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kreppen's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
mikimeiko's review against another edition
1.0
Una palla mortale, le uniche idee interessanti si trovano nell'ultimo capitolo -.-
thesmudge's review
4.0
Well that was refreshing. This is a old book written in 1969 and weighing in at a whopping 232 pages (paperback). The length is what was refreshing. It had been awhile since I read a science fiction book that was not at least 2 or 3 times that size. Just enough world building and dialog to keep it interesting but the right size to get the story across.
This is a book set hundreds of years in the future in which the species of the galaxy have been studying the remains of a ancient (billions of years old) civilization who left stuff scattered around. The story is about one such expedition who find and follow something never found before. Good stuff it was I thought.
This is a book set hundreds of years in the future in which the species of the galaxy have been studying the remains of a ancient (billions of years old) civilization who left stuff scattered around. The story is about one such expedition who find and follow something never found before. Good stuff it was I thought.
justaguy's review against another edition
2.0
Umm
I don’t know what to make out of this at all. The story was too plain and not much enjoyable out of it. In my own opinion, this should turn into something more of series than one book. This adventure was too fast from A to Z in a blink of eye. Again, this is just my own opinion.
I don’t know what to make out of this at all. The story was too plain and not much enjoyable out of it. In my own opinion, this should turn into something more of series than one book. This adventure was too fast from A to Z in a blink of eye. Again, this is just my own opinion.
tronella's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this more, but the main character is too annoying. Also, this is the second sci-fi book with telepathy I've read in the last few months... I'm not into it!
thesmudge's review against another edition
4.0
Well that was refreshing. This is a old book written in 1969 and weighing in at a whopping 232 pages (paperback). The length is what was refreshing. It had been awhile since I read a science fiction book that was not at least 2 or 3 times that size. Just enough world building and dialog to keep it interesting but the right size to get the story across.
This is a book set hundreds of years in the future in which the species of the galaxy have been studying the remains of a ancient (billions of years old) civilization who left stuff scattered around. The story is about one such expedition who find and follow something never found before. Good stuff it was I thought.
This is a book set hundreds of years in the future in which the species of the galaxy have been studying the remains of a ancient (billions of years old) civilization who left stuff scattered around. The story is about one such expedition who find and follow something never found before. Good stuff it was I thought.
clanhay's review
2.0
I like old science fiction and all their futuristic ideas that now seem so dated an illogical. So none of that has anything to do with why I disliked this book so much. It probably deserves 1 star, but I actually finished it so it at least kept me that interested. (1.5 stars)
1. The writing style ‘letters to my sister’ was awkward and often creepy. Lots of talk about his sexual attractions and potential love life.
2. The protagonist was sexist, racist, extremely self centered and just downright unlikable. At one point he casually watches an attempted rape without intervening, later explaining that a woman can only be raped if she wants it to happen.
3. As a crew of professional scientists in their prospective fields, they all seem incompetent and unprofessional in their jobs.
4. The alien robot is baffled to observe that the star of his home planet has disappeared which could not be possible. Approximately one chapter later he is describing the weapons at his disposal and explains that one of them is capable of destroying a star from 3 light years away. Huh? I thought that wasn’t possible.
5. The explanation of what became of the Great Ones is adequate to conclude the story but it is pretty unsatisfying and uninteresting.
1. The writing style ‘letters to my sister’ was awkward and often creepy. Lots of talk about his sexual attractions and potential love life.
2. The protagonist was sexist, racist, extremely self centered and just downright unlikable. At one point he casually watches an attempted rape without intervening, later explaining that a woman can only be raped if she wants it to happen.
3. As a crew of professional scientists in their prospective fields, they all seem incompetent and unprofessional in their jobs.
4. The alien robot is baffled to observe that the star of his home planet has disappeared which could not be possible. Approximately one chapter later he is describing the weapons at his disposal and explains that one of them is capable of destroying a star from 3 light years away. Huh? I thought that wasn’t possible.
5. The explanation of what became of the Great Ones is adequate to conclude the story but it is pretty unsatisfying and uninteresting.
novice052's review
2.0
An ancient alien species built a Dyson Sphere and invented self-replicating robots and telepathy headbands...and they’re all in suspended animation and will never be revived or reproduce so I guess we can just take their stuff? Silverberg was born in 1935 and it really shows in this one.
psteve's review against another edition
3.0
Humans have found the remains of High Ones, in sites nearly a billion years old in our region of the galaxy. In this book a small group is digging on one planet. One of their members is writing 'message cubes' to be delivered to his telepathic sister, back on earth (long distance communication is enabled by telepathic twins). This tells the story of their findings, which lead to some dramatic revelations at the end. The ending of the book was superb.
Before reading it, I didn't check the date the book was written, so it was kind of a game to figure it out as I read. Silverberg makes up a lot of slang in the book, and frankly none of it is very compelling, it seems to be a way to make his book seem late 60's hip, but it doesn't work because none of the slang is anchored to any other language, it is just weird words. It doesn't really bother you while reading the book, but it does stand out. That's not a criticism of the book necessarily, it makes it more of an artifact of the time it was written.
Before reading it, I didn't check the date the book was written, so it was kind of a game to figure it out as I read. Silverberg makes up a lot of slang in the book, and frankly none of it is very compelling, it seems to be a way to make his book seem late 60's hip, but it doesn't work because none of the slang is anchored to any other language, it is just weird words. It doesn't really bother you while reading the book, but it does stand out. That's not a criticism of the book necessarily, it makes it more of an artifact of the time it was written.