Scan barcode
novabird's review against another edition
3.0
“Across the Sea of Suns,” is a brilliant book written by an astrophysicist, and creator of the first computer virus, Gregory Benford. I have no idea why this has been overlooked by the hard sci-fi community. Perhaps it is because it is a blend of hard sci-fi with postmodern stylistics? Superb plotting, exacting descriptive detail on shifting physical phenomena, imaginative and realistic world building and superior exo-biological species development, good human characterization and dialogue.
Book Summary - (Some general spoilers but no-giveaways of discoveries or conclusion - hidden within spoiler tag)
Back on Earth, global trade commerce is blocked by alien life forms the aggressive ones called Swarmers and the more intelligent ones are called Skimmers. Both are dropped into the oceans to reproduce and the Swarmers attack and sink all sea-going vessels. Meanwhile a lone man, Warren, a machinist by trade, after surviving a Swarmer attack on his ship, becomes lost at sea with no hope of rescue. He gradually attunes to his surroundings, and in turn begins being able to communicate with the Skimmers.
Returning to Isis, the encounter with the aliens, called EM’s, doesn’t go well at all, despite efforts from the crew to communicate with them. Before they leave the planet, Nigel as a mathematician is able to interpret some of the earlier transmissions from the EM’s and discovers the historical account of the species up until that date and figures out the reason for their broadcast.
The Lancer crew governed by consensus gets a directive from Earth to progress onward to the star system Ross 128, where they will hopefully find a watery world that can help them determine the origin of the threat by the Swarmers.
They spend the duration of their next long space voyage cataloging/analyzing the systems and planets that they pass along the way.
Walmsley theorizes a connection between the strange satellite orbiting Isis and the EM’s. Almost all the other crew members disagree with his concept and say that the satellite-like object in orbit is simply an old relic or leftover piece of technology.
At the next system, Ross 128, a moon like Ganymede they find another strange orbiting rock around it. Once on this moon, which has a surface of ten kilometres of frozen ice, Walmsley comes into a cumulative direct personality conflict with the overseer of Lancer (Ted). Walmsley escapes to the moon in a submersible, where they have been able to penetrate underneath. Avoiding crew-members the Lancer sends out in pursuit, he discovers an origin link to the EMs from before the Watcher came.
During this voyage of discovery, news comes in from Earth (delayed nine years by the speed of light) that the Swarmers have begun to evolve at an incredible rate and can now walk on land. Countries each suspect each other, of bio-terrorism and they war against the alien invaders.
The link between the Watchers and the bio-threat on earth is established.
The crew responds aggressively to this news.
However much I like Benford’s writing style for the most part, I am not too crazy about how he portrays relations between women and men. In 1984 when this was written, if Benford had been a little more acculturated to the present day social trends, mores and memes, I think he would have been more cautious in his depiction of women for it is still slightly sexist. Benford tries to give his women power but does not succeed in empowering them; they end up playing the minority card role. Someone however must have told him at one point that ‘sex sells.’ In this case it added nothing to the book, despite it being a threesome. 4.25
Book Summary - (Some general spoilers but no-giveaways of discoveries or conclusion - hidden within spoiler tag)
Spoiler
The year is 2056. Some fifty years ago have passed since astronaut Nigel Walmsley made his historic discovery – a long abandoned alien spacecraft buried beneath the crust of the asteroid Icarus – and so changed the face of the universe forever. And it has been thirty years since a lunar observatory picked up a radio broadcast from a nearby star and found it to be in English (hmm?) Armed with the knowledge imparted by the alien’s spacecraft’s computers, humanity has spent fifteen years building Lancer, the world’s first true interstellar starship. Aboard her are hundreds of scientists, men and women who have given up their lives on earth to gain the secrets of the universe. Among them, respected and disliked is the same Nigel Walmsley, whose direct contact with the alien computers has altered his perceptions, making him essential to the success of Lancer’s mission and separating him forever from the rest of humanity. The scientists have been traveling together for twelve years. They track the radio signals back to star system of Ra, planet Isis where there is a curious and ancient in orbit. In 2061, Lancer arrives and discovers a primitive biological species of nomads broadcasting en-masse with organs adapted to emit and receive electromagnetic radiationBack on Earth, global trade commerce is blocked by alien life forms the aggressive ones called Swarmers and the more intelligent ones are called Skimmers. Both are dropped into the oceans to reproduce and the Swarmers attack and sink all sea-going vessels. Meanwhile a lone man, Warren, a machinist by trade, after surviving a Swarmer attack on his ship, becomes lost at sea with no hope of rescue. He gradually attunes to his surroundings, and in turn begins being able to communicate with the Skimmers.
Returning to Isis, the encounter with the aliens, called EM’s, doesn’t go well at all, despite efforts from the crew to communicate with them. Before they leave the planet, Nigel as a mathematician is able to interpret some of the earlier transmissions from the EM’s and discovers the historical account of the species up until that date and figures out the reason for their broadcast.
The Lancer crew governed by consensus gets a directive from Earth to progress onward to the star system Ross 128, where they will hopefully find a watery world that can help them determine the origin of the threat by the Swarmers.
They spend the duration of their next long space voyage cataloging/analyzing the systems and planets that they pass along the way.
Walmsley theorizes a connection between the strange satellite orbiting Isis and the EM’s. Almost all the other crew members disagree with his concept and say that the satellite-like object in orbit is simply an old relic or leftover piece of technology.
At the next system, Ross 128, a moon like Ganymede they find another strange orbiting rock around it. Once on this moon, which has a surface of ten kilometres of frozen ice, Walmsley comes into a cumulative direct personality conflict with the overseer of Lancer (Ted). Walmsley escapes to the moon in a submersible, where they have been able to penetrate underneath. Avoiding crew-members the Lancer sends out in pursuit, he discovers an origin link to the EMs from before the Watcher came.
During this voyage of discovery, news comes in from Earth (delayed nine years by the speed of light) that the Swarmers have begun to evolve at an incredible rate and can now walk on land. Countries each suspect each other, of bio-terrorism and they war against the alien invaders.
The link between the Watchers and the bio-threat on earth is established.
The crew responds aggressively to this news.
However much I like Benford’s writing style for the most part, I am not too crazy about how he portrays relations between women and men. In 1984 when this was written, if Benford had been a little more acculturated to the present day social trends, mores and memes, I think he would have been more cautious in his depiction of women for it is still slightly sexist. Benford tries to give his women power but does not succeed in empowering them; they end up playing the minority card role. Someone however must have told him at one point that ‘sex sells.’ In this case it added nothing to the book, despite it being a threesome. 4.25
jpinney2's review against another edition
3.0
Benford’s writing style can be difficult to read at times, and I found myself simply skimming over the dense layered blocks of “ship speak.” The “character development” seems to be wholly irrelevant to the story and honestly, every character kind of sucks - I don’t think a single one of them is likable. The time spent waxing on the workings of three way relationships - pointless, droll, added in to create some “drama” in an already compelling story - was a failed attempt to add depth to the characters.
Nevertheless, the story is incredibly intriguing, the science is kick ass and Benford has an incredibly compelling take on what other forms of life could be out there. A prime example of sturgeons law, where 90% of it is crap, but it was still worth the read for the remaining 10%, if you are able to wade through the faux complex posturing on the nature of Nigel’s relationships.
Nevertheless, the story is incredibly intriguing, the science is kick ass and Benford has an incredibly compelling take on what other forms of life could be out there. A prime example of sturgeons law, where 90% of it is crap, but it was still worth the read for the remaining 10%, if you are able to wade through the faux complex posturing on the nature of Nigel’s relationships.
tuftymctavish's review against another edition
3.0
Some of this is a tough read, especially the collective conversation pieces aboard Lancer. It also feels a bit disjointed with kinda parallel threads, and an oddly runway ending that, frankly, lost me for a bit in the run-up to the final scene which seemed to end far, far too quickly. Just as it got interesting again after a confusing sequence it's turn, turn, turn, and over, without detail or build-up.
tome15's review against another edition
5.0
Benford, Gregory. Across the Sea of Suns. 1984. Galactic Center No. 2. Aspect, 2004.
In Across the Sea of Suns, the second novel of the Gregory Benford’s Galactic Center series, we have a two-ring circus, a near-lightspeed interstellar exploration mission and an alien invasion in Earth’s oceans. The space mission provides Benford’s answer to Fermi’s paradox that the universe should be teaming with intelligent life, yet alien civilizations are hard to find. It turns out that the oldest civilizations are machines that stomp on emerging space-faring cultures as soon as they detect radio signals. Meanwhile Earth’s oceans have been seeded with genetically modified creatures designed to destroy the biome. Under pressure human governments go to war with one another. The oceanic theater gives Benford the opportunity to tell a very tense castaway survival story. This is hard science fiction that rivals the work of Arthur C. Clarke and arguably has better character development.
In Across the Sea of Suns, the second novel of the Gregory Benford’s Galactic Center series, we have a two-ring circus, a near-lightspeed interstellar exploration mission and an alien invasion in Earth’s oceans. The space mission provides Benford’s answer to Fermi’s paradox that the universe should be teaming with intelligent life, yet alien civilizations are hard to find. It turns out that the oldest civilizations are machines that stomp on emerging space-faring cultures as soon as they detect radio signals. Meanwhile Earth’s oceans have been seeded with genetically modified creatures designed to destroy the biome. Under pressure human governments go to war with one another. The oceanic theater gives Benford the opportunity to tell a very tense castaway survival story. This is hard science fiction that rivals the work of Arthur C. Clarke and arguably has better character development.
sjstuart's review against another edition
4.0
I started this book without realizing it was a sequel to [b:In the Ocean of Night|453960|In the Ocean of Night (Galactic Center, #1)|Gregory Benford|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174917601s/453960.jpg|2226612] (which seems to be a pretty common problem; the edition I read didn't try very hard to label it as the second in a series). I'm sure I didn't fully understand all of the references to off-stage characters from the previous book, and it took me a while to assemble the back story of how the main character, Nigel, had discovered an alien artifact and had his mind altered as a result. There was certainly no lengthy exposition about preceding events. But in general I like books that toss me into the middle of things and challenge me to keep up, so I didn't feel like I was missing much.
Not too many of the characters in this book are likable, including the introspective, grumpy old man protagonist, and it's a fairly slow-paced story, focusing more on shipboard politics and interstellar voyages than on the sporadic action scenes. But it kept my interest, nonetheless. There many interesting speculations about different forms of life, from organic to mechanical and a few hybrid stages in between, and the science is very sound (as always for a [a:Gregory Benford|22645|Gregory Benford|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1224059011p2/22645.jpg] novel).
Part of what kept me intrigued and entertained was the clear literary aspirations of the novel, with an experimental prose style and multiple themes and levels of metaphor. These make it stand out from a more run-of-the-mill space adventure.
Ship or suit radio communications comprise a significant portion of the book; these are written in a very fragmented and informal style, with little punctuation or indication of who is speaking, but plenty of jargon, slang, regional accents and verbal filler like umm, yeah, right. Apparently sometime in the next century, astronauts lose their formal "This is Houston. Over." radio habits and revert to talking over each other on a party line. This takes some effort to read, but is great at setting a mood, and illustrating the loss of information over radio compared to one-on-one dialogue with visual contact.
There are a number of themes and parallels running through the book. I suspect these may strike some as heavy-handed, since subtle metaphors typically sail right over my head. But for the most part they are left for the reader to discover, rather than being explicitly pointed out, and they definitely contributed to my enjoyment of the book. The most thought-provoking example for me was the theme of overzealous response of self-repairing systems, with parallels between Nigel's overactive immune system leading to his increasingly fragile health, and the machine culture's response to living systems. Other examples include the theme of how difficult it is to communicate: between species, between generations, between individuals with different motivations and backgrounds; the theme (or maybe just sound scientific observation) of how it's always more clever to use leverage than brute force to effect a large change, regardless of whether you're trying to wipe out a planet, or steer a group conversation towards your point of view; and parallels between the long voyages, land-based conflicts with hostile forces, and existential difficulties faced experienced by the solitary castaways on both Earth's ocean and the interstellar "sea of suns".
Not too many of the characters in this book are likable, including the introspective, grumpy old man protagonist, and it's a fairly slow-paced story, focusing more on shipboard politics and interstellar voyages than on the sporadic action scenes. But it kept my interest, nonetheless. There many interesting speculations about different forms of life, from organic to mechanical and a few hybrid stages in between, and the science is very sound (as always for a [a:Gregory Benford|22645|Gregory Benford|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1224059011p2/22645.jpg] novel).
Part of what kept me intrigued and entertained was the clear literary aspirations of the novel, with an experimental prose style and multiple themes and levels of metaphor. These make it stand out from a more run-of-the-mill space adventure.
Ship or suit radio communications comprise a significant portion of the book; these are written in a very fragmented and informal style, with little punctuation or indication of who is speaking, but plenty of jargon, slang, regional accents and verbal filler like umm, yeah, right. Apparently sometime in the next century, astronauts lose their formal "This is Houston. Over." radio habits and revert to talking over each other on a party line. This takes some effort to read, but is great at setting a mood, and illustrating the loss of information over radio compared to one-on-one dialogue with visual contact.
There are a number of themes and parallels running through the book. I suspect these may strike some as heavy-handed, since subtle metaphors typically sail right over my head. But for the most part they are left for the reader to discover, rather than being explicitly pointed out, and they definitely contributed to my enjoyment of the book. The most thought-provoking example for me was the theme of overzealous response of self-repairing systems, with parallels between Nigel's overactive immune system leading to his increasingly fragile health, and the machine culture's response to living systems. Other examples include the theme of how difficult it is to communicate: between species, between generations, between individuals with different motivations and backgrounds; the theme (or maybe just sound scientific observation) of how it's always more clever to use leverage than brute force to effect a large change, regardless of whether you're trying to wipe out a planet, or steer a group conversation towards your point of view; and parallels between the long voyages, land-based conflicts with hostile forces, and existential difficulties faced experienced by the solitary castaways on both Earth's ocean and the interstellar "sea of suns".
tdeshler's review against another edition
3.0
The trouble with a long book series like this is that each book seems to reveal only a part of the story. The identity and motivation of the various alien species remains deeply mysterious, which will become increasingly tedious unless resolved soon.
More...