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Title: Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson ISBN: 0-312-86609-7 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 15 May, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.9 (20 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Great read, but leaves one wanting more to think about
Comment: My thoughts on Icehenge are difficult to gather - it's a gripping story, a page-turner. Page-turner-ness is an important criterion for any book to rated highly. However, even though I loved reading the book, and hated when I had to pause, I am still left somewhat empty after reading it, because ultimately, it doesn't get across what I think the author wanted to get across to us - which is the vagaries of historical research, and how human fallability, and human ego, especially as they are enhanced by a human life-span that has reached the 600 year range, interferes with our ability to ever accurately reconstruct the past, no matter how advanced our scientific archeological technology might progress.
The story takes place in three different times, all after we have colonized Mars. The first part is the Mars rebellion of 2248, told from the point of view of a woman who ended up hijacked by a rebellious faction who were planning on going out of the solar system to escape the dreaded corporate committee that rules Mars. The second part takes place a few hundred years later, and involves the discovery of "Icehenge", a stonehenge-like construction of ice on Pluto, with a sanskrit inscription and a date of 2248. The main character of this section is an archeologist who reconstructs through "scientific" means that the group of rebels from part I made icehenge on their way out of the solar system.
The third part of the story is a few hundred years after the second, and involves a main character who does a lot of research and ends up being able to go to Pluto, and then "substantively" proves that icehenge could not possibly have been built by the rebel group, since it must be relatively recently constructed.
The society and culture that Robinson created in this book is very believable and interesting; his characters are fantastic - I cared for them all, whether they were jerks or good people; his writing style is readable and exciting. But still, the story just doesn't leave me thrilled to have read it. The potential was there to make a real important inquiry into the nature of historical reconstruction, and thus be a commendable treatise on our own fallability in accurately reconstructing history and our ego-stupidity in assuming that what we "discover" must be the "truth". But, unfortunately, he doesn't quite do that.
But, in all respect, this is also an early work of Robinson's, before reaching maturity, so to speak, as a writer.
It's definitely worth the read, absolutely. But if you are in the mood for something more meaty, then pass this one up, and head for something else.
3 stars becuase the writing style is so awesome, but the story doesn't go as far as it could have in enlightening us about the author's point of view.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great out of the starting gate
Comment: Kim Stanley Robinson debuted with this book and The Wild Shore practically in the same year, something that doesn't happen too often. Even rarer, it turns out that both book are key works of the authors and deserved to be read years after they were first published. The Wild Shore gets most of the glory because it's slightly better and part of a trilogy (all three of which are highly recommended) and also because it's less "SFish" than Icehenge. Icehenge has a similar structure as Asimov's The Gods Themselves in that the book is made of three distinct pieces with three distinct characters who all further the plot without ever meeting . . . sort of. There is some crossing of stories here, but not directly, but Robinson's charactizations are what shine through. All of the parts are written in the first person and each character has an individual voice, uniquely showing different views of a future society where life is good but not great, where you can live for hundreds of years but forget about the place where you were born. The plot partially concerns some monoliths (shades of 2001!) being found on Pluto, with the pervading theory that they were built by humans . . . the only question is by who and why. The first story sets up everything else and might give clues into what happened but the other two sections are what deal with the formations proper. The first guy has one theory, his great-grandson years later has a totally different one and both go about proving them. In the end though it's impossible to say and this is a book that will have you considering a lot of aspects of the plot long after you've put it done. Robinson didn't take the easy way out and give a neatly pat ending, which some readers may not be too fond of. But considering the themes of the book, of memory loss and forgetting the past, it fits in perfectly. It's not his best book but if you've enjoyed anything else he's written there's no reason why you shouldn't give this a shot.
Rating: 5
Summary: Who build Icehenge?
Comment: This is a fantastic book by an excellent author. Icehenge gives you the journals of three individuals all somehow connected with a mysterious monolith on Pluto. This is a suspenceful story that keeps you asking "Who built Icehenge?" to the very last page.
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Title: The Memory of Whiteness : A Scientific Romance by Kim Stanley Robinson ISBN: 0312861435 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 January, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Escape From Kathmandu by Kim Stanley Robinson ISBN: 0312874995 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 03 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Remaking History and Other Stories by Kim Stanley Robinson ISBN: 0312890125 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 15 August, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Antarctica by KIM STANLEY ROBINSON ISBN: 0553574027 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 06 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson ISBN: 0553580078 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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