The Alien Years (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Carmichael might have been the only person west of the Rocky Mountains that morning who didn't know what was going on..." (more)
Key Phrases: alien years, crimson circle, grenade gun, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Sammo Borracho (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Silverberg (Sorcerors of Majipoor) returns to his 1986 short story "The Pardoner's Tale" as the inspiration for this sobering and frightening novel of extraterrestrial invasion. The narrative opens seven years hence, with the arrival of alien spaceships on Earth, an event that has a devastating effect on the Carmichael family. Pilot Michael Carmichael is killed trying to fight the huge firestorms in Los Angeles that erupt when the alien ships land; his wife, Cindy, leaps at the chance to go aboard one of the UFOs and become an interpreter for the "Entities"; and his brother, Colonel Anson Carmichael, is summoned by Washington to help cope with the situation. Before there is time to react, however, the aliens' intent becomes known as they disrupt all electricity and plunge civilization back into the Dark Ages. Silverberg's story is clear-eyed, credible and occasionally bleak. Faced with an omnipotent enemy, mankind's only alternative is to refuse to capitulate and to attempt to endure. Isolated and relatively safe in their mountain ranch, the extended Carmichael clan tries to go on with their lives while working on ways to resist their oppressors. Silverberg's technique of leapfrogging several years ahead between chapters furthers momentum, and while the enemy in his story is disturbingly inhuman, the focus of the tale is the humanity of his characters and their efforts to keep hope alive. The novel's ending seems arbitrary, but Silverberg's rich characters, his dead-on target vision of modern society, his mastery at building tension?all are in evidence in this notable outing from one of the very best. Agent: Ralph Vicinanza. (Aug.) FYI: Silverberg has won five Nebulas and four Hugos in his 44 years as an SF writer.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In the first decade of the new millennium, a sudden invasion by an alien species known only as the Entities brings about the swift and total conquest of Earth except for a small pocket of resisters led by Col. Anson Carmichael and his remarkable family. The latest novel by sf grand master Silverberg chronicles a half-century of struggle and frustration as generations of Carmichael sons and daughters strive to keep alive the concept of freedom in the face of overwhelmingly superior conquerors. Silverberg remains a superb raconteur whose patriarchal tendencies serve as a minor flaw in a remarkable study of human endurance and patience that belongs in most sf collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Eos; First Edition edition (August 5, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061050350
• ISBN-13: 978-0061050350
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,694,198 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Didn't live up to its potential, July 18, 2005

By	Book Reader 222 "John Howard" (Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Alien Years (Mass Market Paperback)

Hi! I'm an avid book reader of old who fell away from the habit during college. I recently decided to go back to my old hobby, and bought a bunch of books from my local new and used book store. I decided I might as well share my thoughts.

My first was "The Alien Years," by Robert Silverberg. I read some of his collaborations with Isaac Asimov years ago, and so maybe my expectations were a little high. The concept was great. Aliens come down and take over, but instead of blowing us all away like in "War of the Worlds" or "Independence Day," they set themselves up as unstoppable tyrants and, directly or indirectly, enslave us as a race. A medium-long book covering years and years of time. Plenty of time to explore this concept. Sounded great.

Sadly, in my eyes, the book did not live up to its potential. I enjoyed the second half better than the first, but overall, it kept feeling as though the best parts of the story were taking place ... "off stage?" "Between acts?" Something. Imagine having a forty page chapter build and build toward an event ... and then the event itself is summarized in the last page or two. Next chapter, seven years later.

Again, I feel that the book DID get better as it moved along, so I do not regret sticking with it. More and more action started taking place DURING the chapters instead of between them.

Over all, I guess the book was "just OK." It had the potential to BE "War of the Worlds" stretched out over fifty years, but instead, it just became something else entirely, something else not as exciting as it could have been.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars So dull!, May 18, 2005

By	Nicholas R. Hunter (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Alien Years (Mass Market Paperback)

There are books which are a pleasure to read page-by-page. There are books which sweep me along to an inevitable conclusion: some conclusions are more satisfying than others. Then there are books which I just persevere with because *surely* something interesting will eventually happen.

The Alien Years plot synopsis:

The Aliens arrive (we don't know why)... and then, some several hundred pages later, they leave (for some equally unknown reason).

What a bore! Lifeless stereotypical characters struggling fruitlessly. Maybe it's supposed to be a metaphor for something. I don't care one way or the other.

Thank goodness I borrowed this book from the library and so I didn't waste any money--only the many precious hours of my life when I could have been reading something interesting.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some good ideas, weak points, but too long for the payoff, October 20, 2005

By	Dave Deubler (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Alien Years (Mass Market Paperback)

Considering the plethora of evil alien invasions in the science fiction genre, Silverberg comes upon what strikes this reviewer as a significant revelation: that the behaviors and motivations of any truly alien race will most likely be wholly incomprehensible to us. Slaughter, slavery, and colonialism are entirely human concepts, and the notion that aliens would share these concepts is sheer anthropomorphism. So the seemingly invincible creatures who take over the Earth in this unusual novel engage in activities which are largely clandestine, and are never explained either to humanity or the reader. Convincing as this idea is, it's by its nature not a very good recipe for an adventure. Absent any weaknesses, or even motivation, on the part of the villains, the story focuses on how the alien occupation affects the lives of ordinary human beings. Some die immediately, unable to adapt to extraterrestrial rule. Others become collaborators, willing to work for whoever is in charge, without regard for the heritage of their race. And one isolated group, the unlucky Carmichael family, tries to maintain an attitude of resistance, even though such is clearly futile. This story should be a tribute to the perseverance of the human spirit, but instead winds up as more of a meditation on stubbornness, showing how various members of the Carmichael clan fare against the so-called Entities.

The conclusion to this book is certainly one of its more problematic elements. Although this reviewer has derided similar types of endings in other novels, given the context of this story's implicit assumptions discussed above, the ending really makes a lot of sense here. And however unsatisfying it may be to the average reader, it's just as unsatisfying for the protagonists. But many will be sorely disappointed.

A bigger problem is the novel's sheer length, which is truly excessive given the amount of action described. We sit through intimate psychological portraits of a number of characters, none of whom are really all that important in the bigger picture, while the story moves on at a glacial pace. It's perhaps the extent of the setup, more than anything, that makes the ending seem so weak. It's hard to see why the same story could not have been told in half as many pages with just as much impact, making it a distinctly better book.

Still, this really wasn't a bad book; it's got some good ideas, and it's a pretty easy read. And it's hard not to get involved in the fate of the resistance movement. Though the odds are inevitably stacked against them, they never give up the good fight - even when it's hard to say what the best course of action is. But Silverberg has written much better stories than this.