Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - The Crucible of Time

The Crucible of Time
The Crucible of Time
Author: John Brunner
Life had become too interesting on one world crawling across the rubble-strewn arm of a spiral galaxy, for as the system moved it swept up cosmic dust and debris. Ice ages and periods of tropical warmth followed one another very quickly. Meteors large and small fell constantly. Yesterday's fabled culture might be tomorrow's interesting hole in t...  more »
ISBN: 162813
Publication Date: 1983
Pages: 368
Rating:
  ?

0 stars, based on 0 rating
Publisher: Del Rey
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Write a Review
Read All 1 Book Reviews of "The Crucible of Time"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

althea avatar reviewed The Crucible of Time on + 774 more book reviews
An epic sci-fi novel about the progression of history and culture on
an alien planet peopled by an insect-like sentient race.
The 'novel' is really six separate stories, each dealing with a
momentous point in their history. It follows the race from a primitive
society to a spacefaring people who desperately need to escape from
the asteroid belt that threatens their planet. In each story, a
brilliant young person with groundbreaking ideas must fight to take a
cultural step forward.
Although the book's not unreadable, I didn't find any of the stories,
or their characters, to be very memorable - I didn't get emotionally
caught up in their lives or their issues. I think part of this is
because I suspect that Brunner might have thought the fact that his
characters were aliens would be a bit off-putting, and therefore he
really intentionally avoids physical descriptions of them and their
surroundings. I kept getting distracted by trying to put small clues
together to try to figure out what they looked like. Although his
alien culture was well-thought-out and featured interesting details,
the book as a whole lacked plot tension.


Genres: