rick2's review against another edition
4.0
This is a great example of a wonderfully brilliant idea based piece of sci-fi idea writing. The author introduces us to the Cheela, an alien species that make their home on a super dense neutron star hurtling past the Solar System. Because of this they live at several thousand times the speed of humans.
But like much good idea based sci-fi, The characters and dialogue gets a bit chunky and the actions of those characters become a bit unbelievable at times. Such as when the alien species, at the end of everything, sends a lightly encrypted bit of scientific research saying “this is password protected by the formula you need to solve this scientific concept.” And the person receiving the information thinks “oh geez, that’s so nice. We will definitely not attempt to break that 16bit cypher, because we have lots of integrity as a species and no one would unscrupulously take financially and reputationally valuable information like that”
Funny how in a book about alien amoebas living on neutron star that was the most unbelievable part.
But like much good idea based sci-fi, The characters and dialogue gets a bit chunky and the actions of those characters become a bit unbelievable at times. Such as when the alien species, at the end of everything, sends a lightly encrypted bit of scientific research saying “this is password protected by the formula you need to solve this scientific concept.” And the person receiving the information thinks “oh geez, that’s so nice. We will definitely not attempt to break that 16bit cypher, because we have lots of integrity as a species and no one would unscrupulously take financially and reputationally valuable information like that”
Funny how in a book about alien amoebas living on neutron star that was the most unbelievable part.
agrajag's review against another edition
5.0
Reread of an old favourite. Still great.
Get me right; the work *does* have weaknesses, significant ones even. It's just that those are (for me anyway) easy to forgive in light of the wonderful thought-experiment on the bottom of it all.
Get me right; the work *does* have weaknesses, significant ones even. It's just that those are (for me anyway) easy to forgive in light of the wonderful thought-experiment on the bottom of it all.
smiorganbaldhead's review against another edition
4.0
This book is all about the concept, and it’s a really cool one: aliens developing on the surface of a neutron star. There are humans on a mission to explore the neutron star, but most of the book is about the aliens from their own perspective. The narrative reads more like a history than a typical novel, jumping from one alien character’s story to another through the ages of their civilization. Somehow, it works though.
phronk's review against another edition
4.0
There are a few things NOT to expect here, such as developed characters, a traditional plot, conflict, or even a first contact story.
But if you’re into a fully fleshed-out scientific what-if, wow, this is amazing.
What if life formed on a neutron start that happens to be close enough to Earth for humans to observe? This book explores that in great scientific and historical detail.
It doesn’t even seem that dated, even though it was written in 1980, aside from describing the physical attractiveness of every female character for no reason. The alien orgies are still as exciting and relevant as ever though.
Now I’m kinda depressed, because if the cheela could exist, we’d probably have encountered them by now. Those amoebas seem pretty cool.
But if you’re into a fully fleshed-out scientific what-if, wow, this is amazing.
What if life formed on a neutron start that happens to be close enough to Earth for humans to observe? This book explores that in great scientific and historical detail.
It doesn’t even seem that dated, even though it was written in 1980, aside from describing the physical attractiveness of every female character for no reason. The alien orgies are still as exciting and relevant as ever though.
Now I’m kinda depressed, because if the cheela could exist, we’d probably have encountered them by now. Those amoebas seem pretty cool.
sfwordsofwonder's review against another edition
4.0
Check out my full, spoiler-free, video review HERE.
Hard science fiction for hardcore fans of the genre, a bit light on plot.
Hard science fiction for hardcore fans of the genre, a bit light on plot.
chintogtokh's review against another edition
4.0
Great concept but the clunky writing and a gloss over of how exactly human language could be deciphered irks me just a bit.
awalker88's review against another edition
3.0
Cool to think about but 100% written but a male nerd in the 80s
hay_shock's review against another edition
4.0
This book was bought as a gift, so I had no idea what to expect. It is so very different to anything I could have expected. The imagination in this book is on another level.
Storytelling - This is heavy sci-fi, so there are sections which for me were hard to keep up with. However, I don't think you need to be able to understand the theory within this book, to enjoy the story. The story based elements were extremely interesting & there were many parts that I didn't expect.
Characters - I was going to say this isn't a character driven book (which it isn't), but we do meet a lot of characters & I think the main ones are covered enough for us to paint a picture & form feelings. I did appreciate how there seemed to be a very even balance of male & female roles, I know that isn't saying a lot now, but this book was published back in 1980, so I think it is worth calling out.
World Building - Is what really makes this story stand apart. I don't think I've quite read anything like it. And you really have to let your imagine run wild to be able to visualise some of the crazy ideas in this book.
I have decided not to read the second book in the series though. This book was wrapped up so nicely, for me the ending was fantastic. I don't want to spoil that ending by continuing to read the final instalment.
Storytelling - This is heavy sci-fi, so there are sections which for me were hard to keep up with. However, I don't think you need to be able to understand the theory within this book, to enjoy the story. The story based elements were extremely interesting & there were many parts that I didn't expect.
Characters - I was going to say this isn't a character driven book (which it isn't), but we do meet a lot of characters & I think the main ones are covered enough for us to paint a picture & form feelings. I did appreciate how there seemed to be a very even balance of male & female roles, I know that isn't saying a lot now, but this book was published back in 1980, so I think it is worth calling out.
World Building - Is what really makes this story stand apart. I don't think I've quite read anything like it. And you really have to let your imagine run wild to be able to visualise some of the crazy ideas in this book.
I have decided not to read the second book in the series though. This book was wrapped up so nicely, for me the ending was fantastic. I don't want to spoil that ending by continuing to read the final instalment.