Bowl of heaven

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Gregory Benford: Bowl of heaven (2012, Forge)

English language

Published Sept. 5, 2012 by Forge.

ISBN:
978-0-7653-2841-0
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3 stars (10 reviews)

1 edition

Review of 'Bowl of heaven' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

This was so awful that I had to stop.

Two star ships meet in interstellar space. They are both travelling to the same star system. The geometry of lines guarantees that they must have started from the same star system, too, but no one in the book remembers geometry.

The aliens intercepted the laser message the earthlings sent home to earth, but they couldn't figure out how to send a message to the earthling star ship.

Niven and Benford didn't used to be this bad, did they?

Review of 'Bowl of heaven' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

Shoddily edited, with cut and paste seams gaping wide.

I gave up when one group, who had access to lasers and "phones" and even spacesuits were faced with a problem that any wrist watch could solve, and somehow didn't have that technology.

As far as the Big Dumb Object goes, must we rehash Ringworld forever? (Smoke Ring is IMHO more interesting and plausible than either if you're into that sort of thing.)

Review of 'Bowl of heaven' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

In the midst of their voyage, a troubled colony ship encounters a strange object, a bowl shaped structure half-enclosing a star, with a surface area many times that of the Earth. The ship’s crew decides to investigate, both out of curiosity & in hope of restocking their dwindling supplies. Of course the landing party encounters problems, with half being captured while the other half are hunted across the Bowl.

Early in their adventures, a group encounters a large animal emerging from water. Amazed, they realize they are viewing a dinosaur. In a nutshell, that’s my reaction to Bowl of Heaven. For better or worse, it reads much the same as a hard SF novel from 30 or 40 years ago.

The strength of the book is the artifact itself. An immense, self-propelled shipstar (yes, that is the phrase that is used) created from repurposing the mass of a solar system. …

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