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Title: The Killing Star by George Zebrowski, Charles R., Bib Pellegrino ISBN: 0-380-77026-1 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: February, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.23 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Wow! Maybe SETI is not such a good idea!
Comment: I read a lot. Quite frankly, most of what I read is trash. However, "The Killing Star" is one of a select few hard sci-fi novels I really, really, enjoyed. It is the only book I have read this year that I am still discussing with my friends. Get a buddy to read this book with you and the debate can be endless (i.e. a great choice for a sci-fi book club).The basic premise is that the search for extraterrestrial life (SETI) is frought with dangers. With some nicely done analogies and symbolism, the authors equate SETI to the the voyage of the TITANIC going full speed through fields of ice. Basically, the authors opine that any sufficiently advanced alien lifeform has no choice but to destroy any technologically advanced race it comes into contact with, so human beings should not be so eager to contact aliens by sending messages, radio communications, etc., into the deep reaches of unknown space. Why? Read the book. You will not be disapointed.
Rating: 3
Summary: Good hard science fiction
Comment: This is an entertaining hard science fiction novel. It shows a different take on trying to contact alien species which we have not considered. Our radio broadcasts reach another alien species who are xenophobes and whose philosophy is let's get them before they get us (and it's nothing personal). It's rather amusing to see the basis of how they came to judge the human race. This book could as easily been twice as long as it was if the authors had cared to develop the characters more. The book follows various groups of survivors and their strategies for avoiding the aliens, some are successful and some are not. There are a lot of interesting scientific concepts presented in the book which make it a good read. If you enjoy the "hard" science fiction of Larry Niven, Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov, I would recommend that you read this book.
Rating: 3
Summary: It's Good.
Comment: This book is pretty good. Lots of interesting ideas about xenophobic alien races, (kudos by the way for not including the typical "Gray" alien) and a horrific view of what might happen due to our radio broadcasts.
The Killing Star could've been better. First, the characters are hardly developed at all. There are some attempts at developing good characters, particularly Justin and Joshua, but they just didn't cut it. It seems that the characters were just thrown in the story, which is a big writing "no-no."
This book gets its science right. In fact, most of the book is . . . science. It seems the authors actually have been in space, their knowledge about it is superb. Every little thing from simply moving the ships to anything else has a nice, meaty scientific explanation that will make your brain bleed if you read it too much.
If this story spent more time on developing plot and characters instead of science, it'd be even more enjoyable. It's good; but there's definatley better Science Fiction books out there.
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Title: Lonely Planets : The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life by David Grinspoon ISBN: 0060185406 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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