Customer Reviews

Farthest Star

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

 

 

CUCKOO WAS COMING...No one knew what it was--but everyone knew it was trouble. Designated Object Lambda when it first appeared on the fringes of the galaxy, 20,000 light-years away, it was traveling at one-sixth the speed of light. The astrophysicists said that it was vast...light....and had the potential for utter destruction. So an existing space probe was reoriented to intercept; it was staffed with replicates of both humans and aliens. Then the probe began to leak radiation....

FRom top info page:

Tachyon transmission was a marvelous invention. A man could send infinite replicates of himself anywhere in the galaxy---wherever duty called. If one of the copies got killed, so what? The original would still be alive and well back on his home planet, and he could always send replacements. Such a man Ben Pertin, who lived on Earth. And then there was:

Ben Charles Pertin---stationed on Sun One, central headquarters of the intelligent races in the galaxy.

Ben James Pertin--sent to the probe ship Aurora after Ben Frank Pertin was reported missing on board.

Ben Linc Pertin---dispatched to the artificial satellite orbiting Cuckoo.

Ben Yale Pertin---one of the several Pertins sent to explore the surface of Cuckoo. Some returned---many did not. And most of them were in love with the same woman!"

There is a strange object called "Cuckoo" heading toward our galaxy which won't arrive for tens of thousands of years. But the book doesn't say why it is dangerous. Nor why it is already known to be strange about it even before anything much is known about it. (Objects and even entire systems pass through a galaxy all the time and, given the vast empty spaces, don't collide with or interact with any stars or planets.) We find out that it is a huge "planet". It doesn't orbit a star, but we're not told why the inhabitants don't freeze to a solid block of ice with no star to provide heat or energy. These are some of the crucial "plausibility" questions the book leaves hanging out there freezing to death in intergalactic space.

I'm old school: If you are going to raise a lot of really fundamental questions which 'drive' the book and are what keeps the reader in suspense, then don't cheat them. Answer the driving puzzles in some way by the time the book ends (don't leave -all- of them for a sequel which the reader may not have heard of or get to). A much better book which has a strange kind of surface which contains life is Larry Niven's "Ringworld". Unlike in this book, Niven actually does a rather good job scientifically or logically -explaining- things.

A second type of flaw in the book is too many strange aliens and 'replicants' moving in and out of the action without much attempt at character development. Another major flaw: there are several characters pining for the romantic interest in the story. Not only is her characterization thinner than that of "the girl" a summer action movie, but this subplot is wrapped up and resolved in a perfunctory and not very convincing manner.

A positive aspect (which makes me give it at least some stars) is the interesting galactic civilization and the interesting "planet". If only they had been in service of a more sensible, more clear story.

Frederik Pohl is a grand master of science fiction with classics from the 1970s such as the Heechee Saga, Man Plus and the Space Merchants. Jack Williamson is another respected science fiction author with popular novels from the 1930s until the millennium. Combining the two forces for the greater good of forming a new science fiction series, what could possibly go wrong? Just about everything.

The sub-genre of BDO (big dumb object) in sci-fi is genre favorite. The premise in Farthest Star is called Object Lambda or Cuckoo which is speeding towards the galaxy and more specifically towards our own solar system. Inhabiting this not-dense-enough object is a collection of mutated aliens (including humans) which mirror the plots' aliens physiology. Part I entitled `Doomship' is a 3-star read revolving around the human-alien cooperation in a ship which is decelerating to a dangerous degree and also spewing radiation on its crew. The plot addition of human replicates from tachyon copy travel is of a little interest, which adds one little star to the novel. Acidic algae, steam powered rocket packs and friggin' dragons were really low points in the plot which had me putting down the book in order to reader another book of better quality (Earth by David Brin). Part II called `The Org's Egg' is three-fourths of the book includes all the low points mentioned above.

The book doesn't warrant a second read through and it doesn't motivate me to read the sequel.

A really large astronomical object is moving, so people decide to investigate and see what is going on. They are able to do this via a technique that is a little more commonly used now, perhaps, by sending fast moving copies.

What do you do when there are many versions of yourself, and you know you are sending them off to die, most likely? How do you relate to a single person via the different versions of yourself, that sort of thing.

All that and the worries associated with dealing with something that can create such an amazing display of technology.

An alliance of humans and alien species form a mission to investigate a Dyson Sphere, codenamed Cuckoo. Storyline involves the investigative team's moral/ethical problems involving Tachyonic Replication, the method of travel used to reach Cuckoo. (From the book cover, "Tachyonic replication was a marvelous invention. A man could send copies of himself anywhere. If one got killed, so what? He could always send replacements!") Additionally, the story involves the struggles of a young Cuckoo inhabitant named, "Fifteenth", against the cannabalistic masters of Cuckoo. All in all, it's an interesting read with fine concepts and characters.