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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Impressively prescient,
This review is from: The Cool War (Mass Market Paperback)
The Cool War compliments another book by Frederik Pohl, The Merchant's War, and both depect versions of the future with weak governments helpless to contain forces of exploitation. This one anticipates how future wars will be undertaken through attacks that cannot be traced back to their source. The lack of accountability prevents retailation on any tit-for-tat basis, but soon enough everyone adopts that method and is undermining the stability and economy of every other power.Although none of the events depicted in The Cool War have happened yet, author Frederik Pohl nicely anticipates our excalation of terrorism, and he gives a wry fantasy about what the Mideast may do with all their money when the oil starts to run out. In the years since The Cool War was written, it has shown prescience, and it is valuable as a cautionary tale.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Frederik Pohl is Past His Peak Here, 1-1/2 stars,
By Antinomian (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Cool War (Mass Market Paperback)
I would have one time considered myself a major Frederik Pohl fan, his novel Gateway stands as my personal favorite book and the writing techniques he used there seemed revolutionary at the time I read it. For all his high quality works through the 70's including 1976's Man Plus that climaxes with the release of 1977's Gateway, which swept the science fiction award field with both the Nebula and the Hugo, the quality of works after that quickly tapered off. Even Gateway's sequel, Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, which was a 1980 Nebula and 1981 Hugo finalist is really subpar and was riding on the coattails of Gateway by this time. So by the early 80's with the release of Starburst and The Cool War, there wasn't much joy in reading these. Even the book cover for The Cool War, a military tank with flowers and peace symbols painted on it was asynchronistic in being at least 15 years out of date by that time. Oh, the ideas are there and quite powerful. The Cool War is about environmental warfare between countries, attempted pollution of water reservoirs etc, with the title representing something between a hot war and a cool war. This concept is even more meaningful today that it was then. And this concept has been used elsewhere, Neal Stephenson has some of it in his novel The Diamond Age with neighboring countries battling `coolly' or subtly via clouds of nanobots overhead. The concept is so powerful that it seems that Pohl could have written almost anything and it would have been good, but instead this is just a disappointment. Frederik Pohl though is definitely worth reading. Instead of this novel, I would defer one to his 1970's works.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Light and refreshing, but low on substance,
By Dave Deubler (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Cool War (Mass Market Paperback)
Unitarian minister Reverend Hornswell "Horny" Hake is forced to join a secret government cadre of dirty tricksters called "the Team" in this wry, futuristic spoof of a spy novel. Hapless Hake's total incompetence becomes apparent almost immediately when he is abducted by the mysterious Leota, who works for an underground organization dedicated to fighting the Team. This doesn't stop Hake from carrying out his first assignment: escorting an unruly bunch of teenagers on a tour of Europe in order to reduce worker productivity. This campaign is typical of the "Cool War" Pohl envisions in which nations engage in covert operations designed to make the opponent significantly less competitive economically without the kind of national culpability that might generate a military response. Hake finds himself well rewarded for his pains, but is troubled by the moral implications of his actions. In particular, he worries that the minor annoyances caused by the Team are hurting innocent people more than their governments. The intentional wastefulness of the Team goes against his long-ingrained distaste for what this resource-starved society calls "piggery", and in several subsequent encounters Leota asks him how he justifies his part in activities that seem so morally abhorrent and at the same time so politically meaningless. As Hake begins to act more independently, he falls afoul of the Reddi brothers, a pair (literally) of professional mercenaries who sometimes work with the Team, and other times work against it. Will Hake make his final stand for the Team, against the Team, or for himself? There are few enough really likable characters in this cynical, but still amusing novel, and Hake in particular is so easily dominated by whomever he happens to be with at the time, that readers may want to shake him and shout "Why are you doing this"? The story seems to imply that any attempt to interfere with the lives of strangers (for whatever reason) is ultimately both immoral and self-defeating. Even the seductive Leota comes to realize this eventually, at what may be thought of as the turning point of the novel. The Cool War has eliminated violent military conflict, but still espouses a spirit of competition and mutual degradation, which in the end, can't be good for anyone. Although this book addresses some serious issues, the tone is light and comedic, so it doesn't leave much of an impact. The combination of sci-fi spy thriller and romantic comedy, while unusual and even refreshing, just isn't that effective, so while this book is likable and even amusing, there may not be enough substance to satisfy everyone.
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