Rating: 
Summary: Great trilogy in a low-cost volume
Review: Just a quick note - if you like a very clever, hard science mystery whose solution "fits" nicely into our limited knowledge about evolution and our solar system - this is a great set of books. The cover is not very slick, but the writing is fun and again, very clever. I gave away my original 3 volumes, and was delighted to be able to pick them all up for " so little money " to read again!
Rating: 
Summary: Wow...three great novel in one...this deserves 4.5 stars.
Review: Ok, this novel is three novels in one that must be taken as a collection, because all of the novels are connected in some way, so lets start right off....INHERIT THE STARS This novel starts off as your basic science fiction novel, until a discovery is made that leads to a unique plot and science fiction idea. It seems in the exploration of the moon, humans have come across a body located in a space suit that is dated to be 50,000 years old. This is a unique idea located in the science fiction genre. As a result, it leads to an excellent novel. The novel continues on this basis of a human that is 50,000 years old. It is neat to see how things are deduced by palentologists and scientists, from what little information that have available. The novel is outstanding because it shows where humans supposedly came from, and shows a new idea of the original structure of the solar system. Furthermore, during this novel, the reader gets introduced to an alien civilization that is found on the moon Ganymede, that will lead for the basis of subsequent novels. This is an excellent intro the next books. THE GENTLE GIANTS OF GANYMEDE This novel start off where the last novel ended. In here, the humans still have many questions about the Ganymedes and the human home planet of Minerva. The Ganymedes lived 25 million years ago, but the humans have come face to face with them for the first time. Again, this novel is excellent and rather intriguing. The plot keeps the reader highly entertained and interested. The characters are well developed, and the complexity of this novel adds more value to information learned from the previous novel. The Ganymedes are an interesting alien race that is fully described in both social and biological terms. The author does a brilliant job of creating an alien race and describing this race in such a fashion to keep the reader flabbergasted and intrigued. GIANT'S STAR Again, this novel starts off where the the last one ends. The Ganymedes are on there way to Giant's Star, when the humans get an interesting message from an unknown alien source. When the humans figure out what to do, they are introduced to an alien culutre that is technologically superior to them, and is basically run by a computer. It is here that the humans learn that they have been watched for many years, but have had false reports on them. The novel is a technological wonder. In here, the reader will be taken from a new place to a new place, simply by a computer. However, the reader will also see the dark side of human nature in the appearance of the Jevlen's, a human race from outside the solar system. The novel typically is centered on deceipt and deception between three different groups, the humans, the Thuriens, and the Jevlens. Overall, the deceipt and cunning makes for an interesting tale. However, the ending is a bombshell that puts this whole trilogy in perspective. Again, the ending starts the beginning. These three novels are excellent and are highly recommended to any science fiction reader.
Rating: 
Summary: A "Giant" Exploration of Human Nature
Review: The Giant's Trilogy speculates about an alternative path for human evolution, the source of human aggressiveness, and the irrationality of evil. My copy call it "A novel about man's place in the Universe." This trilogy weaves a multi-dimensional tapestry to point out the absurdities and dangers of a warrior/dominator culture. The story introduces itself with the discovery of "Charlie," a 50,000 year-old human corpse on the moon. How did he get there when Neanderthals still walked the Earth? The first book answers this question, but opens up to deeper mystery. In the process it introduces the reader to one of the processes in the scientific community. New scientific theories begin when attempts to explain a discovery challenge the assumptions of the current paradigm. Complicated theories develop more and more unsupportable mechanisms until somebody has the courage to challenge a fundamental tenet of the old paradigm: "the earth is not the center of the universe" or "the continents drift." Hogan makes this process seem relatively quick and painless. In the real world, it may take decades--once people were even burned at the stake for this kind of breakthrough. The Gentle Giants of Ganymede, the second book in the trilogy, avoids the abyss many authors fall into between the hook of the first book and the climax of the third. An interesting book in its own right, it tells a story about humankind's first extraterrestrial contact. It explains more pieces of the mystery of "Charlie," but it also raises more questions--questions the aliens cannot answer. Philosophically, this book allows Hogan to describe a non-violent, non-coercive society, and how it might have evolved naturally. Frequent contrasts between the aliens and humans continuously demonstrate two points: how aggressive behavior, of both individuals and governments, threatens the human race and impedes social and personal development; and how our aggressiveness also gifts us with creativity and the ability to make rapid "progress." It proffers the challenge of aggressively pursuing knowledge while pursuing peace and the ability to live together in community. Finishing up the trilogy with Giant's Star, Hogan answers the questions that have haunted us for two books. Only one mystery remains, and that is a blatant irony that points out the absurdity of dominator behavior (This trilogy makes interesting reading after Rianne Eisler's The Chalice and the Blade). On these pages we discover the splendors of the Giants' home planet, a "final" explanation of human evolution, the vast conspiracy to use superstition and religion to prevent human development, and some conspirators with a nefarious scheme to deal the human race out of galactic history. Resolving these issues leads to a satisfying conclusion to a complex trilogy. It's interesting to look back with a quarter-century's perspective and see the world Hogan projected. While the Cold War is over, the United States and Soviet Union still compete economically in Hogan's universe--in ours, the remnants of the Soviet Union struggle on as Third World nations. In both universes there is a European Union. Hogan describes internet communication between laptops, but conceptualizes it as portable videophones. Does anybody remember Digital Equipment Corporation (now folded into Compaq)? Hogan anticipates DEC minicomputers onboard sub-orbital transports. Of course, he worked for DEC when he wrote these stories! Hogan has woven a compelling universe, one that is a pleasure to explore. His characters lack depth, but his story telling ability brings them alive. Five stars for an exciting, consistent, and complex universe. Four stars for writing style. Three for character development. A great deal of fun to read--and even more fun to think about. Worth every twinkle of four stars. (If you'd like to discuss this book or review further, please click on the "about me" link above and drop me some email. Thanks!)
Rating:
Summary: A fairly entertaining and very character rich trilogy
Review: The Giants Novels is a compendium of a trilogy of books by James Hogan, Inherit the Stars, The Gentle Giants of Ganymede and Giant's Star. (btw, I really appreciate Del Rey for publishing these in one book). All three are tightly coupled and deserve to be read together. The basic premise of the trilogy is man's discovery of his origins after a 50,000 year-old human corpse is found in a cave on the moon. This is followed by the discovery of a 20 million year old spaceship on Jupiter's moon Ganymede that contains both alien corpses and animal specimens that clearly came from Earth. It was very fun to follow our protagonist Vic Hunt as he works to come up with a plausible explanation for these discoveries and how they fit into man's evolution. Much of the speculation is made clearer by the arrival of a 20 million year-old spaceship full of live aliens who used to inhabit our solar system. Seems they had some technical problems and although they had only been gone for 20 years their time, relativistic effects delayed their return by 20 million years. Eventually we learn that the returned aliens are not the last of their species as their forbearers moved to another star system millions of years before. When they make contact with their long lost descendents events are put in motion that forces their ancient species to get help from Earth to combat the biggest threat in their history.
Rating:
Summary: A fairly entertaining and very character rich trilogy
Review: The Giants Novels is a compendium of a trilogy of books by James Hogan, Inherit the Stars, The Gentle Giants of Ganymede and Giant's Star. (btw, I really appreciate Del Rey for publishing these in one book). All three are tightly coupled and deserve to be read together. The basic premise of the trilogy is man's discovery of his origins after a 50,000 year-old human corpse is found in a cave on the moon. This is followed by the discovery of a 20 million year old spaceship on Jupiter's moon Ganymede that contains both alien corpses and animal specimens that clearly came from Earth. It was very fun to follow our protagonist Vic Hunt as he works to come up with a plausible explanation for these discoveries and how they fit into man's evolution. Much of the speculation is made clearer by the arrival of a 20 million year-old spaceship full of live aliens who used to inhabit our solar system. Seems they had some technical problems and although they had only been gone for 20 years their time, relativistic effects delayed their return by 20 million years. Eventually we learn that the returned aliens are not the last of their species as their forbearers moved to another star system millions of years before. When they make contact with their long lost descendents events are put in motion that forces their ancient species to get help from Earth to combat the biggest threat in their history.
Rating:
Summary: Earth Colonized From Minerva
Review: The Giants Novels is an omnibus edition of the Giants series. This volume contains Inherit the Stars, The Gentle Giants of Ganymede, and Giants' Star. These novels were the first published by the author. Millennia before the Apollo project, mankind had reached Luna. As man returns to the Moon, he finds evidence of a prior human technological society. Moreover, he finds artifacts of another alien civilization on Ganymede, the largest moon of Jupiter. In Inherit the Stars, a survey party finds someone in a spacesuit within a cave-like hole in the Copernicus crater. The body was that of a human being who had died over 50,000 years ago. Apparently it had come from Minerva, the long destroyed planet between Mars and Jupiter. In The Gentle Giants of Ganymede, an alien spaceship has been found under the ice of Ganymede. Inside are found the remains of eight-foot tall entities who have been named Ganymedeans. Then the Shapieron, a fully operational Ganymedean spaceship, appears near Ganymede. In Giants' Star, the Shapieron leaves to search for the migrated Ganymedeans at a star in the constellation of Taurus. Before their departure, a message is sent from a human installation on the Luna Farside toward this star telling of the ship's departure and a response is received soon thereafter welcoming the crew to their new home. Although no other responses are received for some time, months later messages start arriving in English using standard communication codes from a source in the fringe of the solar system. These novels established the author's reputation as a writer of hard science fiction capable of inducing a sense of wonder. All three of these novels concern the use of the tools of science and technology to explore the past and present of other societies, one human and the other alien. They evoke the vicarious excitement of discovery, from gathering data to forming a consistent explanation. Highly recommended for Hogan fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of archaeological investigation of alien civilizations and first contact with such aliens.
Rating:
Summary: Earth Colonized From Minerva
Review: The Giants Novels is an omnibus edition of the Giants series. This volume contains Inherit the Stars, The Gentle Giants of Ganymede, and Giants' Star. These novels were the first published by the author. Millennia before the Apollo project, mankind had reached Luna. As man returns to the Moon, he finds evidence of a prior human technological society. Moreover, he finds artifacts of another alien civilization on Ganymede, the largest moon of Jupiter. In Inherit the Stars, a survey party finds someone in a spacesuit within a cave-like hole in the Copernicus crater. The body was that of a human being who had died over 50,000 years ago. Apparently it had come from Minerva, the long destroyed planet between Mars and Jupiter. In The Gentle Giants of Ganymede, an alien spaceship has been found under the ice of Ganymede. Inside are found the remains of eight-foot tall entities who have been named Ganymedeans. Then the Shapieron, a fully operational Ganymedean spaceship, appears near Ganymede. In Giants' Star, the Shapieron leaves to search for the migrated Ganymedeans at a star in the constellation of Taurus. Before their departure, a message is sent from a human installation on the Luna Farside toward this star telling of the ship's departure and a response is received soon thereafter welcoming the crew to their new home. Although no other responses are received for some time, months later messages start arriving in English using standard communication codes from a source in the fringe of the solar system. These novels established the author's reputation as a writer of hard science fiction capable of inducing a sense of wonder. All three of these novels concern the use of the tools of science and technology to explore the past and present of other societies, one human and the other alien. They evoke the vicarious excitement of discovery, from gathering data to forming a consistent explanation. Highly recommended for Hogan fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of archaeological investigation of alien civilizations and first contact with such aliens.
Rating:
Summary: I really liked the first book....
Review: This book was recommended to me by another SF fan. He told me this was one of the best SF stories, with the sequel being one of the best sequels, and the third being one of the best trilogies. I have to disagree a little, I really liked 'Inherit the Stars' I was captivated and thouroughly enjoyed it. The second book started out good but ran flat for the middle 70% and finished with a 'this is how it happened' finish. I was disappointed they just told us the mystery through dialogue, instead of taking us through the journey like they did in 'Inherit the Stars'. The third book is totally unlike the first two almost leaving the SF category, but still enjoyable for what it was. So, in my honest opinion, get 'Inherit the Stars' and forget the other two, you would do better to spend the time having read those two on some other novel.
Rating:
Summary: I really liked the first book....
Review: This book was recommended to me by another SF fan. He told me this was one of the best SF stories, with the sequel being one of the best sequels, and the third being one of the best trilogies. I have to disagree a little, I really liked 'Inherit the Stars' I was captivated and thouroughly enjoyed it. The second book started out good but ran flat for the middle 70% and finished with a 'this is how it happened' finish. I was disappointed they just told us the mystery through dialogue, instead of taking us through the journey like they did in 'Inherit the Stars'. The third book is totally unlike the first two almost leaving the SF category, but still enjoyable for what it was. So, in my honest opinion, get 'Inherit the Stars' and forget the other two, you would do better to spend the time having read those two on some other novel.
Rating:
Summary: Read only the first two parts.. unless you want a good laugh
Review: This collection of books suffers from the trend that is, sadly, all too common in modern SF. It's not knowing to quit when you're ahead. Book 1 is great, book 2 is almost as good, book 3... well, I'll get to that later. This is also one of those "everything you know is wrong" science fiction books that Hogan, Arthur C. Clarke, and Douglas Adams are so fond of (all British, hmmm). It's basically that all the fundamentals of science are altered by the discovery of a human skeleton on the moon. This is book one. Anyone who enjoys books about the thrill of scientific discovery should check this out. And book two is the logical follow-up, a visit from aliens. It's done the smae way as book one and is really a classic first contact book. The characters are quite likable and believable. However, we come to book three. What do we get here? A time paradox, a mighty empire, and villians out of a Saturday morning cartoon. The bad guys in this one are evil... very evil. I even remember a line sounding something like "arg! I'm surrounded by imbiciles!" a laughed, thinking of Spaceballs. The end, too is totally unbelievable, and if I was allowed to include spoilers, I would comment more.
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