Summary: Noel Vorst’s new religion sweeps the Earth with its promise of eternal life, but Vorst’s plans extend far beyond Earth or even the near planets to the stars.

By 2077, the Earth has colonized Mars and Venus, terraforming Mars and adapting humans to live in the Venusian atmosphere. A UN functionary, Reynolds Kirby struggles with the high tension this high tech life creates, little relieved by temporary plunges into nothingness, or other pleasures. A new religion is on the rise, replacing those that no longer speak to the world Kirby lives in. They are called the Vorsters after Noel Vorst their founder. Their chapels are springing up in many cities, the central focus of which is the small cobalt reactor giving off a bluish light. Services follow a liturgy that is a pastiche of scientific mysticism with the promise of eternal life for followers. Kirby is drawn in, and over the years rises to become Vorst’s right hand man.

Meanwhile, another movement breaks off from the Vorsters, led by David Lazarus, until he was supposedly martyred. They are the Harmonist and they’ve succeeded where the Vorsters failed in establishing their mission to Venus. Vorsters who try either die from the vicious creatures on the planet or the inhabitants who want nothing to do with them, or they become Harmonists.

The Vorsters have advanced in extending life and the breeding of ever more effective ESPers at their Santa Fe center. The most visible sign is Vorst himself, who is still alive 100 years later. On Venus, the Harmonists have advanced in telekinesis with the development of “pushers” able to move things and people further and further. All the Vorsters efforts to train the ESPers to do this fail, often at the cost of their lives.

Then Lazarus is found in a nutrient bath encased and buried on Mars. The Vorsters bring him to life, only to turn him over to the Harmonists. It turns out that all of this is part of a grand plan of Vorst that extends far beyond Earth, Mars, or Venus, to “open the sky,” as it were, to the universe.

The question around this book is that of “at what cost” Is the cost warranted of the young lives wrecked, ESPers driven into insanity and a merciful death, “pushers” who are destroyed, all of these young and devout? Is this “religion” just the cloak for the ambitions of one man, as much as others seem to be helped?

In some ways, this book feels more timely today than in 1967, as we see many religious figures who have used religion to gain and abuse their power, and often their followers. In the human longing for something more, there is a great vulnerability, that may be twisted by the power, either tempting others who are needed to join in the quest for power, or to be used up and discarded by the powerful. In this, Silverberg may have been prescient. ( )

Mankind is still confined to only our present Solar system. A religion is shown evolving but a major schism arises, the schismatics flee to Venus and their telepathic skills could be an answer to the faster than light limits on travel. Can they be brought back into the fold, to aid an overcrowded, nuclear radiated Earth? The return of the Messiah of the religion could be an answer...or the final collapse of humanity. A big question, but Silverberg has tried on some big questions before. ( )

To Open the Sky - Robert Silverberg ****

Robert Silverberg is one of the authors I usually turn to when I am in the mood for a bit of science fiction, the only problem is that I find him a really marmite author. I either really love his books (Tower of Glass) or hate them (Son of Man), it is really rare I find an author where I have such an extreme variation, but the books I enjoy are more than enough to keep me interested and dip into him now and again.

Luckily, To Open the Sky is one of his books that I really enjoyed, and even though it was published in 1967 it still seems fresh and innovative today. Written as 5 separate novellas, each section is linked to the others by a number of central characters and written in chronological order that details the development of a new religion on an Earth that is bursting to the seams. At first the religious group (known as Vorsters that worship the energy of the atom) are a small bundle of dedicated followers, but soon the momentum grows and it attracts people from right across the spectrum. As with nearly all religions across the world the cult soon has a breakaway faction (Harmonists) that interpret the founder’s words in a different way and hostilities increase across the timeline. With the Vorster’s seemingly offering immortality on an already crowded planet, mankind must reach out to inhabit Earth’s neighbours and Venus and Mars soon have a colony on their surface, but Venus has an atmosphere that isn’t compatible with man, and to survive there you need to be surgically altered. The main body of Vorsters stay on earth whilst the Harmonists live on Venus, both sides over the decades have developed techniques that can help mankind reach even further into the galaxy, the Vorsters have developed a way that allows the human body to become rejuvenated, offering an extended life with the ultimate goal of immortality, whereas the Harmonists have ESPers whose mental abilities allow them to propel matter through space in a way that resembles teleportation. If these two factions could be brought back together then mankind could be almost unstoppable in his quest to explore the universe, but can their differences be put aside for the greater good? And when the Harmonists seemingly lost prophet Lazarus returns will the religion survive or will it be strengthened?

This isn’t your average science fiction book; in the 222 pages an awful lot of content regarding the big questions of spirituality and man’s limits are explored. When this book was released in 1964, Scientology was around a decade old and just starting to gain recognition in the world, looking back over 5 decades later it is easy to speculate where Silverberg may have gained the inspiration for the novel. I loved the way that Silverberg is unafraid to tackle the big questions that many other authors in the same genre seem unwilling to touch and it really does make you think about what the future has in store and more importantly how our civilisation has been shaped over the millennia by religion.

Although not as strong as some of his other books this is definitely worth a look for anyone interested in 60’s sci-fi or as an introduction to the author. A solid 4 stars. ( )