Customer Reviews

The Longest Way Home

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Most of the reviews here pretty much describe this book's impact. It's exceedingly well-written, very well paced, and richly envisioned. It's also a bit underachieved for the Silverberg most of us know and love whose masterpieces of SF in the Sixties and Seventies still resonate in out minds.

On the other hand, as a stand-alone novel (and boy do we need more of these), this book is a very pleasant read and for readers new to Silverberg, THE LONGEST WAY HOME is a good place to start. (I gave this book only three stars because I know that Silverberg can do much better.)

I'm puzzled by the mixed reaction to this novel. Perhaps some readers were expecting more of the "epic" Silverberg of the new Majipoor trilogy and Alien Years. However, many long-time Silverberg fans feel that his very best novels, published between 1967 and 1976, were-like this one-short, tight, and intense. This book is an enjoyable and entertaining read, yes, but it also feels more personal and philosophical than those vast volumes that the market seems to pressure Silverberg to produce. I for one hope he skips the sequels and epics from now on out, and produces more novels of this length and excellence.

Amiable but over simple SF novel of an young aristocrats enforced trek back to his ancestral home after a revolt overthrows the status quo on a distant semi-feudal planet, the author appears to become bored with his creation and terminates it very abruptly. Not too much of interest in any of the characters or indigenous fauna, save perhaps the Noctambulo. Way, way below Silverbergs epic best, but an easy, empty read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learning about the world Silverberg has created along with the protagonist Joseph. Now that Joseph's childish assumptions have been challenged, how will he change within himself and how will the world around him change? What happens between the Folk and Masters next? How will the events in the northern continent effect the south? I'm hoping this isn't a lone book, for there is so much more to expand. Silverberg has made his world live and makes the reader want to see it go on living.

Any and all young men and young woman of the comparable age of the main character should read this book; and then should read it once again when they have achieved their mature years. Truly this book is outstanding, truly outstanding. While reading this book I was reminded of the following quotation by Henry David Thoreau, "To know what you know and to know what you do not know is knowledge;" further, I was additionally reminded of the following quotation by Mark Twain, "There are some things about swinging a car by the tail that can only be learned by swinging a cat by the tail!" All Middle Schools (public and private alike) need a copy in their school library. All City and Country Public Libraries need a copy on their Reserve Shelves. Students who are learning English as a Second Language will benefit; greatly benefit! Our Special Ops Military Trainees who must and who will learn to travel without supplies, to learn to live off of the land, will learn much! Bravo Robert Silverberg!
Respectfully submitted....
Josh Grossman, Colonel {r}, U.S. Army Medical Corps, M.D., F.A.C.P.
drjosh@embarqmail.com

A lovely story, a bit on the light side. After Majipoor's Shapeshifters, RS offers us a Mindswapper. A book perfectly mastered but rather conventional. That story does look like a prelude, the beginning of an epic. When I finished it I did wonder how the trials Joseph had endured would affect his ruling his estate... And possibly Homeworld ultimately. Indeed, the very best is yet to come. Setting is ready for Joseph to stage drastic changes in Homeworld. Will RS ever create them?

(4 stars for younger readers)
This coming-of-age story is about a young man who was raised to believe he was inherently superior to other races on his planet. He is from a privileged, controlling race.

After being marooned far from home, he has to make his way across a continent on foot. Along the way he lives with, learns from, and depends on people from other races, and naturally he begins to question what he had believed.

He was raised believing that the relationship between his people, the Masters, and the people that arrived earlier, the Folk was one of mutual consent. But did the `Folk' truly turn over control of the planet to the `Masters', willingly?

He also learns from the indigenous race, the Indigenes, that not everyone has a materialistic view of the world, that there is a spiritual aspect as well.

Along the way, he also develops an appreciation for nature and the food chain. His previous experience had been as a hunter; shooting game for sport. On his journey, he learned to love the life around him and then is faced with the dilemma of starving of killing.

While there are obvious parallels to our own history and present situation here in the US, Silverberg, one of the early SF masters, doesn't beat the reader over the head with it.

I would recommend this simple, yet well-written story for younger readers. It might encourage them to think about their own place in the world and how they relate to people in other walks of life. They might also reflect on our relationship with nature. These are good things to do.

I just finished this book, and really liked it. No, it's not as interesting as the "Lord Valentine" book I read a few months ago, but it's still very well written. Silverberg is a great writer - he really made me feel for the main character. His near starvation, loneliness, and sexual and political awakening are beautifully handled.

Is it the best book he ever wrote? No. But it definitely is worth a read. Very enjoyable.

In this well-crafted coming of age novel, Silverberg exquisitely describes a far-future world, several alien species, and the internal and external journeys of one young man. Although the opening hints at a great action tale, the action is mostly confined to the discoveries the main character makes about himself. An excellent read if you're seeking fiction about seeking. Otherwise merely an ok way to pass the time.

Silverberg's forte is science fiction and Longest Way Home (LWH) is classified as such. In essence however, it is a story of a youth coming of age, albeit on a very different planet, peopled with exotic species. The setting is somewhat of a benevolent feudal system, where the native species (several of whom possess sentience in varying degree, yet are all technologically backward) were first subjugated by colonial settlers from Earth, who in turn as they settled into pastoral somnolence (Folk), have been subjugated by a second wave of better educated and technologically superior settlers (Masters), again from Earth. The end result is a rather feudal system with large agri-business estates owned by quasi-aristocratic families of Masters and overseen by others of the same Master class, while the labor is performed by the Folk who reside in separate quarters on the estate. Inevitably, no matter that the feudalism is relatively benign, the Folk chafe under the yoke of the Masters, yearning for their lost days of freedom. In a well planned revolt on a continent of the planet, the Folk of various estates rise up, destroying their overlords. In the midst of the uprising is trapped Joseph, an adolescent Master visiting an Estate far from his own family. Saved from the carnage by a retainer of his dead hosts, Joseph's only way out is to make the long trek back to his own family's estate, dodging as he goes the Folk who are on the alert for any survivors. On one level, following Joseph's trek, this book is a fascinating tour of the planet, encompassing creatures exotic in form and culture. On a deeper level, it is Joseph's own awakening and realization that his privileged position which he has never before questioned, is built on the foundation of near slavery. Silverberg relates excellently how each new experience changes Joseph; sadly he ends just with Joseph returned home resolved to implement his learning, but with little indication of what exactly he will do. Not one of Silverberg's best, but a good read all the same.