On the beautiful ocean world of New Ascention, a human colony struggles for its very existence, for their new home planet harbors a dark secret-a fatal pathogen that affects all life-forms. As human ranks are decimated by this native virus and civil unrest threatens to erupt into full-scale war, can the special abilities of a deep-space pilot provide the colony with what it needs to survive this complicated and potentially deadly situation?
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Science Fiction,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Burning Heart of Night (Paperback)
Ivan Cat's new novel "The Burning Heart of Night" is a masterful exercise in world-building, combining a delightful story, interesting characters, and an exciting plot that kept me page-turning late into the night. While I agree with some other reviewers who pointed out that the conclusion is maybe a little too pat and idealized, this did not detract from the overall fun I had with the book.This is one of those science fiction works that keeps you thinking about it after the last page is read. What would happen if human "seeding" of colonies, at sub light speeds, became a high priority? Would the pace of human innovation be drastically slowed when it takes decades or centuries to transfer information between colonies? And what would happen if some humans (pilots) spent most of their lives in "fugue" time, spanning thousands of "real" years? What would they be like, and what would happen if they suddenly found themselves having to interact with "normal" people? And what would happen on a planet like "New Ascension" where unforeseen planet biology forces tough choices on the colonists? How would human society evolve? And how would the colony leaders react? Only towards the end of the novel do we begin to understand why the New Ascension colonists behave the way they do. I found myself pondering all these questions and more after finishing the book. However, I do not want to leave the impression that this novel is simply an intellectual exercise. There is action and excitement apace. The hero falls in and out of dire straights more often than Indiana Jones. There were a few times when I thought he was toast, and it was only by noting that several hundred pages were left in the book that I could foresee his escape ... and escape he does, in unexpected yet logical ways! The novel is not flawless. I noted a few lapses of science and logic that slightly mar the overall ambience. Also the dialog is a little clunky in a few places, awkwardness that is not completely explained to me by the circumstances and setting. But these are minor cavils by an anal-retentive perfectionist (me) and detract little from the book. The fact that I read the entire 591 page story in three days (and I am not a particularly fast reader) will attest to that point. In summary, I would unreservedly recommend this book to science fiction fans, and to anyone else who likes exciting, well plotted books with interesting stories that also provide food for thought.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
exciting futuristic other world tale,
This review is from: The Burning Heart of Night (Paperback)
Interstellar Captain Lindal Karr transports humans from Sheldon's World to Evermore when a stowaway claiming to be Lindal's guardian angel Bob begins killing the passengers while they sleep in a fugue state. Lindal who is immune to fugue sleep is helpless to stop Bob who perseveres in a normal state that enables him to live with an incredibly faster metabolism that also makes him seem invisible to Lindal. Bob forces the Long Reach to crash into the ocean of the remote planet of New Ascension.The colonists on New Ascension struggle with a deadly local microbe. They barely survive a little longer by draining the immunity serum of the native sentient population the Khafra, an action that kills the Khafra. Civil war is imminent with Jenette Tesla, daughter of the human leader, desperately trying to find peace and stop the genocide. Lindal with fugue might be the miracle if the colonists let him live long enough to help, but who to trust among the planetary colonists, the victimized Khafra, or the mysterious angel Bob? THE BURNING HEART OF NIGHT contains an interesting look at the cost of survival that humans will pay for a few extra years of life. Though Angel Bob is cloaked in mystique, the identity of the being is obvious early on. Lindal understands being different while Jenette represents the good in mankind with her willingness to do what she believes is the right thing. Albeit solutions to extremely complex interspecies issues are overly simplified, science fiction readers will relish this exciting futuristic other world tale. Harriet Klausner
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As creative as any writer in the SF field,
By
This review is from: The Burning Heart of Night (Paperback)
Ivan Cat's "The Burning Heart of Night" is a creative mind's play area. The concepts he puts forth are simultaneously very cool and rich with mindbending consequences as the story progresses. This book has the most unique solution to the problem of relativitic travel ever imagined. It has a Living Starship (a seedship) and a Valiant Pilot (Lindal Karr), existing in a unique symbiotic relationship. It has aliens that you'll love and aliens that may disgust you. It has a young (of age, sorta) lady (Jenette Tesla) that you'll dream of and fall in love with. It has a plague that threatens to wipeout the human colony that's barely scrapping out a living on New Ascension. It has joys and sorrows, and moral dilemnas that keep all the 'relationships' vibrant and you reading. It has prose that's second to none. This book is a visionaries own Cinema in words. Though, the story may drag at about the two-thirds point, HOLD ON, getting to the end is mandatory. You'll be shocked and surprised and delighted. The story is a technologically based adventure SF comparable to Niven's Ringworld. Also recommended: Ringworld by Larry Niven The Eyes of Light and Darkness by Ivan Cat
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