Customer Reviews

The Seed of Earth

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Silverberg wrote this when he was 18, and it shows. About 1 to 2 millions of today's SF teen fans could, and probably would have written this storyline better. What saves "Seed of Earth" from zero stars are the last 25 - 30 pages, where the story turns into an interesting psychological drama. Four persons, virtually strangers, are forced to live together in a cave. The tensions, the frictions and the insights into their characters are developed quite nicely (albeit with 50's self censorship of certain scenes). Here at least is the seed of the future great master, Robert Silverberg.

I read THE SEED OF EARTH and, being a huge fan of Robert Silverberg, much enjoyed it. Mind you, this is not a classic, nor is it deserving of any awards, nor is it extremely memorable. More so beyond anything, it leaves you with a sense of beauty, a grand feeling that calms you inside. The story centers around a military program in the near future and, because of mans prominent belief that we are alone in the universe with so much wasted space, the government sends out recruits chosen by a supercomputer to board a ship and fly to the destined planet to begin a brand new Earth colony. The novel centers around about 4 or 5 characters who are neatly written that are chosen to board the starship Gegenschein. Once at Osirus, their destination, the crew discovers a race of aliens that lead the 4 characters into a cave. I will let it take out from there. I do recommend this book, but not over say DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH or THE FACE OF THE WATERS by Silverberg. Nonetheless, a good read that takes you to the stars!