The Immortality Option

Rating:
Summary: An excellent sequel to a classic novel
Review: Considering the massive set and costume changes between successive "Star Trek" movies, which are generally 2-3 years apart, I wondered how well the author would pick up after over a decade. I must say, it was as if the books had been written one after another.

In this sequel to "Code of the Lifemaker" we learn much about the race that created the craft that landed on Titan and started the ball rolling and find out that a hidden agenda made a routine exploration mission somewhat less than routine.

By the end, we discover that paranoia and gullibility are not strictly human traits but universal in nature and applicable to aliens and computers alike.

While "Code of the Lifemaker" and "The Immortality Option" stand up on their own, together they're a blast.

Rating:
Summary: Sloppy, silly thinking wrapped in a "hard science" label
Review: I LOVED the original "Code of the Lifemaker" so long ago, but 20 years later, I found this sequel to be nothing short of appalling, bad in ways that suggest Hogan has no respect either for his audience or even himself.

While the original showed a wonderful imagination, it was grounded in both real science and the way real people behave. The sequel, on the other hand, is grounded in neither, and reads more like Internet fan fiction or an entry in some sort of "bad science fiction" contest. When I read the paragraph where Hogan described the notebook of "correct opinion" the evil media elites distribute to newsrooms as part of the vast, sinister media conspiracy (literally), I had to re-read the paragraph several times, since I didn't want to believe something so comically stupid could have been written by someone who once seemed destined to be one of the great science fiction writers.

Nope, he did write it. And into the garbage went this book.

If you're looking for wonder and imagination set in Saturn's orbit, check out John Varley's Gaea trilogy instead, and stay well away from "The Immortality Option."

Rating:
Summary: Sloppy, silly thinking wrapped in a "hard science" label
Review: I LOVED the original "Code of the Lifemaker" so long ago, but 20 years later, I found this sequel to be nothing short of appalling, bad in ways that suggest Hogan has no respect either for his audience or even himself.

While the original showed a wonderful imagination, it was grounded in both real science and the way real people behave. The sequel, on the other hand, is grounded in neither, and reads more like Internet fan fiction or an entry in some sort of "bad science fiction" contest. When I read the paragraph where Hogan described the notebook of "correct opinion" the evil media elites distribute to newsrooms as part of the vast, sinister media conspiracy (literally), I had to re-read the paragraph several times, since I didn't want to believe something so comically stupid could have been written by someone who once seemed destined to be one of the great science fiction writers.

Nope, he did write it. And into the garbage went this book.

If you're looking for wonder and imagination set in Saturn's orbit, check out John Varley's Gaea trilogy instead, and stay well away from "The Immortality Option."

Rating:
Summary: The sequal succeeds as well as the original
Review: In the original, the author blew me away with natural evolution for robots. In this book, he keeps artful, suspenseful control of a plot that spans over a million years, two star systems, three very distinct species, and several outstanding individuals.

I made the mistake of reading this book before going to bed..I couldn't put it down to go to sleep! The mood swings, sometimes abruptly, from wonder, to laugh-out-loud funny, to nail-biting tension.

All my favorite characters from the original return, and are joined by the imaginatively-rendered Borijans and their AI GENIUS in a three-way battle for the future of Titan, which is also a battle between science and nonsense, gullibility and guile, compassion and selfishness.

Rating:
Summary: Fast Paced Sequel to Code of the Lifemaker
Review: Twelve years after publishing "Code of the Lifemaker", Hogan followed the steps of that success with this sequel. The main characters are back (with Karl Zambendorf at the top of all of them) and also the background is set on Titan.

Being asked to write this sequel by his publisher, Hogan responded that he did not want to as he had effectively finished the story on "Code of the Lifemaker". Nevertheless, the publisher insisted and Hogan intelligentely found a thread from the first novel to follow an adventure which has weight enough to carry on the story.

Although the charm and originality of the initial situation has faded, Hogan compensates with a fast-paced adventure and a satisfactory conclusion to what can be labelled as the series of "Zambedorf on Titan".

Rating=3