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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Spreading Humanity's Seed: Stiff, Depressing, Little Insight,
By Dave Deubler (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Manseed (Hardcover)
Williamson gives us an all-too-forgettable novel of humanity's attempt to spread its seed into the depths of outer space. A beautiful woman, driven by the dream of her deceased brother, launches a daring scientific project that will send hundreds of probes each carrying the essence of humankind out to the far reaches of the universe. To do so, she acquires the aid of a small handful of men, each of whom possess one of the requisite characteristics to ensure the race's survival.
The story switches back and forth between "real time" - a point in the far future where a probe is actually well on its way to its destination - and extensive flashback sequences, where we meet the men whose personalities were impressed onto the part-human/part-robotic astronauts. The flashback sequences interrupt the story more than they inform it, and are ultimately annoying; not only because they delay the progress of the action, but because the characters themselves are both unpleasant and uninteresting. Because of all these interruptions, the action has very little flow to it. Even apart from that, the story being told is too episodic to hold together well, and neither the Defender nor his progenitors are engaging enough that we ever really care about the outcome. The few developed characters are so stiff and wooden that the novel reads like it was written in the 50's rather than the 80's. Okay, so humanity is fallible, already. This book provides no new insights, and seems pointlessly depressing.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Depressing Space Story,
By
This review is from: Manseed (Hardcover)
The wealthy and beautiful Megan Drake brings together five talented men to make her dead twin's dream of space travel a reality. The plan is to sow the stars with a thousand seed ships which will breed human colonists if they can find a habitable planet. Each of the men brings his particular talent to build the ships, his DNA to contribute to the genetic database, and his unrequited love for Megan.
The story is told in a series of disorienting flashbacks from a distant future where a cyborg "Defender" from a seed ship stumbles upon a previously inhabited world. He relives his memories of being each of the men, hopelessly in love and pining for Megan - who died on Earth millennia ago. Most of the story is from the cyborg's point of view, and the descriptions are choppy, vague and confusing. I am a sappy romantic, but even I found the pining for Megan miserably depressing and over the top. Let's face it, there are a lot of crummy sci-fi books out there. This one is not awful, but it's not that good, either. The best thing I can say is that it kept me interested enough to read to the end to find out what happens.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
not a space opera subtle and introspective only,
This review is from: Manseed (Hardcover)
i must disagree with mr deubler
i found this book to be a subtle exploration of the a beings true self is defender only the parts he was made to be or is he more all the while showing both the parts he was made from (the flashbacks) and the realities of the entire race ( the new colonists and the new type defenders ) also i find the colonization concept interesting from the perspective of both von neumann machines and the game i enjoy space empires ( 4 and 5) by malfador machinations
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