Customer Reviews

Reckoning Infinity

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

 

 

While the book presents a couple of interesting ideas, it is, overall slow and very drawn-out. The plot goes nowhere, with the characters (most of which you won't be able to stand) literally going around in circles time after time after boring time. Perhaps the most dissappointig part, though, is that after you've read through all the drudgery, you expect the ending to resolve some of the things that happened and questions that came up along the way. Does it? No..... It just kind of .... stops. If you're looking for a boring, go-nowhere attempt at sci-fi, then this is the book for you.

Starts out fairly strong, establishing the two main characters reasonably well, but flounders as the alien lifecraft is explored. Once inside it, the descriptions and action, what little there is of it, are tiringly repititious and uninspired. Loose ends of the story are left untied, and I wound up feeling that my reading time had been a bit wasted. May appeal to some readers, but I cannot honestly recommend it.

This is an "alien object approaches solar system" story. The begining, involving an accidental collision of a shuttle craft with an earth-orbit space station is quite good. The set-up of the two main characters, Alis and Karl, is done quite well. Things go downhill from there, however. The two are reunited by chance in a survey ship near Pluto, when the alien object comes onto the scene. The plot drags as the team sent to investigate the object stumbles through a series of mishaps. The characters, particularly the supporting cast to the two principals, are petty and peevish. The conclusion is painfully obvious. If you want to read about alien objects, Greg Bear's "Eon" or ACC's "Rendezvous with Rama" are much more fulfilling.

Stith provides a perfect reason to chafe against categories like "hard" and "soft" SF. While he does a craftsmanlike job of producing an adequately bewildering alien environment, it all seems rather cursory and unengaging. The real reward here is the unusually-developed characters, who interact with a humanity, equally childish and compassionate, that is often lost in more "ennobled" works. Giving the book three stars is almost arbitrary. As pure science fiction, it falls flat. As a character study, it just might have something...

An excellent book with a very well-thought-out, well-executed plot. And, in the persons of Alis and Kurt, two very well-rendered, sympathetic (and empathetic characters. Stith has taken and old idea -- first contact with an alien species -- and twisted it into a novel of exploration, human conflict, and optimism about the human condition. The 'alien' he's created, a half-living, half-mechanical sphere, 100 km in diameter, that passes thru the Sol system, is imaginative and conveys that most enjoyable (and rare) element of science fiction -- a sense of wonder. This, combined with the story, makes the book a fun and thoughtful read. I have just one complaint, a spot at the end where Stith drops the ball at the epilog. After following four people through 200 pages, how on earth could he forget to tell the reader what happened to Lucy? And how on earth could Kurt Stanton, who worried so much about everyone else, and felt so bad about leaving a colleague's dead body in the alien artifact, not even ask about Lucy? This slip is out of character. Why didn't Stith's editor point it out? Maybe the paper edition will correct the oversight? Otherwise, great book!

This was a book I randomly picked up due to its cheap price and not having something to read at the moment. Rarely do I get such an amazing surprise as this.

Having been an avid reader of Feist, Niven, Anthony, Pavolini, Ashimov, etc., I was amazed to find such an unknown author have such a work of art. You start out cringing (especially if you read the book preview on the back), and then feeling the pain and anguish of the main character.

As the story progresses you can see the struggle for a beautiful woman who has partially become a cyborg, deal with her trials, then have to overcome the worst of them to work with the cause of her trauma.

While she, he, and several others try to comprehend the mystery that is rapidly approaching earth, she learns to appreciate he special repairs, as well as forgive.

While I agree with other reviewers that there are many hints as to what the planetoid is throughout the book, there are also many reasons given to doubt that speculation. In the end many of the answers are given, but many more questions are raised which could have been (and maybe still could be), brought up in subsequent books or prequils.

I found this truly to be a diamond in the rough. My only wish is that there was more such as this from this author.

If you enjoy your SF within the realm of possibility rather than fantasy, you'll enjoy John E. Stith's books. In the same category as Clarke.