Tides of Light Author:Gregory Benford From Library Journal: — Fleeing the mech civilization that has decimated the human population of the planet Snowglade, Cap'n Killeen leads Family Bishop to a distant world only to become embroiled in another human-alien conflict in which the sides are not so neatly drawn. This sequel to Great Sky River continues the adventures of a courageous gro... more »up of survivors. Quick pacing and startling imagery produce a welcome mixture of action and speculation.
Benford's aliens are aliens in mind as well as physique and no reader can fathom their true nature. Benford's humans are hunter-gathers, appropriating technologies and materials they can not create themselves. William Tenn's description of humans as "rats in the walls" is carried to an extreme in "Tides of Light". Family Bishop merely dodges incomprehensible aliens and forces before fortune steers them to the next installment. Benford has made an elegiac vision of the future, incorporating grandeur like Arthur C. Clarke in "The City and the Stars" with a mysterious plot. The aliens are ALIEN and the humans are so different in physical nature and cultural millieu as to be almost unbelievable. Strongly recommended.« less