Series
Publication
New York : Tor Books, 2014.
Description
"Science fiction masters Larry Niven (Ringworld) and Gregory Benford (Timescape) continue the thrilling adventure of a human expedition to another star system that is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense artifact in interstellar space: a bowl-shaped structure cupping a star, with a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths. And which, tantalizingly, is on a direct path heading toward the same system the human ship is to colonize. Investigating the Bowl, or Shipstar, the human explorers are separated--one group captured by the gigantic structure's alien inhabitants, the other pursued across its strange and dangerous landscape--while the mystery of the Shipstar's origins and purpose propel the human voyagers toward discoveries that transform their understanding of their place in the universe"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member canpam
Considering the authors should be superb. REad Part 1 Bowl of Heaven cant remember it, could not read this, horrible. I hate SF that is ful of various aliens on fake worlds.
LibraryThing member rondoctor
I was a little put off by the incoherence of the first 25-50 pages of "Bowl of Heaven", the first book in this series, but I persevered and ended up liking the storyline. This sequel is much better. The storyline develops further and has some interesting and unexpected twists and turns. I rate the
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book 4 stars. I'd have given it 5 stars except that there is a little too much space filled with technojargon that was almost incomprehensible. Still this is a good read and I highly recommend it, but only if you've read the first book in the series first. The story has a conclusion that leaves me wanting more. Clearly, another book in the series should be written. Some enterprising movie producer should grab the rights to these books. I can easily visualize the two books as a movie or a TV series. The imagery could be fantastic ... if done right. Show Less
LibraryThing member DanTarlin
This is the sequel to Bowl of Heaven, the continuing story of an exploring group of Earth-orginating humans who encounter an enormous, constructed bowl moving slowly through the galaxy powered by a companion star's plasma jet, which the Bowl fashions through mirrors and magnetic fields to emit the
This is a frustrating book. I say that because the story is cool, but the execution and writing are impenetrable. The humans stumble upon this huge artifact while overtaking it on the way to what is their mutual destination, a planet called "Glory" which apparently has great promise for colonization for the humans. In Bowl of Heaven, the humans go down to explore, are separated into two groups, and are both attempting to escape capture by the rulers of the Bowl, the Folk, bird-like creatures who are suspected by the humans to be descendants of the Earth dinosaurs.
In Shipstar, the story is wrapped up. The origin of the Folk is explained, and the history of the "Great Shame" is teased and then finally explained nicely. This book has a decent twist, as the Bowl's management turns out to be more than it seems, and the plot ends in a satisfying way.
But the writing! Benford is a physicist, and Niven is of course a legendary SF writer and presumably scientifically trained as well. They have constructed a machine with as little "magic" as possible, loaded with plausible physics, evolutionary biology, chemical processes, etc. I think this is really ambitious- I like it- but they spend paragraph after paragraph explaining the science at a level of detail that is mind-numbing for those of us who are not scientists. I think I could follow more of the science if I read very slowly and googled concepts to try to understand, but that's more work than I want to do to read SF. The grasp of evolutionary biology as well as physics seems impressive (to my non-scientifically trained mind anyway!), but should have been written with less detail- maybe an afterward explaining more of the physics for those who are interested would have been better.
So I dug through anyway, and was glad I did- the story is cool, as I said, and the plotting reasonably tight. But I'm glad I'm done.
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jet in a focused stream through a knothole in the bowl, thus powering the system to move through the stars.This is a frustrating book. I say that because the story is cool, but the execution and writing are impenetrable. The humans stumble upon this huge artifact while overtaking it on the way to what is their mutual destination, a planet called "Glory" which apparently has great promise for colonization for the humans. In Bowl of Heaven, the humans go down to explore, are separated into two groups, and are both attempting to escape capture by the rulers of the Bowl, the Folk, bird-like creatures who are suspected by the humans to be descendants of the Earth dinosaurs.
In Shipstar, the story is wrapped up. The origin of the Folk is explained, and the history of the "Great Shame" is teased and then finally explained nicely. This book has a decent twist, as the Bowl's management turns out to be more than it seems, and the plot ends in a satisfying way.
But the writing! Benford is a physicist, and Niven is of course a legendary SF writer and presumably scientifically trained as well. They have constructed a machine with as little "magic" as possible, loaded with plausible physics, evolutionary biology, chemical processes, etc. I think this is really ambitious- I like it- but they spend paragraph after paragraph explaining the science at a level of detail that is mind-numbing for those of us who are not scientists. I think I could follow more of the science if I read very slowly and googled concepts to try to understand, but that's more work than I want to do to read SF. The grasp of evolutionary biology as well as physics seems impressive (to my non-scientifically trained mind anyway!), but should have been written with less detail- maybe an afterward explaining more of the physics for those who are interested would have been better.
So I dug through anyway, and was glad I did- the story is cool, as I said, and the plotting reasonably tight. But I'm glad I'm done.
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LibraryThing member joeydag
Very plot driven, engineering focus, not so much human/alien character driven. Perhaps I should have started with Bowl of Heaven, the book that precedes this. I suppose I liked it enough to look forward the continuing adventure.
LibraryThing member fpagan
Good sequel to _Bowl of Heaven_, involving a solar-system-sized alien habitat/starship. For easier comprehension, I would recommend reading the earlier novel first and not waiting as long as I did (2.5 years) in between.
LibraryThing member Bruce_McNair
This book is volume 2 of the series that started with Bowl of Heaven. It picks up where the first book left off. This book is a complete contrast to the first book - the characters are more developed and the action more dynamic. It introduces new characters and creatures who provide more depth to
I could not help continually making the comparison with Niven’s Ringworld. But as indicated in my review of the first book, this story does not have the interesting, quirky characters that make Ringworld such a strong story.
Given that, in my opinion, the story was slow to develop in the first book, I feel it is a pity that this book does not have much of a recap of the events from the first book. In my opinion, both of these shortcomings might cause some readers to give up on the story prematurely. This is a pity as the action reaches new heights in this book, and I feel it would be appreciated by most SF buffs. I give this book a rating of 4 out of 5.
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the story - the Sil and the Finger Snakes are my favourites. The idea that life and intelligence can inhabit non-carbon lifeforms, although not new, helps to fill in some of the gaps in the story. I felt that the ending, although it ties up most of the story threads, leaves an opening for one or more sequels. The Afterword provides some perspective on the development of the story from both authors. This shines more light on some of the aspects of the Bowl and the backstory.I could not help continually making the comparison with Niven’s Ringworld. But as indicated in my review of the first book, this story does not have the interesting, quirky characters that make Ringworld such a strong story.
Given that, in my opinion, the story was slow to develop in the first book, I feel it is a pity that this book does not have much of a recap of the events from the first book. In my opinion, both of these shortcomings might cause some readers to give up on the story prematurely. This is a pity as the action reaches new heights in this book, and I feel it would be appreciated by most SF buffs. I give this book a rating of 4 out of 5.
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LibraryThing member tcards
Not my cup of tea.
LibraryThing member majackson
This is the sequel to 'Bowl of Heaven' and manages to introduce some more complexity and still tie it all up in a satisfactory manner. I give Larry Niven kudos for keeping Gregory Benford in check and preventing him from trying to answer all of the riddles of the universe. The various aliens are
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covered more-or-less convincingly...if we assume that they have emotions fairly similar to ours. And the action is sufficiently captivating on all of the presented levels: the star itself, the infra-structure of the bowl, the interactions with the different aliens, the interplay amongst the various teams & crew members. My personal recollection is that I've never been bored by anything written with the help of Larry Niven. Show Less
LibraryThing member ChrisRiesbeck
An OK conclusion to Bowl of Heaven but nothing special. It's very similar to Benford's Furious Gulf, heavy on the exotic astrophysics, crossed with Ringworld. Like Gulf, much of what happens is almost impossible to picture, despite the random illustrations. Like Gulf, a big distinction between the
OK for fans for Benford and/or Niven.
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aliens and the humans is that we are pawns of our subconscious while the aliens have it all under control. Mostly action with multiple characters but very little distinction between them and serious emotional arcs.OK for fans for Benford and/or Niven.
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Language
Original publication date
2014-04-08
ISBN
9780765328700