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51st out of 67 books
—
83 voters
The Sunborn (Adventures of Viktor & Julia #2)
- The author's most recent hardcover for Aspect, Beyond Infinity (0-446-53059-X), was published in 3/04. His previous Aspect novel, The Martian Race, was published in hardcover in 1999 and paperback in 2001, and has netted almost 50,000 combined copies. It was a Locus magazine Recommended Book of the Year.
- Aspect is publishing the six titles in Benford's classic Galactic...more
- Aspect is publishing the six titles in Benford's classic Galactic...more
Hardcover, 336 pages
Published
October 15th 2007
by Aspect
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Julia and Viktor, the first astronauts to land on Mars, are sent off to Pluto to investigate a number of strange phenomena. The solar system's coldest, most distant planet appears to be heating up and developing an atmosphere. Stranger still, another expedition has discovered life on Pluto, in an environment where it shouldn't exist. Benford has always been fascinated by the possibilities inherent in extraterrestrial life, and he takes advantage of his own scientific specialty, plasma physics, t...more
I liked the "hard science" in this book. Everything about this book is completely believable (and it get's pretty far out toward the end). I must say, though, that I think Benford is better when he is a collaborator (and he has collaborated with some of the best, such as A.C.Clarke). His plot seems a little plodding at times, and hence it took a bit of effort to get to the end of this one. Still, the concepts explored in this novel are pretty amazing and thought provoking, and the characters tur...more
In this unexceptional and somewhat slow-moving follow-up to The Martian Race (1999), Benford sends Julia and Viktor, the first astronauts to land on Mars, off to Pluto to investigate a number of strange phenomena. The solar system's coldest, most distant planet appears to be heating up and developing an atmosphere. Stranger still, another expedition has discovered life on Pluto, in an environment where it shouldn't exist.
Jul 08, 2011
Vincenzo Bacci
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction
a good story about first contact and entirely new ways life could develop. It's a sequel to Martian Race, which I did not read, but I think it did not influence my understanding. Plenty of hard science and technology. Characters tend to be unidimensional. Good pacing, satisfactory conclusion with open-ended possibilities.
Although it was nice at first to catch up with Julia and Viktor, still on Mars 20 years later, I lost interest in this at the halfway point. I liked the first book, which was a small, realistic near-future story about a mission to Mars. This book makes a huge leap to vast interstellar plasmatic alien beings doing experiments on Pluto. The new new protagonist, Axelrod’s daughter, is a dreadful, unconvincing character and Gregory’s rather shallow writing isn’t up to this task.
I read this when I was still in high school so, I can't really remember the details. However, the idea that there are foreign creatures living outside Earth and they are like plasma really struck me. As far as I can remember, this is the only detail that really stuck.
I didn't realize this was a sequel to 'The Martian Race' (which I haven't read) until a quarter of the way through.
The magnetic creatures are similar to what's near the black hole in one of the later Galactic Center novels. There isn't much explanation for how they could actually live and persist.
The magnetic creatures are similar to what's near the black hole in one of the later Galactic Center novels. There isn't much explanation for how they could actually live and persist.
I love sci-fi and this one gratified my fancy for space operas. Corny? Totally. Interesting concepts abound based on real, up-to-date discoveries from the world of astrophysics, Mars probe data, the Voyagers new and wild data (yes, folks, those little sweethearts we sent out of the solar system over 35 years ago are still ticking away, sending unbelievably valuable and unexpected information). I recommend this book if - and only if - you are interested in these kinds of things. If you want a boo...more
An uneven sequel to The Martian Race.
Quite enjoyed it, had some nice challenging thought provoking concepts and was reasonably fast paced.
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Although parts of the plot move so quickly as to be disorienting and the characters are mostly rather flat, this book more than makes up for it with its sizzling ideas. Totally captivating!
I really enjoyed this book, full of interesting and thought-provoking ideas. Does alien intelligence have to be a physical being, or can it be something else?
Jun 06, 2013
Jeffry
marked it as to-read
May 18, 2013
Jamie Revell
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction
May 17, 2013
Craig
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May 05, 2013
Gail
marked it as to-read
Apr 19, 2013
Heather
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Apr 15, 2013
Maike
marked it as to-read
Apr 01, 2013
Butch Howard
marked it as to-read
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Gregory Benford is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine.
As a science fiction author, Benford is best known for the Galactic Center Saga novels, beginning with In the Ocean of Night (1977). This series postulates a galaxy in which sentient organic life is in constant warfare wit...more
More about Gregory Benford...
As a science fiction author, Benford is best known for the Galactic Center Saga novels, beginning with In the Ocean of Night (1977). This series postulates a galaxy in which sentient organic life is in constant warfare wit...more
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