The Other End of Time

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down
Review: I found a very good book in this one. It picks up several topics others wrote about, but still create something new as a whole. If you liked Clarke/Lee's Rama series you'll definitely enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: A fine effort by Mr. Pohl
Review: I found this to be an interesting and entertaining book but it is certainly not a classic of science fiction. Pohl is very talented at writing dialogue, and I enjoyed the interplay between the characters. The story gets somewhat bogged down in the middle while our heroes are in the alien cell and then ends somewhat abruptly. The aliens' use of "tachyon" technology for transportation and copying is interesting. I was puzzled at the end as to who/where are the copies and who/where are the originals, maybe the sequel will make that clearer. By the end of the book it seems to be clear who the "bad" aliens are or does it? Are we being mislead on this? I've started reading the sequel so I'll comment on that also when I finish it. This book is better than the majority of science fiction that I read. Could someone explain the relevance of the title though? At age 80+, Pohl is still going strong!

Rating:
Summary: Makes you wonder where we go when we die.
Review: I was in the Sci-Fi Section of my local bookstore, and someone recomended Pohl to me. I can see why. He writes Sci-Fi the way it was meant to be written. With the knowledge of a scientist, and the skill of a novelist. Read The Other End of Time. It really is one of the best Sci-Fi novels I have read in recent years

Rating:
Summary: Great start to a series
Review: I've read a few books by Pohl and I particularly enjoy the way his settings are rich and coherent. He seems to think carefully about the psychology of his characters and the social background they come from (both the humans and the aliens, in this case) explains the characters' motivations and actions quite plausibly. I very much appreciate the depth this adds to the story. Pohl also takes pains to base his stories on science (not necessarily accepted fact, as he notes in an afterword), which makes the story more believable, without sacrificing an imaginative plot. Contrary to another reader, I found the characters compelling. My only disappointment with the book is that it sets up so many different strands, without resolving them -- obviously a sequel is coming, but when? I'm impatient to read it.

Rating:
Summary: Not great but I liked it.
Review: Other reviewers have either really hated this book or really loved it. I'm afraid I'm in the middle somewhere. I've read other Pohl books and remember liking them, that's why I picked this up. The characters aren't very well drawn and I didn't really care for his changing pov, especially among the various Pats. But it kept me interested enough to finish the book, and I already have the sequel. One thing I puzzeled about is that the characters don't really seem to have grasped the concept of being copies. They seem to think they are the originals when they are copies. Also, when they escape in the end, they don't seem to realize that a copy would be sent, but they would remain. Maybe the sequel will get into that.

Rating:
Summary: Pohl at his best
Review: Part of a true three novel trilogy Eschaton, including (The Other End of Time, The Siege of Eternity, The Far Shore of Time). This trio deals with first contact but Pohl couldn't let it be a simple aliens encounter, there are two different and of course warring alien alliances but that is as far as the "of course" goes. The leaders of earth first have to come to terms among themselves so they can choose correctly from slim, hidden and misleading evidences, which group of aliens is truthful and altruistic and which will conquer and enslave.
Besides the wonderful Sci-Fi and multitude of sentient beings there is a good study of the human psyche in captivity. Also a twist in dealing with unwanted clones; not knowing which is the original, if there is an original, which clone gets the spouse and like conundrums.
You have to stay alert to the fast pace and changing / multiplying cast. A very good read with interesting alien customs and biology's.

Rating:
Summary: Slow going from the Grand Master
Review: Pohl consistently turns out inventive, readable, novels. The concept and the characters are up to his usual high standards. Unfortunately, the last third of the book moves at a glacial pace-- documenting the incarceration of our heroes in an alien test lab, where next to nothing of any consequence happens. Near the end, the plot picks up pace, only to be abruptly concluded in the final 10 pages with an unsatisfying and unsurprising ending. If you haven't read "Gateway" or "Starburst" or such, read those first

Rating:
Summary: Pohl could learn a thing from Stephen Baxter
Review: Pohl is one of the masters of the genre, but here he delivers a disappointing riff on the alien abduction theme. Things begin promisingly enough in a near-futuristic New York, where crime and hyperinflation are a plausible part of daily life, but daily life is still recognizable. We are introduced to Dan Dannerman (awful name), who is an agent for a futuristic FBI/CIA hybrid trying to penetrate a high-tech observatory run by his cousin. Things starts to grind to a halt when he, his cousin, and three others blast off into space to combo Spacelab/Hubble/MIR thingy that's stopped working and might somehow be related to alien broadcasts that have been recently received on Earth. Like many genre characters, none of the five are particularly interesting, and Pohl's occasional POV switching is somewhat pointless. More annoying is the overheated and poorly written sexual "tension" between various characters, which undermine the entire work and lead it off into the land of late-night cable. This is becomes even more silly when the five are captured by the aliens and made to live in a cell for observation by the aliens. The intriguing possibilities promised by the aliens' introduction of "copies" of the characters to the originals (they have some sort of replicator technology) doesn't lead anywhere particularly interesting or thought provoking. The ending is particularly weak, and seems rather hastily concluded and deliberately open to a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointing Abduction
Review: Pohl is one of the masters of the genre, but here he delivers a disappointing riff on the alien abduction theme. Things begin promisingly enough in a near-futuristic New York, where crime and hyperinflation are a plausible part of daily life, but daily life is still recognizable. We are introduced to Dan Dannerman (awful name), who is an agent for a futuristic FBI/CIA hybrid trying to penetrate a high-tech observatory run by his cousin. Things starts to grind to a halt when he, his cousin, and three others blast off into space to combo Spacelab/Hubble/MIR thingy that's stopped working and might somehow be related to alien broadcasts that have been recently received on Earth. Like many genre characters, none of the five are particularly interesting, and Pohl's occasional POV switching is somewhat pointless. More annoying is the overheated and poorly written sexual "tension" between various characters, which undermine the entire work and lead it off into the land of late-night cable. This is becomes even more silly when the five are captured by the aliens and made to live in a cell for observation by the aliens. The intriguing possibilities promised by the aliens' introduction of "copies" of the characters to the originals (they have some sort of replicator technology) doesn't lead anywhere particularly interesting or thought provoking. The ending is particularly weak, and seems rather hastily concluded and deliberately open to a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Blah.
Review: That's exactly what this books is like. Blah. The characters are very ... one dimensional. The book starts off quite well, and manages to keep the reader intersted for a while. But somehwere near the middle, things start moving so fast, its almost comical. By 'fast' I mean that it doesn't spark any questions/ discussion in the reader's mind. It just happens. The concept isn't all that bad, but everything else could've been dealt with a little more attention to detail.