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geeklet 's review for:
The Forever Machine
by Frank Riley, Mark Clifton
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
TL;DR: Uh..maybe like 2.5 stars but I'll round up again.
Book two of my Hugo & Nebula Best Novel challenge down!
Poor Joe Carter has a problem. He's telepathic (because someone's always telepathic in older sci-fi). He's spent his life learning how to appear completely ordinary. However, in college, he falls in with some professors who are working on creating a thinking machine. Named Bossy, this machine becomes the focal point of a battle between different groups. Will Bossy bring destruction to mankind or will it bring about a new age of humanity?
Positives:
Uhhh....well, I'm certain there were some positives. There's a lot of philosophy in this book that would possibly be interesting if it was in a more engaging story. The story never really had a chance breathe on its own because the philosophy just bogged down the narrative. It’s certainly not a bad story, it was just suffocated. As a reader, I just felt like I was being beaten over the head over and over by the same idea. I guess that's not really a positive though. Okay, positives....Joe wasn't nearly as annoying as he could have been. The story had a lot of potential. A big part of the story revolves around how a publicist influences public thinking. I really enjoyed those parts. There was also an interesting part about governments forcing universities to do research.
Negatives:
Whew, there are many. Usual complaints about early SF characters apply here. They're fairly dull and one-dimensional. I won't remember any of their names tomorrow. Crazy things happen to some of the characters and the aftereffects are just never explored. The story is filled with plot holes. No one bothered to tell the authors that you can show things instead of telling them. There are a lot of info dumps in this book. I have a pretty high tolerance for that sort of thing so it's unusual for me to notice them.
It's not a bad book. It's just not a good book. I am sure there were better books published the year that this one came out. I truly doubt that it really deserved to win a Hugo but it's not like a dumpster fire of a book. It's just dull and to me, that's worse than being bad. I'm sure I will toss this paperback on a shelf and completely forget everything about it by this time next ye
Book two of my Hugo & Nebula Best Novel challenge down!
Poor Joe Carter has a problem. He's telepathic (because someone's always telepathic in older sci-fi). He's spent his life learning how to appear completely ordinary. However, in college, he falls in with some professors who are working on creating a thinking machine. Named Bossy, this machine becomes the focal point of a battle between different groups. Will Bossy bring destruction to mankind or will it bring about a new age of humanity?
Positives:
Uhhh....well, I'm certain there were some positives. There's a lot of philosophy in this book that would possibly be interesting if it was in a more engaging story. The story never really had a chance breathe on its own because the philosophy just bogged down the narrative. It’s certainly not a bad story, it was just suffocated. As a reader, I just felt like I was being beaten over the head over and over by the same idea. I guess that's not really a positive though. Okay, positives....Joe wasn't nearly as annoying as he could have been. The story had a lot of potential. A big part of the story revolves around how a publicist influences public thinking. I really enjoyed those parts. There was also an interesting part about governments forcing universities to do research.
Negatives:
Whew, there are many. Usual complaints about early SF characters apply here. They're fairly dull and one-dimensional. I won't remember any of their names tomorrow. Crazy things happen to some of the characters and the aftereffects are just never explored. The story is filled with plot holes. No one bothered to tell the authors that you can show things instead of telling them. There are a lot of info dumps in this book. I have a pretty high tolerance for that sort of thing so it's unusual for me to notice them.
It's not a bad book. It's just not a good book. I am sure there were better books published the year that this one came out. I truly doubt that it really deserved to win a Hugo but it's not like a dumpster fire of a book. It's just dull and to me, that's worse than being bad. I'm sure I will toss this paperback on a shelf and completely forget everything about it by this time next ye