Heaven

Rating:
Summary: A Riot of Ideas
Review: "Heaven," by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, is a science-fiction novel of ideas. Its philosophical themes include the mimetics of religion, quantum-mechanical entanglement, and the ecology of mind. But this is no dry academic exercise: it takes the reader on a wild ride with an exciting plot, psychologically plausible characters, and a galaxy full of truly amazing aliens. If you are looking for well-written speculative fiction that tickles your brain cells, you'll really love this book!

Rating:
Summary: A Riot of Ideas
Review: "Heaven," by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, is a science-fiction novel of ideas. Its philosophical themes include the mimetics of religion, quantum-mechanical entanglement, and the ecology of mind. But this is no dry academic exercise: it takes the reader on a wild ride with an exciting plot, psychologically plausible characters, and a galaxy full of truly amazing aliens. If you are looking for well-written speculative fiction that tickles your brain cells, you'll really love this book!

Rating:
Summary: science fiction at its best
Review: HEAVEN is about religion & ecology. Reminiscent of how the Spanish conquerors of the Incas & Aztecs decided that it was much to the Indians' benefit to be killed to save their immortal souls. Stewart's & Cohen's far distant future saga is the story of one such war, & how the parts are definitely fragments of a greater wholeness.

Rebeccasreads recommends HEAVEN as a riveting & enthralling science fiction story & like no other place you've ever imagined!

Rating:
Summary: science fiction at its best
Review: HEAVEN is about religion & ecology. Reminiscent of how the Spanish conquerors of the Incas & Aztecs decided that it was much to the Indians' benefit to be killed to save their immortal souls. Stewart's & Cohen's far distant future saga is the story of one such war, & how the parts are definitely fragments of a greater wholeness.

Rebeccasreads recommends HEAVEN as a riveting & enthralling science fiction story & like no other place you've ever imagined!

Rating:
Summary: Science Fiction has died and gone to heaven
Review: I was beginning to think real science fiction, the sort that is based on science, had died with Isaac Asimov. It just got better. This is a h-ll of a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Great science, not so great literature.
Review: What can you say about sentient ecologies, that walk! Or juxtaposing ethological [if not cosmic] empathy vs. memetic programmability? You can, for one, say it was well worth buying the book. Why do I rate it only 3 stars? Primarily because the writing felt stilted, perhaps, somewhat over-edited. It seems the authors are collaborating on a baseboard; having some script program logically piece all of the wonderful concepts together. In short, the plot seems to be a straight forward means of illustrate the concepts depicted, & very little past that. Characters, while developed, seem like gravy or frosting, almost besides the point. It's very by-the-book composition, if you will. Emotions, prominently negative in some sections, are at times illicited in contrived ways. They are also immediately human recognized emotions, many founded in relatively modern cultural mores. I guess the other reason I did not enjoy the book as much, was because the authors, for all their scientific novelty, touched on one of my pet peeves: unapologetic anthropomorphism in aliens, esp. concerning motivations, perceptions; and communication. For same reasons, I don't like most of Star Trek, i.e., humans in makeup, aka "aliens" that interact via the possibility of the [magical] "universal translator." To be fair, one major idea in the book, is an Institutional (perhaps Civilizational) drive toward sameness, or interchangability of living parts, on all levels of hirarchical existence. Perhaps then I was hoping to find diamonds in a sapphire deposit. Well, I do love hard SciFi, and this book, like those of Asimov and Clark and Baxter, fits the bill. It just wont be as memorable to me, I fear, for reasons mentioned. Nonetheless, if you like Steve Baxter's books, and love the interplay of fantastic, even far fetched, ideas then have no fear in ordering it, you'll most likely like it.