Rating: 
Summary: 7 out of 10 for science, 0 out of 10 for story.
Review: Here on the Amazon page, there is a review of this title from "Kirkus Reviews," and I pretty much agree with what is said there. I spotted the book on the shelf, and was reminded of the graphic novel "Camelot 3000," which is quite good. Aside from the title, there's no similarity, though. The "30K" is a temperature, not a year, and while this book has better science than the graphic novel, it is totally devoid of characterization or plot. I saw what appeared to be strong reviews on the cover, and was suckered in. "Don't judge a book by its cover." Forward tries to do what Swift did in "Gulliver's Travels," or Abbott did in "Flatland," making concepts into characters. Forward ain't no Swift, though! He plods along, illustrating this, commenting on that, and trying to make it appear as if there is some grand mystery ahead. There is none, especially if you had the misfortune to notice the illustrations in the appendix first. Human characters are given gratuitous snippets of "personality" to try to make them distinct, and one is even given a disease which is an obvious and unnecessary plot device. Kerack characters are mostly human in their attitudes and behavior, with a few obligatory quirks (predominantly the typical non-human attitudes about sex and other bodily functions). The science is rather cute, and I use that word deliberately. It illustrates a point, but it's such an obvious construct that it's really quite tedious. As the Kirkus reviewer says, the biology of Ice might work, but how would it ever occur in the first place? You might be able to set it in place as a full-blown system, but it is so specialized it could not evolve. Creationism, perhaps? In short, there really isn't much to recommend this book. Go locate "Camelot 3000" instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Life on the shores of space
Review: I could not put this book down, even after reading it for the third time. The science is fantastic and drove me back to low temperature physics books several times in order to verify Forward's facts.I especially liked the implied inefficiency of goverment and the toading approach of mission control to the bottom line. Having worked all too often with and for the government, I well understand the mission crew's ire at the junk they were forced to use. The civilization on Ice is facinating, at the least. A hive entity with individuality within the members of the hive sufficient to allow independent thought and initiative. Unlike the Bugs in Starship Troopers, these are people, with their own wants and desires and their own abilities. This is a book that covers it all: Science, personal interactions, government ineptitude and political cowardness, all set against the Kuiper Belt and low temperature physics. A great read.
Rating: 
Summary: This is not a good book
Review: I have four main problems with this book. There were also some smaller things I disliked, but I'll only mention these four. First, the descriptions of the science involved could hardly be more boring. For pages and pages we read about which subatomic particles do what during a nuclear explosion. Great. Second, I found the engineered systems in the book to be absurd. For example, there are these space catapults that I just can't believe in. Third, although the alien people are non-humanoid and non-English speaking, their civilization is remarkably similar to medieval European civilizations. If the aliens don't have to look human, why do they have to act human? Fourth, like many other reviewers, I found it hard to believe that the alien method of reproduction would have been able to evolve. I do give this book two stars, and not one, though. This is because it is well-written and easy to read.
Rating:
Summary: Go back to the masters!
Review: If this is an example of a book by Robert L. Forward, I'll be pleased to avoid them in the future. Now, don't get me wrong: just because I prefer fantasy to hard sf, doesn't mean I don't appreciate good hard sf. I grew up on Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, Niven and Clement. I read Brin, Card and Cherryh, and sample a lot of newcomers like Watts' _Starfish_. But if I hadn't been forced to finish this for a book discussion group, I doubt I would have continued past page 50, my benchmark to quit if I don't care about anything in the book: ideas, world, characters, etc. Not only does this book have no interesting storyline, it has constant intrusions of scientific explanations. Okay, okay, so you want to know something about it. Life is found on a cometary body beyond the orbit of Pluto, living only 30 degrees above absolute zero (30K, get it?). We go to explore it, of course, which is the basis of the entire story, as we humans examine their culture and figure out what makes it work physically. It's an interesting puzzle (hence the two stars), worthy of Clement's _Mission of Gravity_, to which it is compared (although I found Mission much easier to read not too long ago). But if you're not a chemist or a physicist, you'll probably find your eyes glazing over as you skim paragraph after paragraph of scientific explanation, hunting for the next step in the simple storyline. The aliens were marginally interesting, but not enough to keep me reading under normal circumstances. It felt like a [very long] story from the 1940s when sf was new, and it was still a genre heavy on ideas and light on characters and the more sophisticated elements of storytelling we expect from our sf writers now. If you want hard sf in the old style, go back to the masters mentioned above, and skip this one. You'll thank me for the suggestion.
Rating:
Summary: Slow start, but worth being persisten
Review: It took me almost half of the book to get jazzed about this one, but I did get jazzed. This is a tour de force description of an alien culture. They are the Keracks, only a few centimeters high, living a medieval-like existence, but with advanced chemistry and metallurgical skills, on a comet, with an ambient temperature of only 30°K, out beyond the orbit of Pluto. They are an insect-like race with an ant-like culture living in individual city-states that are extremely hostile towards each other. There is a collective mind, but individuality is also developed, along with specialization and sophisticated arts. Forward's substantial use of chemistry and nuclear physics quickly outstrips my paltry knowledge, but it's fundamental to his weaving a fascinating tale of evolution and procreation, along with the beginnings of salvation that borrows from the story of Jesus Christ. Really a fascinating book!
Rating:
Summary: Slow start, but worth being persisten
Review: It took me almost half of the book to get jazzed about this one, but I did get jazzed. This is a tour de force description of an alien culture. They are the Keracks, only a few centimeters high, living a medieval-like existence, but with advanced chemistry and metallurgical skills, on a comet, with an ambient temperature of only 30°K, out beyond the orbit of Pluto. They are an insect-like race with an ant-like culture living in individual city-states that are extremely hostile towards each other. There is a collective mind, but individuality is also developed, along with specialization and sophisticated arts. Forward's substantial use of chemistry and nuclear physics quickly outstrips my paltry knowledge, but it's fundamental to his weaving a fascinating tale of evolution and procreation, along with the beginnings of salvation that borrows from the story of Jesus Christ. Really a fascinating book!
Rating:
Summary: What an imagination!
Review: Out on the edge of the solar system is a planet shrouded in cold and ice. On this planet Earthians (is that a word?) land and discover a race of tiny creatures, technologically developed. This is the story of that meeting and is perhaps one of the five best scifi novels of that year. In what is perhaps a parody or even a parable, we learn of the kerack civilization, its music, art and manners. Communication is accomplished through tiny robots are lowered to the surface and via VR, an astronaut explores the surface and the culture. Our heroine, Merlene, a lower-class citizen of this world, is the vehicle by which we are introduced to this strange yet inviting world. Like many races on Earth, society is based on a queen and workers, with all the accompanying niches of warrior, wizard children, etc. As the story progresses we slowly understand that warfare has been a way of life for these people but now has progressed to a point that is potentially all-consuming. We slowly realize that events are building toward something we can barely fathom: The denizens of the city are preparing a nuclear blasts through biological means. This explosion destroys Camalor, Merlene's city, but in the process propogates genes into space. The ending is a tour de force. One human elects to remain on the planet and Merlene has an epiphany and at last understands that she is to be the new leader, the queen without a city, a Jeremiah-like prophet for peace. She begins her journey with the remaining human "bot" beseeching all those who hear her voice with a final plea, "You be listening to the message o'Merlene. You be believing that message and you will be saved." Priceless!!!
Rating:
Summary: What an imagination!
Review: Out on the edge of the solar system is a planet shrouded in cold and ice. On this planet Earthians (is that a word?) land and discover a race of tiny creatures, technologically developed. This is the story of that meeting and is perhaps one of the five best scifi novels of that year. In what is perhaps a parody or even a parable, we learn of the kerack civilization, its music, art and manners. Communication is accomplished through tiny robots are lowered to the surface and via VR, an astronaut explores the surface and the culture. Our heroine, Merlene, a lower-class citizen of this world, is the vehicle by which we are introduced to this strange yet inviting world. Like many races on Earth, society is based on a queen and workers, with all the accompanying niches of warrior, wizard children, etc. As the story progresses we slowly understand that warfare has been a way of life for these people but now has progressed to a point that is potentially all-consuming. We slowly realize that events are building toward something we can barely fathom: The denizens of the city are preparing a nuclear blasts through biological means. This explosion destroys Camalor, Merlene's city, but in the process propogates genes into space. The ending is a tour de force. One human elects to remain on the planet and Merlene has an epiphany and at last understands that she is to be the new leader, the queen without a city, a Jeremiah-like prophet for peace. She begins her journey with the remaining human "bot" beseeching all those who hear her voice with a final plea, "You be listening to the message o'Merlene. You be believing that message and you will be saved." Priceless!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat contrived but very good
Review: Spiders on a very cold planet ... making fusion weapons
as a biological time bomb to spread their genetic material?
Clever, real science and contrived , but worth reading as all of Dr. Forward's work has been.
Rating:
Summary: No plot, but entertaining
Review: This is not so much a story as a description of very alien aliens, however it does end with the most spectacular sex-orgy imaginable! RF normally writes hard SF, but only as far a the physics is concerned, not the biology - the alien's biology seems impossible to arise through natural selection. Do not peek at the diagrams in the appendix, they are a bit of a giveaway. Not one of his best books but recommended.
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