Customer Reviews

Procyon's Promise

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An ancient race has been civilized for hundreds of thousands of years. They have made all sorts of advancements but one secret eludes them. That is the secret to Faster than Light travel. As they become aware that there star is ending its time on the main sequence and will die, they become more and more concerned with finding FTL. They hit upon a scheme to send out probes to every star they can reach willing to trade their considerable knowledge for that of FTL.

One of these probes comes to Earth. Earth is not really it's goal but it has detected a hint that the goal may be found at Procyon and it needs fuel. Even so, Earth officialdom is eager to take part in the promised bounty. Not everyone is happy, though. Some fear that the new knowledge will affect their income and power and the probe is severely damaged in a battle, losing all knowledge of its Makers but not of its mission. The victors, aghast at what has happened, agree to outfit an expedition to Procyon. It departs and then fails to return on schedule.

Human beings, being what they are, soon forget their promise, at least on Earth. Those dispatched to Procyon, however, do not forget. After many trials, the find the secret and return to Earth in an FTL ship expecting Earth to help get the FTL information back to the original Makers. Their obligation to fulfilling the promise is almost a religious devotion. Earth thinks otherwise but eventually, after much coercion, signs on to the deal and the stage is set for a grand exploration of the Universe.

This is a highly readable story, engaging in its characters and sometimes painful in its frank evaluation of human tendencies. It is well written, enjoyable throughout and comes to an unexpected conclusion. What more could a SciFi junkie ask for?

As a follow up to the book Life Probe, which I found in my library and re read last month, I looked forward to Procyon's Promise and I had trouble getting to bed because I didn't want to put it down, I wanted to see what happened to the characters. Good work with character and plot development, I'll be looking at other work by the author,

Back in the 80's I bought this book, read it. It's the second part of an absolutely MARVELOUS first book... And NEVER could forget the story. As described it GRABBED you and carried you through. A very compelling read if you like Hard SciFi. I am here, searching for it now, because I want it again in my library. The only OTHER book I care about nearly so much is Larry Nivens "Protector". (well, John Steakley's Classic book 'Armor' is on my list too. "Armor" is a metaphor, for a very special soldier who -for some reason- can't die.). I also DO indeed want LIFE PROBE (the FIRST of this book-duo) for the same compelling nature of the story. In fact as with most stories it's usually the FIRST book/movie that "get's" you. Procyons Promise was simply the final chapter of a satisfying read, by a GREAT technical ("Hard" SciFi) writer.

The continuation of the intriguing story "Life Probe", although set a few hundred years after the fact. "Procyon's Promise" is fast paced and manages not to insult the readers intelligence, yet gives enough scientific reasoning behind quantum mechanics for even a novice in the field of mathematics to grasp his meanings. Although definitely not the `great American novel' this book is witty, intelligent, all encompassing, and reasonably toned down. I must confess I liked the book enough that I sat down for 5 hours and read strait through it.