Customer Reviews

Probability Space (Probability Trilogy)

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

 

 

The war between mankind and the Fallers goes unabated as humanity's enemy still ignores any transmissions from their opponents. If anything, the hostilities are turning worse at least for humans as it looks inevitable that the Fallers are going to win. An alien victory means the end of humanity because no one survives a battle let alone a war with the enigmatic Fallers.

The taste of defeat leads to an earthly coup with the new leader apparently willing to use a "not of this earth" doomsday machine (that the Fallers also possess) to annihilate the enemy. However, not everyone agrees with the wisdom of deploying a device not fully understood as to its ramifications and most likely will also rip the space-time continuum. Physicist Capelo, Major Kaufman, and sensitive Grant try a Hail Mary ploy to communicate with the Fallers before the galaxy as it is relatively known is ripped asunder forever.

The final novel in the "Probability" trilogy (see Probability Sun and Probability Moon) is an exciting climax to a strong series. The story line of Probability Space can stand alone yet brings closure that will please fans of the series and coax newcomers to seek out the previous books. Though the probability of some of the events occurring as written seems statistically unreliable, Nancy Kress furbishes a strong climax to a delightfully intelligent triad.

Harriet Klausner

I was so enthralled with the previous two Probability books that I read each of them in a single sitting, which is very rare for me. I also really enjoyed "Crossfire". But this book I almost didn't finish at all. The characters in the previous two books were solidly drawn and acted with intelligent and interesting motivations. Here, they seem almost random. The plot is strung together from coincidences and blatant contrivances. Like reviewer Sparks, I too became convinced that the author had no idea what this book was supposed to be about. Furthermore, it seemed to me that key background information about the story was repeated almost verbatim every few chapters, making the author look like a student trying to hit a page count. This is a bad book and wholly unworthy of a writer of Kress's obvious talent.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the previous two books in this trilogy, I feel that the third volume falls somewhat flat. Kress alternates between two main storylines (one following Amanda Capelo, and the other following Lyle Kaufman) both of which are at best reactionary and at worst aimless. The absurdity of the plot devices in the Amanda storyline are only outdone by the impossibility of the plot devices in the Kaufman storyline. Motivations for the characters are often unclear.

Halfway through the book, I was convinced that even the author had no idea where it was going. Somewhat late in the game (about page 200) the book does find its pacing and races to finish things off, but I found the conclusion unsatisfying.

I would only recommend this book to fans of the first two books who are obsessive compulsive completists. Casual fans would be better off reading Kress' short fiction.

by an underrated author of quality science fiction. This trilogy is a worthy addition to any fan's home library, and I recommend it wholeheartedly!

I was sorry to see it end, and wish Ms. Kress would write another so we know what happens to our favorite couple on Mars, not to mention the famous physicist learning to cope with a headstrong fourteen-year-old daughter.

The action really got intense there near the end, and was very imaginatively done. I was worried about that beforehand after encountering some of the padding and the verbatim paragraphs of science explanation from the previous books. A few typos, an incorrect attribution. Don't these things get any proofreading when they're popular? I guess not.

Still a good read and I'd do it again. And probably (!) will with another Kress epic.

The storyline was connected, the plot was interesting, the conclusion was satisfying. I read the negative reviews before purchasing the book, and found that discussions about inconsistent plot flow and skipping around, etc. were unfounded.

I gave this book 3 stars because Kress cut some corners in her writing. To save redescribing certain characters or universe characteristics, she copied and pasted paragraphs from the earlier two books. This was just being straight-out lazy. I also felt that some of the plot moves were a little rapid, perhaps forced to be so in order to move the plot through the 350 pages.

Otherwise, I am happy to have read the 3rd book and concluded the saga within the probability universe. If you've read the first 2 books, this is a must - and it is a pleasant read overall.

Interstellar war never was so grim, with humanity posed to lose a war with the Fallers, what is going to keep us from being completely wiped out? Well a coup on earth for one as the Fallers hedge in on the planet and defeat looms in the popular mind. With some predictability, the doomsday scenario card is played in the book that could wipe out the enemy, but with the standard, should we shouldn't we do this argument, the book starts to meander. Ok if you want a good story, and the subject is worth exploring, but like the cold war, we could kill many people, and possibly destroy space time in this book, the impact of that choice is something that we still would have to deal with. Especially when we try to figure out where to actually use the device. This is the last book in the series, and brings about good closure, but would have preferred a more substantial entry to finish this book off, but then having decent closure is important, some readers might find the ending satisfactory. Overall Ok, 3 stars, worth getting and reading.

I enjoyed the Probability trilogy very much. Interesting, believable characters, exciting story, and a fine, appropriate ending.
The Fallers were wonderfully alien and I would love to learn more about them. World had a fascinating culture , at least before the artifact was removed.
Two minor annoyances. There was some repetition of material from the previous volumes, evidently to allow this book to stand alone. Perhaps that should have been left out or put in a separate section. Also, the physics behind the operation of the artifacts was explained in more detail than I wanted. However, these small defects detract very little from a great trilogy and its fine concluding volume.

Probability Space is a very disapponting conclusion to the probability Trilogy. The two first installments definitely had their moments even though they were not up to the best of Nacy Kress' contributions, but this book reads as if it was written be a completely different author. Half of the book is a silly juvenile which could have been skipped completely and the second half doesn't answer most of the interesting questions raised in the first two books. When we leave the book we know next to nothing about those who created the space tunnels. We know next to nothing about the Fallers, and we know nothing about the new society developing on World and about those who remained there.

So who wrote this book? I guess it could be Charles Sheffield stepping in to help his wife (the writing style and the two-dimensional charachterization of persons in Probability Space matches his writing to some extent) or it could be somebody else. But it definitely was not Nancy Kress.