Books I’ve read

Quotes from the cover: “A problem in relativity.
One: Eons ago, a gentle race of giant aliens fled the planet Minerva, leaving the ancestors of Man to fend for themselves.

Two: 50 thousand years ago, Minerva exploded, hurling its moon into an orbit about the Earth.

Three: In the 21st century, scientists Victor Hunt and Chris Danchekker, doing research on Ganymede, attract a small band of friendly aliens lost in time, who begin to reveal something of the origin of Mankind.

Finally, Man thought he comprehended his place in the Universe … until he learned of the Watchers in the stars.”

To me, this was a bit like the curate’s egg, and if you don’t know what that expression means, look it up here on Wikipedia .

Although published for the first time in 1981, I felt that it had been written in the fifties - it had very much the style of some of the older sci-fi potboilers. The story - relating to where the human race originated (and it wasn’t here) - was complicated, perhaps unnecessarily so. It was difficult to keep up with which characters belonged where, and where their allegiances lay. Maybe that’s what the author intended?

Perhaps part of my difficulty was that, having started a book, I’ll endeavour to finish it, even if I have to come back to it in a couple of months - which is what happened here. As a consequence, I must have lost the plot. But having picked it up again, I still found it a little difficult.

The fact that there are six or seven planets and a number of planetary systems involved, all the protagonists are human (not a scaly, three-headed monster in sight), and the ’science’ isn’t really adequately explained - though the author does try - all contributed to my confusion.

Not a book I shall be returning to, I’m afraid. This is one of a series, apparently. Available from AbeBooks.co.uk or Alibris.co.uk

Ballantyne Books, 1981.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Science Fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.