Stonebender reviewed The Terrans of Beta by Philip Wylie
Review of 'The Terrans of Beta' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
The third book in a trilogy begun with When Worlds Collide does not live up to the previous two books. They were written by Philip Wiley and Edwin Bulmer. The third one is written by another author by the name of R. L. Helms. This book is much longer than the previous two books combined. Unfortunately, the length of the book wasn’t an improvement, nor was the new author.
The reason I was fascinated with the first book was it explored how the world might respond to a world ending event. Most of the first book worked, as much as it did, because it was about that catastrophe. The second book was less successful, to me, because it wasn't really about what happens after, despite the title After, Worlds Collide. I really wanted to read about the survivors on a planet with no insect or animal life but plenty …
The third book in a trilogy begun with When Worlds Collide does not live up to the previous two books. They were written by Philip Wiley and Edwin Bulmer. The third one is written by another author by the name of R. L. Helms. This book is much longer than the previous two books combined. Unfortunately, the length of the book wasn’t an improvement, nor was the new author.
The reason I was fascinated with the first book was it explored how the world might respond to a world ending event. Most of the first book worked, as much as it did, because it was about that catastrophe. The second book was less successful, to me, because it wasn't really about what happens after, despite the title After, Worlds Collide. I really wanted to read about the survivors on a planet with no insect or animal life but plenty of flora. I mean how do you rebuild (or actually just build) any kind of eco-system when you need to bring everything with you in one trip? Its not like you can just bring all the animals two by two. Unfortunately the authors decided to focus on an indigenous intelligent species that had apparently died out, but left fully functioning cities. The book was fine but not what I really wanted.
I had hoped that the third book might touch on some of the subjects I wanted to read about, but now the new author focused on the natives. Almost nothing really happens with the original characters until a third of the book is over. The author's attempt at dramatic tension is constantly having either the humans or the natives needing to explain something to the other group. All of these fairly long monologues seem to start out with, “I don’t have time to tell you everything, but I must explain a few things now and I will go into more detail later.” Then we are left to read through the first explanation and wait till the next chapter to read through a more detailed version of what we just read.
I really hate not finishing books. I especially don’t like not finishing books that I will be writing a review of, but here I am. I could not finish this book I could not get past the first half. I thought the story was pointless. I thought the problems presented were convenient and not connected to any real theme or realistic portrayals. I really wouldn’t bother reading this book.