Rating: 
Summary: terrific futuristic science fiction
Review: After eons of being trapped by the gravity of a black hole, the interrelated magnetic fields called the Malign escapes its prison. The essence detests organic matter and blames humans for the incarceration. Vengeance sends the Malign towards earth.Humanity has evolved over the billions of years since mankind first ventured to the moon. Cley is an Original, a genetic remake of the oldest known human species and the last of the "Mohegans" due to an attack by the Malign, at least that is what the genetically reengineered Supras insist happened. The Supras consider Cley as an inferior pet, but she knows that her wardens are hiding part of the truth from her. She plans to learn what really happened to her race, but first must escape from her zookeepers. Abetted by an ET, Cley begins her journey to learn to learn what the Malign is and why did this creature commit genocide? BEYOND INFINITY is a terrific futuristic science fiction tale that predicts the path of physics in a realistic extension of what is known or theorized today, but within a terse thriller that hooks the reader from the start. The physics aspects are deftly interwoven as underpins to the exhilarating plot. The marvelous tale combines a coming of age subplot along the lines of Luke in Star Wars with that of a Galactus-like being threatening much of the galaxy. Gregory Benford provides a tremendous novel that will send new fans seeking his works (some of the best are out there) and old readers just shaking their heads that the guru has done it again. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to par
Review: As a long-time fan of Gregory Benford (I even had the opportunity to speak briefly over the phone with him once) I was somewhat disappointed with this novel. The idea was good, and there were some exciting and interesting parts to it. But it was not up to the standards set by his best work. Granted, I read an advance copy, not the final version. Still, character development was lacking, and the main protagonist, Cley, seemed to move from adventure to adventure without any real purpose or feel of reality. And the final conflict with the Malign, when it came, was somewhat anti-climactic.
I realize that when you are writing about events a billion years hence, virtually anything goes. Still, this tale could have been more believable, and more gripping than it was. If you are new to Benford, read Great Sky River, Tides of Light, Furious Gulf, or other excellent works by this author. If you try to judge his work by Beyond Infinity, you may be disappointed, and will miss some great writing.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointed by this fine author
Review: Gregory Benford has been, and remains, a terrific writer, as well as a real scientist, but this is not a good book. For a hard s.f. enthusiast, the language is fuzzy and verbose although the book has less than 300 pages. The technology (mostly biological) seems not to be well thought out, although perhaps, in the far distant future, it's so fabulous as to be beyond contemporary description. In any case, some of it seems to make little sense such as a forested O'Neill cylinder that somehow is an inter-dimensional portal. The idea that the villain, or someone, exists in more dimensions than our usual 3, or even 4 (perhaps with more than one time dimension), is not exploited in an interesting way. For those looking for psychology and motivation, the primary character, Cley, is moderately interesting, but her evolved raccoon companion is just enigmatic. The highly advanced descendants of current humans, the Supras, are mostly snooty and rather boring; considering how smart they are, they don't do much. Finally, once underway, the plot is purely linear with few digressions or new characters: the protagonist and her companion have an adventure with a beginning, middle, and end; that's not so bad, but for someone as talented and clever as Professor Benford, I had hoped for more.
Rating:
Summary: SCI FI Bust..not really.
Review: I am a Sci Fan and I picked up this book because On the back it said something about "A billion years from now....". This immediatley caught my attention. I don^t profess to be a literary giant nor can critique this book on its literary merits. Instead I can tell you wether or not I was entertained. Being entertained is why I read an average of three books a week. Does it further my career? NO. Does it enhace my life? YES. Will it entertain you? I have read Mr. Benefors other books and find them difficult reads. As the book and his others proudly proclaim he is a real by golly scientist. I can tell. Maybe I^m just dumb but some of the concepts were way out of my league. The long explanations about three dimensional space made me start twiddeling my thumbs. I did enjoy the character of "Seeker" but Cley just never got me really involved in the story. In fact I often wished for her demise...lol. I would have loved a stzory about Seeker and his intresting yet unexplored life. I will contiue picking up Mr Benford^s books if only to try and furthr my edutainment. I recommend this book if you don^t mind some mind boggeling concepts with a healty dose of adventure.
Rating:
Summary: Genius
Review: I find it tough to read criticism of Benford because I regard him as the greatest Hard SF author, and I think Beyond Infinity is a wonderful achievement. So, maybe it doesn't rank right up there with Timescape or the Galactic Center Series. But as I read the novel, I thought, there is so much substance here, so much knowledge, thought, inventiveness, and imagination. How many people writing today are capable of pulling off what Benford does in this book? Zero, in my view. And that's the thing. There are thousands of competent novelists out there, but Originals are scarce, indeed. Benford is an Original.
Rating: 
Summary: Incomprehensible and boring
Review: I found it incomprehensible, chaotic and boring. Character development was non-existent. Description of scenery was unclear.
The premise of people battling machines with clay overlords weighing in for reasons unclear, "you are not a high enough phylum to understand", in a region composed of somehow solidified
space-time is just plain silly. [I wont mention the magic genetic bullet installed in us by the "Ancient Ones" that saves the day...] The one-two page chapter literary device does not work well without continuity. Very strange for a writer of Mr. Benford's caliber and capabilities, I expect better from him. Maybe it's me, I couldn't understand "Dalghren" either.
Rating:
Summary: : Most PAINFUL book I have read in 50+ books this year!
Review: I normally wouldn't spend the time to write a review. This time, I am compelled to warn others not to waste their time.
Beyond Infinity begins as a great idea, and ends with an author so full of his supposed vision, that mere language fails him. In other words, his images don't come together and the plot explodes. Trying to find any redeeming value in the last half of his book is extremely difficult. He creates a world of such strangeness that all "science" is abandoned. It becomes very much like reading someone doing some serious mind-altering chemicals (e.g. racoon-lke creatures whose intellect spans galaxies - which are all alive and aware - and whose mission to is share their uber-world-view of the pre-eminence of evolution and the failure of the human dream, etc. etc. etc.). I would quote the book here, but I would probably get slapped with violating some copyright rule.
Please, find another book to spend your time with. I read a book a week, and I had to struggle to convince myself to not just put it down about once a day and go on to my next book.
Rating: 
Summary: I liked this book
Review: I thought this book was well done. This story is not in the same vein as Eater or Cosm, but I like Benford's writing style and his way of describing things. This is sort of a sequel to Arthur Clarke's "Against the Fall of Night". Mr. Benford was not completely happy with his original version of that story (Beynod the Fall of Night) and decided to expand upon it and more or less remove it from Clarke's world. I think the effort was worth it. My only quibble would be that there are a few too many coincidences in the story, but these don't greatly detract from the story.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond Belief
Review: I would like to know what the writer of this novel has done with the real Gregory Benford. I honestly can't credit that this book was written by the author of the Galactic Center series. This exercise was at best reminiscent of an early Andre Norton - heroine plus furry companion wanders through a jungle and some mild, uninvolving perils. I started skip reading - about 1 paragraph in 4 - at 70 or so pages into the book. I know I didn't miss anything in character or plot development and it let me get to the denouement (such as it was) a lot faster. Amazon insist on a minimum one star rating. This novel was so poor that even that rating is one star too many. Bad book - stay away.
Rating:
Summary: It just didn't connect with my mind's eye
Review: I'm a big SF fan, and it takes a lot for me not to like a book. But this was a truly painful read. With the story set in the far future, Benford's challenge was to convey aspects of the universe that lie well beyond our conceptual horizon, such as multiple dimensions, creatures based on magnetic fields rather than molecules, and the "galactic mind". In my opinion, he fails miserably; his prose is simply not literary enough to handle such difficult-to-put-into-words concepts. Nothing about the descriptions "sing". No grab-you-and-hold-you plot swings.
In the Afterward, Benford writes that he might do a sequel. Hopefully it will be cowritten by a "wow-can-that-guy-write!" type author like William Gibson. At the very least, Benford needs a much more aggressive "you-can't-write-that...it-just-doesn't-make-sense!" editor. A lot of the shortcomings of this book might have been headed off by such.
All in all, a real glad-I'm-finally-done-with-that-book! experience.
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