The Immortality Option (Mass Market Paperback)

by James P. Hogan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this somewhat humdrum sequel to Code of the Lifemaker, Hogan traces efforts of professional psychic/con man Karl Zambendorf and crew to protect the Taloids, a civilization of robots that has developed on Saturn's moon, Titan. The robots were sent to Titan over a million years ago by the Borijans, quarrelsome avians from the nova-threatened planet of Turle, who programmed the robots to find a world and build new bodies for their creators, who had stored their personalities electronically. Because of contaminated data in their computer system, the robots evolved and, by the time they were discovered by an exploratory mission from Earth, had developed a culture resembling much of Europe during the Renaissance. Meddling by Earth's political interests, however, brings the Borijans to life, prompting Zambendorf's crew to battle both to protect the Taloid nations from exploitation by Earth forces and to fend off the Borijan attempt to take over Titan and Earth. The dynamics here suggest Robin Hood-type adventures; the most interesting material describes how the Taloids became self-aware and developed their civilization.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Hogan's acclaimed Code of the Lifemaker (1983) introduced the Taloids, aliens who had settled their culture of self-replicating machines on Saturn's moon, Titan, and recently been discovered by earthlings. This book finds that the General Space Enterprises Corporation (GSEC), the Titan mission's overseer, has failed so far in its campaign to gain the Taloids' cooperation and technology for GSEC's own greater profit and glory but has unwittingly inspired the Taloids to substitute a new religion of brotherhood for their native creed of worship of their mythical creator, the Lifemaker. Then, when a Titan-based crew member is killed, GSEC, vowing to secure Taloid technology by force, sends in its military. What none of Earth's leaders or scientists suspects is that the Lifemakers (note the plural) are still present, watching the conflict through machine-based eyes. Although Hogan commits the literary transgression of making the subplot concerning the Lifemakers' origins more interesting than the main story line, his dazzling hard-science speculations on the seemingly endless possibilities of machine intelligence lift this sequel above the level of its predecessor. Carl Hays --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Baen (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743471636
• ISBN-13: 978-0743471633
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,099,666 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The sequal succeeds as well as the original, November 13, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Linden, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Immortality Option (Mass Market Paperback)

In the original, the author blew me away with natural evolution for robots. In this book, he keeps artful, suspenseful control of a plot that spans over a million years, two star systems, three very distinct species, and several outstanding individuals.

I made the mistake of reading this book before going to bed..I couldn't put it down to go to sleep! The mood swings, sometimes abruptly, from wonder, to laugh-out-loud funny, to nail-biting tension.

All my favorite characters from the original return, and are joined by the imaginatively-rendered Borijans and their AI GENIUS in a three-way battle for the future of Titan, which is also a battle between science and nonsense, gullibility and guile, compassion and selfishness.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent sequel to a classic novel, April 11, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Immortality Option (Mass Market Paperback)

Considering the massive set and costume changes between successive "Star Trek" movies, which are generally 2-3 years apart, I wondered how well the author would pick up after over a decade. I must say, it was as if the books had been written one after another.

In this sequel to "Code of the Lifemaker" we learn much about the race that created the craft that landed on Titan and started the ball rolling and find out that a hidden agenda made a routine exploration mission somewhat less than routine.

By the end, we discover that paranoia and gullibility are not strictly human traits but universal in nature and applicable to aliens and computers alike.

While "Code of the Lifemaker" and "The Immortality Option" stand up on their own, together they're a blast.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sloppy, silly thinking wrapped in a "hard science" label, January 28, 2004

By	Beau Yarbrough (Hesperia, CA) - See all my reviews

I LOVED the original "Code of the Lifemaker" so long ago, but 20 years later, I found this sequel to be nothing short of appalling, bad in ways that suggest Hogan has no respect either for his audience or even himself.

While the original showed a wonderful imagination, it was grounded in both real science and the way real people behave. The sequel, on the other hand, is grounded in neither, and reads more like Internet fan fiction or an entry in some sort of "bad science fiction" contest. When I read the paragraph where Hogan described the notebook of "correct opinion" the evil media elites distribute to newsrooms as part of the vast, sinister media conspiracy (literally), I had to re-read the paragraph several times, since I didn't want to believe something so comically stupid could have been written by someone who once seemed destined to be one of the great science fiction writers.

Nope, he did write it. And into the garbage went this book.

If you're looking for wonder and imagination set in Saturn's orbit, check out John Varley's Gaea trilogy instead, and stay well away from "The Immortality Option."