Across the sea of suns (original 1984; edition 1984)

The story sounded like it might have been interesting, if I could have understood what the hell was going on through the book. I could not get into the writing style at all, it was confusing half the time (or most the time), and I didn't much care for the characters either. ( )

I found half of this book to be a splendid read! The sections about life in the Earth's oceans after being invaded by aliens... top notch Science fiction. Unfortunately, I found the other half to be unreadable. I had hopes of getting into this series as I am a fan of hard sf but I really hate the main character and found the writing style awful. ( )

Really good sequel to Benford's 1st book in the series. This was a pretty spectacular book, THOUGH... There was a significant amount of stream of consciousness writing going on in a few places. Like fur in a cat's mouth. Aaaaacccggghh!!!! ( )

http://yet.org/2009/01/a_travers_la_mer_des_soleils.html ( )

Although Across The Sea Of Suns was first published twenty years ago, it is still good. Twenty years of evolving science, medicine and technology have not turned this book into an annoying or worse yet, humorous, science fiction. This is book two of the six book Galactic Center Series. I have not read the other five books in the series, but I have added them to my list of books I want read.
In 2064 the starship Lancer is launched to investigate near earth stars. A dozen years or so later, the Lancer approaches its first target. The life aboard the starship is described in enough detail to be interesting but is not plot-numbingly exhaustive. The relationships of the characters develop and change as the years pass. The crew faces challenges with both success and failure. While the Lancer travels through space, Earth is having its own challenges. Author Benford alternates between following Lancer and Earth. I thoroughly enjoyed the Lancer plot, but I found myself looking ahead to discover how many pages I would read of the Lancer plot before returning to Earth.

A one page star chart at the beginning of the book is helpful in following the Lancer's travels. A timeline at the end of the book is an interesting summary.

Warner Books published a paperback edition in 2004, so it will not be necessary to purchase a used copy of this book. I have not read the first book of the series, In The Ocean Of The Night, (yet), but if available to you, I would read that book before reading this one. ( )