Gregory Benford

1.5 stars rounded down to 1.

First, a bit of backstory. I actually started this series, not knowing it was a series, back in the 80s. I'd picked up Across the Sea of Suns (book #2) through a sci-fi book club as a teen. Upon reading it, I realized that it wasn't a standalone but a sequel. However, there was enough backstory that it didn't matter. But then the ending was left wide open, so I knew that it was, in fact, a series. I was not amused and subsequently forgot about the series for show more decades.

By chance, while perusing through one of the local library's book sales, I came across Sailing Bright Eternity and discovered that it was the last book in a six-book saga. I bought it, and it has sat on my nightstand for years hence. So when I spotted this book last summer, I knew that I should go back and read the whole series start-to-finish. Besides, I really liked the titles of the books.

I might be regretting that decision.

This book was written from 1972-1977 and parts were published in If magazine over that time. The book starts in 1999 and runs through 2019 (reprints bumped those dates back 20 years). There is so much 70s dreck hanging over this story that it's downright suffocating. Everything that was ugly about the 70s is concentrated and perpetuated for forty years! The Clean Air Act never accomplished anything, people passively gave up their cars for mass transit because Detroit and Tokyo couldn't innovate, Moore's Law failed to materialize, and the US never snapped out of its economic funk and continued to slowly slide into turpitude. It's enough to make me want to thank Reagan for his "Morning in America" pep rally speeches just to avoid this rubbish.

What arises out of this miasma is a new religious movement dubbed The New Sons. As far as I can tell, it's an amalgam of hippies, Eastern philosophy, Old Testament Christianity, and mysticism that infects the country and the world. Traditional religions are powerless before it and are soon negotiating for inclusion. It comes across as wholly implausible and schlocky. Maybe if I'd been trapped in Haight-Ashbury and my girlfriend was seduced by a bunch of hippies, I'd believe it. In essence, this is what happens to the protagonist, Nigel Walmsley.

Nigel is an insufferable, self-absorbed, patronizing jerk. A certain comment he made regarding a potential asteroid impact in India makes me think he might even be racist. He thinks he's right about everything and disobeys orders because he's right, damnit! What sucks is that too often he is right. But who wants to give that guy the satisfaction? He's a bit of a hypocrite: After witnessing a New Sons' bonfire ritual, he calls it a "license for public rutting" then goes home to have a three-way. Said three-way is Benford's rather clumsy way of informing the reader about Nigel's polyamorous relationship. What's worse is that most of the other characters in the novel are pathetic: power mad bureaucrats and passive aggressive religious zealots. In his relationship, Alexandria seems about ready to pass away from ennui (yes, she's ill, but Benford doesn't take advantage of her lucid moments to develop her character) while Shirley is always angry at Nigel for something. Too much of this book—almost a third—is spent detailing this relationship. While there's some hope for him by the end of the novel, after reading his stream of consciousness babble, I can't help but think he's just going to be a different flavor of insufferable, self-absorbed, patronizing jerk going forward.

So is there anything good here? Yeah, sure. Nigel's encounters with the aliens and anything involving Dr. Ichiro and Nikka. There's the "big idea" that attempts to answer the Fermi Paradox. But there isn't enough of this to counter the swamp of bad I had to slog through.

Now I probably shouldn't be so critical of a book that was written over 40 years ago and was one of Benford's first works, but this was a book that was nominated for both the Nebula and Locus awards. Sure, I'll give him points for the concept, but he lacked vision. How is there a space program if the economic malaise of the 70s never ends and only worsens? He was a physicist at a prominent university; how did he not hear about the advances underway with microelectronics? I gotta use a fax machine on the Moon 50 years after we set foot on it? Maybe we can excuse him for not foreseeing the innovations that would drive the last decades of the 20th century (I'll even forgive him for including Bigfoot—it was the 70s after all), but not his characters' behavior. Benford writes this damnably sexist scene where Alexandria's doctor won't tell her his prognosis of her medical condition until after Nigel arrives from work, and even then, he directs his conversation to Nigel as if Alexandria is no more than a sick pet. She was an executive at American Airlines negotiating a deal with a Brazilian company! How can Benford do that to her?

Maybe, this book probably would've been easier to deal with reading it right after it was finished, trapped in the 70s, but by 1980 this book's days were numbered. show less

Ick.

It's not poorly written and has lots of interesting bits and pieces, but the book of the whole has no focus.

Over and over it sets up a typical hard sf setting and problem, then resolves it with very soft sci-fi hand waving. Neither fish or fowl, it's just a lumpy dogs breakfast.

The climax is an honest to god (pun intended) deus ex machina that left me wondering if I should be smoking the stuff the main characters seem to enjoy so much.

It's book one of a series, at least I can give up show more on the lot without spending any more time. show less

This science-fiction classic is lauded for marrying hard physics-based sci fi with strong character stories, but the characters were precisely the reason I didn’t like the book. The plot is intriguing: in a future (actually 1998) plagued by environmental catastrophes, a couple of physicists hatch a plan to send a message back in time, hoping that the scientists of the past can avert the catastrophe. But I couldn’t get into the story because all of the characters were unlikeable, show more stereotyped or just plain flat.

For example, in an early chapter, the wife of one of the physicists is approached by a squatter asking for some milk for her child. She refuses, saying she only has enough for her family. Okay, I can understand that reaction; food supplies are obviously running short. But then, a few days later, she hosts a lavish dinner party for her friends, where she serves three desserts! This brought to mind what I most dislike about humans and what is really at the root of a lot of our problems, including climate change: that we can rationalize that avoiding our own minor discomforts and deprivations is more important than helping to meet the basic needs of a fellow human being. I really couldn’t like any of the characters after that scene, no matter how hard they tried to save the world. show less

La historia transcurre en dos frentes:

1998. La Tierra está sometida a un desastre ecológico sin precedentes, los océanos están siendo arrasados por diferentes tipos de contaminación provenientes de fertilizantes, lo que ha provocado toda una serie de reacciones en todos los niveles. En Cambridge reside John Renfrew, un físico que está trabajando en un proyecto que podría salvar el planteta: mediante taquiones (partículas que viajan más rápido que la luz) se pueden mandar mensajes show more al pasado avisando de los peligros futuros y así darles solución y cambiar la historia. Además de Renfrew, los capítulos de esta parte de la novela tienen como protagonistas a Marjorie, la esposa de John; a Peterson, un miembro del Consejo Mundial de Energía; y Markham, matemático que trabaja con Renfrew.

1962. La Jolla, California. Gordon Bernstein trabaja en un experimento realizando diversas mediciones, cuando detecta un ruido residual. Lo que aparentemente parece un simple ruido, resulta ser un mensaje sin sentido, del cuál no se sabe la procedencia. Bernstein es el protagonista absoluto de estos capítulos, que tienen como base de la trama su experimento y los problemas a los que se ve abocado en su universidad, donde las relaciones con el resto de colegas y el publicar artículos, lo son todo para un joven profesor. La relación con su pareja, Penny, profesora de literatura, completa esta parte de la historia.

'Cronopaisaje' fue una novela que obtuvo cuatro de los más prestigiosos premios de la ciencia ficción: el Hugo, el Nebula, el Premio de la Asociación Británica y el John W. Campbell. Pero esto no siempre es síntoma para encontrarse una gran novela. Quien espere una historia con acción trepidante, no la va a encontrar aquí. Todo transcurre pausadamente, siendo la base principal del libro las relaciones de los personajes. La parte científica está bien resuelta, sobre todo las paradojas temporales, que Benford explica de manera correcta, y problemas como ¿qué pasaría si un mensaje enviado al pasado provocase la muerte de mi abuelo? ¿dejaría de existir? ¿y entonces el mensaje nunca se hubiese enviado? están bien resueltos. Estas explicaciones, que intentan acercarse a la ciencia desde un punto de vista realista, dan verisimilitud a la novela.

El libro no me ha gustado excesivamente. Quise leerlo pensando que me encontraría una buena historia de ciencia ficción, pero lo cierto es que bien podría pasar por una historia costumbrista. Pese a no aburrir, carece de interés en algunas partes, y no deja imágenes memorables. En este sentido, me quedo únicamente con la parte de Bernstein y Penny. show less