Rating: 
Summary: Good story,unstructured ending
Review: This book was quite enjoyable to me up until the end. It just seemed like the story could have gone on for atleast another 50 to 100 pages. It almost seemed like he was tired of writing so quickly jotted down an ending. Sure you expect strange things in Sci Fi, but this ending was just unstructured.
Im glad I read it, but wish it was a bit more thought out.
Rating: 
Summary: A different kind of science fiction novel
Review: This is one of my favorite science fiction books. Well written and thought provoking. It deservedly won the Hugo award. Many SF readers are familiar with Blish for his novelizations of the Star Trek TV episodes. But he is a genuine talent in his own right and shouldn't be dismissed. If the book seems to drag through the first fifty pages, stay with it. It is well worth it. What is so fascinating about this book is that Blish's central character is both a biologist and a catholic priest. By learning to see the events in the story through to eyes of a priest and a scientist the reader is brought to a conclusion both holy and horrifying. The climax is either a triumph of God over Satan, or the greatest man-made tragedy the universe has seen. And the ambiguity is not lost on Blish's priest/scientist and hopefully not his reader.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful treatment of Christianity and science fiction
Review: This is one of the most thought provoking SF novels I have read (particularly the ending). On occasion, I finish a novel in such a way that makes me close the novel and just think about it for a while. Walter Miller's "A Canticle for Leibowitz," is the only other novel I have read that is like it in all the science fiction I have read. It seems science fiction authors find it difficult to deal with religion (especially Christianity) in a serious fashion. There is frequent repetition of a pathetic caricature of Christians as irrational fideists whereas the scientist is generally depicted as a noble person who pursues truth throughout the science fiction genre. Blish was himself an agnostic.The novel features humanity's first contact with alien race which humanity calls the "Lithians." The aliens have no native religion to speak of, their society is completely stable and they are moral, to the point of perfection. A committee sent by the United Nations (UN) to evaluate how Earth should view this new world. Technologically and scientifically, the Lithians are ahead of Earth in some areas and vice versa. It is coincidence that humanity has invented nuclear weapons and an efficient way to travel across interstellar distances. The team sent to evaluate Lithia is composed of a chemist, a physicist, another person, and a Jesuit biologist called Ruiz-Sanchez. The team has some friction but it is still required to reach a decision; its recommendation to the UN will determine the state of future relations between Earth and Lithia. Opinion is divided; one wants to open relations and start learning from the Lithian's impressive social strucutre. Another wishes to make Lithia into a planet-wide nuclear weapons factory. Ruiz-Sanchez wants to quarantine it; cut if off from all future contact with man. As the team is about to leave, one of the Lithians gives Ruiz-Sanchez a young Lithian in an artificial womb. The alien has his name, Egtverchi, encoded into his DNA somehow. He survives the journey back to Earth and starts to grow up with no contact with his native world. He gains UN citizenship and becomes something of a celebrity. Then, Egtverchi becomes a media personality of sorts who stirs up social dissent among the insane and other social rejects. One interesting aspect of the society on Earth in 2050 is that almost everybody lives in underground cities. This is set up as a consequence to the nuclear arms race; countries slowly moved their entire populace under ground until a "Shelter economy" is created. This fear of nuclear destruction and speculation about an underground society somewhat dates the novel but it is otherwise difficult to see that the novel was in fact written in 1959. There are some stylistic anachronisms (e.g. Blish uses the term "Earthmen" for the humans who visit Lithia and the term "rocket" is used for space ships) but, like Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" (this novel, which I have also reviewed, aged better) it has aged well. Ruiz-Sanchez's inner struggle is well written conflict but the nature of the conflict is somewhat ambiguous. He regards the morally perfect, unbelieving Lithians as elaborate creations of the Adversary (Blish's use of this term instead of "Devil" or "Satan" somehow makes the whole concept more plausible, in my view) to confuse man. Ruiz-Sanchez's audience with Pope has some of the better dialogue and conflict in the novel; it is unfortunately short. There are a few flaws in the novel that detract from it. First, the story was initially meant as a novella. The section of the novel that takes place in Lithia was initially its own story and then Blish decided to improve on it. This leaves the novel with an awkward sort of transition. The other members of the original Lithia commission are not developed in any meaningful way; their role seems relegated solely to being foils for Ruiz-Sanchez. The "scientific" appendix on Lithia can only be described as superfluous; no use of made of this "data." It is world building for the sake of world building; I would advise any reader to finish the main text of the novel and then just stop. This novel is a valuable contribution to the genre due to its interesting exploration of religion. It seems to be a theme that the most easily deployed form of religion in SF is Roman Catholicism; an interesting trend, I think.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but unfocussed
Review: This is the story of a group of men sent to evaluate a new-found planet for suitability of use by Man. The planet already has a race of intellegent beings (they are reptilian, like seemingly every other intellegent alien in science fiction!), who have a perfecly evolved society. There is no crime, no unemployment, no nations, etc. And there is no religion, which bothers one of the evaluation team, who happens to be a Jesuit. By Catholic (and Protestant, Jewish, Islamic, etc.) theology, perfection cannot be obtained in the absence of God, so this raises a quandry for the priest - either God doesn't exist, or this planet is a trap set by the Devil to snare mankind. With such a setup, I thought this novel would primarily deal with how the aliens are reconciled to Catholicism. Instead, it follows the latter path, along the belief that the planet is an illusion created by the Adversary, and how the church must deal with it in that light. This is a brave, and somewhat unexpected path, and I applaud the author for taking it. Unfortunately, the setup is contrived artificially. By setting the novel 100 years (at the time it was written) into the future, Blish creates two worlds - the fictional future and the alien world of Lithia. Thus, the morality play takes place in an Earth that doesn't exist. This distracts the reader, and detracts from the value of the novel. Still, it's an interesting book, and I recommend it with the reservation that is seems contrived at times, in spite of the well-written prose.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but unfocussed
Review: This is the story of a group of men sent to evaluate a new-found planet for suitability of use by Man. The planet already has a race of intellegent beings (they are reptilian, like seemingly every other intellegent alien in science fiction!), who have a perfecly evolved society. There is no crime, no unemployment, no nations, etc. And there is no religion, which bothers one of the evaluation team, who happens to be a Jesuit. By Catholic (and Protestant, Jewish, Islamic, etc.) theology, perfection cannot be obtained in the absence of God, so this raises a quandry for the priest - either God doesn't exist, or this planet is a trap set by the Devil to snare mankind. With such a setup, I thought this novel would primarily deal with how the aliens are reconciled to Catholicism. Instead, it follows the latter path, along the belief that the planet is an illusion created by the Adversary, and how the church must deal with it in that light. This is a brave, and somewhat unexpected path, and I applaud the author for taking it. Unfortunately, the setup is contrived artificially. By setting the novel 100 years (at the time it was written) into the future, Blish creates two worlds - the fictional future and the alien world of Lithia. Thus, the morality play takes place in an Earth that doesn't exist. This distracts the reader, and detracts from the value of the novel. Still, it's an interesting book, and I recommend it with the reservation that is seems contrived at times, in spite of the well-written prose.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe the best ever
Review: This may be the best science fiction novel ever. For intellectual rigor and Big Picture issues, it has no peer--and it is particularly moving and effective read in conjuction with Blish's Dr. Mirabilus and Black Easter. In particular, it is one of the very few science fiction novels that treats issues of religion with imagination and intelligence. Darn, ought to be back in print!!
Rating: 
Summary: The Forerunner of Barney, the Dinosaur
Review: This story was mainly one of concepts; there was very little action. It was written in the 50's. I enjoyed reading the 21st century characters discuss what happened in the late 20th century--they mostly missed the mark, but that's more interresting than guessing correctly. The most amazing "prediction" made was one of a 9 foot dragon who hosts his own television show. This somewhat comical show was viewed mainly by children. However, some adults (including the protagonist--a Roman Catholic priest), believed this dragon was really a demon. Does this sound like Barney, or what? I found the ending dull and the plot thin. However I appreciated: a) its lack of flowery descriptive paragraphs (always boring), b) its absence of pornography (always stupid and immature), c) its willingness to attack SciFi from a serious religous perspective (the priest was not a buffoon, but intelligent and respected).
Rating:
Summary: Devoured in one sitting
Review: Well, to sum up my feelings about this novel, it is intellectually stimulating, fun (here it helps to have some affinity for SF tales with religious themes), and at times amusing (Egtverchi's ultrasuccessful TV show for kids? Come on, it's worth a snicker), surreal, and satiric. Anyone who thinks the middle portion is boring must have glossed over the "party sequence" with the traipsing thugs of Egtverchi, the train rides, the psychotropic gases, the Senator's...um, goings-on in the basement, etc. etc. Anyone who says this novel lacks for incident has got to be screwy. For the reviewer who just "couldn't see" Lithia as a planet of Satans ... well, Lithia wasn't a planet of Satans. It was, through a series intellectual abstractions based on certain givens of Catholic dogma, determined to be evil in nature. You are supposed to like the Lithians -- you are supposed to feel sorry for them. You aren't supposed to like what Ramon has unveiled. This novel treats aspects of Catholic law in the same way the laws of physics work in "The Cold Equations." It is a vigorous extrapolative "what-if." It can also a be read as a (relatively mild) attack on Cold War thinking -- the Shelter Economy presages Dr. Strangelove's infamous "mineshaft gap" satire. True, the characterization is thin. But then, neither Ramon nor Egtverchi nor any of the other players on Blish's stage are the protagonists. The protagonist, just as in "The Cold Equations," is unstoppable Law. Taken from this perspective, this novel is a tour-de-force. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: An allegory of faith and science (warning - spoilers)
Review: Who is the Biblical serpent in this tale? Is there a serpent? Does Father Ruiz truly believe in his God? Is Lithia a trick or a garden of Eden? Is the book really about faith, or is the author presenting us with a big red herring? I think the book's last sentence (before the appendix) is very telling, although it can be taken in many different ways, as can the whole book, which appears to me to be an allegory with many different interpretations and focuses.
The book left me with a lot of questions, as any good book of ideas should. It also surprised me, in that such a simply-told, simple-seeming story could turn out to be so complex. I think the final sentence is the key to understanding the whole - why is Ruiz left with BOTH his God and his grief? The most obvious theme of the book would tend to indicate that he should be left with the former, but not the latter (or if we doubt his faith, then vice-versa). So is the mention of God ironical - how is Ruiz left with his God, and was the exorcism an ultimate test of faith for Ruiz. Certainly it seems he was cheated of a straight answer, or was he gifted with grace? Alternatively, maybe he and his church was right, or perhaps he just lucked out, or all of the above. No way of telling, I guess - or it's left up to us to fill in the blanks to match our own beliefs. Sorry, but this won't be understandable until you've read the book - I guess I'm still trying to clarify my own thoughts about it.
Anyway, it's an amazing book, very much like Clifford Simak's Way Station in terms of readability and depth, and it has a similar 'folk classic' quality about it that books of the 1950s sometimes have (I don't know how else to describe it - reading it feels kinda like apple pie, blue jeans, old comics and radio days). Definitely a book that can be read and re-read, and food for a great deal of thought - it would be an excellent book for a book club discussion.
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