Eon: 1

Product Information

But for my taste, I think the review still stands: characters that behave in a totally unbelievable manner and handwavium disguised as science. Eon also did not have much of the morally contemplative ideas that I usually love to have in any SF title. If the Soviets believed the Americans were learning secrets that would give them an edge, tensions might escalate out of hand. I have to agree with another reviewer - there are moments when you have to put the book down and just stare into space, assimilating. The 21st century was on the brink of nuclear confrontation when the 300 kilometer-long stone flashed out of nothingness and into Earth's orbit.

Maybe if you liked Banks' The Algebraist or Hamilton's Night's Dawn you'll like this - similarly bloated balderdash disguised as serious science fiction.I mean, not only was this a human-built structure but there were actual future humans on the rock with our scientists! And there's a library that appears to recount the history of Earth, but this history includes events in the future of our team, and even predicts the war they wanted to avoid.

This sounds like a distillate of the worst YA tropes wrapped up in a “serious” cloak… I know what you mean when you say that having read many books in the genre it takes something exceptional to keep your interest focused, and this one clearly is not. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. It seems to him that the author just makes us discover what he wants to be the case at an unnatural rate so he doesn't sacrifice pacing. The characters: I read this a couple of years ago, and the characters were flat, so I remember little about them.

Bear emphasizes that just because one belongs to a group doesn’t mean one’s own identity and choices are subsumed into that group. In the second half of the book, the theme of ideological conflict is continued through the growing tensions between the hardline political officers assigned to the Soviet force, and their more moderate military leader, Mirsky, who (like Vasquez) gains life-changing insights into the situation that faces them after being exposed to the accelerated learning facilities of the Stone's libraries. The first quarter is full of exploration and discovery, taking the reader to exotic places and revealing fascinating technologies.

Considering the alternate universes and time-lines being casually tossed about here, that kind of thing shouldn’t even be an issue. The basis of the story is immediately appealing, offering as it does the promise of mysteries and wonders.I have not read those yet but Eon stands very well on its own as there is no cliff hanger to speak of. It is therefore no great surprise that the book eventually evolves (or devolves, depending on your point of view) from Hard Science Fiction to a form of Space Opera.