Customer Reviews

Shiva Descending

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

 

 

"Shiva Descending" is the genesis of movies, "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon" --- a huge, mountain-sized asteroid is going to enter the earth's orbit and destroy the planet. The big-daddy asteroid is accompanied by a "swarm" of smaller asteroids that are hitting the planet causing earthquakes, tidal waves and huge destruction. The main asteroid designated, Shiva, is discovered eleven months before its projected impact.

How does the earth's populace prepare for this devastating event? On balance, not well at all. NASA and the military are the only heroes, our government gets a grade C, organized religion rates a D, and the general population flunks. Pandemonium, lawlessness, strange sects and anarchy reign. As Shiva nears Earth's orbit, the level of civilization declines drastically. The only hope for humanity is if the massive asteroid can be deflected away from earth. Enter NASA and the astronauts carrying a bomb load that would make Anola Gay look like a peashooter.

More than a nodding acquaintance with astronomy and physics would add to the enjoyment of this book. The technical passages are many and sometimes too long. The male characters are well delineated, surprisingly so for this type of book. The anti-hero, Carl Jagen, is particularly complex; he creates tension whenever he appears. The females, with the exception of the clear-eyed astronaut, are pliant, ...... ravenous, and servile. The story contains a few dead spots, but provides a rousing, spot-on finale when the astronauts do battle with Shiva in space. After barely retaining my interest in the opening passages, I was riveted by the last third of the story. Grade B-

Thoroughly enjoyed this book! The characters are well developed, the science is good and it is well written. A mountain size meteor is approaching Earth, and Earth has one shot, actually two, to try and do something about it. The story goes at length into how different countries and cultures deal with the situation and how US politics and world religions (both old and newly formed as a result of the impending doom) address the crisis. There is the usual love interest, as well as competition amongst the astronauts involved. The science is solid and interestingly presented through various characters. One cannot help but draw comparisions to Deep Impact and Armageddon, this story is far superior to either of those two. The book is only a little dated because it draws upon the US/Russia mistrust, space competition and nuclear weapons... but that does not detract from its enjoyment.

3 and 1/2 stars actually. "Shiva Descending" gets high marks as a book far ahead of its time as far as meteoric "space disasters" are concerned. Written long before the topic became vogue, Benford and Rotsler do a creditable job describing what life would be like if Earth was threatened by an impending disaster of global proportions.

Unfortunately, it takes the authors too long to get to the "good stuff" and that's the main downfall of this novel, IMHO. The selection of the astronauts assigned to save the world is interesting enough. And so are the frequent depictions of the smaller meteor strikes in advance of the main astral body known as "Shiva". Benford and Rotsler's view of worldwide paranoia, religious zeal, and sexual depravity in reaction to this pending catastrophic event is disturbing at best. But... probably not too far from the truth if a disaster of this proportion ever threatens the earth.

This story becomes more uneven as the authors try and describe how world governments would react during a situation like this. Would world leaders be shallow enough to take their own lives instead of attempting to save their countrymen? Would a US President turn to debauchery and apathy instead of trying to be a leader? (The analogy of a banjo-playing President and Nero, his violin, and a burning Rome definitely came to my mind as the asteroid got closer to Earth.)

The other main complaint that I have is that there are so many characters introduced in this novel, that the authors can't really do justice to character development. In particular, I would have really liked to have seen Brother Gabriel's character developed a little more.

As an earlier reviewer pointed out, the last third of the book is riveting. You'll be on the edge of your seat as the book takes a few twists and turns before arriving at it's (expected) ending. It should be noted that this book is often given credit for spawning movies like "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact". It should also be noted that like most books, the novel is superior to the film version(s).

Should you read this book? Yes. It is well-researched and imaginative. Is it one of the best of the Apocalyptic genre' books? No. I would recommend instead ... "Rift" by Walter Williams, "The New Madrid Run" by Michael Reisig, or "Earth Abides" by George Stewart.

Very gritty and realistic. Huge asteroid is about to hit Earth and various nations in the world attempt to stop it. Of course, there are plenty nutcases and religious zealots who are sabotaging NASA. I guarantee, that if something like this actually happens there will be plenty of idiots like this crawling out the woodwork. Overall, I enjoyed the book but Jack McDevitt is still my favorite.

Beetween "Lucifer's Hammer" and "The Hammer of God", Benford's is better. You have to read it to the end, to see what happens. For a pre-Alvarez paradigm novel, the science is good. If you like the asteroid or comet hitting Earth stories, this is a good pick.

"Shiva Descending" by Grergory Benford & William Rosler is the classic story of an asteriod hitting the earth. On one side, you have NASA with the help space agencies from around the world trying to stop Shiva. On the other side, the effect of the coming doom have sent the avarage person over the edge.
This book was pretty good, but the book was dated and it seem slow in places. Another problem I had that the reader didn't really have a time frame for the book and at time that really bug me. A fan of the "End of the world" genre will enjoy it.

"Armageddon" is very good. However, if you had read this book first and watched the movie second, you will be never satisfied, because the movie got a little cheaper. The results of the movie is too optimistic. They must underestimate the danger by asteroids. You can find the detailed real in this excellent book. If the movie had been made faithfully in the basic line of this book...!

The rock-hitting-earth genre hit, quite literally, an all-time high in Shiva Descending. It seems that no city on the face of the earth is spared from the numerous smaller impacts that precede Shiva itself. To their credit, though, Benford and Rostler redeem themselves with a realistic account of the death of Cleveland.

Though such swarms of small asteroids would be an extremely rare occurence, it does make for entertaining reading, especially as Shiva begins its final assault on the earth.

A swarm of comets is identified swinging in orbit around the sun, but this time they're coming too close. In the center of the swarm is a mountain sized asteroid named Shiva. Earth has eleven months before Shiva returns on it's orbit, where it's path will put it directly into a collision course with Earth. The debris of Shiva precedes it, and meteors begin striking the Earth; first Biskra near the Tunisian border, then Cleveland, then Miami beach - and they keep coming.

President Caleb Knowles and NASA Operations director Chuck Bradshaw come up with a plan to save the Earth. Russian president Yaroslav Kalinin has a four hundred megaton atomic device kept hidden from the US that he offers up for the destruction of Shiva. In a global effort, two teams of astronauts, Alpha team and Omega team, are sent into space to detonate the bombs on Shiva to either destroy it or alter its course away from Earth. Captain Carl Jagens leads up the Alpha team, and Major Lisa Bander leads the Omega team. Lisa has a romance going with Colonel Diego Calderon, second to Jagens on the Alpha team.

Long before the astronauts can intercept Shiva, the world begins to collapse. With meteors striking everywhere, civilization begins to collapse. There's political and scientific upheaval, global political fallout, the collapse of banks and the exchange, power failures nationwide, desertions in the military and private sectors, assassinations, and sects forming in the civilian population. The most dangerous sect is formed by Douglas Kress, who now calls himself Brother Gabriel and leads "The Gabriels" (reminiscent of the Heaven's Gate cult from comet Hale-Bopp) on a mission to stop the astronauts from launching. They believe its God's will that Shiva cleanses the Earth. Millions would die before Shiva, in riots, revolts, starvation, and disease.

'Shiva Descending' was written in 1980, the forerunner of the "Armageddon by comet" scenarios. 'Lucifer's Hammer' (another good book) came out in 1985. In 1998 came the movie 'Deep Impact', and in 1999 the movie 'Armageddon', both of which are excellent movies. In the movies, though, they portray civilization staying relatively intact while waiting for impact, whereas in 'Shiva Descending' the more realistic approach of chaos is used. I personally believe society would break down into splinter groups and wreak havoc during their remaining days. (I don't have much faith in humanity - a person is smart, but people, as a herd animal, are stupid)

The book has a good grasp on its futuristic allusions except for a couple of references to card-reader computers and 8-track video cassettes. It should be considered a "hard sci-fi" book because of the extensive scientific material included, almost technical enough to lose my attention. The ending is a bit abrupt; leaving a lot of unresolved issues, but satisfies the destiny of Shiva itself. The main characters are independent and realistic, and there are many extra characters you'll get to know. The chapters are broken into a timeline, so you'll live through the catastrophe as the characters do. The descriptions and dialogue are tight and interesting.

'Shiva Descending' is a must have for fans like me of the Apocalypse genre. Well worth finding a used copy, since its now out-of-print. Just outlining the plot doesn't do the book justice, because so much is happening during the story you won't be able to put the book down. It takes a harder look at the science and politics of a disaster than most apocalyptic stories, so you'll need it in your collection. Enjoy!

Have been looking for this since I read it years ago when it was first published. Great to re-read it.