Customer Reviews

Twilight of the Mind (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Book 3)

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

The last line of the synposis does not lie, "humanity's struggle hurtles toward a shocking conclusion..." I just finished this series tonight and was so shocked and moved by the ending I had to review it now. If you didn't like the first two installments, you will most likely be more pleased with this one.
The first book, Centauri Dawn, gave you fast paced action showing that humanity will never let go of it's past.

The second book, Dragon Sun, showed you the world of the faction leaders and the responsibilities that lie on their shoulders.

In this book, Twilight of the Mind, all you can think of by the end is "wow." Ely wrote this installment perfectly, giving you more emotion than you can shake a mindworm at. All of the faction leaders come to terms in this installment that they will eventually die and try to come to grips with the meaning of humanity and life in their own respective ways. For Miriam and Mia it's a conservative life, where as for Diedre, Morgan, Santiago, Lal, and Zakharov it's a life of knowledge, beauty, and "sinful" fun. Miriam declares war on the settlements after she's buried for three days alive and comes out of the ground thinking, nay believing she's the new Messiah and that she knows God's plan. In her fit of zealous insanity she manages to show what they, the seven settlement leaders, came to Chiron to get away from, man's undying thirst for destruction and assimilation. The book ends in a very shocking way though and I was not disappointed. I actually felt a sense of fear in realization that the ending of this book could be humanity's fate.

A good read, I promise.

This, the last of the trilogy, is easily the best of the Alpha Centauri series. Finally, we get an inside peek at the Believer faction. Up to now, they've had a whopping two appearances, both times as dirty, psychotic, low-tech invaders. Well, this book does little to dispel that image, but at least you get an idea on what they're thinking.
Something is happening in almost every scene to advance the plot, making for a brisk pace. *Plenty* of warfare, subterfuge, and sex(nothing graphic, unless your mind makes it that way). While this is mostly a Believer vs. University and Morgan story, it features the most interaction among all seven factions (though the Gaians and Spartans only play minor roles). Oh, and old characters reemerge. Mia Yang and Jin Long are back, but you'll find that they're very different people now.
This being the final book, the ending is pretty final. Let's just say that it's not an ending you'd find in the game.
Best of all, I think, is the theme of the book and the question it asks. I won't tell you what it is, but I will say that it won't beat you over the head and tell you how to think over the question. It just presents various sides of the equation and how people approach said question. This is a good read, even if you're not an Alpha Centauri gamer.

The last line of the synposis does not lie, "humanity's struggle hurtles toward a shocking conclusion..." I just finished this series tonight and was so shocked and moved by the ending I had to review it now. If you didn't like the first two installments, you will most likely be more pleased with this one.

The first book, Centauri Dawn, gave you fast paced action showing that humanity will never let go of it's past.

The second book, Dragon Sun, showed you the world of the faction leaders and the responsibilities that lie on their shoulders.

In this book, Twilight of the Mind, all you can think of by the end is "wow." Ely wrote this installment perfectly, giving you more emotion than you can shake a mindworm at. All of the faction leaders come to terms in this installment that we will eventually die and try to come to grips with the meaning of humanity and life in their own respective ways. For Miriam and Mia it's a conservative life, where as for Diedre, Morgan, Santiago, Lal, and Zakharov it's a life of knowledge, beauty, and "sinful" fun. Miriam declares war on the settlements after she's buried for three days alive and comes out of the ground thinking, nay believing she's the new Messiah and that she knows God's plan. In her fit of zealous insanity she manages to show what they, the seven settlement leaders, came to Chiron to get away from, man's undying thirst for destruction and assimilation. The book ends in a very shocking way though and I was not disappointed. I actually felt a sense of fear in realization that the ending of this book could be humanity's fate.

A good read, I promise.

I won't say that you should under no circumstances buy this book. I will say that it was a gross disappointment to me when I read it.
I have read the first two books in the Alpha Centauri series and played the game. The first two books do a great deal of work to capture the personalities of the leaders involved and to make thier trials realistic and human. In book III, Twilight of the Mind, the characters of Prokhor Zakharov and Miriam Godwinson take the forefront, yet I feel that Michael Ely dropped the ball in making them real and dynamic.
This book, like the past two, uses technologies mentioned in the game and explores the problems of living in an idealized nanotech culture. Yet the ways in which the technologies are used ignore solutions to problems.
As the third book of three, I had expected some sort of definite conclusion to be reached. Yet without giving away the end, Chiron is left suffering and it's citizens in a living lie. No one transcends, no one wins, no agreement is made. If there were one more book after this, I might forgive the ending as simply building to a cliffhanger. Some might argue that the fatalistic end is simply a nod at reality's tendency to blunt even our greatest efforts, as were the pathos filled endings of the previous novels. I am not placated because a)Conflict without resolution isn't a story, and b) Escapist fiction has not right to pointless pathos.
If you're looking for a tale of a dismal ending to humanity, there are far better tales to read. And if you're looking for a good story, look elsewhere.

I will not mince words; this book is shockingly bleak, especially when you consider that it is written by the creator of the "story" side of Alpha Centauri, Michael Ely. In a very real sense, everything that is accomplished by the human settlers of Alpha Centauri is for naught in this book.

The book centers on the dynamic between Zakharov, the man of science and reason, who is "building a citadel of knowledge", and Miriam, the woman of faith and fanaticism, who has a vision that turns the world upside down. Along the way, we see a number of characters develop, and generally their interaction is very well done and interesting, particularly that of Pravin Lal.

The only weaknesses of this book is that the technological advance seems to strain belief at times (it is highly doubtful that the entire mass of human beings at this time numbers more than 50 million - a huge rate of growth over 250 years, but much less than the population base on Earth), and that at a certain point, the plot impetus in favor of Miriam just seems contrived towards a certain ending. That ending will doubtless disappoint many people, and it disappointed me in many ways, but it nonetheless represents a fairly original development on Ely's part.

If it is very important to finish the trilogy for you, then go right ahead, but toughen yourself up for the ending. If not, then don't bother; the SMAC novels really stand on their own in many ways.

Wow.
This book had me thinking from the first page to the last. Questions of morality, ethics, and whether or not I should take a break to use the bathroom.
This is the type of book I expected for a great game like Alpha Centauri, it made you think on so many levels, while keeping your adrenaline pumped from all the battles going on. Several times I almost did a double take at the book (which would have been foolish since I could have simply re-read the passage), AMAZING things happening in this books. Factions developed, characters developed, factions eradicated, characters eradicated. All I can say is WOW!
Best. One. Yet.

My only complaint was two spelling errors. Minor ones...

A powerful ending to a great series. These three books (in the series) cover more ground and more character change than most Star Trek type stuff ever will. Just for the ending alone, this book is worth reading, especially in this time in the world, with all that's going on. The questions this book raises about human nature had me thinking for days. Recommended.

...this book is really ... amazing! Trust me, it ROCKS, the whole trilogy ROCKS!