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Anvil of Stars

(Forge of God #2)

Greg Bear

3.93 · Rating details · 5,825 ratings · 190 reviews

The ship of law was made of the fragments of Earth's corpse, a world in itself, cruising massively close to the speed of light, hundreds of years from the dust and rubble of home......

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Paperback, 471 pages

Published February 1st 1993 by Warner Books (first published 1992)

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Jan 27, 2010 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-road-trip-2012, books-i-own, science-fiction

This direct sequel to The Forge of God is as far removed from its predecessor in tone and content as could possibly be. The concept of the 'Law' is fascinating, made more so by the enigmatic nature of the Benefactors. Many questions that are raised throughout the novel are left unanswered and the morality of decisions is open to interpretation. This plays an important part in what makes this novel work on an emotional level.

At first, I didn’t quite get Anvil of Stars. The sexual politics, calle ...more

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Jan 25, 2019 Paul E. Morph rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2019

This is that rare beast; a sequel that's significantly better than the first book.

To be fair, it's a sequel that is also SO different to the first book that it almost doesn't feel like a sequel at all.

There's no way to describe the premise of this book without spoiling the ending of the first one so I won't bother. I'll just say that I found the premise much more interesting than the first book's and the world building (or should that be galaxy-building?) much, much bette ...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Guillermo rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction

So... since I think I'm getting fired tomorrow because I can't put up with people's bullshit,(it may or may not be the best thing that ever happens to me), I decided to go to some comfort food and review my favorite book ever: Greg Bear's Anvil of Stars!!!

There are spoilers ahead, so please dont read this if you haven't read the first book: The Forge of God. That's the slow and painful story of how Earth gets wiped out by an intelligence that pretends to be benign, but is anything but. This is So... since I think I'm getting fired tomorrow because I can't put up with people's bullshit,(it may or may not be the best thing that ever happens to me), I decided to go to some comfort food and review my favorite book ever: Greg Bear's Anvil of Stars!!!

There are spoilers ahead, so please dont read this if you haven't read the first book: The Forge of God. That's the slow and painful story of how Earth gets wiped out by an intelligence that pretends to be benign, but is anything but. This is a sequel to that story.

But this however, is a story about justice. You see, the children of the aforementioned destroyed Earth, are helped by some "friendly" alien benefactors who wish to enact "justice" on those perpetrators. Imagine: you are raised aboard a vessel with other children onboard what is called a "Ship of the Law". The "Law" is that those races that have been obliterated by the intelligent force that destroyed their worlds will have to find those killers. You have no choice. Your planet is destroyed, you kids search the galaxy to find the perpetrators. There are several races scouring the galaxy, looking for the guilty: the murderers who destroy intelligence like wolves stalking sheep.

Please dont read further if you want to avoid the spoilers, because it really will ruin the book if you have any intention of reading it. If you don't, keep going.

Again, I ask you to turn away if you dont want spoilers....

The part when Theresa died, I cried. I read this book in middle school for the first time, cried then and I am getting teary eyed right now thinking about it. It's just one of those things. I can't really explain it, she wasn't like such a robust, complex character crafted by Mr Bear that should elicit this response, but it hit me hard. Stupid fictional character death in a science fiction novel, but it hit me damn hard.

So this group of kids on a Ship of The Law find a candidate system for the Killers.

Here is the beautiful part of this book, and why I have to reread it every couple of years: how do you enact justice on a group,if there are possible innnocents perishing from your strike?? At what cost does justice come? Imagine: you are the leader of a Ship of The Law, crewed by Earth's orphans..you come across a solar system, teeming with different races, one of which are the suspected killers, and you dont know if the machines sent to destroy Earth and other civilizations are now defunct and/or a product of their shameful past. Destroying the Killers will result in enormous collateral damage, because the Ship of The Law comes equipped with weapons that can annihalate an entire solar system. Innocents will no doubt die. Billions. I repeat: billions will die..innocents.. but so will the potential Earth killers; the guilty - the reason you've spent your short life on a Ship of the Law looking for these assasins. Can I remind you theyre damn little kids with this responsibility being forced on them without their consent??!!!!

What do they do? I wont tell you that much, spoilers or no spoilers, you will have to read it for yourself.

It's simply the greatest story I've ever read.

...more

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Sep 06, 2013 Bryan Alexander rated it really liked it

Shelves: space-opera, sf

The sequel to Forge of God is a remarkably powerful, dark novel. Anvil of Stars is one part space opera revenge tale and one part meditation on violence, social dynamics, and extreme power imbalances.

The plot concerns a ship full of young people, assigned to exact punishment on the villains from the first book, aliens simply known as The Killers. Much of the first 2/3rds of Anvil is concerned with exploring this microcosm of human society. Bear sets out dozens of characters, most notably three le The sequel to Forge of God is a remarkably powerful, dark novel. Anvil of Stars is one part space opera revenge tale and one part meditation on violence, social dynamics, and extreme power imbalances.

The plot concerns a ship full of young people, assigned to exact punishment on the villains from the first book, aliens simply known as The Killers. Much of the first 2/3rds of Anvil is concerned with exploring this microcosm of human society. Bear sets out dozens of characters, most notably three leaders, Martin, Hans, and Ariel. He charts their respective rises and falls, how the group organizes and schisms, responses to poor information, crises of authority, sexual dynamics, and deaths.

The plot drives forward, starting with (view spoiler) The plot is usually very compelling, leading to some exciting, suspenseful scenes. Indeed, a major mystery isn't revealed until the antepenultimate chapter.

The tone is mordant throughout. Every character is scarred by the murder of Earth, which occurred during their childhood. Most are named after mourned features of their natal planet, including animals and natural features. The ship's crew suffers losses by violence and suicide, with casualties building up as they battle the Killers. The "children" (as they call themselves) are also frequently terrified, since they know so little of what they're getting into, and are overwhelmingly outgunned and -classed by their enemies. Point of view character Martin is a dour one, spending a great deal of time dealing with those two emotions of terror and mourning.

The universe is very credible, both in terms of hard and soft sciences. Bear builds on the scenario sketched in Forge, partly by describing fascinating astronomy, and also by inventing many technologies. The sociology is equally credible and compelling.

I recommend this book as a fine sequel, although it can certainly be read on its own. Bear doesn't simply replicate the first book (say, by having Killers reappear to take out Mars), but uses its aftermath to move in new directions. Vengeance is a logical plot idea following book #1, and Anvil explores this deeply, with ambivalence and humanity.

It makes for a fine and fairly unusual space opera, lacking the politics of contemporary US/UK examples, and being far sadder. The book reminds me of some Poul Anderson novels, like Enemy Stars, in its combination of grimness and hard science. Indeed, there's something of the Viking in the determined character of Hans.

I've heard rumors that Bear wanted to do a third book in this world. I hope he does so. ...more

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Mar 13, 2011 Peter added it · review of another edition

unsung classic: This little-appreciated book is Greg Bear's best, in my opinion. Science Fiction it may be, but its themes are as adult and rigorous as any book in any genre. It is also very well written.

An air of melancholy and despair - as well as barely suppressed terror - carries right through from start to finish, as befits the situation set up in its predecessor, The Forge of God. Bear does not shirk the philosophical implications of the story he is telling. The humans and aliens caught ...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Shari rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

When I was reading the first quarter of this book, I began to get bored. Reading about the "children" train, slick and simulate was like watching a sloth climb up a tree. The narrative tells a lot of things and nothing at the same time. To make it worse, the dialogues were flat and disjointed. The children sounded like they had too much cold sleep. I was ready to give up and abandon the book, but I thought, "This is a Greg Bear work! Remember Eon? Darwin's Children?" Okay...so I decided to read ...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Rick Powell rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi

Perhaps less tight in terms of structure than Forge of God, this sequel has at its center a deeply moral conundrum: How far do we take the Law? What does vengeance do to our souls? Vibrant, detailed and believable psycho-sexual social milieu and of course, dizzying hard sci-fi exposition, plus a moving, powerful theme, maybe even more relevant now post-9/11 than it was in 1991. Highly recommended.

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Oct 28, 2014 Ron rated it liked it

Shelves: ebook, science-fiction

Slow start. Almost abandoned before 50 pages. By 100 was reasonably confident I wasn’t wasting my time.

Turns out to be a fresh, original science fiction, and once Bear gets going his storytelling is good, the opening nearly put me to sleep.

Good, hard science fiction; good character building; good plot.

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Oct 19, 2008 Jason rated it really liked it

Better than its predecessor, highly imaginative concepts.

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May 03, 2018 prcardi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series, robots, hard-science-fiction, rated-r, first-contact, science-fiction, lgbtq

Storyline: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Writing Style: 3/5
World: 5/5

Rarely have I come across a sequel that so surpassed its predecessor. And I liked the predecessor.

Book one was nicely self-contained; I didn't feel that I had to read on in the series, but seeing as I had enjoyed the first, I was happy to do so. Book two is also nicely contained. The very brief, straightforward prologue - numbering 300 words or so - sums up what one needs to know in order to read A Storyline: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Writing Style: 3/5
World: 5/5

Rarely have I come across a sequel that so surpassed its predecessor. And I liked the predecessor.

Book one was nicely self-contained; I didn't feel that I had to read on in the series, but seeing as I had enjoyed the first, I was happy to do so. Book two is also nicely contained. The very brief, straightforward prologue - numbering 300 words or so - sums up what one needs to know in order to read Anvil of Stars. Thereafter Bear moves forward, and he does so in strides confidently and differently paced than in the first. He drops the political thriller element and makes this much more a military science fiction work. The hard science fiction elements stay, but are better integrated into the plot. We also keep the shifting perspectives, but we have fewer of them, and Bear effectively situates them in the story. What results is a provocative beginning, setup by the last book, that develops into a thoughtful, surprising, and creative story of war planning and execution in space. Military sci-fi is not a genre I have read extensively in, but if other works in the genre similarly extrapolate the implications of technological advancement for social cohesion and military strategy in the far future, then sign me up for a reading list. I want to read more.

I wasn't enamored with every element of the story, however. Bear, again, takes on the task of berating religion through caricature, suggesting to the reader that he has a decided grudge against it while at the same time misunderstanding it. It is also a smutty telling, the author seeming to take a lot of gratification in detailing the many and varied sexual liaisons of our older teenagers and young adults. In places, both of these elements contributed to character building, but their excesses went beyond development and distracted from the otherwise measured story. And that story was, ultimately, decisive and heavy. That last page gets turned with all the necessary questions answered but without Bear offering any help in processing what happened. That happens on your own time and away from Anvil of Stars. ...more

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Mar 12, 2017 Tomislav rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Almost nine years after reading Greg Bear’s The Forge of God, I have finally read its sequel, Anvil of Stars. Fortunately, it is not a tightly coupled sequel. In other words, while the plot events are a consequence of what happens in The Forge of God, there is no character continuity – and a reader could plausibly read it as a stand-alone. The Forge of God was a mediocre book, but if you are a fan of Greg Bear’s brand of hard sf, you should read them in order. I will expose no spoilers to Anvil Almost nine years after reading Greg Bear’s The Forge of God, I have finally read its sequel, Anvil of Stars. Fortunately, it is not a tightly coupled sequel. In other words, while the plot events are a consequence of what happens in The Forge of God, there is no character continuity – and a reader could plausibly read it as a stand-alone. The Forge of God was a mediocre book, but if you are a fan of Greg Bear’s brand of hard sf, you should read them in order. I will expose no spoilers to Anvil of Stars in these comments, but it is not really possible to talk much about the plot without giving a major spoiler to The Forge of God. So stop now, if that would affect you.

The space ship Dawn Treader is a Ship of the Law, provided by the Benefactors and staffed by teenage human exiles. Its mission is to locate the home world of the Killers of Earth, judge them, and carry out a sentence of extermination. On the face of it, this sounds like a juvenile revenge fantasy, but in the hands of Greg Bear, justice is not so simple a thing. Over the couple of years of the duration of the novel, the crew members mature (well, some of them) and grapple with the ethical issues which arise from this premise. The novel is also a study of the social dynamics of the small group (82) of humans who have “volunteered” at an age before they truthfully are ready for such a commitment. “Of all the illusions of childhood, the one he hated to lose most was this: that humans worked according to unspoken but noble goals, that they followed an intrinsic path to justice, that they would resist error and move toward self-understanding”

Bear speculates about a digital encoding of state values within the tiniest bits of matter (which was quarks at the time; the book is pre-string theory). These can be manipulated by an advanced technology not explained. It enables, for example, all kinds of things, from instant FTL communication to the conversion of matter to anti-matter from a distance. I guess this must be loosely based on quantum entanglement, but it's never justified. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

There are two things holding me back from a full-fledged 5* rating – 1) It is a minor thing, but I found the human characters’ last names to be ridiculous. 2) The plot advanced too slowly for me. I would prefer not to inch through every plot revelation serially through the eyes of every major character. Close to 500 pages is just too much for the number of actual events contained. However, the plot tension holds right to nearly the last page, and the ending is NOT overly simplistic. I recommend the book, with the two caveats above. ...more

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Feb 26, 2009 tENTATIVELY, cONVENIENCE rated it really liked it

Shelves: sf

"Anvil of Stars" sequel to "The Forge of God".. - just the titles alone are enuf to make me wary.. BUT, that sort of thing is par for the golf course of black holes in SF - so no biggie.. In other words, the title is so rotten-cheese-ball that many a sensitive literary type might avoid it.. BUT, I liked this bk. Bear's plots are GRANDIOSE. I vaguely recall reading that he & Greg Egan are 2 of the main 'hard science' SF writers (or maybe that's just what I thought at some point or another) - ...more

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Dec 14, 2011 Fred Hughes rated it really liked it

This book continues where The Forge of God ends off, which is the aftermath of the destruction of most of Earth and its inhabitants.

Taken from the destruction by a superior race called the Benefactors a large group of children volunteer to find the race that attacked Earth and destroy them using technology supplied by the Benefactors.

The Benefactors have supplied them with a massive ship and guidance in the form of robots that the children call “Moms”. After 5 years flyin ...more

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Dec 13, 2014 Donna rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, read-in-2014

This sequel is completely different from The Forge of God. The earth has been destroyed, most of the few survivors have been settled on Mars, and a small group of children/teenagers are sent on a mission of revenge to destroy the makers of the killing machines. I had a hard time getting into the story and found myself starting to skim--never a good sign. About halfway through, it picked up and I liked best the part that dealt with the "Brothers", an alien species that the humans team up with. The th ...more

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Aug 05, 2019 Sable rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Read for the Space Opera 2019 Challenge.

Wow, what a stunning book!

I was thoroughly enamoured of the prequel to this, The Forge of God. I thought it was a brilliantly written apocalyptic epic, full of twists and turns and intrigue and enough scientific mystery to keep anyone with even a hint of interest in science fiction satisfied. I saw a lot of reviews that said the second book was better, and I scoffed.

I was wrong. This is a work of brilliance that I'm not sure people truly ...more

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Aug 31, 2015 Pete Harris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sf

This blew my mind when I read it, which I did before I read the first one (Forge of God), but it didn't suffer from any lack of context, standing alone perfectly well. I think it's a better book, with a huge concept and deep, dark themes. I suspect Greg Bear had Anvil of Stars in mind as a destination when Forge of God was being written, because the first book is more or less a setup for the much more interesting and horrifying story that follows.

I say horrifying, and it is, on multi ...more

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Jul 22, 2008 Christopher rated it really liked it

Shelves: speculativefiction

A fantastic, if completely unexpected follow up to "Forge of God." The former was a hard-sci fi look at how the world might end if the Earth were destroyed by killer-probes from outer space. This book follows a group of young survivors who were rescued by a mysterious race of benefactors at the end of "Forge." They are given a technologically advanced space-ship and a mission -- eradicate the race that destroyed Earth.

"Anvil" becomes a hybrid of "Ender's Game," "Speaker for the Dead" ...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Zac rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-sale-pickups-in-queue

The Forge of God was incredible. This doesn't necessarily pick up where it left off, but it's the sequel. A very different book from Forge. The science fiction is good, the writing isn't terrible - Bear manages to sustain a fairly consistent and growing atmosphere of tension and uncertainty throughout. The ideas are engaging and the world building is solid. The first half, however, I struggled completely to identify with the characters in any meaningful way. Other things I disliked: that it had ...more

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Aug 27, 2008 Hien rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 04, 2019 Ryan Kirk rated it liked it

Man, this book.

I actually finished this book a couple of weeks ago, but I've been waiting to write a review until I've had time to sit with it.

Here's the thing: I think this is a great book, but I personally didn't like it. I've been thinking about this quite a bit, and I think I've got it mostly figured it out.

Typically I like to separate what I like and what I didn't, but everything is kind of interconnected here, so I don't think that's going to work.
...more

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Jun 06, 2019 Mark Rabideau rated it really liked it

I found this to be an excellent series. This the second in the 2-book series was every bit as entertaining and thought provoking as the first. If you remember your philosophy, you may remember Hugo Grotius and his theory of a "Just War". This novel most certainly explores the ideas contained therein...

I guess after this series, I can officially claim that I am a fan of Greg Bear's writing/ novels.

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Oct 17, 2009 Annette rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Only if you read the prequel and have a high tollerance for depression

Shelves: sci-fi, post-apocalyptic

Plot in a nutshell: the "Benefactors" who rescued a couple of arks
full of humans from Earth in prequel "Forge of God" have loaded 85 teens and young adults onto a highly advanced space ship, given them some robots for training, and assigned them the task of carrying out the Law which states that any race that creates automated planet killers must themselves be eradicated. Martin, son of one of the main characters from "Forge," is the protagonist.

What I liked about the book:
* It does a better Plot in a nutshell: the "Benefactors" who rescued a couple of arks
full of humans from Earth in prequel "Forge of God" have loaded 85 teens and young adults onto a highly advanced space ship, given them some robots for training, and assigned them the task of carrying out the Law which states that any race that creates automated planet killers must themselves be eradicated. Martin, son of one of the main characters from "Forge," is the protagonist.

What I liked about the book:
* It does a better job than most of really giving you a feel for how Big space is. Several novels I've read lately have given travel at relativistic speeds a fair shake, but they all proposed faster-than-light communications to smooth things out. This book does not: the kids are entirely disconnected from the rest of their race, and similarly the "Ships of the Law" (presumably there are many) are entirely disconnected from each other and their creators. Everyone is pretty much on their own, with no-one to turn to for impossibly difficult decisions.
* The alien race dubbed the "Brothers" is pretty creative and unusual, in a field filled with creative and unusual aliens.
* It delves deeply and, I suspect, pretty accurately into the psychology of a group like the kids who are inevitably pretty screwed up. No parents, no planet, no hope of ever seeing another human other than themselves, and instructions from their rescuers to go commit genocide of their own - presuming they can find the culprits. The book is in fact far more about this psychology and group dynamic than anything else, although the science is interesting.

This all said, honestly I struggled to get through it. It was depressing. There are several suicides, and the main character himself is deeply depressed for much of the book. At one point he goes off alone to pray - but he doesn't know to what or whom, because he has never really believed in any god. He can find no hope and no meaning in life. The "Job" they were sent to do is no longer enough, and he cannot envision life after it's done, assuming they survive. Everything is told from his POV, and there's frequently a nightmarish quality to his observations - cycling around and around unanswerable questions and insoluable problems, interacticing clumsily and inconclusively with his cohort, never asking the right questions or taking the decisive action we, the reader, want him to take.
Frankly, I think the author did a very good job of homing in on the hopelessness and uselessness of life without God and the inadequacies of whatever we try and replace him with. It's a problem anyone who's determined to go it alone must wrestle with. But the author doesn't propose any realistic solution, and this made the book pretty hard to read. In the end, I am glad I did read it, but I would not do so again. ...more

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Jul 05, 2015 Gendou rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

Like the prequel, this book revels in doom and gloom. The characters are children on a trip to enact vengeance for the Earth's destruction. Most of the book is them on their way, fucking (which they call "slicking") and bickering and training on useless weapon-ships which they don't end up using. There's some crazy girl who has religious visions for some reason.

The only redeeming part of this book is when the rag-tag team of human kids teams up with some aliens. The creativity that g ...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Mike rated it did not like it

I really like The Forge of God so I thought I'd try Anvil of Stars. Mistake! I really didn't think this was very good. It was heavy going and I nearly gave up a couple of times in the first 100 or so pages, but ploughed on in the hope it would get better, but it just seem to plod along. It would have helped if I liked some of the characters, but none of them came out and grabbed me. I really couldn't get any feeling for them. This book is a perfect example of not knowing when enough is enough.

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May 08, 2015 Devin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The conclusion to The Forge of God is a completely different book. Narrowly focused upon the children who seek to avenge the destruction of the first book. I struggled to get into the dynamic of this story at first... and then it drew me in. And then it hooked me with its fantastic and nuanced conclusion.

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Nov 16, 2009 Derek rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, hard-science-fiction

Quite a bit less impressive than Forge of God. Bear's exploration of future/alien technology based on real-world science (no warp drives or instant interstellar communication) was intriguing, but the overall plot was much less compelling. An interesting effort, but Bear seems best when he sticks to stories grounded on earth.

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Mar 14, 2013 Jonathan Lochhaas rated it liked it

Not as good as the first book. Interesting read, but less challenging.

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Aug 21, 2011 AndrewP rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Sequel to The Forge of God. Not as good as the first one as it follows a group of survivors from the destruction of earth. Interesting high tech stuff, but lacks the drama of the first one.

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May 21, 2017 The Professor rated it really liked it

Shelves: sf

"All intelligences responsible for or associated with the manufacture of self-replicating and destructive devices will be destroyed." Started this, put it aside for a while, but couldn't get the premise out of my head so I’m glad to have finished it. This continues on from Bear's very enjoyable "The Forge Of God" ("Independence Day" with a brain) in unexpected and curious directions. We follow a group of volunteer twenty-somethings - merrily coupling without regard for convention - who are taske "All intelligences responsible for or associated with the manufacture of self-replicating and destructive devices will be destroyed." Started this, put it aside for a while, but couldn't get the premise out of my head so I’m glad to have finished it. This continues on from Bear's very enjoyable "The Forge Of God" ("Independence Day" with a brain) in unexpected and curious directions. We follow a group of volunteer twenty-somethings - merrily coupling without regard for convention - who are tasked with exacting vengeance on the murderers of Earth, a bunch of fiends who appear to be able to turn matter into anti-matter and cloak entire planets. Group dynamics are fragile, the current leader is flakey, the first drill is a disaster and their robot guardians are refusing to nanny them anymore. They find a likely looking system for destruction, start dropping bombs and then... well, that's all part one. What I like about this and "Forge" is that Bear does not screw around. There's no piddling about before Big Stuff happens, 100 pages in and you're reeling from the events and ideas in play. It sticks the landing too, although in my opinion this rag-tag group of avenging angels are very lucky their snake-like chums the “Brothers” find what they do in the eventual wreckage. There’s a delicious moral dubiousness hanging over all this and plenty of mystery as to who is being manipulated. True, nut-ball Rosa drove me up the wall and reams of xenobiology does nothing for me (a similar drawback I found in Stephen Baxter’s “Proxima”) but Bear is careful to leaven these aspects with other characters rolling their eyes and the like. There are a couple of magic wands being waved around - “noach” or “no-channel tranmissions” which enables uninterceptable, instantaneous communication within a certain range and “momerath” which is basically supermaths for all those pesky celestial mechanics that need working out but the science throughout all sounds disturbingly convincing. One suspects an audience with Mr Bear would be a dizzying experience. Very eager now to explore his other work which, by the blurbs, sound right up my street. ...more

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Feb 09, 2019 Kat Orton rated it liked it

Finally finished! I clearly didn’t love it as much as FoG because it’s taken me 2 weeks to get through.

The first 100 or so pages were pretty slow, but it really built traction in the second and third parts.

So.. what I didn’t like...

The ‘children’ pretty much seemed mostly interested in shagging. Could have done without the almost endless ‘slicking’. It added nothing in that quantity.

Could have done with more back story to the children. I feel it would have made them more likeable.

I’m pissed ...more

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About Greg Bear

Greg Bear

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Greg Bear is one of the world's leading hard SF authors. He sold his first short story, at the age of fifteen, to Robert Lowndes's Famous Science Fiction.

A full-time writer, he lives in Washington State with his family. He is married to Astrid Anderson Bear. He is the son-in-law of Poul Anderson. They are the parents of two children, Erik and Alexandra.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/gregbear ...more

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Forge of God (2 books)

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Quotes from Anvil of Stars

“The fox speaks with the hurricane and says, “I need to travel far and fast. Can you take me?” The hurricane regards the puny fox with its huge, calm eye and asks, “What can you do for me?” “Why, I will let you whisper your dreams to me.” “But I must kill whatever I carry. You are a living thing and do not wish to die.” “If you do not kill me, I will listen to your inmost self, and tell all the animals, that they may feel sympathy for you.” “What do I care for sympathy? I am all-powerful.” “Yes, but someday, your winds will die, and my kits will tell this tale even when you are gone, of the time great-great-great-grandfather fox was carried by the winds and lived and learned their secrets.” “But then they will not be afraid of me, and what good am I if I do not inspire fear?” “Oh, no living thing could ever be so strong they would not fear you. I give you something more. I give you a voice throughout time that is more than a wordless bellow of rage.” — 2 likes

“rendezvous with the robots after a fast” — 0 likes

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