Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “Age of Miracles” as Want to Read:
Age of Miracles
by
A shorter version was printed by Ace Books in 1965 under the title of "Day of the Star Cities."
...more
Mass Market Paperback, First Ace Printing, 300 pages
Published
May 1973
by Ace
(first published 1965)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
Age of Miracles,
please sign up.
Be the first to ask a question about Age of Miracles
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of Age of Miracles

review of
John Brunner's Age of Miracles
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - October 23, 2014
I didn't start reading anything by Brunner until February of 2013. The 1st bk of his I read being The World Swappers (my review's here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23... ). In the summer of the same yr I went to Frederick, MD, to go to Wonder Books. I went prepared with a list of the 9 Brunner bks I had (all of wch I'd read by then) so that I cd get every Brunner bk that they had that I didn't alread ...more
John Brunner's Age of Miracles
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - October 23, 2014
I didn't start reading anything by Brunner until February of 2013. The 1st bk of his I read being The World Swappers (my review's here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23... ). In the summer of the same yr I went to Frederick, MD, to go to Wonder Books. I went prepared with a list of the 9 Brunner bks I had (all of wch I'd read by then) so that I cd get every Brunner bk that they had that I didn't alread ...more

As the second John Brunner book I've read, I think Age of Miracles has made me realise that I like what he writes about far more than the way he writes. Although the way people talk and their attitudes rather badly dates this story, the sense of the aliens power and strangeness still comes across very well, as does the sense that they pay about as much attention to us as we do to insects.
As in the other Brunner book I've read (The Sheep Look Up), I've found myself utterly unable to remember who ...more
As in the other Brunner book I've read (The Sheep Look Up), I've found myself utterly unable to remember who ...more

This seems like something of a step backward from literature to pulp coming in the wake of Zanzibar and Sheep, though he makes up for the arguable misstep with Shockwave a couple years later. Still, it's amusing enough, with a bit of mystery at play, and even some police procedural elements, with a dash of international intrigue, and hits again on some of his then-current themes, including the perennial nuclear threat. Not formula by any stretch, but not brilliant either.
...more

Eine Alieninvasion, geheimnisvolle Städte aus Energie, Artifakte der weit überlegenen Technologie. Klingt eigentlich ziemlich gut.
Leider war das Lesen von Anfang an harte Arbeit. Auf den ersten paar Seiten wollte Brunner zeigen, wie anspruchsvoll er schreiben kann, was sehr mühsam zu lesen ist. Dann normalisiert sich der Stil, Lesevergnügen stellt sich aber nicht ein.
Es hat eine Menge Personen, aber sie sind nicht prägnant, alle erscheinen irgendwie unmotiviert und schlecht gelaunt. Sie sind dem ...more
Leider war das Lesen von Anfang an harte Arbeit. Auf den ersten paar Seiten wollte Brunner zeigen, wie anspruchsvoll er schreiben kann, was sehr mühsam zu lesen ist. Dann normalisiert sich der Stil, Lesevergnügen stellt sich aber nicht ein.
Es hat eine Menge Personen, aber sie sind nicht prägnant, alle erscheinen irgendwie unmotiviert und schlecht gelaunt. Sie sind dem ...more

I find Brunner novels to be a bit more optimistic about the future than some other novels of the same period. This one though has a somewhat more dreary tone than his other novels. Mysterious alien 'cities' appear in five locations throughout the world, causing havoc and the usual xenophobia. Should man respond with violence or peace? He ties up the story in an interesting way, with a little more action than usual, but the overall tone is pessimistic. He does include his usual emphasis on themes
...more

Reminded me of The Chronoliths,but was even more underwhelming. The characters are one-dimensional, except for the women, who are point-like objects (radio astronomy joke, ho ho). I much prefer Brunner's later, anthropo-apocalyptic stories such as The Sheep Look Up and Stand on Zanzibar.
...more

More simplistic than Stand on Zanzibar, and it noticeably runs as fast as it can to end at 300 pages. Still, an enjoyable story, an interesting mystery, and a hopeful ending lead me to recommend it. You won't find the deep moral questions and crazy lingo of Zanzibar, but you will find a nice little story.
...more

Aug 02, 2009
Erik Graff
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Brunner fans
Recommended to Erik by:
no one
Shelves:
sf
As ever, John Brunner's books reflect a greater social and ethical consciousness than is found in most science fiction and, so, are generally superior as regards meaning and relevance.
...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
John Brunner was born in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew's Prep School, Pangbourne, then to Cheltenham College. He wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at 17, and published it under the pen-name Gill Hunt, but he did not start writing full-time until 1958. He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and married Marjorie Ro
...more
Related Articles
Kazuo Ishiguro insists he’s an optimist about technology.
“I'm not one of these people who thinks it's going to come and destroy us,” he...
259 likes · 26 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »