Thoughtful and Interesting, September 3, 2005
Reviewer: Brian B. Johnson (Columbus, GA United States) - See all my reviews
This book, as others here have said, is not on the same scale and not the same quality that Herbert's Dune books are. It is a very interesting book, though, that deals with several themes that Herbert would later revisit. The strongest point in the book is the characterization. It is very complex for most of the characters, especially, to me, the Optimen, the governing immortal races in the novel. There is a mix of playfulness and disinterestedness about them that is unusual, especially when they gradually and then suddenly shift late in the novel. I will not disagree that the ending is rushed and there is almost too much technical talk in the book, but to me it kind of represents the aspect of being shown this world and reveling in it, for only a short amount of time and then being whisked away again. You can see in the references to the past in the novel that there was quite a lot of backstory that we will never know and that kind of makes it more interesting and distant. But it is enough to take the themes and questions in the novel about genetic manipulation and immortality and apply them to ourselves in our own age with history and backstory each alike.
Reviewer: Brian B. Johnson (Columbus, GA United States) - See all my reviews
This book, as others here have said, is not on the same scale and not the same quality that Herbert's Dune books are. It is a very interesting book, though, that deals with several themes that Herbert would later revisit. The strongest point in the book is the characterization. It is very complex for most of the characters, especially, to me, the Optimen, the governing immortal races in the novel. There is a mix of playfulness and disinterestedness about them that is unusual, especially when they gradually and then suddenly shift late in the novel. I will not disagree that the ending is rushed and there is almost too much technical talk in the book, but to me it kind of represents the aspect of being shown this world and reveling in it, for only a short amount of time and then being whisked away again. You can see in the references to the past in the novel that there was quite a lot of backstory that we will never know and that kind of makes it more interesting and distant. But it is enough to take the themes and questions in the novel about genetic manipulation and immortality and apply them to ourselves in our own age with history and backstory each alike.
