A review by pjmurphy3
The Annals of the Heechee by Frederik Pohl
4.0
I think coming into a story in the fourth book of the series, made it harder to get into and enjoy right from the beginning. Plus the style of the writing which exhibited a vast amount of showing and not telling made it harder to enjoy. It was almost like a journal that took some time to get used to. We are given a vast amount of information that isn’t needed in the story. Although this does help us form the bonds of the characters.
Once I felt that I was getting into the plot of the actual story I felt like the book moved to a much better place. We got to explore and experience the universe at large, and when I say universe I do mean that. Since the book is a classic Sci-Fi adventure piece, we are given the thematic elements of a Space Opera with augmented humans, advanced Artificial Intelligence, and space travel.
I couldn’t help but see the similarities between this book and other well known Sci-Fi works, like The Matrix, I am Robot, Space Odyssey 2000.
When we first open in the book the characters Robinette and Elsie are preparing for a lavish party. But this no ordinary party, the party is in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the settlement of an asteroid. Now you may be thinking so what is so special about that? Well let me tell you, you see Robin and Elsie were part of the original settlers of the asteroid, putting them well over 100 years old. They can do this by storing their essence as Machine People. They were digitized and it allows them to “live forever”. They can eat, drink, and party as much as they want with no fear of repercussions. And believe me, they do. Plus due to their billionaire status, they can rub elbows with the upper echelons of society. Thus they gain a vast amount of influence and power. The first few chapters give us an understanding of how our MCs, remember the party-goers both of the meat and non meant verity. We are given a lot of history of the start of the colony, space exploration, and the contact with non-human life.
The alien species called the Heechee are shown to be great explorers of the galaxy. Having sought out intelligent life, the Heechee worked to study and interact with being they felt they could. But out of the three species they understood to be intelligent, humans were the only ones to be able to talk back. Thus once the human race was able to form the necessary tools to begin space travel, they discovered the remits of the Heechee fleet and the two were the two able to meet. Using a complicated system of ancient Heechee technology the two races learn to co-mingle.
We also looked at an advanced artificial intelligence cleaver named Albert Einstein. This was probably my favorite character in the whole book. He was snarky, intelligent but also compassionate and caring. With a few simple commands, he was able to provide anything for his masters, from a beach house with little fruity drinks, to advanced astronomical theories. I think the thing I liked the most was that he could explain the science behind the big bang theory that made it easy for one to understand. This is great for a reader that might not have the understanding of those theories, and even the ones that do will understand it better.
The third set of people we are given to look at. Is a newly formed friendship between three adolescents; One human girl, one human boy, and one Heechee boy. Having already known each other the human boy and Heechee boy are tossed into unknown territory with the addition of the girl. It is a nice break to get to see how they interact with each other. And how their lives are changed when they are sent back to earth, they must each try to find their way in the new environment, school, and planet, while also staying together.
Finally over the times together the Heechee cultures teach the humans to fear a race they call the Assassins. The assassins are a formless void that works to devour the rest of the universe. As a formless void, it is unable to vocalize, materialize or visualize any sort of demands or endeavors, thus making it the perfect enemy. How can you stop something that has no face, voice, or mind? I felt like this is a great existential question that gave the characters something to strive for.
Overall I did like the book. It gave a nice view of the crises one might face if they were to be able to live forever and how that would affect the people and places one interacted with. The look at the scientific theories, law, and practices was a nice way to understand them and figure a way they could be taught to those who might not understand them. The author did his research into the topics. While we did get several classic Sci-Fi Tropes, we were also given some great twists and turns. I gave this one four out of five stars only because of the beginning. Once we got into the main body, and the plot advanced along it did save it.
I would recommend the book to anyone that likes classic Sci-fi stories, especially those who like the idea of augmented humans, space travel, artificial intelligence, and the combination of human and non-human species.
Once I felt that I was getting into the plot of the actual story I felt like the book moved to a much better place. We got to explore and experience the universe at large, and when I say universe I do mean that. Since the book is a classic Sci-Fi adventure piece, we are given the thematic elements of a Space Opera with augmented humans, advanced Artificial Intelligence, and space travel.
I couldn’t help but see the similarities between this book and other well known Sci-Fi works, like The Matrix, I am Robot, Space Odyssey 2000.
When we first open in the book the characters Robinette and Elsie are preparing for a lavish party. But this no ordinary party, the party is in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the settlement of an asteroid. Now you may be thinking so what is so special about that? Well let me tell you, you see Robin and Elsie were part of the original settlers of the asteroid, putting them well over 100 years old. They can do this by storing their essence as Machine People. They were digitized and it allows them to “live forever”. They can eat, drink, and party as much as they want with no fear of repercussions. And believe me, they do. Plus due to their billionaire status, they can rub elbows with the upper echelons of society. Thus they gain a vast amount of influence and power. The first few chapters give us an understanding of how our MCs, remember the party-goers both of the meat and non meant verity. We are given a lot of history of the start of the colony, space exploration, and the contact with non-human life.
The alien species called the Heechee are shown to be great explorers of the galaxy. Having sought out intelligent life, the Heechee worked to study and interact with being they felt they could. But out of the three species they understood to be intelligent, humans were the only ones to be able to talk back. Thus once the human race was able to form the necessary tools to begin space travel, they discovered the remits of the Heechee fleet and the two were the two able to meet. Using a complicated system of ancient Heechee technology the two races learn to co-mingle.
We also looked at an advanced artificial intelligence cleaver named Albert Einstein. This was probably my favorite character in the whole book. He was snarky, intelligent but also compassionate and caring. With a few simple commands, he was able to provide anything for his masters, from a beach house with little fruity drinks, to advanced astronomical theories. I think the thing I liked the most was that he could explain the science behind the big bang theory that made it easy for one to understand. This is great for a reader that might not have the understanding of those theories, and even the ones that do will understand it better.
The third set of people we are given to look at. Is a newly formed friendship between three adolescents; One human girl, one human boy, and one Heechee boy. Having already known each other the human boy and Heechee boy are tossed into unknown territory with the addition of the girl. It is a nice break to get to see how they interact with each other. And how their lives are changed when they are sent back to earth, they must each try to find their way in the new environment, school, and planet, while also staying together.
Finally over the times together the Heechee cultures teach the humans to fear a race they call the Assassins. The assassins are a formless void that works to devour the rest of the universe. As a formless void, it is unable to vocalize, materialize or visualize any sort of demands or endeavors, thus making it the perfect enemy. How can you stop something that has no face, voice, or mind? I felt like this is a great existential question that gave the characters something to strive for.
Overall I did like the book. It gave a nice view of the crises one might face if they were to be able to live forever and how that would affect the people and places one interacted with. The look at the scientific theories, law, and practices was a nice way to understand them and figure a way they could be taught to those who might not understand them. The author did his research into the topics. While we did get several classic Sci-Fi Tropes, we were also given some great twists and turns. I gave this one four out of five stars only because of the beginning. Once we got into the main body, and the plot advanced along it did save it.
I would recommend the book to anyone that likes classic Sci-fi stories, especially those who like the idea of augmented humans, space travel, artificial intelligence, and the combination of human and non-human species.