The orbiting tachyon detector was designed by physicist Juan Obrion to identify life in other star systems, but even though he expected to find some signs of life, he certainly didn't expect to find any life on earth. Juan discovers that a culture has been concealed for many years far below Antarctica, and Obrion ventures out as part of a four-man team to explore the unknown. Juan, Lena, Malachi and Magnus are awestruck when they discover a myriad of portals to parallel lands, but the maze they fall into makes them wonder if their journey will ever come to an end.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bleak, depressing, pessimistic,
This review is from: Stranger Suns (Mass Market Paperback)
The blurb from the back cover of the paperback reads thus:"Physicist John Obrion designed his orbiting tachyon detector to listen for signs of life in other star systems. And though he doesn't anticipate the failure his employers expect, the last place he thought to trace a signal was to Earth itself. "Under the frozen ground of Antarctica lies the fantastic starship of a forgotten culture. Long dormant, it requires only passengers to awaken it...and Obrion's exploration team triggers the ship's launch. Prisoners in the empty craft, the four scientists find themselves reluctant, awestruck travelers through a universe where humankind has never ventured. And that is only the beginning: as Obrion and his companions explore the alien ship, they discover portals to an infinite number of variant Earths. The questions raised by these doorways are as innumerable as the worlds they access...but they only matter if Juan, Lena, Malachi, and magnus can find their way back home." Before reading "Stranger Suns" I had previously read one other novel by George Zebrowski, "The Killing Star". While that book was quite gloomy (entire human civilisation, cautiously hopeful about the future, is wiped out in a matter of seconds by a relativistic weapon dispatched by a coldly logical alien species) it comes nowhere near the feel-bad philosophy espoused by this particular book. The central character, Dr. Juan Obrion, wore me down with his - and by extension, the author's - misanthropic take on the human condition. Each grim variant of Earth he and his companions discovered was a cause for tedious griping and whining about humanity's penchant for self-destruction, greed, and corruption. At times I wished Obrion would happen upon an alternate Earth just seconds before it's utter destruction by a "Killing Star" like weapon just to shut him up!. When not bashing humankind for its failings, he briefly examines the nature of a particular prison system and the moral responsibility, if any, of its wardens. Despite it's cheerless perspective, the book does have some things to recommend it. The technologies left behind by the alien ship-builders are quite intriguing, focusing on mind-boggling methods of inter-stellar and cross-dimensional transportation (this particular technology lead to some confusing plotting as the characters travel between successively more improbable Earth variants), bodily rejuvenation, matter replication and energy manipulation. Zebrowski's depiction of a far-future alien culture is similarly impressive, if incomprehensible.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
an amazing discovery---sci fi for adults,
By
This review is from: Stranger Suns (Mass Market Paperback)
As a novel, it's terrific---the story hurtles along, never predictable, with characters of depth and moment, and above all, the writing is a cut above. The science is cutting edge, the alternate world elements are fascinating. The combination of storytelling and sci fi is breathtaking and exciting. But the philosophical concerns---and this book has them---are at the heart of it, and they are the concerns of characters in midlife, looking back on their dashed and persistent dreams, their frustrations and failures, and examining the history and nature of humanity from this perspective. The book's protagonist, Juan Obrion, is a kind of Raymond Chandler character--an idealistic but disillusioned detective of cosmic mysteries and the mysteries of human nature. For me, all this gives this book an added dimension, a depth in character and in general concern not often present in any novel these days, let alone science fiction. I don't think you have to be older to enjoy this novel, but it helps to understand the concerns of the main character from that perspective. This is a novel that H.G. Wells would love---it creates a believable future, but uses it for more than fun and games. It's an inner and outer journey to the edge, and even if Obrion starts out with a Huxley/Darwin idea of human nature fated to be limited by what it needed for its own evolution, he ends up with a more hopeful one. Readers of Zebrowski's MACROLIFE and BRUTE ORBITS will recognize this universe, taken this time to a kind of ultimate. It's been an amazing experience finding someone this good who's been writing this long with this depth and these concerns. I've come to Zebrowski late, but I'm sure glad not too late.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
With luck, this will stay out of print,
By
This review is from: Stranger Suns (Mass Market Paperback)
With any luck, Stranger Suns will stay out of print. I picked it up because I'd been so impressed with Zebrowski's collaboration on the Killing Star, but this was a complete disappointment. The alleged plot starts out with some similarities to Norton's Time Trader's series, where humans discover ancient starships buried on Earth. The difference here is that the time travel is between different realities, instead of linearly through historic time. A group of miserable excuses for scientists start to explore, and the plot completely derails. Threads start and die with no discernable plan. The "scientists" make wild speculations based on no data and conclude they are facts. The ending comes 150 pages too late, and resolves nothing. What a waste!
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