Customer Reviews

Colony

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was desparate for something to read, and this was the best looking thing that I could find lying around at the time, so I really didn't expect much. However, this book pleasantly surprised me, it was very well written with a lot of interesting characters and events.

I was surprised about a hundred pages into the book when I read something that didn't fit very well historically, to find out that this book is actually about twenty-five years old. I should have realized it sooner because the dates in the story are very close to the present, but I just didn't notice that until I checked the copyright date. Despite the abundance of picture phones, I thought the author did a really good job of writing a future world that doesn't seem to far fetched even after all this time. I was somewhat disappointed in the ending, not that it was bad, but just a little abrupt and anticlimactic. There was also a plot point that I thought was silly and unnecessary, it took one of the best parts of the book, a part that really made you see the protaganist's growth and just made it look like a really poor job of parenting by his gaurdian.

I wasn't expecting much from this book when I picked it up, but I will be looking to read more of Bova in the future.

I loved this book. The characters and story are great, but what really made me like this book is the incredible background and locales Ben Bova creates. The intricacies of world government and corporate power are ultimately the main focus of this book. He unfolds things with good timing. The locales we see are awesome. A huge paradise inside a cylinder in outer space to a decrepit New York run by gangs and avoided by the military, dangerous streets of the middle east, a South American jungle. It was a fun journey, and I'm glad I decided to pick this book up.

The story is a little out of date now (it was originally written in 1978), but it is still good.

The beginning of the book is a little slow. Probably the first 100 pages or so. Bova takes quite a bit of time introducing the characters and the environment. But, once through that, it move along.

It not an exciting book, rather an interesting book.

The main character, David, is very interesting. His life and how he perceives his future and destiny.

Worth reading.

COLONY was written in 1978, hence it is a bit dated. Many of the predictions are close to accurate but generally miss the mark just enough to bother.

The narrative also jumps from character to character a little too much, thus sacraficing continuity.

Good story. It takes a little while to get going. The first 100 pages were slow, but there are quite a few characters thet need to be developed. The first part of the book is actually three seperate stories. They come together later on as the plot unfolds. It's definitely not a "page turner", but it keeps you interested.

Bova is a great author. I enjoy his work. He pays attention to detail and accuracy. The plots are always original and well thought out. This book in particular was very good. Even though it's an older book, it still reads very well.

Definitely worth reading.

The premise of the story could have been a good one. Unfortunately, I found I really didn't care what happened to the individuals. Lack of depth of characters and a dry storyline resulted in a book I really did not care if I finished.

Another science fiction book that confirms my theory that Minnesota is the safest place to be in the event of a global revolution/apocalypse!

Colony is the story of David Adams, a test-tube baby engineered and raised in Island One, the first (and so far, only) residential space station. The situation back on earth is nearing disaster, with population at 7.28 billion, there just aren't enough resources to go around, and a lot of them are in the hands of the huge international corporations. The World Government tries to help, but unfortunately also takes the brunt of the blame for the struggles of the populace. Various revolutionary groups threaten and David tries to fix things. This is a rough summary, and if this was the entire plot, the book would be a lot better. Unfortunately, it also contains several irritating subplots which might serve to deepen the characterization of supporting roles, but mostly just distract and seem unnecessary. Also, David spends a lot of time first trying to get to earth, and then trying to get from one part of it to another, which is also extensively described without adding much to the plot. I think it's an attempt at suspense-building, but it's not as effective as one would hope. The book is just about 75 pages too long, otherwise it's a fantastic future history.

I really think that my mild distaste for it comes more from having been reading it during the most recent (2010) election cycle and marveling at the similarities of what people are currently asking from the government and what the book describes. This is fantastic for a writer to be so forward-thinking as to be so predictive, but it is also upsetting because I think we might not be far off from the calamities that befall the fictional United States described within the text.

from the back cover of the July 1978 Pocket paperback edition

Hurtling across a vast and rousing canvas, from Baghdad to what remains of New York City...from Messina, the capital of the Earth, to the moon, to Island One, the magnificent colony in space...Ben Bova's extraordinary new novel is a brilliant epic of sheer storytelling power that leaves its readers stunned and shaken.

Colony is the story of once-proud cities of the Earth made humble by greed and revenge, of Stone Age cultures and advanced civilizations in space, of a cast of full-blooded, unforgettable characters from the remote corners of the globe and beyond...and of David Adams, the first genetically perfect "test tube" human being, whose very human nature is the final hope of a world in infinite danger!

First off, this book was written in 1978 and is set 30 years in the future from that date, which is right around the corner. So many of the technological advances that science fictions writers try to predict or possibly more often, hope will come true, miss the mark in the time of the setting. The fantastic space station, that may have seemed so plausable in 30 years is hard to conceive of to exist in even 100 years from now, considering the expense of such things and the consistent statement of the populace uninterested in space: "we should spend the money here on earth." Although there are some elements of interest that come close to todays technology, such as instant access to information that's vaguely similar to the internet. Probably the one thing that dates the book is its tackling an issue that was considered quite important at the time: overpopulation, which has virtually dropped off the face of the earth as a political topic. Both political parties agree that overpopulation is an issue, so ironically if there is no party to disagree to ones belief, then there's no recrimination that can be thrown about, so the topic ceases to exist as a political topic. Even more ironic, is that back in 1978, the author is creating this dismal futuristic world choked by overpopulation, and yet as the date of the setting approaches, the population of the world is really not that far off from this worse case scenario he envisions. Which makes one wonder of this non-discussed issue even more, and upon such things as how the planet is able to support such a populace today, and agricultural efficiency and genetically modified foods that feed greater numbers of people from the same plot of land. I have read that some groups do not wish to bring up overpopulation as an issue as it may be dictating to less developed countries, where the growth of population is greatest, to curb their population growth. Several years ago, National Geographic highlighted what will be the most populated cities of the world by 2050 and one city stuck out: Lagos. Now I know a bit of geography, but I had to go to the map to locate this city. This book also takes a hard look at race relations in the US, so much so that it's hard to believe that it would be printed today, in fact it's hard to believe it was printed back in 1978. Another tough social issue the author brings up is cloning and who or what does `the clone' belong to, which are ethical issues of today.

The world is basically separated into three main groups, the World Government (successor to the UN), multinational corporations really run by an oligarchy of five men, and a revolutionary movement. The books deals with the twists and turns and collusions between these three groups. This is an epic novel with several storylines that come together and a good sense of suspense that makes you want to continue reading to discover what happens. 3-1/2 stars.

I bought this book not realizing it was published in 1978 or so. The blurb makes it sound like it will primarily be about this superhuman David, but in fact it is about a whole host of characters, and David's interesting qualities are not that interesting and do not come up that much.

The book is premised on a Malthusian vision in which, by 2028, the earth is grossly overpopulated, a permanent underclass has little hope of ever advancing, and giant corporations control everything despite a somewhat powerless one-world government.

Every woman in the book is either raped or in a minimally consensual sexual relationship; very few women seem to have legitimate professions that don't require them to cozy up to men. About the best most of the women seem able to hope for is that the men they're required to submit to sexually actually like them more than they let on. Woo-hoo. The consensual sex in the book is the kind of stuff that would be interesting to a 14-year-old boy and not much of anyone else (e.g., after minimal foreplay, "he buried himself in her and exploded" - gosh, I am sure she enjoyed that a lot). Race relations in the U.S. have not advanced much past the 70's.

Aside from the above factors, the plot is serviceable and it's not a bad airplane or beach read. But almost any decently well-written (as this is) sci-fi book from the past 10 years or so would be better than this, or at least not as almost-comically outdated.