frustrated.
I was not impressed.
2 of 5 stars.
absolut_todd's review
3.0
Some hardish survival horror SF here. Dude wakes up naked with no memory and told to 'run' by a little girl before he freezes to death, then throw in a monster. And a few chases, and a few more scares and then a bit of SF, and big spaceships, which turn out to be colony ships and so on. Im kinda not sure where this is supposed to sit, theres a bit of horror in it and bit of Hard SF, but it doesn't mix well. There is just something about it which makes it not quite work well even tho there is a lot of good ideas. By the time i hit the reveal, i figured it did deliver, but it just wasn't as satisfying as i hoped.
stuartgale's review
2.0
Imagine being Andy Dufresne having to crawl through the sewage pipe: that's this book. There's a point where you think it might get good, but that fades quickly.
Painfully bad scifi.
Painfully bad scifi.
jamespatrickjoyce's review
4.0
Wow. One of those "out there" type of stories. A blank-slate character in a confused, crazy, deadly world.
So, the protagonist awakes from what appears to be a cryo-sleep chamber. Apparently a crew member of an expedition sent from Earth, to allow humanity to reach the stars. Maybe. But his memory is choppy, uncertain... confused. He's saved by a little girl, who isn't forthcoming with any further details. He's on a spaceship, but not where he "should" be; not with whom he should be.
Nothing is as it should be. Something is wrong. People are dying or dead. Monsters roam the halls of the spaceship. Impossible monsters. And the first task is to run. Run from the monsters, run from the cold as the ship freezes, run for the heat that always seems to be moving away, farther along the ship.
All he knows, all he's told, is that he is "Teacher". A teacher who knows nothing. Or, at least, who only learns to doubt what he does know. And to fear everything.
A meditation on the existential crisis? Who are we? Who am I? What is my purpose? Where are we? Why this, that, and everything else?
I quite enjoyed this. The puzzle, the answers, the answers that only lead to deeper questions... and a final resolution that is satisfying and right.
This is science fiction, set in the future, but as relevant and meaningful as a contemporary war story. Bravo, Mr. Bear!
So, the protagonist awakes from what appears to be a cryo-sleep chamber. Apparently a crew member of an expedition sent from Earth, to allow humanity to reach the stars. Maybe. But his memory is choppy, uncertain... confused. He's saved by a little girl, who isn't forthcoming with any further details. He's on a spaceship, but not where he "should" be; not with whom he should be.
Nothing is as it should be. Something is wrong. People are dying or dead. Monsters roam the halls of the spaceship. Impossible monsters. And the first task is to run. Run from the monsters, run from the cold as the ship freezes, run for the heat that always seems to be moving away, farther along the ship.
All he knows, all he's told, is that he is "Teacher". A teacher who knows nothing. Or, at least, who only learns to doubt what he does know. And to fear everything.
A meditation on the existential crisis? Who are we? Who am I? What is my purpose? Where are we? Why this, that, and everything else?
I quite enjoyed this. The puzzle, the answers, the answers that only lead to deeper questions... and a final resolution that is satisfying and right.
This is science fiction, set in the future, but as relevant and meaningful as a contemporary war story. Bravo, Mr. Bear!