Review Summaries

• Readers value the way the work approaches its subject and the aftertaste it leaves, while some may find it demanding without background knowledge. Its individuality comes through in the portrayal of people and situations.

Reviews

• Excellent blend of hard SF and social commentary

  On the brink of nuclear war, Earth launches an Alpha Centauri probe that contains blueprints for DNA in digital form, hoping to start a human civilization that can escape the holocaust. Now, decades later, the New American Order (which sounds pretty fascist) sends the first mission from Earth to the new colony, only to find that its society is quite different from Earth's, and in some surprising ways. This is an excellent book, featuring some very imaginative hard SF concepts and far-reaching social commentary. In essence, it amounts to a libertarian manifesto, but in some ways Hogan goes farther than that. I have doubts about how workable his concept would be with a society numbering more than a few hundred thousand souls, but it certainly sounds attractive. Hogan's writing is expert, and his ear for the voice of the military grunts who are the focus of much of the book's action is unerring--kind of an interstellar MASH or Catch-22, if you take my meaning. This is one that I really didn't want to end.

• Five Stars

  great condition

• Would have given zero if possible

  Avoid this company. The book described as "new" turned out to be second hand in average condition. The company offered a 40% refund but advised that the "Amazon refund system is down at the moment. Remind us in two to three days". Five days later the excuse was the same - system still down. It wasn't. Sorted under Amazon guarantee in the end. Order their stuff at your peril.

• Excellent

  This is a very good book, describing the interaction between a very human but also very different culture and the sort of cultures that exist throughout the world today. I rate this, along with a lot of Hogan's other work, as some of the best Sci-Fi books I have ever read. It is well worth a read.

• Giants series

  This is a series that started with "Inherit the Stars" and all are great reads

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