Dragon's Egg [Paperback]

Robert L. Forward (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (1999)
• ASIN: B0011D0AFA
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very worthy SF read!, July 12, 2001

By 

Jonathan Burgoine "bookseller" (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dragon's Egg (Del Rey Impact) (Paperback)

Robert L. Forward has written an absolutely wonderful account of an alien life that simply has not been done as well as this in any other SF book I've read.

To set the tone, picture a neutron star. This is simply one of the most hostile astronomical bodies out there, something that man can orbit only with the most sophisticated equipment and technology, but from which man could learn a lot about the universe. So, when one such star is within reach of a human spacecraft, we go.

And find life on the surface of the star.

In dealing with the development of the alien race, the Cheela, Forward has crafted a magnificent piece of SF. It's unfortunate that the sophistication that he shows in regards to these aliens doesn't quite shine through with the human characters in the story. Often the humans come off flat and a little less then interesting, but this is completely overshadowed by the Cheela. Playing with notions of relative time, alien forms of perception, and with a SF ending that puts most other "alient contact" books to shame, "Dragon's Egg" is required reading for any fan of SF.

'Nathan

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alien aliens, flat humans, and a mind-bending story, August 26, 2006

By 

Benjamin Scott "DragonHawk" (NH, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dragon's Egg (Del Rey Impact) (Paperback)

As others have noted, the alien cheela, despite being only 0.5 mm tall, have far more depth than the human characters in this novel. This story is about the cheela, and the humans serve mainly as a plot device. Further, the cheela are a *very* different from us, in almost every way -- size, speed, environment, and culture. This will doubtless put many readers off, as there is little to relate to our frame of reference. If you prefer your aliens to be humans with bumpy noses, look elsewhere.

If, on the other hand, the idea of aliens that really *are* alien appeals to you, this is a great read. Reading about the development of civilization in such an alien context is fascinating. There are parts where the story of the cheela becomes very compelling. Swift-Killer's Climb is nothing short of heroic (yes, something unexciting can still be heroic). The brief "Visit" between humans and Cheela is a blast.

I don't give it five stars, because the human characters *are* flat. It may well be impossible to place both truly alien beings and interesting humans in the same story (as opposed to two different, co-located stories). A separate human story would still be something, though, and it appears the author either did not even try to develop one, or failed completely. The humans are a plot device -- they give the author a reason to tell the story of the cheela, nothing more. Likewise, the human discovery of the "Egg" and the expedition reads as very contrived. Every work of fiction is contrived, of course, but good fiction keeps the reader from noticing. These drawbacks mar what would otherwise be a true masterpiece of science fiction.

While it is radical fiction, this book is based on a strong foundation in reality -- both science fact and scientific speculation. The successful combination of strict science and pure fantasy is part of what makes for great "hard sci-fi", and this book has it, in spades. It truly does "stretch the mind", as one cover blurb says.

Strangely, I also found the story to be inspirational. The aliens live their lives in fullness in their frame of reference, but a cheela lifespan is only 30 of our minutes. Reconciling those differences and establishing a conversation over many generations is, to me, a truly noble act, for humans and cheela alike. Despite the differences between them and us, the cheela are people. If I can be as good a person as the cheela in this story, I will have lived my life well.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Hard Sci-Fi, December 2, 2004

By 

From the Oregon Country - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dragon's Egg (Del Rey Impact) (Paperback)

I read this back in the 80's, after reading a recommendation in a book by Arthur C. Clarke. Altho Forward was not the only scientist to speculate on the possibliity of exotic life on a neutron star (Steven Baxter does a better job of it in his excellent novel, FLUX ), and altho the character development and writing style are at times severely lacking in Dragon's Egg, the author does tell a story worth reading. The technological details will fascinate some, and bore others, but the concept of life existing under such conditions will hold your attention, and the characters do sort of grow on you after awhile. The accelerated time frame of the Cheela is suspect, but it does add an interesting twist to the tale, particularly when their technology starts to bypass that of their human visitors.

This is not in the running for the greatest science-fiction novel ever written. And of this author's works, I personally liked Flight of the Dragonfly better. (Later expanded into Rocheworld, which I haven't read.) Dragon's Egg is , however, quite an interesting yarn taking place in one of the unlikeliest of locales. Read it and enjoy, as well as the sequel, Starquake.