Customer Reviews

The Other End of Time (Eschaton Sequence)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Suspiciously similar in some ways to Wall Around A Star, which I found so boring I couldn't finish, this simply wasn't very good at all. Long, boring, surprisingly crude writing. Pohl's capable of great work but this isn't it. I sincerely hope that this was just a bad book and not a harbinger of further decline.

Part of a true three novel trilogy Eschaton, including (The Other End of Time, The Siege of Eternity, The Far Shore of Time). This trio deals with first contact but Pohl couldn't let it be a simple aliens encounter, there are two different and of course warring alien alliances but that is as far as the "of course" goes. The leaders of earth first have to come to terms among themselves so they can choose correctly from slim, hidden and misleading evidences, which group of aliens is truthful and altruistic and which will conquer and enslave.
Besides the wonderful Sci-Fi and multitude of sentient beings there is a good study of the human psyche in captivity. Also a twist in dealing with unwanted clones; not knowing which is the original, if there is an original, which clone gets the spouse and like conundrums.
You have to stay alert to the fast pace and changing / multiplying cast. A very good read with interesting alien customs and biology's.

But i didn't love it either. It has its moments, it has some interesting ideas, but what hurts it is the big chunk in the middle where they're all in the prison. that lasts for about 150 page, and it's pretty slow and uneventful. after that it picks up again and it's quite fun to read. I thought the alien was a little too childish looking (the ways it's described anyway) but I'll still read the next one just to find out what happens.

The first novel in Frederik Pohl's Eschaton trilogy, "The Other End of Time" sets the stage for an engrossing--if philosophically underdeveloped--sequence about a near-future invasion of Earth by a duplicitous alien race that calls itself "The Beloved Leaders." Pohl's future Earth is entirely believable, his orbital hijinx spooky and plausible, and his aliens thoroughly enigmatic. Continued in the addictive "The Siege of Eternity" and concluded in the breezy, exciting "The Far Shore of Time," Pohl does an admirable job of revising the cliched theme of alien invasion. There are some minor let-downs in the plot--the most obvious being the nature of the alleged "Eschaton" the invading aliens are fighting over--but I found myself enjoying the trilogy for its knowing, behind-the-scenes portrayal of the world's intelligence communities caught unprepared in a struggle at the threshold of comprehension. Greg Bear has referred Pohl's far-flung adventure as "the thinking person's 'Independence Day.'" I recommend the Eschaton trilogy to anyone searching for a diverting, intelligent adventure about a "first contact" scenario that could actually happen.

The Other End of Time had a lot of interesting, if not terribly novel, concepts. The method of transportation via duplication is an interesting one, with clear ethical implications which we haven't as yet had to address. Additionally, the representation of the aliens was provoking -- the story never resolves who are the "good guys" and who are the "bad guys", but then real life is rarely black and white.

But despite the positive aspects of the work, the end was a profound disappointment -- too much was unresolved. Normally this wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but in this case the reader is left feeling empty; little is learned. So while The Other End of Time has components of interest, overall it's lacking, and the characters, which are established in a promising fashion, descend towards the end into cliche. The interesting discrete elements fail to make a compelling package.

Overall, it's hard to recommend this book.

I found this to be an interesting and entertaining book but it is certainly not a classic of science fiction. Pohl is very talented at writing dialogue, and I enjoyed the interplay between the characters. The story gets somewhat bogged down in the middle while our heroes are in the alien cell and then ends somewhat abruptly. The aliens' use of "tachyon" technology for transportation and copying is interesting. I was puzzled at the end as to who/where are the copies and who/where are the originals, maybe the sequel will make that clearer. By the end of the book it seems to be clear who the "bad" aliens are or does it? Are we being mislead on this? I've started reading the sequel so I'll comment on that also when I finish it. This book is better than the majority of science fiction that I read. Could someone explain the relevance of the title though? At age 80+, Pohl is still going strong!

The first 3rd of the story was a boring mystery style with a detective for a main character and almost no sci-fi at all.

They get abducted by lame aliens (easy to fool, look like people in costumes, etc) for the middle 3rd.

Eventually some new aliens that have some hope of being interesting attack for the final 3rd, but in the end nothing much happens.

The book was called "The other end of time" but should have been "a short discussion about the other end of time".

The worst part was a recommendation by Greg Bear on the cover. I love his work but apparently he will recommend anything.

This is one of the worst books I have ever read. The human characters lack any imagination or resources. As noted by other reviewers, the bulk of the book takes place with these characters being imprisoned. No will to escape; no will to return to Earth. The prisoners are "copied" by the aliens, yet the author fails to explain, at all, the human implications of this. They just seem to accept this as 'normal'. Imagine meeting yourself. Seems to me it would be kinda weird, and worthy of discussion. Nothing here in this book. The lead character, Dan, is made out to be a schmuck in the early chapters, and winds up being not much more in the end. Lack of closure? Try lack of effort by the author. I kept waiting for something to happen, and was still waiting at the end. The concepts, of tracheon particles (which supposedly move no slower than the speed of light), and the eschaton (when all living beings come back to life at the end/collapse of the universe) are interesting, but never given anything more than brief mention. This is my first Pohl "novel". If it is representative of his work......

Personally, I think it's difficult to make much out of Frederik Pohl's THE OTHER END OF TIME largely because, come the inevitable Twilight Zone-ish conclusion in the last few paragraphs -- the book serves essentially as a 300-plus-page set-up for novels that could follow. As a result, there's very little here to sink your science fiction teeth into, despite the author's briefly informative afterward dealing with the scientific theory of tachyons AND his interpretation of them in the novel.

There are so many elements presented in OTHER END that Pohl lays out asking the reading to take for granted: the leader "adventurer," Dan Dannerman, is a secret agent for a national organization, though the United States appears to have been broken up into individual countries; Dannerman's background and behavior certainly don't indicate that he possesses any grand training to serve as a secret agent, as he's always arguing with his handling about the best way to go about doing his job; the dissolution of the United States is never touched upon or given any explanation; and the "evil alien presence" of the Horch are never given any sincere, straight-forward motivation ... indeed, one could argue that they're never truly shown as being evil. Other ideas are given some exploration, but due to the book's inability to reach a conclusion (or, at least, a satisfying one)it's difficult to offer up more than a few casual observations on the main topics. Lesser topics -- cloning, alien abduction, group/think -- are given far more face time, but only the struggle for personal identity in an age of duplicating humans is truly given enough print space to elevate the book above average.

As Pohl was in his earlier works of GATEWAY and BEYOND THE BLUE EVENT HORIZON, the author seems overtly fixated on "commerce" and "capitalism." His identifiable characters -- Robinette Broadhead in GATEWAY and Pat/Patzy/Patrice in OTHER END -- are visibly obsessed with attaining wealth. To my surprise, Pohl never seems to comment on their desires for riches, though, and, a sad consequence, these largely interesting female leads tend to appear as little more than shallow gold-diggers. If there is an obvious message here about the pursuit of money, then I have to admit I'm missing it.

Still, there are large passages here that are truly vintage Pohl. His observations about his characters in the world they inhabit are worth exploration; I just wish THE OTHER END OF TIME truly explained how "time" factored into his grand equation. When the back of the book promises "the only sure thing is that the winners will rule eternity at the Other End of Time" yet delivers no conclusion nor any involvement with eternity whatsoever, the whole tour de force ends up being a tour de farce.

"The Other End of Time" is a compentent work of alien contact and abduction, readable but derivative. The characters are generally one-dimensional, unlike those of his far-better "Gateway." Hey, it's the horny guy! There's the rich woman! And the cop! The setting is well thought-out, but inconsistently treated. And while the plot is generally interesting, it is slow and badly-paced. I suspect a much-edited one-book version of the Eschaton series would be a much better read. I enjoyed this book well enough, but not well enough to pick up the sequel. The Heechee saga is a much better introduction to Pohl's work, for those who have not read this author's books.