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A review by thomasroche
Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward
5.0
This is a surprisingly good novel of hard science fiction. VERY hard science fiction. The author described it as "a textbook on neutron star physics disguised as a novel." That is, indeed, what it feels like sometimes. An important difference, however, is that large parts of the book are taken up in the adventures of the cheela (aliens) marking important accomplishments along the path of the cheela into contact with humans. There are many long chapters dealing with battles between cheela clans, between empires and barbarians, and the like. There's also kind of a lot of cheela sex, which is weird and sort of tongue-in-cheek. "Clever" might be too strong a word for it, but Forward's take on the matter is kinda cute. I believe he was genuinely trying to imagine a world mostly free of human sexual restraints, merely as a sideline or adjunct to the other imaginings in this novel. He didn't do a great job, but he did an okay one.
Where the book excels is in its speculation about alternative "chemistry" systems in a world where electron-based chemistry is not possible. Because the world in question (the surface of a neutron star) exists in 67 billion times the gravity of Earth and about 8,000 or so degrees celsius, the conditions there are almost inconceivably different than ours. Nonetheless, Forward (an accomplished aerospace engineer) managed to concoct an improbable but utterly convincing way that nuclei might interact in a way that approximates chemistry, entirely without atom-bound electrons. It relies on the weak nuclear force, and it is bloody fascinating.
The second-biggest weakness of this book, I think, is that the intensely technical information is so different in tone than the largely "high-fantasy" sounding segments that describe the tribal culture of the cheela during the most critical phase of their development. If you like both particle physics (and/or astrophysics) and high fantasy, maybe you'll love this book as much as I did.
The BIGGEST weakness of this book, I'm sorry to say, is that the human characters are cut out of cardboard. Ultimately, though, I'm not sure they matter. One of the interesting things about this book is that the time scale is so different between civilizations. At the beginning, we meet two Earth scientists, who are long dead by the time the humans get an expedition to the neutron star. Their SON is one of the crewmen on that expedition. See what he did, there? It works well enough, especially since the most interesting stuff in the book concerns either the cheela, or the alternate physics/"chemistry" system, or both. There, Forward does a decent job of making us feel at one with the cheela, even given how different they are than us.
I might find some fault with Forward's portrayal of tribal cultures; it felt sort of essentialist and I think showed the bias of someone raised in a complex society -- i.e., a Western bias. But this is a stunningly ambitious book, so you know what? I'll give him a pass on that one. The cheela are treated, mostly, with respect, and I stand in awe of Forward's ability to translate complicated scientific speculations into meaningful narrative with some thrilling action sequences.
May God, and Bright, bless you, Mr. Forward.
Where the book excels is in its speculation about alternative "chemistry" systems in a world where electron-based chemistry is not possible. Because the world in question (the surface of a neutron star) exists in 67 billion times the gravity of Earth and about 8,000 or so degrees celsius, the conditions there are almost inconceivably different than ours. Nonetheless, Forward (an accomplished aerospace engineer) managed to concoct an improbable but utterly convincing way that nuclei might interact in a way that approximates chemistry, entirely without atom-bound electrons. It relies on the weak nuclear force, and it is bloody fascinating.
The second-biggest weakness of this book, I think, is that the intensely technical information is so different in tone than the largely "high-fantasy" sounding segments that describe the tribal culture of the cheela during the most critical phase of their development. If you like both particle physics (and/or astrophysics) and high fantasy, maybe you'll love this book as much as I did.
The BIGGEST weakness of this book, I'm sorry to say, is that the human characters are cut out of cardboard. Ultimately, though, I'm not sure they matter. One of the interesting things about this book is that the time scale is so different between civilizations. At the beginning, we meet two Earth scientists, who are long dead by the time the humans get an expedition to the neutron star. Their SON is one of the crewmen on that expedition. See what he did, there? It works well enough, especially since the most interesting stuff in the book concerns either the cheela, or the alternate physics/"chemistry" system, or both. There, Forward does a decent job of making us feel at one with the cheela, even given how different they are than us.
I might find some fault with Forward's portrayal of tribal cultures; it felt sort of essentialist and I think showed the bias of someone raised in a complex society -- i.e., a Western bias. But this is a stunningly ambitious book, so you know what? I'll give him a pass on that one. The cheela are treated, mostly, with respect, and I stand in awe of Forward's ability to translate complicated scientific speculations into meaningful narrative with some thrilling action sequences.
May God, and Bright, bless you, Mr. Forward.