The 21st century was on the brink of nuclear confrontation when the 300 kilometer-long stone flashed out of nothingness and into Earth's orbit. NA...
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Feb 14, 2011
Simon
rated it: 
Imagine an alternate history in which the cold war hadn't ended in 1989 and had instead continued to intensify. And to add fuel to the fire a mysterious object arrived in our solar system from who knows where that America gets to first and controls access to. If the Soviets believed the Americans were learning secrets that would give them an edge, tensions might escalate out of hand. But it isn't giving the Americans a technological edge, only offers confounding mysteries and a devestating visio
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Jan 23, 2008
Ethan
rated it: 
This is exactly what I was looking for when I was in the mood for some good 80's sci fi. Bear is a "hard" sci-fi writer - a lot of science, not so much in the way of character development. Actually, Bear's characters are developed fairly decently, but his best efforts come in his mind-expanding scientific/philosophical speculation. I honestly don't know enough math or physics to follow some of what he was talking about, but the basic ideas are pretty mind blowing, which is what good
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May 10, 2008
Mark
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Rather compelling remake of Clarke's Rendesvouz with Rama. It really needed to be three books, perhaps, as too much happened in the last third of the book, and a bit too quickly to really engage me. Theoretical time/space science becomes the magic pixie dust that makes everything possible in the last portion of this book, but I still enjoyed it, even what I had a hard time visualizing.
Why aren't hard science fiction writers allowed to use illustrations? It seems archaic and lame t More...
Why aren't hard science fiction writers allowed to use illustrations? It seems archaic and lame t More...
Nov 09, 2011
Ben
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 21, 2011
Jonathan
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What I suspect was going on here is that Greg Bear obvously wanted to pay homage to Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama, but he also wanted to give something to those who felt Rama cheated them out of a plot. I suspect.
The use of the word(s) USSR dates a sci-fi novel like a yellow stove-fridge combo dates a kitchen. Many SF authors have incredible technical imagination but for some that does not translate into visionary political views. I contrast that to Iain M. Banks' Culture, More...
The use of the word(s) USSR dates a sci-fi novel like a yellow stove-fridge combo dates a kitchen. Many SF authors have incredible technical imagination but for some that does not translate into visionary political views. I contrast that to Iain M. Banks' Culture, More...
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Oct 13, 2010
Scott
rated it:
I have to agree with a lot of the reviews here. Although I ultimatley enjoyed this book it is frustratingly difficult to visualize. Having managed the inner workings of the stone, albeit far from satisfactorily the second half of the book is as easy to visualize and follow as it is rushed and disappointing, given the build up. The first half of this book is a fantastic crescendo which sympathizes with the readers inability to fully comprehend what is happening as neither can the characters. Howe
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Jul 21, 2010
♥ Cheshire Catt ♠
rated it: 
This is an awesome sci-fi book that is similar to Rendezvous with Rama - if you liked that book, you will enjoy this one. The story is as follows:
A huge asteroid comes into Earth's orbit and scientists know something is strange about it. They decide to go investigate and what they find is astounding - the asteroid is hollow and is a giant space ship filled with cities that were built by humans and it is from the future. But not our future and not our universe. Inside they find ev More...
A huge asteroid comes into Earth's orbit and scientists know something is strange about it. They decide to go investigate and what they find is astounding - the asteroid is hollow and is a giant space ship filled with cities that were built by humans and it is from the future. But not our future and not our universe. Inside they find ev More...
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Nov 11, 2009
Chelsea
rated it: 
I had... issues... with this book. The first part was, of course, getting past the Soviet-era antagonism and accepting it as what it was: a convenient antagonist at the time.
I generally don't like books that have maps inside; like maybe if the author was better at conveying a complicated story, then we wouldn't need a map? This one DEFINITELY need a map. I spent the entire damn thing trying to just understand the world they were moving around in. Maybe that makes me stupid, but I do More...
I generally don't like books that have maps inside; like maybe if the author was better at conveying a complicated story, then we wouldn't need a map? This one DEFINITELY need a map. I spent the entire damn thing trying to just understand the world they were moving around in. Maybe that makes me stupid, but I do More...
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Aug 28, 2009
Patrick
rated it:
It's a book I loved when I was seventeen. On second reading, I question why I liked it. Oh, that's right, I was 17. Now I know.
The plot of EON is complicated, both in its science and in the political relationships between characters. Everything starts as a mysterious asteroid enters Earth orbit, and an expedition sent by the west discovers that it was built by humans of the future and somehow sent back in time unintentionally. Museums on the asteroid chronicle a future war between th More...
The plot of EON is complicated, both in its science and in the political relationships between characters. Everything starts as a mysterious asteroid enters Earth orbit, and an expedition sent by the west discovers that it was built by humans of the future and somehow sent back in time unintentionally. Museums on the asteroid chronicle a future war between th More...
Aug 23, 2009
Bryce
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Nov 03, 2010
Tammy
rated it:
I've read reviews that contain complaints about the tension with Soviet Russia in the beginning of the book and the difficulty visualizing the 'world' Greg Bear created. I can see where these things might turn some off.
However, I remember the Cold War and it was freaking scary as hell. I remember the collapse of the USSR as being a wonderful surprise. I can hardly blame the author for not forseeing that. To me the tension and politics at the beginning of Eon are perfectly believable. It's More...
However, I remember the Cold War and it was freaking scary as hell. I remember the collapse of the USSR as being a wonderful surprise. I can hardly blame the author for not forseeing that. To me the tension and politics at the beginning of Eon are perfectly believable. It's More...
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Aug 24, 2009
Jimbo
rated it:
Having read Blood Music, and now Eon, the impression I am getting of Greg Bear is that he has good ideas, sets them up well, but has no follow through and no idea how to end his stories. I really enjoyed the first half of Eon - mysteries and characters introduced and developed well, and some convincing and tense action and politics. I was convinced that Eon was going to be a really good read. Perhaps it was these early high hopes that caused my later disappointment.
As the book pro More...
As the book pro More...
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Mar 09, 2011
Ian
rated it:
I loved this book as a teenager/young adult in the 80's. It was the awesomest thing I'd read to that point, and it remained awesome in my memory. I own a true first edition hardcover in fine condition—actually pretty rare, especially in such good shape—and it will remain one of the prized pieces of my book collection for a long time. Eon also will remain one of the seminal sci-fi works of the late-20th Century. In retrospect its influence on later works is clear, its position as a pioneering
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Dec 02, 2011
Banner
rated it:
After reading The Forge of God I wanted to give Greg Bear another read. I'm still going to but I wish it had not been this one. I just couldn't get into this book.
The characters were not real. We kept hearing how great the female protagonist was suppose to be, but it wasn't until near the end that she did anything noteworthy.
I like hard science but this was just too confusing. I don't want to say anything that would cause me to add a spoiler, but the concepts were out t More...
The characters were not real. We kept hearing how great the female protagonist was suppose to be, but it wasn't until near the end that she did anything noteworthy.
I like hard science but this was just too confusing. I don't want to say anything that would cause me to add a spoiler, but the concepts were out t More...
Jul 10, 2011
Tim
rated it:
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Nov 03, 2011
Martin L.
rated it:
First off, I believe earlier comparisons to Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama aren't quite valid. While characters believed Rama was an asteroid before they approached it, the Stone of Eon IS a hollowed out asteroid.
More importantly, Eon should be viewed as an alternate universe story on two levels. First, the setting of the novel can now be viewed as an alternate to our own universe from 1985 forward (in Eon's primary universe, the Berlin Wall never fell; the USSR never collaps More...
More importantly, Eon should be viewed as an alternate universe story on two levels. First, the setting of the novel can now be viewed as an alternate to our own universe from 1985 forward (in Eon's primary universe, the Berlin Wall never fell; the USSR never collaps More...
Jan 27, 2009
Elizabeth
rated it:
one from my dad. nifty little story about an asteroid that we built from the future. which totally freaked me out, since i'm all like UFOs are eintein's design and were built by us in the future and when surpassing speed of light we flew back in time, which is why the UFO shape is so similar throughout the ages. like on those medieval art pieces of ladies looking serene as a ufo type thing flies in the background. and if the conspiracy people don't think that is an obvious comet then i say -
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Jul 07, 2009
Scurra
rated it:
This is a historical curiosity as well as a piece of mind-blowing hard SF. I first read it soon after it was originally published, and although I could still clearly remember the jaw-dropping parts, I had clearly forgotten most of the actual plot.
The premise is exactly the same as that of Arthur C.Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama - an alien spacecraft enters the solar system and we follow the stories of those sent up to explore it. But, of course, that's about where the similarities e More...
The premise is exactly the same as that of Arthur C.Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama - an alien spacecraft enters the solar system and we follow the stories of those sent up to explore it. But, of course, that's about where the similarities e More...
Jun 23, 2009
Kevin
rated it:
Mourn, for perhaps the collapse of the Soviet Union was also the collapse of the science fiction publishing market. An immense back-catalog of fiction -premised about Cold War concerns like World War III, nuclear annihilation, and the space race- was labeled "dated" overnight. Among these books was "Eon", but maybe in a parallel universe it still seems relevant (goof thing its about parallel universes).
Eon is heavy on the world-building, with a central idea that puts Ri More...
Eon is heavy on the world-building, with a central idea that puts Ri More...
Jan 03, 2012
Chris
rated it: 
This book really wasn't my cup if tea. If this is one of the best books that Sci-fi has to offer then I'll be avoiding that particular genre like the plague in future. The writing jumped from awkwardly worded and weirdly structured to incredibly basic without anything in between. Even in scenes that would generally have some form of emotion or excitement to them the author failed to get away from his monotonous style. The characters were one dimensional at best and, for the most part, their pers
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Sep 05, 2010
Paulette
rated it:
I wonder if the former leaders of the USSR knew what a tragedy they were about to foist upon the Science Fiction genre when they dissolved the Soviet Union in 1991?
There's nothing really wrong with Greg Bear's Eon except that the tension in the first two thirds of the book relies completely of the cold war between the Soviets and Americans heating up after a limited nuclear exchange at the start of the 21st century. I'm on board with many older scifi works whose times have come and g More...
There's nothing really wrong with Greg Bear's Eon except that the tension in the first two thirds of the book relies completely of the cold war between the Soviets and Americans heating up after a limited nuclear exchange at the start of the 21st century. I'm on board with many older scifi works whose times have come and g More...
Jan 26, 2012
David
rated it:
Epic. Fantastical. The events in this novel (and its sequel) are probably impossible, but it still feels like hard sci-fi. The idea of an infinitely long toroidal universe parallel and intertwined with our own is simultaneously magical and believable (the Flaw behaves just as you would think such a singularity might), but this isn't what makes this story such a joy. No, it is the fact that it illustrates possibly the most optimistic picture of what singularity (the intelligence one) might one da
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Sep 02, 2009
Bill
rated it:
EON.
Not really sure how I feel after reading this. It certainly is full of some very good sci-fi ideas. Hard Sci-Fi for sure.
I like the idea of the infinately long linear universe, 'The Way', created by man kind's future descendents. Within this 'corridor' universe, humanity has evolved into several different kinds of entity; some humanoid, some completey abstract and exist as recorded memories. A whole new social structure exists, strange and complex.
The b More...
Not really sure how I feel after reading this. It certainly is full of some very good sci-fi ideas. Hard Sci-Fi for sure.
I like the idea of the infinately long linear universe, 'The Way', created by man kind's future descendents. Within this 'corridor' universe, humanity has evolved into several different kinds of entity; some humanoid, some completey abstract and exist as recorded memories. A whole new social structure exists, strange and complex.
The b More...
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Mar 26, 2011
Andreas
rated it:
Greg Bear can think BIG. Eon is his classic tale of an asteroid that arrives in orbit around the earth. The asteroid is revealed to be simply one endpoint for an endless (?) corridor named The Way. Inside The Way is the city of Thistledown, populated by humans. That human civilization is thousand of years old. Thistledown is the future, and the past. Greg Bear knows how to describe his quantum mechanics, and the non technical reader should not be intimidated. The characters and intrigues of the
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Mar 13, 2011
Best Sci-Fi work of the 90s: Currently into my third reading of the book, it is one of my favourites.
Epic both in proportion and detail, Bear uses science fiction to create a world (not possible!) but easily imaginable.
Taken from a Cold War stance between the US and Russians, the Asteroid triggers war adn tension between the two. The 7 hollowed out chambers hold secrets to the past and future of the human race, with serious implications for the researchers aboard the 'stone' ...
Well worth tryin
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Apr 07, 2010
Kendall
rated it:
Had I not been forced to read this book for school I would have very much enjoyed it. There are so many characters in it that it's difficult to keep track, but overall it seems 3 stand out. The bulk of the book is descriptions rather than dialogue or thoughts of characters so that was a little annoying as well. It was unlike anything I've ever read before. It has many elements to it, but it's considered a "hard science" sci-fi novel... so expect a plethora of science jargon. I didn't e
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Mar 07, 2010
Raj
rated it:
The Stone is a vast hollowed-out asteroid that appears in Earth orbit from outside the solar system. Inside are six chambers filled with fabulous technology - but that's not the greatest wonder: the seventh chamber goes on forever.
This is a book that very ably balances fabulous high technology and Big Ideas with petty politics and humans being humans. The fact that the main antagonists are Soviets dates the book a little but even with that, the motivations behind all the politicking More...
This is a book that very ably balances fabulous high technology and Big Ideas with petty politics and humans being humans. The fact that the main antagonists are Soviets dates the book a little but even with that, the motivations behind all the politicking More...
Nov 11, 2009
Anthony
rated it:
So many writers have the same problem. They write books which are much too long. If you took the first 200 pages or so and then slapped the last 50 on, you'd have a better book.
I liked the premise and the hard sci-fi concepts, the execution was good for the first half of the book and then it runs out of gas and meanders for a few hundred pages.
A good editor could have made a world of difference. If this book were edited down to 200 pages or so it could be great.
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I liked the premise and the hard sci-fi concepts, the execution was good for the first half of the book and then it runs out of gas and meanders for a few hundred pages.
A good editor could have made a world of difference. If this book were edited down to 200 pages or so it could be great.
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Aug 29, 2011
Derrick
rated it:
humanity discovers an "alien" artifact in orbit around our world. Turns out to be from an alternate future in which the world almost destroyed itself. It appearing heightens tension between the Russians and the Americans and sets off what is called "The Death", the world almost destroying itself. Lots of humanity going digital. Assumes that that is possible. A pretty cool read. Lots of action with the Russians trying to take over the artifact. Bear wrote well, unlike his star
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