Timescape

Rating:
Summary: Great Idea, but too long, and too much info.
Review: O.k., most people in this world who are interested in science fiction have come across the idea of time travel, or sending messages back in time. The idea itself is rather intriguing and ALWAYS leads to the eventuall discussion of paradoxes, and what would happen if John F. Kennedy was not assassinated.

This novel centers around this idea of sending messages back in time. To begin, the story starts in 1998, and the world is about to die, literally. The earth can no longer support any plants or animals, and the seas are over-run with algal blooms. In a last ditch attempt, the scientists have attempted to send messages into the past in order to alter the future. The messages are sent back to 1963 through a physiscs technique that is too complicated to explain. The messages are received, and that is where all the problems start as to what they scientists in 1963 actually received.

This whole story line is actually an excellent idea, and is backed up through the use of science. However, the novel distracts from the overall success by containing useless information. The author goes to great lenghts to describe the psyche and social tendencies of all the major scientists involved. In some cases, the author describes the interactions of family members of the scientists who play a severly limited role in the novel. As a result, there is pointless material located in the novel. If the novel would have simply stuck to the above storyline, it definetly would have rated higher. However, with the influx of superfulous information, the novel can seem tedious and boring at points.

On a positive note, the novel ends well by explaining what has happened and why there are no real paradoxes. A new future has been created, and nobody knows what will happen.

Rating:
Summary: This Book is Totally Boring
Review: OK. i may be only 14, but i've read alot of books. and this is not one of the best books i've read. The developement of the plot is too slow, and in some places the book seems to go nowhere. There's just too much writing, and not enough excitement. The story doesnt build up to a grand ending. Instead, it starts out as a great story, and just fades away at the end. One thing good, however, is the orginality of this book. The idea of a story about communicating with the past to change the future is, in my perspective, a very interesting concept. I recommend that you borrow the book and read the first 20 pages before you buy it, as half the people i know likes this book, and the other half doesnt.

Rating:
Summary: Way too much character development -- and no action.
Review: 1st, I understand what the author was trying to do -- create realistic characters and really try to get the science into science fiction. 2nd, I didn't find this book unbelievably dull because I didn't understand it - I got good grades in Physics at UCB. Anyway, the premise of sending messages back in time to save a dying world is a good one. However, after 200 pages of the characters who were receiving the messages not understanding what was going on (while character exposition in both times was pounded into the ground), I started skimming. Well it was over 400, yes 400, pages into the book before the scientist in 1963 finally began to piece together what might be happenning. About 70 more unsatisfying pages until it ends. Also character exposition gets kind of dull when none of the characters are really likable.

Rating:
Summary: A possible future
Review: I like this novel. Benford is very good with character and situation development. He weaves interesting and complex characters. He does make certain demands of his readers though, expecting us to fill in the gaps with our imagination, in order to understand some fairly complex decision-making. This style is not for everyone.

Briefly, the story tells of a dialogue between a possible future and its past; one direction of the communication is with a time-independent particle stream, the other direction with messages left in a safe-deposit box.

This is, I believe, one of Benford's earlier works, and has a rough-hewn quality to it, but the story is quite good, and portends of great things to come. I really feel his writing style reached a peak in "The Ocean of Night," and I view that as a better novel than this one. This book stands on its own as an exciting and well-written work. I won't give away the end, but you need to be on your toes to pick up on what's happening in both worlds - skimming is not allowed.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, but unsatisfying
Review: The subject of the review says it all. It was not until I was completely finished with the book, and had reflected on it, that I reached the conclusion "fascinating bu unsatisfying." However, I am forced to give the book a 4/5 simply because it did make me reflect on it, something I rarely do with fiction. The characters were diverse, and I liked the fact they had personal lives outside the lab that were at least approaching realistic, and the science was interesting. Definitely a science fiction as opposed to a science fantasy story.

Rating:
Summary: Where'd it go?
Review: I saw this book in the library and the cover caught my eye. I read the back and thought, "What a great story line!" After plowing and plowing through the book I finally finished it. I don't know how it won any award.

The story line was great. So much could have been done with it. I got to the end of the book and thought........huh? I'm still guessing. The characters were developed enough to satisfy me, but there was so much excess information in this book, that it kept you jumping from here to there to keep up. He must know someone who knows someone to get an award for this.

Rating:
Summary: Very knowledgeable, intelligent science-fiction drama.
Review: Timescape is structured on very intriguing concepts like tachyons, messages through time, the world's ecosystem unbalance, etc. Most points are thoroughly explained and the characters are at least believable. Worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: job politics and economics are not usual S-F faire
Review: I liked the fact that the protaganist had to choose between his "crazy" data and the woman he loved and his dissertation for his degree. It humanized science to me and made the point that even scientists can't be totally objective, they want love and money too.

Rating:
Summary: The punch never came.
Review: Everything is set up midway through the book. It could have ended right there and you wouldn't have missed a thing.

Rating:
Summary: abysmal combination of attempted plot and hard science
Review: I didn't care about the characters, they were all two dimensional and unlikable, and the science, while hard, was so inadequately explained or connected to the plot that it was surplusage. Despite the nebula award, don't waste your time or money.