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Between the Strokes of Night
The author of Sight of Proteus and The Selkie brings a unique brand of sci-fi to this riveting story. To long-established worlds of starfaring humans come the Immortals —beings with strange ties to ancient Earth, who seem to live forever, who can travel light years in a day — and who use their strange powers to control the existence of ordinary mortals.
Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1985
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459 people want to read
About the author
Charles Sheffield
216 books171 followersCharles A. Sheffield (June 25, 1935 – November 2, 2002), was an English-born mathematician, physicist and science fiction author. He had been a President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and of the American Astronomical Society.
His novel The Web Between the Worlds, featuring the construction of a space elevator, was published almost simultaneously with Arthur C. Clarke's novel about that very same subject, The Fountains of Paradise, a coincidence that amused them both.
For some years he was the chief scientist of Earth Satellite Corporation, a company analysing remote sensing satellite data. This resulted in many technical papers and two popular non-fiction books, Earthwatch and Man on Earth, both collections of false colour and enhanced images of Earth from space.
He won the Nebula and Hugo awards for his novelette "Georgia on My Mind" and the 1992 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for his novel Brother to Dragons.
Sheffield was Toastmaster at BucConeer, the 1998 World Science Fiction Convention in Baltimore.
He had been writing a column for the Baen Books web site; his last column concerned the discovery of the brain tumour that led to his death.
He was married to writer Nancy Kress.
His novel The Web Between the Worlds, featuring the construction of a space elevator, was published almost simultaneously with Arthur C. Clarke's novel about that very same subject, The Fountains of Paradise, a coincidence that amused them both.
For some years he was the chief scientist of Earth Satellite Corporation, a company analysing remote sensing satellite data. This resulted in many technical papers and two popular non-fiction books, Earthwatch and Man on Earth, both collections of false colour and enhanced images of Earth from space.
He won the Nebula and Hugo awards for his novelette "Georgia on My Mind" and the 1992 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for his novel Brother to Dragons.
Sheffield was Toastmaster at BucConeer, the 1998 World Science Fiction Convention in Baltimore.
He had been writing a column for the Baen Books web site; his last column concerned the discovery of the brain tumour that led to his death.
He was married to writer Nancy Kress.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
May 16, 2021
This is a hard-science extrapolation from Sheffield, with challenging ideas that range to trans- and post-humanism. The characterization isn't as strong as was to found in his later books. The physics and cosmological elements are rigorous, though the political and sociological aspects don't hold up as well. It's a good, thought-provoking, science fiction novel in the traditional definition of the term.
April 21, 2021
Between the Strokes of Night
deals with the long-term experiences of humanity as a space-faring race. Its central contribution — not a spoiler, since the opens with this exploration — is an intriguing twist on time and space travel, specifically that by adapting the human body to different temperatures, subjective experience can be changed to stretch a human lifespan over many centuries or millennia.
As far as traditional “hard” science fiction goes, Charles Sheffield does a pretty good job of nailing it. That is both good and bad, though. In his introduction, Sheffield makes the point that “if the science in the story is wrong or ridiculous, it’s not science fiction” and while “hard science fiction ought to be hard not because it’s hard to read, but because it’s hard to write,” he still believes that “there’s no reason not to try it the hard way.” The problem here is that Sheffield, like many science fiction traditionalists, doesn’t grant that endeavor to any sciences but the “hard” sciences (a foolishly misleading term, since the physical sciences are far “easier” in many ways than the others).
The opening of the book provides a painful illustration of why this is a weakness. Even though the story was updated in 2002 (just before the author’s death) to accommodate new developments in cosmology, he left in the hackneyed plot device “nuclear armageddon triggered by nations gone ‘mad’.” Several decades of sociological and psychological research have provided convincing evidence that Mutually-Assured Destruction (MAD, of course) worked — and continues to work — splendidly because of self-interested rationality.
While Sheffield’s characters are much more fleshed out than the cardboard characters of much science fiction, they still show very little psychological depth. Effectively absent are anything but superficially-portrayed anxieties, for example. The social interactions of his characters are very close to idealized androids who mimic human emotions without actually needing to rely on human relationships for stability. Over and over again, he has characters head off to a fate with little concern that they are leaving behind family, friends, or any semblance thereof.
If you enjoy science fiction that focuses tightly on getting physics correct and you can ignore implausibilities in other sciences, then this is an excellent book. Even if you find the latter troubling, it is still enjoyable, since Sheffield’s automatons mimic humanity fairly well — far better than many science fiction pioneers.
(Book selection for the Hard SciFi group [aka the Yahoo hardsf group] for the month of Sptember, 2011. See here for discussion.)
As far as traditional “hard” science fiction goes, Charles Sheffield does a pretty good job of nailing it. That is both good and bad, though. In his introduction, Sheffield makes the point that “if the science in the story is wrong or ridiculous, it’s not science fiction” and while “hard science fiction ought to be hard not because it’s hard to read, but because it’s hard to write,” he still believes that “there’s no reason not to try it the hard way.” The problem here is that Sheffield, like many science fiction traditionalists, doesn’t grant that endeavor to any sciences but the “hard” sciences (a foolishly misleading term, since the physical sciences are far “easier” in many ways than the others).
The opening of the book provides a painful illustration of why this is a weakness. Even though the story was updated in 2002 (just before the author’s death) to accommodate new developments in cosmology, he left in the hackneyed plot device “nuclear armageddon triggered by nations gone ‘mad’.” Several decades of sociological and psychological research have provided convincing evidence that Mutually-Assured Destruction (MAD, of course) worked — and continues to work — splendidly because of self-interested rationality.
While Sheffield’s characters are much more fleshed out than the cardboard characters of much science fiction, they still show very little psychological depth. Effectively absent are anything but superficially-portrayed anxieties, for example. The social interactions of his characters are very close to idealized androids who mimic human emotions without actually needing to rely on human relationships for stability. Over and over again, he has characters head off to a fate with little concern that they are leaving behind family, friends, or any semblance thereof.
If you enjoy science fiction that focuses tightly on getting physics correct and you can ignore implausibilities in other sciences, then this is an excellent book. Even if you find the latter troubling, it is still enjoyable, since Sheffield’s automatons mimic humanity fairly well — far better than many science fiction pioneers.
(Book selection for the Hard SciFi group [aka the Yahoo hardsf group] for the month of Sptember, 2011. See here for discussion.)
February 14, 2017
Pocinje izvrsno a tada 60% romana smara do svemira. Knjiga se raspala na tren pa se sastala. ima dobrih hard sf djelova ali preskakao sam stranice to dovoljno govori o svemu. a obecavala je....
August 6, 2007
By far the most brilliant work of a pretty darn good writer. This is mind-widening science fiction.
September 18, 2011
Charles Sheffield is a new writer to me, in terms of novels. Judging by his award nominations, I think he is known primarily for hard sf short stories and science articles in Analog and similar publications.
There are two editions of the novel available. As originally published in 1987, the ending of the book was consistent with the big bang-big crunch model of the universe. After this was shown to be incorrect in the 1990s, Sheffield revised the novel, completely replacing the ending, and increasing the length by as much as 25%. I read the 2002 version.
The novel is episodic, set in four time periods of the future. Characters do persist across episodes, but the focus character does shift. There is a near-future projected from the Cold War period in which the book was originally written, with environmental degradation and superpower tensions. Then it jumps to an athletic/survival contest on a human settled world named Pentecost about 25000 years from now. The winners of the contest are drawn into an exploration of human existence of that time. Finally, and this is the section Sheffield re-wrote, there is the far future destiny of humankind.
Pentecost is a world in a system of two suns, and I think it's interesting that as I read this book, I learned about the first discovery of a planet that orbits two stars. (Kepler-16b, which orbits both a red and an orange star in the constellation Cygnus, is 200 light-years from Earth. The planet is most like Saturn in our own solar system — too cold for life as we know it, most likely with a thick, gassy atmosphere.)
There is very strong plot tension in most of the book, and it was difficult to put it down. Unfortunately, that tension withers somewhat in the last quarter of the book. I have to wonder if, even though the original ending was no longer scientifically valid, it it might have been a stronger plot. But it needed to be done, for the hard sf audience of this book, inaccurate science is a no-starter.
Thematically, the novel deals with the human drive towards immortality and the price we pay for that. Sheffield also gives his definition of the meaning of life - to learn the universe and solve big problems. As an engineer, I gotta love that.
There are two editions of the novel available. As originally published in 1987, the ending of the book was consistent with the big bang-big crunch model of the universe. After this was shown to be incorrect in the 1990s, Sheffield revised the novel, completely replacing the ending, and increasing the length by as much as 25%. I read the 2002 version.
The novel is episodic, set in four time periods of the future. Characters do persist across episodes, but the focus character does shift. There is a near-future projected from the Cold War period in which the book was originally written, with environmental degradation and superpower tensions. Then it jumps to an athletic/survival contest on a human settled world named Pentecost about 25000 years from now. The winners of the contest are drawn into an exploration of human existence of that time. Finally, and this is the section Sheffield re-wrote, there is the far future destiny of humankind.
Pentecost is a world in a system of two suns, and I think it's interesting that as I read this book, I learned about the first discovery of a planet that orbits two stars. (Kepler-16b, which orbits both a red and an orange star in the constellation Cygnus, is 200 light-years from Earth. The planet is most like Saturn in our own solar system — too cold for life as we know it, most likely with a thick, gassy atmosphere.)
There is very strong plot tension in most of the book, and it was difficult to put it down. Unfortunately, that tension withers somewhat in the last quarter of the book. I have to wonder if, even though the original ending was no longer scientifically valid, it it might have been a stronger plot. But it needed to be done, for the hard sf audience of this book, inaccurate science is a no-starter.
Thematically, the novel deals with the human drive towards immortality and the price we pay for that. Sheffield also gives his definition of the meaning of life - to learn the universe and solve big problems. As an engineer, I gotta love that.
October 30, 2025
Between the Strokes of Night is a hard science-fiction novel caught between the grandiosity of deep time and associated big ideas, some standard medium-clunky characterization typical of the genre, and a plot that feels entirely tertiary to the ideas.
The first part of the book is set in the near-future of the 2010s. Earth is suffering under climate change and political instability. An enigmatic super-billionaire and space industrialist recruits the sleep-research time lead by Judith Niles, with the goal of cracking suspended animation. The scientific team just manages to make the transfer to the orbital habs when someone decides to try a nuclear first strike and the waves of counterstrikes obliterate civilization, leaving just a few tens of thousands of people in what are fortunately more-or-less self-sustaining habitats to figure out what to do next.
Smash cut nearly 30000 years in the future, and we're with Peron, a 20 year old who's participating in the Planetfest contest, a series of grueling endurance contests that'll whittle down thousands of finalists to a top 25 who get an elite status. He and some of the other competitors figure out that there's something weird going on with the space-faring Immortals who influence their society from behind the scenes, and when Peron is injured in one of the contests, he's whisked away on an Immortal starship to find out.
All of this is windup to the core tech of the book. S-space, which the immortals use, isn't some kind of hyperspace FTL physics tech. Rather, it's a form of suspended animation that has people living at a roughly 2000 : 1 time dilation, such that a single normal year passes in a little over 4 days. The Immortals are the sleep researchers from Part I, working through the social and astronomical problems of deep time, which involve communicating with extra-galactic intelligences that seem to operate at even slower timescales. S-space has some advantages, you don't need to sleep and age ever more slowly than subjective time would expect. Normal space robotics provide the illusion of instantaneous meals and local teleportation. The explored downsides are hair loss and infertility. Unexplored is the problem that you're still physically in N-space, and if something goes wrong, like explosive decompression, it'll be over far before you can meaningfully react to it.
The pressing problem facing S-space society is that some other uncontacted alien species is doing stellar engineering, and in a few hundred thousand years every star in Sol's neighborhood is going to be a red dwarf. Peron and his friends make a radical suggestion, that they lead a cohort to abandon S-space and do research in real time, providing a roughly 2000x effective research speedup. This is something the S-space geniuses missed entirely, the obvious flipside of their slowed down lifespans.
We don't hear if there's a solution, though the end has another deep-time being witness The Big Crunch as the universe ends.
What's good is the depiction of scientists as both brilliant and human (Sheffield had a scientific background himself), and people are horny in a way that's refreshing, between the "obviously author's fetishes" of the era and the chastity of the present. S-space is an interesting idea, and the game of figuring it out is well-done, though Sheffield misses some obvious extensions to his theory. The plot, three totally disconnected chunks, could use some work. But hey, if you like classic scifi, this is a overlooked gem.
The first part of the book is set in the near-future of the 2010s. Earth is suffering under climate change and political instability. An enigmatic super-billionaire and space industrialist recruits the sleep-research time lead by Judith Niles, with the goal of cracking suspended animation. The scientific team just manages to make the transfer to the orbital habs when someone decides to try a nuclear first strike and the waves of counterstrikes obliterate civilization, leaving just a few tens of thousands of people in what are fortunately more-or-less self-sustaining habitats to figure out what to do next.
Smash cut nearly 30000 years in the future, and we're with Peron, a 20 year old who's participating in the Planetfest contest, a series of grueling endurance contests that'll whittle down thousands of finalists to a top 25 who get an elite status. He and some of the other competitors figure out that there's something weird going on with the space-faring Immortals who influence their society from behind the scenes, and when Peron is injured in one of the contests, he's whisked away on an Immortal starship to find out.
All of this is windup to the core tech of the book. S-space, which the immortals use, isn't some kind of hyperspace FTL physics tech. Rather, it's a form of suspended animation that has people living at a roughly 2000 : 1 time dilation, such that a single normal year passes in a little over 4 days. The Immortals are the sleep researchers from Part I, working through the social and astronomical problems of deep time, which involve communicating with extra-galactic intelligences that seem to operate at even slower timescales. S-space has some advantages, you don't need to sleep and age ever more slowly than subjective time would expect. Normal space robotics provide the illusion of instantaneous meals and local teleportation. The explored downsides are hair loss and infertility. Unexplored is the problem that you're still physically in N-space, and if something goes wrong, like explosive decompression, it'll be over far before you can meaningfully react to it.
The pressing problem facing S-space society is that some other uncontacted alien species is doing stellar engineering, and in a few hundred thousand years every star in Sol's neighborhood is going to be a red dwarf. Peron and his friends make a radical suggestion, that they lead a cohort to abandon S-space and do research in real time, providing a roughly 2000x effective research speedup. This is something the S-space geniuses missed entirely, the obvious flipside of their slowed down lifespans.
We don't hear if there's a solution, though the end has another deep-time being witness The Big Crunch as the universe ends.
What's good is the depiction of scientists as both brilliant and human (Sheffield had a scientific background himself), and people are horny in a way that's refreshing, between the "obviously author's fetishes" of the era and the chastity of the present. S-space is an interesting idea, and the game of figuring it out is well-done, though Sheffield misses some obvious extensions to his theory. The plot, three totally disconnected chunks, could use some work. But hey, if you like classic scifi, this is a overlooked gem.
March 25, 2012
Between The Strokes Of Night is worth the read simply for the scientifically sound means he develops for interstellar travel, very unique yet satisfying and comprehensive. I nearly put this book down in disgust over the silly beginning. Both the dialogue and the scenario were, to me, eye-rolling bad. (However, a global warming acolyte might say just the opposite.) Due to human impact, the world climate changes so much by 2010, causing biblical catastrophes that then result in an earth-destroying global nuclear war. A cute theory in 1985 when the book was published. The only humans left alive are in a few space colonies, built and organized by a billionaire visionary. The story then jumps 25,000 years into the future to focus on a select few individuals in one of the colony worlds established in new star systems, chosen to voyage to space and meet the “Immortals”, humans that travel the stars. Once the book gets to this part, it becomes a fascinating story. There are some really interesting twists and turns, just when you think you have it figured out. And that is the reason for taking away a few stars, I thought he could have spent more time on some of the challenges. Good read but could have been so much better. I would love to see Peter Hamilton take this and rewrite it – bet that would be a fine story.
November 16, 2014
I’ve always heard good things about Sheffield’s hard-science novels, and I’ve tried several of them, . . . but, somehow, I just can’t get interested in them. The author’s style simply leaves me cold. This one appears to be about finding a way to expand into the far corners of our galaxy without violating the limitation imposed by the speed of light. But I’m not sure about that, really, because I only got about 40% of the way in and then gave up because so little was happening. I was also put off by the author’s apparent belief that nearly 30,000 years in the future, so little will have changed where people are concerned, both socially and culturally. Even given names are pretty much what you would find in a present-day phone book. Sheffield’s science may be reliable but his imagination leaves a good deal to be desired.
January 6, 2016
Charlene Bloom, Judith Niles y Wolfgang Gibbs trabajan en un instituto de neurología que estudia el sueño y la suspensión de este a bajas temperaturas. Aunque están haciendo progresos, el proyecto no avanza lo suficientemente rápido. Pero ahí está el multimillonario Salter Wherry, que se dedica a la fabricación de hábitats y arcologías en el espacio, que solicitará sus servicios en exclusiva. Sin embargo, los problemas climáticos, económicos y políticos están llevando la Tierra a su extremo. El desastre está a la vuelta de la esquina.
La trama de ‘Entre los latidos de la noche’ (Between the Strokes of the Night, 1985), de Charles Sheffield, empieza en un futuro cercano para posteriormente dar un salto de miles de años. Esto me sacó un tanto de la historia, que de por sí no era nada del otro mundo.
La trama de ‘Entre los latidos de la noche’ (Between the Strokes of the Night, 1985), de Charles Sheffield, empieza en un futuro cercano para posteriormente dar un salto de miles de años. Esto me sacó un tanto de la historia, que de por sí no era nada del otro mundo.
June 29, 2014
Yet another sci-fi book where the author doesn't know how to write characters or individuals, only people.
The book takes an interesting concept where humanity moves at a slower relative rate in order to extend their lifespan. Although I'm pretty sure this isnt a new concept and I've read the idea before.
The problem is, no one acts like an individual. People (specific) would not stay at the same job performing the same task for tens of thousands of years. People (in general) might, but when you're writing a story you focus on the individuals.
The characters have little in the way of distinct voices and do not act in accordance with how individual huamsns do.
They guy has his science down pat, he just doesn't understand people.
The book takes an interesting concept where humanity moves at a slower relative rate in order to extend their lifespan. Although I'm pretty sure this isnt a new concept and I've read the idea before.
The problem is, no one acts like an individual. People (specific) would not stay at the same job performing the same task for tens of thousands of years. People (in general) might, but when you're writing a story you focus on the individuals.
The characters have little in the way of distinct voices and do not act in accordance with how individual huamsns do.
They guy has his science down pat, he just doesn't understand people.
August 16, 2025
Entretenida novela de ciencia ficción, ágil de leer, con personajes interesantes e ideas innovadoras sobre una nave que rompe los esquemas temporales, sin tanta acción propiamente tal, pero con discusiones y diálogos de bases científicas que soportan bastante bien la historia, llegando a un final cósmico de escala inimaginable.
Se nota que sabe el tipo y que cuando quiere se prodiga. Debo leer más cosas suyas.
Se nota que sabe el tipo y que cuando quiere se prodiga. Debo leer más cosas suyas.
October 26, 2017
This is an amazing novel that has aged well. It challenges the nature of life and death and future and eternity in the physical world and the idea of transcendence.
It opens doors. Few books have such a worthwhile idea to explore. Way up there on my all time list because it really just stuck with me deep.
Enjoy.
It opens doors. Few books have such a worthwhile idea to explore. Way up there on my all time list because it really just stuck with me deep.
Enjoy.
March 4, 2010
Typical sort of bloodless super-sciency stuff from Sheffield. I kind of like him, but in the end it all seems kind of like it's made of plastic. Don't make me define that any better, ok?
April 13, 2021
I really like reading Charles Sheffield. This book is hard SF, with a couple of thought-provoking ideas which are worked out logically. The physical world building is top notch. The characters are interesting, and sympathetic, even if they don't have much depth. Even the long discourses about the science are interesting. However, this book has no serious antagonist. It has obstacles for the protagonists to over come, but though the protagonists express a lot of angst, their struggles lack conviction. There is a more telling than showing.
The central idea cries out for a grand sweep of plot that extends across billions of years. Unfortunately character actions and interactions are too week to support the story. I actually read this a few years ago. I recognized bits of narrative, and had a couple scenes to look forward to. Did I have any idea how this was going work out. No. It was just not that memorable.
The central idea cries out for a grand sweep of plot that extends across billions of years. Unfortunately character actions and interactions are too week to support the story. I actually read this a few years ago. I recognized bits of narrative, and had a couple scenes to look forward to. Did I have any idea how this was going work out. No. It was just not that memorable.
November 17, 2022
I first read this book in the early nineties, when I was just old enough to participate in the world games in the book and it left quite an impression. It was one of the first more serious SF books I read, before that it was mainly the Shadowrun and Battletech novelizations. Most of the other SF books I read at that time left quite an impression, as did this one. On a re-read 30 years later it still mostly holds up. I would classify this as YA lit and I think it could get a movie trilogy like Divergent or Maze Runner, as the general setup is quite similar. Nonetheless I still enjoyed the book.
December 29, 2017
This was definitely an enjoyable read, packed with some interesting science ideas. I can see where the other reviews are coming from in their objections, but I didn’t find the setup scenario nearly so implausible; to me, ever since reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Aurora” the incredible difficulty of maintaining a sustainable environment without a planet-sized ecology looms huge. But that new baseline didn’t exist when this was written, and didn’t detract from my enjoyment of what the story did explore.
March 23, 2024
Books like Between the Strokes of Night are why I read science fiction. It's a thought-provoking novel of ideas. As in many hard science fiction books, the science and speculation are sometimes more compelling than the characterization but in a novel dealing with humanity's relationship to time, space and mortality it's an understandable trade-off. The story is engrossing and I flew through the last 150 pages or so, eager to see what would happen next.
This is the 5th novel I've read by Charles Sheffield and honestly, he hasn't disappointed me yet. Recommended!
This is the 5th novel I've read by Charles Sheffield and honestly, he hasn't disappointed me yet. Recommended!
March 14, 2019
La Ciencia de esta novela es increíble. Todo esto del espacio-L más los estudios del sueño estuvo muy bien. Es Ciencia Dura que da gusto leer. El problema aquí son sus personajes, completamente planos, que no transmiten ninguna emoción o sentimiento y un argumento bastante desperdiciado que daba para una novela mucho las larga.
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October 23, 2025The author of Sight of Proteus and The Selkie brings a unique brand of sci-fi to this riveting story. To long-established worlds of starfaring humans come the Immortals--beings with strange ties to ancient Earth, who seem to live forever, who can travel light years in a day--and who use their strange powers to control the existence of ordinary mortals.
December 30, 2018
5/10. Media de los 4 libros leídos del autor : 6/10.
Tres hugos, un Nébula, un Campbell como reseñables de este físico y escritor, uno de los mejores representantes e la gama Hard en CF. Me quedo con su novela Proteo.
Tres hugos, un Nébula, un Campbell como reseñables de este físico y escritor, uno de los mejores representantes e la gama Hard en CF. Me quedo con su novela Proteo.
August 5, 2019
While this book started out really strong it struggled and then slumped and wandered like the writer changed direction mid-way thru the series. The concepts that are the basis of the story are interesting but they don't fully stand the logic test. An OK read but not a must.
July 21, 2023
Great book, except for the fact that the characters aren't characters, they're just one person with different names. Plus the choices they make straight up don't make sense. Despite that I really liked the part with the alien space creatures.
August 25, 2019
Really cool and imaginative. An interesting take on immortality.
December 25, 2025
de los mejores q me he leido
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March 25, 2017Surprisingly good, given the cheesy cover
March 12, 2018
Between the Strokes of Night is not what it appears to be. It starts off slow with the usual mix of interplanetary politics but eventually shifts into something completely unexpected. I liked the unique blend of characters and the way that Sheffield handles the moral dance between the continuation of the human species and the potentially deadly side effects of scientific discovery. I recommend this one to anyone who is a fan of deep space science fiction. It's loaded with sound science along with just enough fantasy to make the story an exciting ride.
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November 5, 2011I didn't think I was going to like this novel much in the beginning, mainly because I was all set to be irritated by the characters. First of all, the woman who liked sex was going to be punished with brain cancer. Haven't female characters suffered enough in literature for being one half of heterosexual relationships? Fortunately, I was wrong, and it turned out that she was cured of cancer, and lived to a fine old age continuing to have sex with anyone she pleased. Thank you, Dr. Sheffield.
The other character I had my doubts about was the rich old man who got fed up with governments' inability to act on global warming and scarcity of resources, and decided to create a viable space infrastructure himself. Great that he wanted to expand infrastructure into space, but the descriptions of his character sound exactly like the same type of anti-government corporate propaganda that we have to hear so much of these days. I really wasn't looking forward to getting more of it in something I was reading for entertainment. Besides, no one could get rich enough to do something only government could do without being powerful enough to control major governments in the first place. His inherited wealth would have led to him being the beneficiary of tax laws written to make the rich richer; he wouldn't have been held accountable for any crimes he committed in order to acquire more wealth; and he would have been able to direct vast amounts of taxpayer dollars into enterprises he would have benefited financially from. Granted, not all corporate entities benefit in the same way, and some of them act at cross purposes with each other. There are numerous enterprises that would profit greatly from government actions to counteract global warming; unfortunately the old polluters are too wealthy and too close to the decision-makers to leave options for others to have a chance to step in - this is the real reason government can't act, precisely because of wealthy individuals just like this guy. Fortunately he is killed off fairly early in the story, and we are spared further Reagan-esque lectures on the innate superiority of the rich.
The reason that I can't remember the names of these characters, and have to refer to them by their archetypes is because the plot is too scatter-shot, divided among too many personalities, with scant attention given to any of them.
Otherwise this is a good story, full of interesting ideas. If I had been Dr. Sheffield's editor, however, I would have asked him to rewrite the whole thing and focus purely on the kids, starting with their Planetfest contest. The Hunger Games trilogy shows you could make a whole story on this topic alone, but he could have progressed on and let them discover their history and thus proceed with the rest of the plot told purely from their point of view. He is good at creating juvenile characters and their adventures were the most entertaining part of the plot. All the themes of this book including longevity, time, and the relationship of human beings to the universe as a whole, could have been covered with the reader only learning about the characters from Earth from the point of view of the kids.
Dr. Sheffield covered these themes again in the far superior Tomorrow and Tomorrow, still one of my favorite science fiction stories of all time. It worked so much better to have the entire story told from the point of view of one main character, but I'm glad to have read this version of these themes, especially with the different approach to longevity that he took in this story.
The other character I had my doubts about was the rich old man who got fed up with governments' inability to act on global warming and scarcity of resources, and decided to create a viable space infrastructure himself. Great that he wanted to expand infrastructure into space, but the descriptions of his character sound exactly like the same type of anti-government corporate propaganda that we have to hear so much of these days. I really wasn't looking forward to getting more of it in something I was reading for entertainment. Besides, no one could get rich enough to do something only government could do without being powerful enough to control major governments in the first place. His inherited wealth would have led to him being the beneficiary of tax laws written to make the rich richer; he wouldn't have been held accountable for any crimes he committed in order to acquire more wealth; and he would have been able to direct vast amounts of taxpayer dollars into enterprises he would have benefited financially from. Granted, not all corporate entities benefit in the same way, and some of them act at cross purposes with each other. There are numerous enterprises that would profit greatly from government actions to counteract global warming; unfortunately the old polluters are too wealthy and too close to the decision-makers to leave options for others to have a chance to step in - this is the real reason government can't act, precisely because of wealthy individuals just like this guy. Fortunately he is killed off fairly early in the story, and we are spared further Reagan-esque lectures on the innate superiority of the rich.
The reason that I can't remember the names of these characters, and have to refer to them by their archetypes is because the plot is too scatter-shot, divided among too many personalities, with scant attention given to any of them.
Otherwise this is a good story, full of interesting ideas. If I had been Dr. Sheffield's editor, however, I would have asked him to rewrite the whole thing and focus purely on the kids, starting with their Planetfest contest. The Hunger Games trilogy shows you could make a whole story on this topic alone, but he could have progressed on and let them discover their history and thus proceed with the rest of the plot told purely from their point of view. He is good at creating juvenile characters and their adventures were the most entertaining part of the plot. All the themes of this book including longevity, time, and the relationship of human beings to the universe as a whole, could have been covered with the reader only learning about the characters from Earth from the point of view of the kids.
Dr. Sheffield covered these themes again in the far superior Tomorrow and Tomorrow, still one of my favorite science fiction stories of all time. It worked so much better to have the entire story told from the point of view of one main character, but I'm glad to have read this version of these themes, especially with the different approach to longevity that he took in this story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 23, 2013
The primary science fiction idea in this book, that subjective time can be artificially slowed, is brilliant. The technology is introduced in a clever way, and remains important throughout the plot. It keeps the reader thinking.
I give Sheffield major props for sticking, as best he could, to hard science fiction in this story! I'd like to personally thank him for it. But there were, of course a few physics mistakes in the book.
1. The characters living in S-space (their lives slowed down by a factor of 200) could see the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation because they supposedly saw lower wavelengths of light. This can't work because the proteins in our eyes only respond to certain wavelengths of light, and making them cold won't change that. Besides, it's impossible to focus on CMBR light because the photons wave length is far longer than the eye is deep. Instead of seeing the CMBR out the window, if they were somehow made sensitive to it, they'd see it as a glow in their field of vision at all times, coming from all directions.
2.
The end was wild, and I won't spoil it, but it did feel just a tiny bit like Greg Egan. (And, if you know me, you know that's high praise. High praise, indeed!)
I give Sheffield major props for sticking, as best he could, to hard science fiction in this story! I'd like to personally thank him for it. But there were, of course a few physics mistakes in the book.
1. The characters living in S-space (their lives slowed down by a factor of 200) could see the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation because they supposedly saw lower wavelengths of light. This can't work because the proteins in our eyes only respond to certain wavelengths of light, and making them cold won't change that. Besides, it's impossible to focus on CMBR light because the photons wave length is far longer than the eye is deep. Instead of seeing the CMBR out the window, if they were somehow made sensitive to it, they'd see it as a glow in their field of vision at all times, coming from all directions.
2.
The end was wild, and I won't spoil it, but it did feel just a tiny bit like Greg Egan. (And, if you know me, you know that's high praise. High praise, indeed!)
June 20, 2014
Este libro lo compre un sabado que ibamos a ir a la feria del libro, pero oh coincidencia, justo "tocaba" Violetta ahi atras del zoo, por lo que estaba lleno de gente. Literalmente 20 cuadras de cola para entrar a la feria del libro. 20 fucking cuadras. De ninguna manera. Agarre mi plata y me fui a comprar libros al "mini shopping de lectores" que hay enfrente. Ahi fue donde compre este libro y como 15 mas. Si tengo un leve problema con la compra de libros.
En fin.
El libro esta muy bueno. Es ciencia ficcion de la mas clasica, al estilo viajes intergalacticos, desplazamientos en el tiempo, terminos cientificos anticuados, y especulaciones sobre como el mundo se va a acabar en un futuro cercano (2010, como siempre). Literatura de la buena. Lo que no me gusto mucho fue que dejo varios agujeros importantes en al historia a los cuales les podria haber sacado provecho el autor, lo cual hizo que algunas partes les faltara picante.
Me quede con gusto a poco.
No voy a decir que es infaltable en la biblioteca de cualquier fanatico de la ciencia ficcion ni nada por el estilo, pero tiene conceptos bastante buenos en cuanto a viajes en el tiempo e inmortalidad.
En fin.
El libro esta muy bueno. Es ciencia ficcion de la mas clasica, al estilo viajes intergalacticos, desplazamientos en el tiempo, terminos cientificos anticuados, y especulaciones sobre como el mundo se va a acabar en un futuro cercano (2010, como siempre). Literatura de la buena. Lo que no me gusto mucho fue que dejo varios agujeros importantes en al historia a los cuales les podria haber sacado provecho el autor, lo cual hizo que algunas partes les faltara picante.
Me quede con gusto a poco.
No voy a decir que es infaltable en la biblioteca de cualquier fanatico de la ciencia ficcion ni nada por el estilo, pero tiene conceptos bastante buenos en cuanto a viajes en el tiempo e inmortalidad.
September 30, 2011
The thread running through the entire book is the idea of slowing body processes so the individual's life will last until a later year. (The person lives in very "slow motion" - it's not necessarily that they live for a greater number of heartbeats or personal experiences.) That by itself isn't a high reading priority for me. We do get some glimpses of very advanced or far future visions. I wasn't entirely satisfied with them being just glimpses. The background story for the characters and slow living theme took the first 1/4 of the book which seemed longer than needed.
One of my pet peeves is psychic and supernatural elements in SF. Although Sheffield's presentation of "immaterial" beings may not exactly fall into that category, it did make me distance myself some from the book.
There are other speculations of the future - it's not just the above.
One of my pet peeves is psychic and supernatural elements in SF. Although Sheffield's presentation of "immaterial" beings may not exactly fall into that category, it did make me distance myself some from the book.
There are other speculations of the future - it's not just the above.
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