A review by clanhay
Across a Billion Years by Robert Silverberg
2.0
I like old science fiction and all their futuristic ideas that now seem so dated an illogical. So none of that has anything to do with why I disliked this book so much. It probably deserves 1 star, but I actually finished it so it at least kept me that interested. (1.5 stars)
1. The writing style ‘letters to my sister’ was awkward and often creepy. Lots of talk about his sexual attractions and potential love life.
2. The protagonist was sexist, racist, extremely self centered and just downright unlikable. At one point he casually watches an attempted rape without intervening, later explaining that a woman can only be raped if she wants it to happen.
3. As a crew of professional scientists in their prospective fields, they all seem incompetent and unprofessional in their jobs.
4. The alien robot is baffled to observe that the star of his home planet has disappeared which could not be possible. Approximately one chapter later he is describing the weapons at his disposal and explains that one of them is capable of destroying a star from 3 light years away. Huh? I thought that wasn’t possible.
5. The explanation of what became of the Great Ones is adequate to conclude the story but it is pretty unsatisfying and uninteresting.
1. The writing style ‘letters to my sister’ was awkward and often creepy. Lots of talk about his sexual attractions and potential love life.
2. The protagonist was sexist, racist, extremely self centered and just downright unlikable. At one point he casually watches an attempted rape without intervening, later explaining that a woman can only be raped if she wants it to happen.
3. As a crew of professional scientists in their prospective fields, they all seem incompetent and unprofessional in their jobs.
4. The alien robot is baffled to observe that the star of his home planet has disappeared which could not be possible. Approximately one chapter later he is describing the weapons at his disposal and explains that one of them is capable of destroying a star from 3 light years away. Huh? I thought that wasn’t possible.
5. The explanation of what became of the Great Ones is adequate to conclude the story but it is pretty unsatisfying and uninteresting.