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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The book started off relatively strong with human-alien first-contacts across the globe introducing contradicting motivations of the alien visitors. But the story quickly loses momentum while juggling a wide cast of characters and attempting to give them depth as the plot fast becomes predictable and methodical. "The Forge of God" basically ends up being a description of what a variety of characters decide to do with their last days on earth. And those descriptions lack much impact due to the odd lack of wider setting. There are a lot of false starts that begin to look into elements that promise to be interesting but that never go anywhere: the bro-mance between two of the male characters, the potential redemption arc with the author character, the "how will society react to the news of aliens?" and never answering this, the red-herring motivations of the aliens that are dropped in favor of a predictable and boring plot… The few times the book begins to look into a subject of interest (like when it began looking at religious fear-mongering in the face of science) the plot is neatly severed by simply killing the characters involved or just never bringing it up again. There were a lot of single plot threads that could have had their own books written but were instead unsatisfactorily brought up and dropped repeatedly.
When I first picked up this book (in audio-book format) I didn't know anything about it but quickly guessed it was written longer than 20 years ago. My first guess was that it was written in the 60s due to the rather dated (almost sexist) way the female characters are depicted. Turns out it was written in the 1980s. Having read science fiction written decades prior but with much more depth, variety, and richness of characters of any gender I can think of no excuse why a novel written in '87 and taking place in the 90s should have women acting like the sheltered housewife trope of the conservative 1950s. With dozens of voiced characters and several women in science roles being alluded to, it was very jarring that not a single action or authoritative role was female and that all female characters with speaking parts were relegated to the "fainting flower housewife" role or side piece picked up for fun.
On top of that, for as in-depth as the concept of the destruction of the world was, there were too many basic concepts that were completely missed, serving to destroy the believably of the story. (As the daughter of a pilot and as a frequent passenger in many types of aircraft I cannot think of a single instance where the steering mechanism of an aircraft is ever referred to as the "wheel"). Of course this isn't helped by the inevitable issues that come up when writing a speculative fiction about what the technology of the next decade will be called and guessing wrong. I could forgive the book this but when some superfluous elements of the book are described to the nth degree (Yosemite) and the actual relevant parts are glossed over (the alien ships, the PLOT) the story just loses focus and thus my attention.
TL;DR - Meandering plot with needless filler, 2-D characters, offensively written women, YOSEMITE, let's start a bunch of interesting things but go nowhere with them.
When I first picked up this book (in audio-book format) I didn't know anything about it but quickly guessed it was written longer than 20 years ago. My first guess was that it was written in the 60s due to the rather dated (almost sexist) way the female characters are depicted. Turns out it was written in the 1980s. Having read science fiction written decades prior but with much more depth, variety, and richness of characters of any gender I can think of no excuse why a novel written in '87 and taking place in the 90s should have women acting like the sheltered housewife trope of the conservative 1950s. With dozens of voiced characters and several women in science roles being alluded to, it was very jarring that not a single action or authoritative role was female and that all female characters with speaking parts were relegated to the "fainting flower housewife" role or side piece picked up for fun.
On top of that, for as in-depth as the concept of the destruction of the world was, there were too many basic concepts that were completely missed, serving to destroy the believably of the story. (As the daughter of a pilot and as a frequent passenger in many types of aircraft I cannot think of a single instance where the steering mechanism of an aircraft is ever referred to as the "wheel"). Of course this isn't helped by the inevitable issues that come up when writing a speculative fiction about what the technology of the next decade will be called and guessing wrong. I could forgive the book this but when some superfluous elements of the book are described to the nth degree (Yosemite) and the actual relevant parts are glossed over (the alien ships, the PLOT) the story just loses focus and thus my attention.
TL;DR - Meandering plot with needless filler, 2-D characters, offensively written women, YOSEMITE, let's start a bunch of interesting things but go nowhere with them.
It is a actually a good story on how human handle something they don't understand.
The Forge of God is - as the Sunday Times said - Epic SF at its mind-extending best. Bear has created a plausible, and technically possible Armageddon and populated it with humanity at its worst and best. Australia gets a mention, which is always interesting to see how international writers represent us. The plot is strung with philosophy and existentialism that gives an unexpected depth to the story and the characters. He is brilliant at showing the planet-wide strategic view and in the next paragraph, meticulously dissects the individual struggle. Add in a dash of politics, a technically advanced alien civilisation, and you have a great scifi tale - epic indeed.
One thing it suffers from - three+ decades after it was written- is its lack of diversity. It's a victim of its own time. Almost all the main characters are white middle-aged men. And though beautifully described and as character progressing as the story allows, it gets really monotonous as each hetero male has his moment in the sun. It leaves the text a little lopsided for my liking. Women are an afterthought and only for bedding or wiving. A single black man makes a regular appearance but that's about it. So it is a great reflection of the consciousness of the average white male, but it does put me off a bit from reading other thirty year old books.
One thing it suffers from - three+ decades after it was written- is its lack of diversity. It's a victim of its own time. Almost all the main characters are white middle-aged men. And though beautifully described and as character progressing as the story allows, it gets really monotonous as each hetero male has his moment in the sun. It leaves the text a little lopsided for my liking. Women are an afterthought and only for bedding or wiving. A single black man makes a regular appearance but that's about it. So it is a great reflection of the consciousness of the average white male, but it does put me off a bit from reading other thirty year old books.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'd been planning to read more by Bear after I read his novel "City at the End of Time" a few years ago, and finally got around to reading "Forge" this year. I'll say that Bear's prose in this novel is workmanlike at best, and a bit clunky in spots. However, he does a good job of setting up an intriguing premise and hooking you early so you really want to find out what's going to happen next.
The story opens when scientists notice that one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, is gone. Next, geographical features show up on Earth suddenly that weren't on any maps or flyover photographs. A network of scientists and politicians soon find out that what appear to be warring alien factions have come to earth, and their intentions may or may not be benign. One thing I really admired about this book was how a strong lifelong friendship between two men, Arthur and Harry, was handled. They're two of the scientists on the Presidents task force, but Harry is terminally ill, and their friendship deepens as the world starts to fall apart. It made me think that Bear probably has some experience of losing a friend, because it felt very real and touching.
Despite the prose being nothing special, I did like this quite a bit and will probably continue to read more of Bear's books.
The story opens when scientists notice that one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, is gone. Next, geographical features show up on Earth suddenly that weren't on any maps or flyover photographs. A network of scientists and politicians soon find out that what appear to be warring alien factions have come to earth, and their intentions may or may not be benign. One thing I really admired about this book was how a strong lifelong friendship between two men, Arthur and Harry, was handled. They're two of the scientists on the Presidents task force, but Harry is terminally ill, and their friendship deepens as the world starts to fall apart. It made me think that Bear probably has some experience of losing a friend, because it felt very real and touching.
Despite the prose being nothing special, I did like this quite a bit and will probably continue to read more of Bear's books.
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a prequel to a book I have not read. Not sure how well it sets up the next story, but I do have interest in finding out. Slow to get going, but once it did, I found it hard to put down.
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Slow burn but once it kicks off, phew. God damn I gotta stop reading existential sci-fi, this shits got me crying at work :((
The only reason The Forge of God isn’t a 5, is because admittedly I did struggle a little bit at first! It’s definitely a bit of a slow start and the age shows too; it feels very retro sci-fi: Dense, slow, dialogue heavy, with a lot of characters. Futility, hopelessness, and struggle for meaning under overwhelming adversity are constantly beaten into the reader. There’s quite a few twists as things start to pick up, and boy does the ending just punch you in the gut.
I believe I stumbled upon this book while wiki-holing and reading up on the Fermi Paradox (specifically the dark forest hypothesis/beserker hypothesis). I gotta say, top 5 books I’ve found via Wikipedia lol
I need a break from sci-fi!
The only reason The Forge of God isn’t a 5, is because admittedly I did struggle a little bit at first! It’s definitely a bit of a slow start and the age shows too; it feels very retro sci-fi: Dense, slow, dialogue heavy, with a lot of characters. Futility, hopelessness, and struggle for meaning under overwhelming adversity are constantly beaten into the reader. There’s quite a few twists as things start to pick up, and boy does the ending just punch you in the gut.
I believe I stumbled upon this book while wiki-holing and reading up on the Fermi Paradox (specifically the dark forest hypothesis/beserker hypothesis). I gotta say, top 5 books I’ve found via Wikipedia lol
I need a break from sci-fi!
slow-paced