In veteran writer-editor Silverberg's (The Mountains of Majipoor, 1995, etc.) 23rd century, Earth faces terminal decline, so it makes a last effort to send forth a starship to locate and colonize new worlds. Wotan, commanded by an elected (and never named) year-captain, contains 50 men and women, plus vast genetic stores. Blind, beautiful Noelle will maintain communications with Earth via her telepathic link with her twin sister, Yvonne, who remains behind. Some months later, Noelle reports communication difficulties caused by some sort of static in the nospace continuum through which the ship speeds. Still, they reach the seemingly habitable Planet A, only to be driven off by a psychic field that induces uncontrollable terror. The year-captain is elected for a second and a third term, and accepts that he's been given a permanent job. As the ship heads for Planet B, the link with Earth fails completely; perhaps the static is caused by entities living in nospace. Noelle reluctantly agrees to try to contact these hypothetical beings—and discovers them to be stars! Finally, the stars, the crew of Wotan, and the entire population of Earth join together in a joyous psychic communion. Planet B proves unsuitable; the search continues. Another polished and agreeable presentation, constrained by its overly familiar scenario; the present-tense narrative doesn't help—though some sparks of originality would've worked wonders.
Pub Date: June 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-553-10264-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1996
Sci-fi, Monty Python-style—as West England villager Arthur Dent becomes the only survivor of Earth, rescued by Ford Prefect of Betelgeuse, a roving researcher for The Hitchhiker's Guide: when Earth is destroyed (demolished by the Vogons to make way for a hyperspatial express route), the two of them escape into a Vogon spaceship.
The hideous Vogons torture our heroes by reading poetry to them, but then they're miraculously picked up by the Starship Heart of Gold—which is powered by "the Infinite Improbability Drive," commanded by Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox, and staffed by an epically depressed robot named Marvin with a smart-aleck computer that sings "You'll Never Walk Alone." They're all headed for the legendary planet Magrathea, where roaming Arthur discovers Slartibartfast, the guy who originally made Earth ("Norway. . . that was one of mine. Won an award, you know. Lovely crinkly edges") and is now working on Earth Mark Two. And finally there's a confrontation with the Magrathea rulers—Benjy mouse and Frankie mouse—who want to mince Arthur's Earthling brain.
Lots of pure silliness, too many English references for U.S. readers, but—like moviegoers who sat through Life of Brian for the sake of a few good chuckles—fans of absurd deadpan parody will happily flip through this likable send-up in order to extract a couple of dozen fine giggles.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1980
ISBN: 1400052939
Page Count: 271
Publisher: Harmony/Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1980
BOOK TO SCREEN
With its bug-eyed monsters, one might think Dune was written thirty years ago; it has a fantastically complex schemata and...
This future space fantasy might start an underground craze.
It feeds on the shades of Edgar Rice Burroughs (the Martian series), Aeschylus, Christ and J.R. Tolkien. The novel has a closed system of internal cross-references, and features a glossary, maps and appendices dealing with future religions and ecology. Dune itself is a desert planet where a certain spice liquor is mined in the sands; the spice is a supremely addictive narcotic and control of its distribution means control of the universe. This at a future time when the human race has reached a point of intellectual stagnation. What is needed is a Messiah. That's our hero, called variously Paul, then Muad'Dib (the One Who Points the Way), then Kwisatz Haderach (the space-time Messiah). Paul, who is a member of the House of Atreides (!), suddenly blooms in his middle teens with an ability to read the future and the reader too will be fascinated with the outcome of this projection.
With its bug-eyed monsters, one might think Dune was written thirty years ago; it has a fantastically complex schemata and it should interest advanced sci-fi devotees.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1965
ISBN: 0441013597
Page Count: 411
Publisher: Chilton
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1965
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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