Rating: 
Summary: Solid work from two greats
Review: Separate these two guys are awesome and if you haven't tried anything by them yet (Benford's Timescape and Galactic Center series and Brin's Uplift series) you owe it to yourself to give them a decent shot if this book at all interested you. Their styles mix quite well, Benford is normally the more straightforward of the two and I think it's his influence that keeps the novel from getting as selfconsciously complicated as the Uplift books tended to get (hey, I love 'em too, but don't tell me that all of them at some point had you scratching your head and going "What's going on?"). Still, it's far too long and by the end the twists aren't as shocking as they were in the beginning, you sort of keep plugging along because you want to see what's going to happen. But that's the minor bad points, there's plenty of good points. For one, the scenario is awesome, Halley's comet is coming back into the solar system and a team of colonists are on there attempting to live there. And of course everything goes splendidly and people live in perfect harmony because everyone got it right the first time before they sent these folks out. Ha, ha, that's funny, right. Not only is there conflict between the genetically tweaked "Percells" and the nonmodified "Orthos" Earth itself is in turmoil and the wacky planet's decisions often directly affect the poor cometfolk. If that's not bad enough, Halley's inhabited and the colonists have to figure out how to live with a bunch of aliens that see them as midnight snacks. Plus there's romance! And riots! And philosophy! And science! And . . . you get the idea. This book has something for everyone and that might be its biggest fault and why it's so danged long, it's not sure whether it wants to be the hard science Alien, or the hard science Tower of Glass or the hard science {insert famed novel/movie here} the book gets a tad schizo after a while, they go right through one genre cliche and tear it to pieces before just moving right onto the next one. Entertaining? Heck, yeah. But tiring after a while? Oh yeah. On the plus side the characters are well drawn if a bit flat and singleminded at times, everyone has their own little personal obsessions but then you'd probably have to be a bit obsessed in the first place to want to go riding a comet for eighty years. A good example of the "thinking man's SF" and a great alternative to the derivative stuff that often clutters the marketplace. I don't think I'd want to see a sequel to this book (the ending wraps things up nicely) but I wouldn't mind seeing these two pros work together again.
Rating: 
Summary: An adventure, with science, surprises, and perseverence!
Review: Starting off slowly and working to a moderate head, this advanture/drama encapsulizes all different elements: A microcosm of society complete with human interaction, idealogical divisions, and eventually, conflict. Scientific mysteries appearing at every bend. And, of course, obvious prospects for a sequel!
Rating:
Summary: A roller-coaster comet ride!
Review: The strength of this novel is the unique premise of building a colony on a moving comet and it's scientifically plausible solutions to the scary dangers they encounter. It's definetely hard sci-fi, that is filled with techy stuff, but very well done and well thought out. However the weakness of the book for me was the characterization and the cliched plot device of superhumans(percells) vs normal people (orthos). This idea has been done to death in sci-fi and even in comics, ie. Marvel comics X-men (mutants vs humans). Also I didn't care too much for the characters themselves. Characters seemed a bit flat, and without depth (not enough character motivation to explain actions). But despite this, I liked the book for it's inventive solutions and epic timeline. It has a great ending also. Out of ten, I'd give it a solid 8.
Rating:
Summary: Hey Gang, Let's Colonize Halley's Comet!
Review: This book follows the adventures of a gang of hearty adventurers who colonize Halley's comet during its next perihelion. (The book was originally published at the time of Halley's last visit.) Their mission is to prepare Halley for a major change in its orbit during the following perihelion. Real estate is cheap in the asteroid belt, but organic volatiles are not.
A standard setup for a Heinlein generation ship... except with careful crew screening and quality medical care most of the crew can expect to return to Earth as heroes. Aged heroes, but heroes. With two of the three B's (Benford, Brin and Bear) on board you can count on intense psychodrama. What type of individual would seek isolation from the rest of society for a lifetime, yet could still function as part of a tight crew?
But isolation is the least of their problems. They knew it would be a lonely mission. But who could anticipate that Halley's comet harbors life which blossoms during the brief "summer" every 76 years? The same volatile organic chemicals which make the comet so valuable to humanity also supports a primitive ecosystem.
What happens when totally unknown lifeforms are attracted to the warmth of the human-occupied tunnels? Will the crew defeat them? Will the crew be defeated? Or could there be a third option...?
Finally, how will Earth greet its returning heroes? Will they be seen as humanity's greatest triumph, or its greatest threat?
Audience: if you're looking for a science fiction answer to Stephen King, you should look into this book. Where else can you find giant ice worms with cynanide-based chemistry? On the other hand if you found Earth difficult to get into this book will bore you tears -- it's hard to write a good fight scene of man against mold.
Rating: 
Summary: didn't work for me
Review: to be fair, i have about 100 pages left at the time i an writing this. i bought this book because of the high recommendations here on amazon. i've been pretty disappointed from the start. the beginning og the book spent too much time trying to introduce the characters in what seemed to be outside the context of any interesting plot. the story is told from the 1st person of about 4 different people. at this point in the book, i haven't identified with any of the people nor are they realistic portails, even for hard sci-fi. one character has been making incredible bio advances and another can apparently hack into any computer system or through any sort of encryption --- with what seems like little or no effort and little or no resources. the tech + bio advancements made by the cometeers failed to grab my interest. on top of this, the book is quite long. it's not long because of a whole lot of content IMO, but rather because the story moves quite slowly. another aspect ... the book focuses a lot on the political strife between several human factions that were chosen for crew. it is very unbelievable that such intolerant inviduals would be packed together on a hundred year space mission. even to what seems to be the bitter end, the different factions are stabbing each other in the back in ways that are obviously undermining everyone's survival. it would have been much more realistic to me folks would have banded together in the face of adversity in order to survive.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best sf books I've ever read
Review: Very very cool stuff with amazing depth. Guys...can you revisit for a sequel?
Rating:
Summary: One of the best sf books I've ever read
Review: Very very cool stuff with amazing depth. Guys...can you revisit for a sequel?
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