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A review by tome15
Eon by Greg Bear
4.0
Bear, Greg. Eon. The Way No. 1. Tor, 1985.
It is the 1985 version of 2005. The Soviet Union is still in power. Russia, China and the United States have well-established space programs capable of sending large numbers of people to visit a large asteroid that suddenly appears in an eccentric Earth orbit. They quickly discover that the rock is hollow and that it is a good deal larger on the inside than it is on the outside. It seems to have come from a timeline in Earth’s future. So begins Greg Bear’s Eon. There are several strongly developed characters and several that are little better than cardboard cutouts. The science is not badly thought out, as if ten-years down the road Bear wants to rewrite Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama so that we discover that we are the aliens. The politics seem to come straight out of a Tom Clancy novel, which should not surprise us since The Hunt for Red October was published just months before Eon. Indeed, there is one Russian military officer that reminds me strongly of Captain Ramius. There are several very good scenes, but the plot could stand some tightening up. On the whole, the book is very much a creature of its time but still an enjoyable read.
It is the 1985 version of 2005. The Soviet Union is still in power. Russia, China and the United States have well-established space programs capable of sending large numbers of people to visit a large asteroid that suddenly appears in an eccentric Earth orbit. They quickly discover that the rock is hollow and that it is a good deal larger on the inside than it is on the outside. It seems to have come from a timeline in Earth’s future. So begins Greg Bear’s Eon. There are several strongly developed characters and several that are little better than cardboard cutouts. The science is not badly thought out, as if ten-years down the road Bear wants to rewrite Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama so that we discover that we are the aliens. The politics seem to come straight out of a Tom Clancy novel, which should not surprise us since The Hunt for Red October was published just months before Eon. Indeed, there is one Russian military officer that reminds me strongly of Captain Ramius. There are several very good scenes, but the plot could stand some tightening up. On the whole, the book is very much a creature of its time but still an enjoyable read.