Customer Reviews

Bright Messengers: A New Novel Set in the Rama Universe (Bantam Spectra Book)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If I had not read the Rama series, I would have been tempted to give this book 5 stars, although I probably would have resisted that temptation. The characters are well-written and fairly deep, and the plot is complicated yet coherent enough. What kept bothering me, though were the frequent parallels to the Rama books - parallel characters, parallel themes, and even parallel scenes. I could never decide if these parallels were stylistic and simply reflected the fact that Mr. Lee co-wrote the last three Rama books, if he was intentionally creating these parallels, or if he was just not original enough to really create a different story from the Rama story. If you have not read this book or the Rama series, I would advise you to read this one first, to avoid the overshadowing effect. Also, maybe I was dense at the time (or always), but I didn't realize that I was reading Part 1 of a sequel until almost the end, when I realized that nothing could get resolved in the fifty or so pages I had left. I hope the sequel answers my questions.

Up until page 212, this seems like an acceptable science fiction story. Tantalizing hints, solid science, and interesting characters. I admit, some of them are two dimensional, but at least they are interesting, and their firm viewpoint is well portrayed.

After that we have inexplicable aliens giving our main characters increasingly pointless tours, while removing carefully all the other characters from the situation, for no explicable reason. We have situations described as 'zero gravity' with: Walking, shuffling, floors, cielings, climbing (Even tiredness while climbing), a RIVER, a BOAT in the river, SEATS in the boat, Earthlike scenes with trees, and squirels, while our carefuly segregated main characters sitting and eating a picnic . . .. All still in a zero G setting, with no explanations, adaptation, nothing.

From the before mentioned page 212 on, this book continues downhill, into a train wreck. If you are serious about your Sci-fi, and care about motivations, I would reccomend skipping this one, and looking to Niven, or Clarke, or Heinlein, or, above all, Spider Robinson.

Just like watching a train wreck, I couldn't help but to finish reading this book. I read and enjoyed the RAMA books--more so earlier in the series before Gentry Lee really added TOO MUCH to the stories. By the end of this book I was really tired of "Sister Bea". She should have been named Sister Perfect. The characters were shallow despite the mountains of dialogue that was spewed. I found the book easy to read but I found little to no connection with the characters as they were 2D. Sister Beatrice was extremely annoying. When I completed reading this book, I was happy. No more Sister Bea.

Take all the best parts of this book and you end up with a c-grade short story, at best. Character development is 2-stars, sci-fi development is 1-star. Saddest of all, given the fact that Gentry Lee was so intimately involved in the Rama series, he absolutely dropped the ball. This was, without reservation, one of the worst books I have ever encountered.

Gentry Lee's effort sans Clarke shows him to be an engineer, but not a craftsman, of the novel. While his assessment of 22nd century conditions on Earth and Mars is plausible, his characters lack depth and tend toward the 2-dimensional. Johann is undisguised in his representation of the secular analytic, and Beatrice is transparent in her role as mystic. While all good science fiction consists of mysticism and empiricism, the best sci-fi characterizations remain all-too-human mixes of both. Moreover, the plot meanders, leaving many loose threads--one might suppose this to be the invitation to a sequel. Unfortunately, the Bright Messengers sequel threatens to bog down in ungainly descriptions of alien "snowmen" and aquatic children whose presence is never explained. Aficionados of Donaldson, LeGuin, Simmons, or Herbert can leave this novel alone.

The story was interesting enough for me to read it about a day, but I started losing interest when they ended up on the island. The end is strange to say the least. I have been looking all over for the sequel "Double Full Moon Night" that was supposed to be out in 1996, then in the spring of 1998. I will have forgotten what the first book was about by the time the sequel comes out.

What did I think of the book??? I say WHY BOTHER?!?! Like many others who have commented here over the last 18 months, I feel I was "hoodwinked" by Mr. Lee. It appears he wrote half of a book and managed to peddle it to the unsuspecting public. I've learned to never buy one of Lee's books without checking the last page to see whether or not it is "to be continued". In this case Mr. Lee is already 2 years late on his promise. Yawn...I'm tired of waiting.

Like everyone else, I picked up this book because I enjoyed the Rama series and wanted to see what Gentry Lee could do on his own. On the whole, I was a bit disappointed. I did enjoy the characters; they seemed like interesting people. I was very disappointed, however, that we never saw what happened to Vivien et al after our protagonists split from the larger group. The plot also left a bit to be desired. Instead of flowing smoothly like the Rama series, it seemed highly constructed. Similarly, quite a bit of the dialogue sounded too much like characters in a book and too little like real people for my tastes.

In sum, it was an okay read, but I'm not sure I would recommend it to someone who wasn't already involved with the Rama universe.

This story is a faithful attempt to follow the RAMA universe as best as possible. However, being that this is Lee's first clean break from the successful RAMA collaboration with Clark, one can immediately see the change in writing style. I believe it was Gentry Lee himself who said "What it takes me 5 words to say, Arthur (C. Clark) can say in 3". This book is an excellent example of that very statement. He is very descriptive, and at times, to a fault. I often found myself wishing that this "Amusement Ride" would end soon, and that a point was somewhere near.

The science fiction within Bright Messengers leans much more to the overwhelming than to the awe-inspiring nature of the RAMA series. It is borderline unexplainable fantasy, rather than an attempt to remain within the "Known Universe of Understanding" that Clark is noted for. It is almost akin to sci-fi/fantasy style of Heinlin.

As for the ending... I won't give it away, except to say that I believe that the story is far from over, and that I would like an opportunity to see how it develops in the next book.

The theory of religion coexsisting with science is an incredible topic that I've only ever seen 2 other times....in Rama Revealed, and Carl Sagan's Contact. The intense emotional feeling has left tears in my eyes. I love the Rama books, because it forces one to step back and take a look at the true human nature..I only wish the the people who need to read it would. I'm also eagerly awaiting the next book...which now won't be available until March 1999...hopefully I'll remember about it then :)