Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Long winded and drawn out. This book was way longer than it needed to be and it was disappointing that there many answers after putting in that time.
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A first contact story. The moon Europa has vanished, a mountain appears, so do two robots who claim to be peaceful. This is a story of humankind being totally unprepared for alien contact as they are millennia ahead of us in terms of technology. Lots of characters help round out multiple possibilities for an invasion and safety in the form of other machines. This one is bleak but enjoyable. The fast pacing helps every character feel like they might matter in the grand scale of the world ending.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Greg Bear brings his epic-scale, sense-of-wonder brand of hard SF to the max in The Forge of God; the first of his books that I have read.
The most recent book I've read that is most appropriate for comparison is Footfall by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle (the former being thanked in the book's acknowledgements). Not only is it also "blockbuster SF" but The Forge of God has a bit of the recursive element of Footfall by featuring a character(s) who are science fiction writers and are drafted in to explain or shed some light on what is going on. In the case of The Forge of God, it's a mystery involving the disappearance of a Jovian moon from the night sky and the discovery of strange, seemingly alien objects buried in the ground at various locations around the globe.
As the world reacts and experts race to uncover what is truly happening, Earth is on a countdown to destruction. Despite clocking in at nearly 500 pages, this is a propulsive read; only slowed down in my case by being read over an otherwise very busy festive season.
This book is the first part of a diptych, and some questions are left open presumably until the next book.
The most recent book I've read that is most appropriate for comparison is Footfall by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle (the former being thanked in the book's acknowledgements). Not only is it also "blockbuster SF" but The Forge of God has a bit of the recursive element of Footfall by featuring a character(s) who are science fiction writers and are drafted in to explain or shed some light on what is going on. In the case of The Forge of God, it's a mystery involving the disappearance of a Jovian moon from the night sky and the discovery of strange, seemingly alien objects buried in the ground at various locations around the globe.
As the world reacts and experts race to uncover what is truly happening, Earth is on a countdown to destruction. Despite clocking in at nearly 500 pages, this is a propulsive read; only slowed down in my case by being read over an otherwise very busy festive season.
This book is the first part of a diptych, and some questions are left open presumably until the next book.
adventurous
fast-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
Coming at this series after reading Great Sky River, enjoyed this rapidly between Christmas and New Years except for the authors treatment of women. This is research for an upcoming game, and the von neumann stuff is certainly going in.
I’m not sure what this book was trying to say - ultimately humans can’t really do anything and we just need to be saved by other aliens?
Pretty enjoyable read though.
Pretty enjoyable read though.
Note to Hollywood: this would make a great movie
Sci-Fi at its finest. Great science, great characters, great questions to consider.
Sci-Fi at its finest. Great science, great characters, great questions to consider.
It's a decent apocalypse novel. Not much character development, but the story drives the novel.
This has a fantastic ending, both well written and well plotted. That's uncommon for any novel, but especially for a sci-fi one. I cried and then was too freaked out to sleep after ending it.
But, man, does he make you work to get to that ending.
But, man, does he make you work to get to that ending.