CAMELOT:30K [Paperback]

Robert L. Forward (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Tor Books (1993)
• ASIN: B000OTHXEI
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life on the shores of space, September 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Camelot 30K (Mass Market Paperback)

I could not put this book down, even after reading it for the third time. The science is fantastic and drove me back to low temperature physics books several times in order to verify Forward's facts.

I especially liked the implied inefficiency of goverment and the toading approach of mission control to the bottom line. Having worked all too often with and for the government, I well understand the mission crew's ire at the junk they were forced to use.

The civilization on Ice is facinating, at the least. A hive entity with individuality within the members of the hive sufficient to allow independent thought and initiative. Unlike the Bugs in Starship Troopers, these are people, with their own wants and desires and their own abilities.

This is a book that covers it all: Science, personal interactions, government ineptitude and political cowardness, all set against the Kuiper Belt and low temperature physics. A great read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I really enjoyed the book. . ., October 1, 2003

By 

David Zampino "21st Century Hobbit" (Delavan, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Camelot 30K (Mass Market Paperback)

. . .but once again, it is evident that Robert Forward's scientific achievements, which are many, are not matched with great writing skills.

This book hypothesizes an alien race, living on a frozen world on the very edges of the Solar System, in an existence only 30 degrees (Kelvin) above Absolute Zero. The science is extremely well-conceived, the aliens (once one accepts the science) are believable, and the character development in all the humans (and all but one of the aliens) is virtually non-existant. Even the dialogue seems stilted.

But then again, one does not read Forward for character development! In this respect, the true Forward fan will not be disappointed.

The book does get rather "preachy" toward the end -- and I find this a bit annoying -- but overall, the book is a good read, with the caveats previously mentioned.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, February 3, 2004

By 

debeehr "debeehr" (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Camelot 30K (Hardcover)

A truly interesting concept and story arc; some people have criticized it for the fact that there's so little plot, but as an anthropologist I found the cultural study to be quite cool. On the down side, the characters *are* rather two dimensional, as others have noted, and in fact the appendices to the book give the whole plot twist away. I didn't look at them until after I had finished the book, but even so, I kind of had an idea where it was going.

But I still liked Merlene.