Status
Available
Call number
Publication
St Martins Pr (1985), Edition: A Bluejay international ed, 504 pages
Description
The 21st century was on the brink of nuclear confrontation when the 300 kilometer-long stone flashed out of nothingness and into Earth's orbit. NASA, NATO, and the UN sent explorers to the asteroid's surface...and discovered marvels and mysteries to drive researchers mad. For the Stone was from space--but perhaps not "our "space; it came from the future--but perhaps not "our" future; and within the hollowed asteroid was Thistledown. The remains of a vanished civilization. A "human"--English, Russian, and Chinese-speaking--civilization. Seven vast chambers containing forests, lakes, rivers, hanging cities... And museums describing the Death; the catastrophic war that was about to occur; the horror and the long winter that would follow. But while scientists and politicians bickered about how to use the information to stop the Death, the Stone yielded a secret that made even Earth's survival pale into insignificance.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member reading_fox
Billed as the greatest Science Fiction novel of our time, it is perhaps a slight exageration. It certainly hasn't aged well, but for 1985 maybe it was amoung the best.
Eon follows 4 main characters experiences of a world that in 1993 suffered a limited nuclear war, and the arrival of an
It's quite fun with some interesting concepts, particularly the higher dimensions creating the Way, but nothing significantly original. Specifically the advanced humans are still very parochial and despite their implants, bogged down in internal politics. The plot moves along quite well with some introspection and depth from the various characters, something Bear has always been good at. It suffers quite a bit from the Cold War mentality of when it was written, which today seems stilted. He only touches very briefly on morality and spiritual matters which given their influence today seems unusual, although his foresight regarding the influence of Ralph Nader is quite amazing.
Enjoyable, but better when it was written than it is now.
Eon follows 4 main characters experiences of a world that in 1993 suffered a limited nuclear war, and the arrival of an
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extra-terresitrial object in 2004 which triggers the full blown thing. The war was of course against the evil communist stereotypical coldwar closed minded beurocratic russians. And so we follow the american administrator Lanier, and dimensional mathmetician Patrician the free thinking russian general Minsky and the humanoid Omey from the artifact. It turns out that the Stone comes from another future and has travelled into our now. It's past features the Death some millenia ago, but still scarring the inhabitants' pysches but there was no Stone in it's own past, and so there is hope of avoidingthe Death in this one. When that hope becomes void all the inhabitants of the Stone, the Way and the suriviors must deal with the consequences and decide on their futures.It's quite fun with some interesting concepts, particularly the higher dimensions creating the Way, but nothing significantly original. Specifically the advanced humans are still very parochial and despite their implants, bogged down in internal politics. The plot moves along quite well with some introspection and depth from the various characters, something Bear has always been good at. It suffers quite a bit from the Cold War mentality of when it was written, which today seems stilted. He only touches very briefly on morality and spiritual matters which given their influence today seems unusual, although his foresight regarding the influence of Ralph Nader is quite amazing.
Enjoyable, but better when it was written than it is now.
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LibraryThing member santhony
This highly acclaimed science fiction work, written in 1986, suffers somewhat from age, as many of the Cold War political tensions and technological advances are now largely obsolete. In addition, it fits neatly into the genre of science fiction novels that feature huge, self contained,
Boiled down, a huge, man-made object appears in Earth orbit at the height of Cold War tension and pending nuclear annihilation. Technologically superior NATO forces explore and inhabit “The Rock” and the Russkies are none too happy. Issues involving the time/space continuum rear their ugly heads and wide spread chaos ensues, in this and other alternate times and places.
Putting aside the issue of obsolescence (which the author cannot completely control), much of my unhappiness with the novel centered upon what I felt was trite and almost juvenile dialogue. Also troubling are many of the physical and technical explanations and descriptions. Especially in the Rama/Ringworld genre of science fiction, descriptions of the main character (the habitats) are extremely important.
In this respect, I’ve never understood why illustrations are not an automatic component of such a work. While I found the descriptive prose relative to Thistledown tolerable, once investigation of The Way, its portals and ultimately Axis City began, the tortured descriptive language lost me almost completely. As a result, the final 200 pages or so were something of a blur, as inability to understand the physical environment made an understanding of many of the scientific and physics theories virtually impossible. Can’t recommend.
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inter-stellar habitats. While it stacks up nicely with Ringworld, it is inferior in quality to Rendezvous With Rama and The Reality Dysfunction, in my opinion.Boiled down, a huge, man-made object appears in Earth orbit at the height of Cold War tension and pending nuclear annihilation. Technologically superior NATO forces explore and inhabit “The Rock” and the Russkies are none too happy. Issues involving the time/space continuum rear their ugly heads and wide spread chaos ensues, in this and other alternate times and places.
Putting aside the issue of obsolescence (which the author cannot completely control), much of my unhappiness with the novel centered upon what I felt was trite and almost juvenile dialogue. Also troubling are many of the physical and technical explanations and descriptions. Especially in the Rama/Ringworld genre of science fiction, descriptions of the main character (the habitats) are extremely important.
In this respect, I’ve never understood why illustrations are not an automatic component of such a work. While I found the descriptive prose relative to Thistledown tolerable, once investigation of The Way, its portals and ultimately Axis City began, the tortured descriptive language lost me almost completely. As a result, the final 200 pages or so were something of a blur, as inability to understand the physical environment made an understanding of many of the scientific and physics theories virtually impossible. Can’t recommend.
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LibraryThing member chrisod
A cold war inspired epic in which humans, exploring a vast asteroid sized ship from the future in orbit around earth, get trapped there when the Russia and the US launch all their nukes at each other and destroy the planet in the process. The book is long, very heavy on techno babble, and often a
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chore to read. I did finish it, but it felt forced at times. Show Less
LibraryThing member xnfec
I find Bears writing to be teeth gratingly awful but with this story he has come up with a tale so compelling that I was able to Anaesthetise my teeth for the duration. The sequel was good too. He wrote another book about the earlier life of the principal character and though the writing was
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better, the story was not Show Less
LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
I started off loving this book, and then grew a bit bored, and then interested again, until the ending which was a slight disappointment. The first third of the story, which really sets the scene for what follows, is the most captivating, as Bear really imagines and discusses what our future might
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look like, even though parts of this future have already happened. Show Less
LibraryThing member Bruce_McNair
A mysterious asteroid starts circling the Earth and Moon. A team of scientists and engineers is sent to investigate. They discover that the asteroid has been hollowed out and contains seven chambers, two of which contain large cities - one more advanced than the other. Then they discover that the
a. the American/NATO team who are exploring the asteroid, which they call The Stone;
b. the Russian military team sent to invade and take over the asteroid, which they call The Potato;
c. the story of the main protagonist, Patricia Luisa Vasquez, a brilliant mathematician who has been hand-picked to help solve the mysteries of the asteroid; and
d. the humans, and their alien allies, from a future over a thousand years in the Earth’s future, who inhabit the mysterious Way that connects with the asteroid, which they call Thistledown.
It is the interplay of all these stories that makes this book so intriguing. The sense of wonder and loss from the present-day Earthlings is counterpointed by the reverence for their ancestors and the intrigue among the factions of the advanced beings.
The concept of the Way is intriguing - a universe in itself that is long and narrow, and which can be connected to other universes. It is like a wormhole that can be inhabited, as long as you bring the basics of earth, air and plant life to fill areas of this corridor like universe.
The book is in two parts. Firstly, a build-up to an event called The Death, a nuclear holocaust that envelops the Earth resulting in billions of deaths and severing of communications. This ends with the inhabitants of the asteroid isolated from the Earth and colonies on the Moon. The second part deals with the events that follow, including attempts by one faction to return to the Earth, by another faction to change the Way, and thirdly by Patricia to return to an Earth where her parents and partner are alive.
"It's longer on the inside than the outside." When I first read this, I thought he's borrowed from Doctor Who and the TARDIS.
One annoying aspect of the (Legend/Arrow 1987) publication I have is that some scenes flow directly into another unrelated scene without a physical separator.
This is my second reading of this book. I read it originally back in the late 1980s when I bought it. I think I enjoyed it more this time.
I enjoyed this book and give it 4 stars out of 5.
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seventh chamber seems to be longer than the asteroid itself, and the mystery deepens. What unfolds is a story with four parts:a. the American/NATO team who are exploring the asteroid, which they call The Stone;
b. the Russian military team sent to invade and take over the asteroid, which they call The Potato;
c. the story of the main protagonist, Patricia Luisa Vasquez, a brilliant mathematician who has been hand-picked to help solve the mysteries of the asteroid; and
d. the humans, and their alien allies, from a future over a thousand years in the Earth’s future, who inhabit the mysterious Way that connects with the asteroid, which they call Thistledown.
It is the interplay of all these stories that makes this book so intriguing. The sense of wonder and loss from the present-day Earthlings is counterpointed by the reverence for their ancestors and the intrigue among the factions of the advanced beings.
The concept of the Way is intriguing - a universe in itself that is long and narrow, and which can be connected to other universes. It is like a wormhole that can be inhabited, as long as you bring the basics of earth, air and plant life to fill areas of this corridor like universe.
The book is in two parts. Firstly, a build-up to an event called The Death, a nuclear holocaust that envelops the Earth resulting in billions of deaths and severing of communications. This ends with the inhabitants of the asteroid isolated from the Earth and colonies on the Moon. The second part deals with the events that follow, including attempts by one faction to return to the Earth, by another faction to change the Way, and thirdly by Patricia to return to an Earth where her parents and partner are alive.
"It's longer on the inside than the outside." When I first read this, I thought he's borrowed from Doctor Who and the TARDIS.
One annoying aspect of the (Legend/Arrow 1987) publication I have is that some scenes flow directly into another unrelated scene without a physical separator.
This is my second reading of this book. I read it originally back in the late 1980s when I bought it. I think I enjoyed it more this time.
I enjoyed this book and give it 4 stars out of 5.
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LibraryThing member PortiaLong
Near future meets far future science fiction. Aliens, multiverse, manipulation of space-time. Moderate doses of politico-cultural SF commentary.
A well-developed "big picture" idea. Motivations and personalities of several main characters could have been a little more fleshed out.
A well-developed "big picture" idea. Motivations and personalities of several main characters could have been a little more fleshed out.
LibraryThing member Gkarlives
Unbelievably good book. The pacing was great and the revelations even better. The horror of watching events just plough on to their apopalytic end still haunts me. The characters were believable and interesting. I am glad I finally decided to read this one after putting it down several times.
LibraryThing member pdxwoman
3 Stars: Read at least once and recommend selectively
Interesting premise and engaging plot. If you like theoretical physics and lots of quasi-technical info, this one's for you. Almost all of that could have been cut and I would have given it 4 stars -- it just bogged the book down.
Interesting premise and engaging plot. If you like theoretical physics and lots of quasi-technical info, this one's for you. Almost all of that could have been cut and I would have given it 4 stars -- it just bogged the book down.
LibraryThing member MrsTalksTooMuch
The first few chapters had a good setup going, I was interested. Then as the book progressed it unraveled a little at a time. I am a hard sci fi fan, but not when the author gets so into explaining the science that you lose the story. The characters seemed pretty vanilla and because I could really
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care less about what happened to them what should of been a roller coaster was more like going through a stamp collecting museum. Show Less
LibraryThing member dbsovereign
Next time, please provide a simplified "cheat sheet" for the folks who never took a course in physics. Complicated and confusingly detailed science fiction with a capital "s." It's hard for me to relate to a book with so many characters and three different story lines...I found the book interesting
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in places, but ultimately flawed. On several occasions I found myself just reading along with almost zero comprehension. Show Less
LibraryThing member RobertDay
What a shame the jacket blurb of the Tor 1986 paperback gave the main surprise of the plot away...
LibraryThing member Reysbro
It starts off very well, even with the near "retro" sci-fi feel to it. The concepts are interesting and surprising, as well as the incorporation of current events (at time of writing) with the story line. The characters are also interesting.
In my opinion, the rhythm change in the book at about
Towards the end, there's a bit too much politics to my taste, but that's my personal opinion alone.
All in all it's not bad and presents an interesting concept through a variety of characters and events.
In my opinion, the rhythm change in the book at about
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halfway is a little forced and then the story takes a different turn that I was not comfortable with.Towards the end, there's a bit too much politics to my taste, but that's my personal opinion alone.
All in all it's not bad and presents an interesting concept through a variety of characters and events.
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LibraryThing member brokenbrain
For some reason this took me forever to read. Though I enjoyed it a great deal. I think the strory takes a very long time to get going and initially the characters seem very two-dimensional and redolent of an 80's made for TV movie.However after a couple of hundred pages this book starts moving
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nicely, and as we expect from Greg Bear or his peers, the themes and scope of the book just get grander and grander.It develops into a very original concept involving alternate histories and futures, manipulation of space time, the future of personality augmentation and storage, not to mention a William Gibson like take on how an advanced civilisation would deal with a sea of digital information, some of which may be regarded as alive.If you like grand and reality warping space opera, in the vein of Iain M Banks or hard Sci-Fi such as Arthur C Clarke, this is an ideal example. Show Less
LibraryThing member _Greg
One of the grandest visions of any science fiction novel written. Perhaps a bit too ambitious. My "sense of wonder" was overwhelmed. The characters did not strongly attract me.
LibraryThing member pajarita
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I've been amazed at the number of readers that have been so underwhelmed by Eon. This astounding book was published in 1984 and did not anticipate the end of the Cold War, only half a decade away. Some say, with self-righteousness nurtured by hindsight,
What is forgotten is that from the Cold War assumptions seen by the average, contemporary, 1984 world citizens--however blind to the evident realities of Russian/Soviet internal decay and near collapse—-the times still presented a very, very real global threat of planetary atomic annihilation. Some folks today, still argue that very similar, very real threats of atomic annihilation, fueled by other multi-polar realities (oil shortages, water shortages, cultural chauvinism, etc.), still exist and never really went away. And, for that reason alone, this book is still very contemporary.
In fact, one can intelligently argue that mankind is still very, very close to destroying itself in a number of frighteningly different ways.
The Cold War itself is immaterial to that threat of self-destruction.
The near collapse of mankind, in the very near future, is the premise of this book by Greg Bear.
This "Hard Science" Fiction, or "New Space Opera" speculates along the lines where mathematics and physics intersect with time and alternate realities. Greg Bear is not the superb master of characters and political speculation in which Ursula Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness excels, nor is he a smooth story teller such as Ray Bradbury. But Greg Bear has followed the more traditional science fiction of Arthur C. Clarke. And on that path he excels.
But in Eon he goes past Arthur C. Clarke. He shows us who this guy, Greg Bear really is.
This book pulls the rug out from under the reader about 25% of the way into the reading; and I will not spoil that reality shift for you.
And then you are taken places you have never been.
I've been amazed at the number of readers that have been so underwhelmed by Eon. This astounding book was published in 1984 and did not anticipate the end of the Cold War, only half a decade away. Some say, with self-righteousness nurtured by hindsight,
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that this is a major flaw in this book. But most sleepwalking Americans, at the time, had no clue of the Eurasian (and Eastern European) realities of the times. This is not Greg Bear’s fault. It was, and is, the result of the political propaganda, still alive, fed to the public in large doses. What is forgotten is that from the Cold War assumptions seen by the average, contemporary, 1984 world citizens--however blind to the evident realities of Russian/Soviet internal decay and near collapse—-the times still presented a very, very real global threat of planetary atomic annihilation. Some folks today, still argue that very similar, very real threats of atomic annihilation, fueled by other multi-polar realities (oil shortages, water shortages, cultural chauvinism, etc.), still exist and never really went away. And, for that reason alone, this book is still very contemporary.
In fact, one can intelligently argue that mankind is still very, very close to destroying itself in a number of frighteningly different ways.
The Cold War itself is immaterial to that threat of self-destruction.
The near collapse of mankind, in the very near future, is the premise of this book by Greg Bear.
This "Hard Science" Fiction, or "New Space Opera" speculates along the lines where mathematics and physics intersect with time and alternate realities. Greg Bear is not the superb master of characters and political speculation in which Ursula Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness excels, nor is he a smooth story teller such as Ray Bradbury. But Greg Bear has followed the more traditional science fiction of Arthur C. Clarke. And on that path he excels.
But in Eon he goes past Arthur C. Clarke. He shows us who this guy, Greg Bear really is.
This book pulls the rug out from under the reader about 25% of the way into the reading; and I will not spoil that reality shift for you.
And then you are taken places you have never been.
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LibraryThing member Disquiet
Toward the end of the novel Eon, a few erudite humans and a handful of their descendants from some distant time in an alternate universe discuss how complicated is the plan they've pieced together to reconcile the various simultaneous realities and to allow a host of individuals and independent
The good news about Eon is that the average reader won't have that much difficulty soring out what's going on, and the multiple endings are a lot of fun.
Eon takes place almost entirely on a strange asteroid that's lodged itself in Earth's orbit. Is it a spaceship or a natural formation, a government conspiracy or an external threat? Those and various other questions keep the storyline compelling as the author steadily unfolds the plot.
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groups to follow their own destinies. The good news about Eon is that the average reader won't have that much difficulty soring out what's going on, and the multiple endings are a lot of fun.
Eon takes place almost entirely on a strange asteroid that's lodged itself in Earth's orbit. Is it a spaceship or a natural formation, a government conspiracy or an external threat? Those and various other questions keep the storyline compelling as the author steadily unfolds the plot.
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LibraryThing member bianca.sayan
The first half of Eon was an incredibly chilling cold-war sci fi mystery. Its always interesting to read sci fi from this time, because they illustrate so well just how much fear pervaded the cold war era.
But as the sci fi story line took over, I feel like Bear struggled to finish the story. He
I just feel like the ending was also random and unsatisfying, but I still think the book is worth it for the first half.
But as the sci fi story line took over, I feel like Bear struggled to finish the story. He
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ambitiously had tried to describe these deep physics-based concepts integral to the plot, but I felt like they ended up being airy buzzwords. I also wish that the newly-introduced characters and worlds had been explored. I feel like Bear brushed right by them. I just feel like the ending was also random and unsatisfying, but I still think the book is worth it for the first half.
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LibraryThing member terriks
For all this author's propensity to hang on lengthy technical descriptions, his storylines are generally intriguing, and this one is no exception. This has nicely expanded characters, action, and a wondrous setting floating around the universe. As is typical, he has a slow build-up, but once the
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action starts it's a bona fide page turner. I enjoyed it right to the end. Show Less
LibraryThing member jeffjardine
Eon struck me as very much a product of its time. That a brilliant guy like Greg Bear was so willing to follow the company line regarding the Soviets is a testament to the power of propaganda.
It starts out with tense political intrigue set in the near future, then switches to tense political
It starts out with tense political intrigue set in the near future, then switches to tense political
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intrigue set in the distant future. I lost interest as the story progressed. The second half of the book could have been tightened up quite a bit. Show Less
LibraryThing member Shrike58
This was an interesting exercise as I had not read this novel since it first came out so it is very much a question of whether you can go home again; there was a time when what I generally most wanted was a new novel from Bear, Greg Benford or David Brin. So, how has this book withstood the test of
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time? On the whole, not too badly. The continuation of the Soviet-American rivalry is handled fairly well, Bear having bet on the political demise of Gorbachev, and things still blow up well in the end. What works less well for me is that the political conflicts of the post-apocalyptic human societies didn't feel particularly convincing and I'm pretty sure that I didn't find them that convincing back in the day, but I was more willing to give Bear the benefit of the doubt at that point. The main problem, of course, is that the standards for this kind of SF have gone up so I'm going to knock down my rating from 2006 just a notch. Show Less
LibraryThing member aarondesk
Overall the book as good, but not great. Potential spoilers below.
= The Good =
The ideas of the book are cool. The author provides some hard sci-fi ideas, and unravels an interesting plot about alternative dimensions, and how various folks cope with this.
= The Bad =
- "Just Because". There were
"I think we should do XYZ". "We can't". "Why not?". "Just because". "Ok, sounds good to me".
- The CAD mind. A bunch of this book seemed like the author created a technical CAD drawing, then proceeded to describe that drawing to the reader, assuming they would understand what is going on. I didn't understand a bunch of what the author was trying to describe, but luckily this didn't get too much in the way of reading the book.
- Bad characterization. A few lead characters seemed like 2D caricatures, rather than real people. This was disappointing. At one point I felt the author was trying to write a bad romance novel.
- Just ok ending. There wasn't really any conclusion in the book, just a description of various events. Clearly this book was set up to start a new trilogy.
= The Good =
The ideas of the book are cool. The author provides some hard sci-fi ideas, and unravels an interesting plot about alternative dimensions, and how various folks cope with this.
= The Bad =
- "Just Because". There were
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several points in the book where things happened 'just because', or the explanations/rationale were pretty weak. It seemed the author just made choices in order to advance the plot in a certain direction the author wanted it to go. "I think we should do XYZ". "We can't". "Why not?". "Just because". "Ok, sounds good to me".
- The CAD mind. A bunch of this book seemed like the author created a technical CAD drawing, then proceeded to describe that drawing to the reader, assuming they would understand what is going on. I didn't understand a bunch of what the author was trying to describe, but luckily this didn't get too much in the way of reading the book.
- Bad characterization. A few lead characters seemed like 2D caricatures, rather than real people. This was disappointing. At one point I felt the author was trying to write a bad romance novel.
- Just ok ending. There wasn't really any conclusion in the book, just a description of various events. Clearly this book was set up to start a new trilogy.
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LibraryThing member isabelx
I started to get a bored when I was nearly 1/3 of the way through, so unfortunately it's a DNF.
LibraryThing member octoberdad
Eon is a pretty good story overall. The first half of it suffers from outdated political motifs such as the threat and eventuality of mutually assured nuclear destruction between the U.S., Russia and China, resulting in a nuclear winter called "the Death." Some of the sections that dwell on these
The story hits its stride when it sticks to the science fiction and leaves the political intrigue behind. The incredibly cool technology of the chambers within the Stone and the synthetic universe of the Way are what kept me coming back to the story. It seems like these sections were fewer and shorter than the others, but it may just be that I read through them faster.
Of course, if there is a moral to the story, it's wariness. One finds out that all of the new technology is, just like the nuclear warheads that caused the Death, nothing more than a political tool to be manipulated by the descendants of humanity. It's not necessarily an overt message, but it's not a hidden one either -- I give Greg Bear credit at least for not making more or less out of it than it should be.
And I'm still laughing about the concept of Naderites.
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obsolete political posturings are humorous, but many are merely tiresome.The story hits its stride when it sticks to the science fiction and leaves the political intrigue behind. The incredibly cool technology of the chambers within the Stone and the synthetic universe of the Way are what kept me coming back to the story. It seems like these sections were fewer and shorter than the others, but it may just be that I read through them faster.
Of course, if there is a moral to the story, it's wariness. One finds out that all of the new technology is, just like the nuclear warheads that caused the Death, nothing more than a political tool to be manipulated by the descendants of humanity. It's not necessarily an overt message, but it's not a hidden one either -- I give Greg Bear credit at least for not making more or less out of it than it should be.
And I'm still laughing about the concept of Naderites.
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LibraryThing member cmoore
5/5. I consider this and Eon to be one book, and the best work of Bear's career. There's just something about an line leading to multiple universes of no size but infinite length that grabs me.
Subjects
Awards
Arthur C. Clarke Award (Shortlist — 1987)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1985-08
Physical description
504 p.; 8.2 inches
ISBN
0312941447 / 9780312941444
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