Customer Reviews

Dark Is The Sun

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ostracized from their tribes, Deyv and Vana (and friends) undertake a series of treks across a dying Earth, 15 billion years in the future, at a time when Earth's sun is finally dying out (hence the title). Although Farmer has no peer when it comes to action, and he's been known to come up with brilliant ideas, his plots are often weak and unfocused and his characters are just as stock as can be. This (very) long novel is a textbook showcase for his failings, as the plot (using the term loosely) is painfully repetitive, and the characters offer little to recommend them. The main characters are wronged by somebody, get involved in a long chase after them, catch them, and then wind up joining forces with them to go after a new antagonist. Again and again and again. After a few iterations of this we start wondering if there's a point to all of this - it turns out there isn't, which is a darn shame. Definitely a work of fantasy, despite brief (page-long) and infrequent (1:100) forays into science fiction, this book is an imaginative, action-packed and generally entertaining romp through a primitive world of the far, far, far future, but it suffers from dragging on well past its welcome. Three and a half stars.

Farmer is the best science fiction author of all time and this book is a truly wonderful read!Definitely a book to read more than once, it is rich with adventure, excitement, and deep thought provoking philosophy. Imaging living in a far away future time when the earth is dying as the sun burns out. Society has become primitive again. There are great ideas in this book which is what one expects from Farmer, who has the most brilliant and original imagination ever.If you have ever read "to your scattered bodies go" or "maker of universes" then you will know what I am rambling on about.

Loved this book. Have actually re-read it at least a dozen times. Can recommend it to anyone with a love of sci fi (even better than the riverworld series).

I first got hold of this book back in 1982 (or thereabouts), and I loved it straight off the bat. It knocked Ringworld off the top of my All Time Favourite Books list. Great extrapolations, great characters (characters you really get to care about, even though some of them are pretty, er, "out there"), and some great solid adventures. I was at art school in Glasgow at the time, and found Dark Is The Sun such a great source of well defined, richly described people (and non-people), I picked it as a college project to illustrate the cover of the book and depict the main characters. Great fun. If you read and rate good SF and you haven't read this novel, buy it NOW!

PS: Never, EVER lend your books. I had a hardback first edition, sigh...

This book stands tall alongside Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" Novels, Gene Wolfe's Books of the New Sun and "Hothouse" by Brian Aldiss as one of the best far future Earth novels I have read.

Farmer's fecund imagination is what makes this book so great - he brings the future earth alive through the creation of an amazing bestiary and a fascinating storyline. This is one of the few books I re-read on a regular basis. Highly recommended.

My wife thinks sci-fi is something that teenage boys bury their noses in to escape the fact that they are unattractive to girls. She studied English Literature in college and turned up her nose at the genre. I told her that this book would change her mind. And it did. If you have never read this book, I envy you the experience of reading it for the first time.

This is a truly epic story. I re read it often and I buy every copy I come across so I can give it out to people who haven't read it yet.

This is a great sci-fi fantasy piece by a guy who must have done a LOT of drugs... It seems to have worked for him though... This one specifically I first read in jr high, and recently hunted it down again to reread.

It is set in the FAR future, and is working under the prenise that the universe is collapsing back in on itself. Society on Earth is in one of the tribal cycles. A small group of adventurers, who hadnt intended to at first, set off on a quest to try and save humanity (and a few other species as well) from the impending doom of not only the entire planet, but the entire universe.

I may have had a soft spot for this title coming into it, but I think anyone who enjoys a good post apocolyptic romp would enjoy Dark is the Sun.

Not one of his better works. Within this genre, this would lie somewhere in the lower half of all novels quality wise. The characters are one dimensional at best, and the writing and plot devices are appropriate for young teens at best.

I felt cheated of the time I wasted reading this. An allegorical fantasy story, when skillfully written/told can be enjoyed by all ages and intelligence levels. Unfortunately, this is not one of those. The writing was cheap, the plot contrivances show little inventiveness or any reasonable thought behind them.

Overall, I'd recommend you skip this and read Riverworld series instead.

This is a great sci-fi fantasy piece by a guy who must have done a LOT of drugs... It seems to have worked for him though... This one specifically I first read in jr high, and recently hunted it down again to reread.

It is set in the FAR future, and is working under the prenise that the universe is collapsing back in on itself. Society on Earth is in one of the tribal cycles. A small group of adventurers, who hadnt intended to at first, set off on a quest to try and save humanity (and a few other species as well) from the impending doom of not only the entire planet, but the entire universe.

I may have had a soft spot for this title coming into it, but I think anyone who enjoys a good post apocolyptic romp would enjoy Dark is the Sun.