Customer Reviews

Heechee Rendezvous

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

 

 

I returned to read the gateway trilogy after a 15-year absense (!) and I found this one to be the most disappointing. Gone is the sense of mystery and struggle, in this third book Robinette seems like an annoying Richie Rich character surrounded by exotic Heechee toys and and annoying friends and helpers dredged up the first two books in the series plus a few new ones. Klara even makes a comeback, but it's disjointed, unbelievable and emotionless. Pointless, even; I'd say Robinettes longing and guilt for Klara is best left unresolved. I recommend Gateway (the best) and Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (quite interesting, especially when you figure out what the artifact is and its history), but then stop it there because this book is pretty much a loser.

"Heechee Rendezvous" is, for me, the strongest of the the four novels that comprise the Heechee Saga. In this, the third volume, all of Pohl's complex and ingenious concepts and rich characters come together to form a truely satisfying story, as well as set up an intriguing conflict for the final book, "Annals of the Heechee". It is definitely worth your while to read the first two books, if for no other reason than to reach this one; I wouldn't recommend reading them out of order.

"Heechee Rendezvous" is one of my favorite sci-fi books to date.

Heechee Rendezvous is a gripping continuation of Pohl's Heechee Saga. Once again, Robinette Broadhead returns as the main character, this time within a world that suffers from strife; from frequent terrorist activities, to mass hunger, the world is detailed as flawed, in light of the advancements made possible by the technology of the Heechee. However, the main thrust of the book lies in the greater revelation of the Heechee. In Gateway, not much is known about this mysterious race, but much is explained in Heechee Rendezvous. Gone are the Herter-Halls of the previous book, replaced by a few new characters. Besides Broadhead and his wife, whose relationship is wonderfully developed, a couple of older characters return. One of these 'characters' is Broadhead's computer generated advisor/confidant/friend, Albert Einstein. Suffice it to say that Pohl does a good job at developing the theme of artificial intelligence, to the point of trying to bring people back from the dead via computers. Each book in the Heechee Saga is a direction continuation of its predecessor, so reading book 4 is a must after this one is finished. Unfortunately, this leads to an unsatisfying ending since the book reads like a cliffhanger. My first inclination is to pick up the next book to see what happens.

At 17 years old, I haven't read a whole lot of books. Although I read quite a lot, I don't quite have all the experience that these other critics do. But I do know one thing. When I first got a book by Fred Pohl, I couldn't put it down. Now I'm 3 books into this saga, and I can't find the last part. Either way, Fred Pohl has made an awesome story. Too bad nobody knows who this guy is around here, he's my favorite author.

I read this book right after reading the novel Timescape by Gregory Benford. It reinforced my opinion that Benford is not nearly the writer as Pohl is by any measurement you want to use. The odd thing is, readers either like Pohl but dislike (or not much like) Benford, or love Benford (hero worship, in fact) and dismiss Pohl. However, it may all be a matter of taste in what is written, or the story style, or the impact of science on the character and how it is handled. By my measurement, that old faithful yardstick of all sci-fi, I deem that Pohl is far superior in all respects. At least I like his novels a lot more. I can easily consider him to be one of the giants in sci-fi, like Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, or Frank Herbert.

This novel is the third in the series, which actually contains about six novels on the Heechee saga. Many readers thought that each succeeding novel deteriorated somewhat in quality and that the latter few were not worth the try. So far, I believe Pohl strikes a high chord in the further development of characters and themes. He is fun to read, a bit witty and very observant on matters of cosmological physics. After Gateway, you just can't help wanting to know the further adventures of protagonist Robin Broadhead and friends. After that is explained in Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (which I thought to be equally as riveting and provocative as the first award-winning novel) you are intrigued enough to want to go on and find out what is discovered about the Heechee culture, and what further developments happen in the lives of characters like Audee Walthers and Dolly and Klara. Pohl delivers the goods. Characterization is strong in his novels, and the science is both explicit and never boring, the way Gregory Benford's is. Consider, Pohl, like Jack Williamson, is in his eighties and he is very much experienced and he knows how to entertain. Like all the Gateway novels, this is neither gloomily serious (though it deals with universe-threatening themes) nor is it a comedic or light space opera. It is just a well-balanced blend of great sci-fi and compelling reading.

Robinette Broadhead finds out that a friend has made contact with a Heechee spaceship. Then another friend (actually, his long-lost love Klara) actually is abducted by the Heechee and everybody gets back to Earth basics by novel's end. One thing that set me aslant in this epic was that it contains one of the first instances in sci-fi that I remember where a main character dies but is transferred to an electronic memory storage device. It's a bit disorienting to have "life after death" scenarios done like this; Pohl figures the reader doesn't want to give up a main character for good by accepting a death of the character. But he does a credible job of taking us through what it might feel like to be transferred from a live "meat" person to a cosmic "holographic person on a giant computer". He also hints at this throughout the novel. Pohl also unravels some, but not all, of the Heechee mystery. Why did the Heechee run and hide in a black hole if they were so advanced beyond everybody else in the galaxy? From whom were they running? We hear the Assasins mentioned, and gain a glimpse of them, which helps explain things further. As a sequel, this novel holds up well, provided you accept the whole premise of the first novel, which I found to be quite entertaining.

Based on other readers reviews on the remaining novels (The Annals of the Heechee, The Gateway Trip, and The Boy Who Would Live Forever), I might not want to read further. Based on my own impressions so far, I will want to read the others. When you come across a master sci-fi writer, you want more by him or her. And Pohl is a master.

This is the third volume in what turned out to be a four-decker featuring the now-aging Robin Broadhead, who, decades ago, turned a lucky strike as a prospector of alien artifacts into an immense fortune, with which he has been trying ever since to save the world from itself. When they vanished a few hundred thousand years ago, the Heechee left a lot of interesting stuff lying around the galaxy (deliberately, it turns out), and some of it may help our world solve its starvation and poverty problems. Robin has been notably fortunate in his choice of a mate in the talented and loving S. Ya Lavarovna (known as "Essie"), but he hasn't totally forgotten about Klara, still marooned in a black hole. However, the rather loathsome Wan from the previous volume may have something to say about the latter problem. But Robin has other issues to deal with, including the "mental" instability of his key computer program, and the eventual realization that the Heechee had a very good reason for disappearing, and his own failing health. Pohl is a dab hand at the "science" part of science fiction and there's a whole bundle of fascinating cosmological ideas and concepts to chew on here as he brings a number of threads of the previous story. He's also pretty good with the characterization and dialogue end of things. (I'm especially partial to Essie.) But I think he made a strategic error in introducing us to the Heechee themselves, up-close and personal like. Removing the mystery makes them almost ordinary. I suppose that was a narrative inevitability, but a writer of Pohl's talents should have found a way around that.

Book three of the trilogy... or is it?
What was heralded as the "finale to the Heechee Saga" and ended with the characters still pondering all the facets which were mentioned in the series... and YET were still left out in the meat of the series' plot. Hmm, some "finale!" I must say that Rendezvous lends a helping hand to the saga, something which Horizon failed utterly to do the least bit. Rendezvous brought to light many answers which were first tip-toed around in Gateway, such as "Where ARE Heechee?," "Why did they leave?," and "What's up with the funny-shaped seats in the Gateway craft?" For the simple sake of understanding more of the Heechee aliens, this was a great book, of which I really want to give five stars, IF it were not for three annoying factors:
1) The "grand" finale was missing major plot points and the characters seemed to ponder upon them as if they, too, were seeking a sequel.
2) The horrible grammar of Essie was impossible for me to look past. She tends to leave out the simple words of "it," "the" and common inferred subjects. (It) really gets under my skin (there's an example of an inferred subject for those who don't know).
3) The rampant sex which the two main male characters (Robin and Wan) find that they must fulfill... WTF?. The bountiful sex was unnecessary to the story, IMHO (but I can see the argument here, so don't bother).

The most interesting part of Rendezvous is the exploration of sentience. What does it mean to be alive? Is an AI program just as alive as a human? What if those roles were reversed, who would be more real?
To address a self-pronounced, English language critic:

As a side note... That's a very constructive statement, Joe.

The previous review was an example of sardonic and "informal" English... or language which is meant to express a point to my peers rather than a committee of professors (Doctor Joe?). If you couldn't appreciate my tongue-in-cheek poor grammar as an example of Essie's own grammar, then you are very myopic. To appease a peasant, I have corrected the review.

i could not put this book down. when i was about to start this book i thought that i would hate it or at the very least be very bored with it but i really liked it. the only thing that i didn't really get drawn into was the thrown over 70's influence. you could really tell that the book was written around then with how it deals with leagalized drugs and open relationships. i did however like how it realistically portrayed homosexual relationships in society. most books would either preach for or against homosexuality take it to the extreme either one way or the other but this book portrayed them simply as people in love not as an overdrawn character thrown in to get a point across and i think that is probably the best way to do anything.

I read this book when I was young and loved it then, enough to make me remember about it and order it to re-read. Still a great book.

his best