Eternity

Rating:
Summary: Eternity disapoints after Eon - but still a good read.
Review: After reading Eon, I could not wait to get my hands on the follow-up.. . and in some ways "Eternity" came through better than I hoped.

There are some really clever twists and plot threads in this novel, but in the end it fades away rather than fulfilling the promise of the first book. There is also some great writing through the first two thirds of this book, but you may feel the last third leaves you wanting more. Great ideas abound in this novel, but they never seem to reach the climax the reader anticipates.

There is plenty of room for yet another sequel, but the story seems to work hard to quickly tie up any loose ends, just in case Greg Bear decides not to go beyond Eternity. If you liked Eon, read this novel, but be prepared a different intensity level.

Rating:
Summary: A little vague at times but overall a good read
Review: At first I was disappointed by this book but the more I read it, the more enwrapped I became by this sci-fi political thriller. The thing that disappointed me most about this book was the feel that it was a sequel. Throughout the book numerous references are made to such groups as Geshels, Neo-Geshels, Jarts, Terrestrials, Old Natives, the Hexamon, the Nexus, and a seemingly endless list of planets without really giving much of a description or explanation as to what they are. After doing a little bit of research on this book, I made the discovery that it actually is a sequel to another book that Greg Bear wrote called Eon. While I've never read that book I would recommend reading it before reading Eternity because I presume it goes into a little more detail describing just what these organizations actually are.

Should one not have the time, one can eventually figure out what Bear is talking about through context clues, but it took me about a good half of the book until I was confident I understood what all of these things were. Once I got past this, I really could appreciate the book more.

The book takes place at some future date, presumably several hundred years or so from now, after a nuclear war with Russia. This nuclear war is referred to as both the Death and as the Sundering. Apparently an extremely large hollowed out asteroid called Thistledown, which is also referred to throughout the book as the Stone and also as the Potato, is in orbit around Earth. Humans have colonized this asteroid and it seems as if most of the wealthier humans, known as the Geshels, live there. Thistledown holds the gateway to a faster than light highway of sorts, that allows transportation between planets, galaxies, universes, and even through time. This "highway" is known as the Way.

Humans, however, aren't the only ones interested in the Way. A hostile species of aliens known as the Jarts also uses the way for transport and for conquering other planets. At one time the Way was open for public use, but at the time the book starts, it has been closed since the nuclear war with Russia. The entire plot of the book revolves on the debate with the Hexamon, the global government, on whether or not they should reopen the Way.

One aspect of the book that is really interesting is that in the story people can receive age regression therapy and live for a virtually infinite number of years. People's minds can even be downloaded in to City Memory, which is something similar to the internet, and then put into a new body. I think that?s where the book gets it's title from, because as a result of this people can live for all eternity if they choose to do so.

The people in the book also have an interesting way to reproduce. Their children's minds are created in City Memory long before they ever have a body. Their children's minds are usually parts of their parents minds combined and then sculpted to perfection. When the online mind has reached a certain age, it takes tests to see whether or not it qualifies to be a human. From their the mind designs it's own body, which is grown for it and then the mind is downloaded into the body.

The book also takes on a religious aspect as people return as angels from the "Final Mind", also known as God, to try to influence whether or not the Way should be opened. They want the Way to be destroyed because they claim that it interrupts the Final Mind's plan. One thing that I found particularly annoying was that the angels never mention why, or how the Way interrupts the Final Mind's plan. When people ask them they respond that they simply don't know. This really [inhales with force] the purpose out of the plot because it is never really explained to the reader why the Way should be destroyed.

Once I got past the lack of description as to what Bear is talking about however I found this to be a rather interesting book. After all there have been many great novels throughout history that have been far more vague, leaving interpretation or even translation entirely up to the reader (i.e. Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange). I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about politics or science fiction.

Rating:
Summary: A thinking piece not an action piece
Review: Eon is a great novel with an interesting and dramatic plot that moves the story along and brings up certain important and interesting themes along the way. Eternity has much less of a movng plot, which is why I think many reviewers don't like it as much. Eternity challenges the reader to think about what's right and what's wrong, and how the answers to those questions make them feel. I think this is an important book from its philosophy, but yes, if you are looking for action, keep looking.

Rating:
Summary: Eternity th Best Ever
Review: Eternity is a sweeping vision defining the plot vein started with Stapleton's Starmaker and Zebrowski's Macroworld. Extending from the near future to the Universe's end, Greg Bear paints a vision of Humanity (extended to all intelligentlife forms)at it's best and worst, and does it with very sympathetic characters, extensive and involved plots, and ingenious predictions on technology and evolution. Plus, The Way - a constructed, self-contained universe made by man. Quite possibly the best Science Fiction I have read. If you read Eon, by Bear, this is a must-read sequal that far surpasses the original.

Rating:
Summary: Editorial standards are certainly lacking
Review: I had somewhat forgotten how Greg Bear wrote. His descriptions of the Jart are so obscure and long-winded, the reader may as well just turn the page. I found it annoying that Greg Bear attempted to invent even more words in this book than Eon. My largest complaint however resided in the high number of typos, duplicated words, letters dropped etc that made the reading even more disruptive. It really looked like there had been global replacements as the same errors were repeated. While I'd admit that an author is more concerned with flow, plot, and technical accuracy - the editor should review with a little more care to the fundamentals.

Rating:
Summary: I put it down half-way through.
Review: Nothing like EON. EON is the one. This was a hack sequel with no guts. Very dissapointing.

Rating:
Summary: A slow start with an interesting conclusion...
Review: While I initially had mixed feelings about Bear's Eon, I have to admit that certain points of his world did capture my interest and I did feel the desire to read more. In this light, Eternity is excellent as it shows us what happens to most of the important characters after the final events in Eon. In contrast though, the book was extremely slow to start and seemed mainly concerned about the characters attitudes and feelings as long passages were devoted to personal insight and environmental descriptions. Only after about 1/3 into the novel do things become much more interesting and the conclusion is definitely thought provoking. Overall, I would recommend fans of Eon to give this book a chance as it seems a fitting conclusion to the story, even if a bit long winded.

Rating:
Summary: Almost as good as EON
Review: While this sequesl to EON clears up and tidies some aspects presented in the first book, there are some jumbled parts. I wanted more time spent with the Jarts interacting. Maybe get into the Jarts head some more? The religious concepts and misunderstandings are as fresh today as when this was written.