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scheu's review against another edition
2.0
Take all the things you loved about the first two Heechee novels, remove them, and you get the fourth book in the series. Admittedly, I still appreciate the details Pohl includes about the Heechee race, but I'd had enough of Robin Broadhead one book ago. He's not a sufficiently compelling character to warrant such a focus.
infinispace's review against another edition
2.0
I think Gateway is one of the master pieces of scifi. I also enjoyed the next two Heechee novels. But The Annals of the Heechee just seems like a completely pointless book, that doesn't even involve the Heechee. Nothing really happens. Instead Pohl fills 300 pages of Robinette talking about him (but not really physical him, wink wink, over and over again), or eccentric AI, or Robinette endlessly complaining about how slow "meat" people are, all the while me asking why he doesn't just adjust his virtual clock to run slow when he's interacting with "meat" people. The entire book is just tedious. So disappointed because, primarily due to Gateway, Pohl is one of my favorite authors. But this one is a stinker.
frexam's review against another edition
3.0
Throwback and pretty good. I need to find some more of this series as I think some of the earlier volumes were better.
lookingforvheissu's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
diane_matcha's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
fabian2301's review
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
crowfood's review against another edition
1.0
Do yourself a favor and stop after book three. *did not finish*
martyfried's review against another edition
3.0
I read the first books of this series, and they were interesting, although it was starting to get slow at the end. But I wanted to finish the series while I still remembered the characters, so I kept going. Well, I almost regretted that decision.
The book really started to drag, mostly because of the repeated explanations of the difference between time for living people ("meat" people, they called them) and the electronically-stored versions, who interacted in milliseconds rather than seconds or minutes. Not to mention hearing over and over about the protagonist's psychological problems and his worries about everything.
My rating reflects the entire series, and is more of an average than a total rating, because I enjoyed the first parts. But if it were all one book, it might be lower.
The book really started to drag, mostly because of the repeated explanations of the difference between time for living people ("meat" people, they called them) and the electronically-stored versions, who interacted in milliseconds rather than seconds or minutes. Not to mention hearing over and over about the protagonist's psychological problems and his worries about everything.
My rating reflects the entire series, and is more of an average than a total rating, because I enjoyed the first parts. But if it were all one book, it might be lower.