The Shattered Sphere [Mass Market Paperback]

Roger MacBride Allen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1995

Humans face two enemies--the implacably powerful Charonians who kidnapped the Earth, and the mysterious Adversary, before whom the Charonians quake in fear. Can an unlikely combination of scientists, corpses, dictators, and professional troublemakers withstand both threats and return the Earth to its proper place in the Solar System? The sequel to The Ring of Charon.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this sequel to The Ring of Charon (Tor Bks., 1990), humans aboard a kidnapped Earth face formidable odds to bring their planet home.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Allen's Hunted Earth series (begun in The Ring of Charon, 1990) has been promoted to hardcover for its second installment. Kidnapped by the Charonian aliens, Earth is in their stellar system and caught in a conflict between the Charonians and another, even more potent and malevolent alien race and has very little power to defend itself. Meanwhile, back in the solar system, what is left of the human race is trying to learn how the home planet was carted off and what hope there is of getting it back. This plot makes for lots of action and ingenious puzzles and some more than respectable aliens. It's well up to Allen's normal high standard and a worthwhile addition to any collection strong in hard-science or action sf. Roland Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812530160
• ISBN-13: 978-0812530162
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,213,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shattered Series as well, April 28, 2002

By 

Petr SLADEK (Czech republic) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shattered Sphere (Mass Market Paperback)

Second in the series but (I must admit at the begining) surely not planned as last in the story. Earth "stolen" to alien Multisystem after gravitic experiment has triggered on wheel-like superstrucure burried deep into Moon. In the second book we can watch Earth, NaPurHab (crazy Naked Purpure Habitat) and Terra Nova ship in Multisystem strugging to survive among COREs and SCOREs - alien objects smashing nearly anything what get into their path or into collision course with any planet they guarding.
This book is one of the true hard SF with all hi-tech stuff and of course some future-stuff tech. You can find here some psychological background of main characters also, but there is also bad side. The plot is moving to slowly from the beginning and reader have to wait nearly till the end of the book for some real action. Everything before is only "getting data, sorting data, making some kind of hypothesis etc..." ocassionaly inset by short flashes about Charonians Heritage Memory or Adversary thinking.
The end is not "The End" the way we would expecting it. It seems to me as small stop before next volume which should be great conclusion of this story. May be establishing something like relationship between humans and Charonians like it is stated on last two pages of Shattered Sphere book.
Calculated together - very good book for those who like SF, but you have to expect, that there is no strong end. I hope there will be third book soon and I will be able to get one copy to read it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have, but where's the rest?, May 8, 2002

By 

W. Wire (PA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Shattered Sphere (Hunted Earth, Book 2) (Hardcover)

This book is awesome in its scope taking place pretty far in humanities future. It's the second book in the series. In the first book, a gravitational control experiment on Pluto wakes up alien machinery which steals the Earth through an artificial black hole and begins dismantling the other planets for its own purposes. It's humanties first glimpse of FTL travel, and follows the desperate struggle of those left behind to survive and halt the aliens progress towards transforming the solar system, all the while trying to duplicate the feat.

This book picks up with the efforts of the humans left behind to find and retrieve the Earth from the alien menace. It also follows the struggle of the people of Earth who find themselves in an entirely new system, with hundreds of stars and planets and ravenous alien life form/machines bent on exploiting all life and resources of the Earth. Not to mention the mysterious "enemy" that consumes all life, that has located Earths new home.

The book ends just as things start to get REALLY good, and there has yet to be another book to finish off this story, and it's been quite a while now. So - Where's the Rest? If you don't buy it, put the series on your "watch" list and when the next one comes out - get them all!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Miss this!, April 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Shattered Sphere (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the sequel to The Ring of Charon, and excellent science fiction. Though The Ring of Charon had some of the most horrendus cover art I've ever seen, it was an excellent book, with good characterization (though I wish he'd concentrate more on one character). The Shattered Sphere is great, and I can't wait to read the next in the series.