Kawashita had passed up the chance to die honourably, to go down with the mortally wounded carrier HIRYU. And when the alien spacecraft plucked him from the sea near Midway, he was sure he'd made the wrong choice: now he would certainly die, but it would be alone and without honour. But the aliens did not kill him. Instead, they gave him a world of his own, a world in which he was supreme master, able to recreate and alter history, to indulge any fantasy. Then suddenly, he was once again amongst humans - for whom World War II was a half-forgotten memory, four centuries past . . .
Beyond Heaven's River
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Amazon Review
Bear works best on a large canvas, and the short story is not his ideal medium--he can carve monumental figures out of mountainsides but is less skilful whittling cherrystones. Nonetheless, there's much here that is interesting to the fan and non-fan alike. For example, this volume includes the original short story out of which Bear's classic, imaginative and deeply spooky novel Blood Music was developed; if the story isn't as powerful as the novel that's only what we'd expect. Certainly as a story it works well, and won both Hugo and Nebula awards. The title story of the collection is another double-winner, and is hauntingly suggestive: it combines a version of Alan Turing with a neat little story about extra-dimensional physics that works efficiently as a tutor in topographical mathematics. Other stories manage varying degrees of control; Sleepside Story, a kind of urban fairy tale, leaves the reader thinking that Bear is better suited to Hard SF after all. Similarly The Dead Run--which was turned into a Twilight Zone episode--is fair enough in a sub-Stephen King sort of way, with its premise of blacklisted truckers driving condemned souls down to Hell in their rigs (and its arresting first sentence: "There aren't many hitchhikers on the road to Hell"). But too few of the stories here trade in the grandeur and wonder of Bear's best, big-scale work. --Adam Roberts
Book Description
A classic alternate history SF adventure
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
The premise/promise of this story is typical of Bear in that you get completely wrapped up in this new universe across which the human race roams. The two key characters are real enough and both face serious challenges on a personal basis, and along the way you see a future with nicely painted in technologies and alien artifacts (in fact two of the characters live in a giant alien spaceship picked up at an apparent bargain). The story line passes from WWII to well into the 26th century while remaining true to the reader.
I picked up this book after enjoying Darwin's Radio which is a great read - that novel is complete in that it allows Greg Bear to really complete his story. Unfortunately Beyond Heaven's River is a much shorter story and leaves me with the feeling that "it had to be wound up" for want of a solid ending.
I picked up this book after enjoying Darwin's Radio which is a great read - that novel is complete in that it allows Greg Bear to really complete his story. Unfortunately Beyond Heaven's River is a much shorter story and leaves me with the feeling that "it had to be wound up" for want of a solid ending.
After all that I should say that it is still a good read, just not Bear's best.
By Halo Reader
Format:Paperback
This is not his best work by a long way. It starts slowly, fizzles out in the middle and the end is more or less non-existent.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2.8 out of 5 stars
6 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sublime and Inventive to boot.
12 Jan 2000
By Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback
"Beyond Heaven's River" is a well-plotted novel, something that seems to be increasingly rare in the world of Science Fiction. Maybe it is because it is a sparsely printed, 250 page novel, instead of some 600 page, mini-script, sloppy "epic". For that reason alone it is weel worth reading; there can be good, short SF novels. Beyond that, Bear has constructed a wonderfully sublime, if a bit overly vague, universe, inhabited by unseen aliens and filled with motivated, imperial human beings. Within this context, a Japanese soldier, from the early 20th Century is an interesting point of view to follow through the bizarre, soul-searching, (dare I say?) epic.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
annoying production issues
2 Nov 2003
By David desJardins
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
There's something wrong with the text of this edition of the book. I think they dropped some lines in the production process. There are many places where one character speaks twice in a row, and the second is a response to some question or statement by another character, which was dropped. I also found a couple of sentences that just end in mid-sentence. It doesn't make the story too hard to follow, but it's definitely annoying. Not recommended (and I'm going to be very hesitant about buying other books published by "ibooks").
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond Heaven's River not quite...
18 Oct 2000
By "cp21yos"
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Firstly this book is not out of print - my edition is a 2000 edition by Millenium (a Gollancz brand) and is available on amazon.co.uk.
The premise/promise of this story is typical of Bear in that you get completely wrapped up in this new universe across which the human race roams. The two key characters are real enough and both face serious challenges on a personal basis, and along the way you see a future with nicely painted in technologies and alien artifacts (in fact two of the characters live in a giant alien spaceship picked up at an apparent bargain). The story line passes from WWII to well into the 26th century while remaining true to the reader.
I picked up this book after enjoying Darwin's Radio which is a great read - that novel is complete in that it allows Greg Bear to really complete his story. Unfortunately Beyond Heaven's River is a much shorter story and leaves me with the feeling that "it had to be wound up" for want of a solid ending.
The premise/promise of this story is typical of Bear in that you get completely wrapped up in this new universe across which the human race roams. The two key characters are real enough and both face serious challenges on a personal basis, and along the way you see a future with nicely painted in technologies and alien artifacts (in fact two of the characters live in a giant alien spaceship picked up at an apparent bargain). The story line passes from WWII to well into the 26th century while remaining true to the reader.
I picked up this book after enjoying Darwin's Radio which is a great read - that novel is complete in that it allows Greg Bear to really complete his story. Unfortunately Beyond Heaven's River is a much shorter story and leaves me with the feeling that "it had to be wound up" for want of a solid ending.
After all that I should say that it is still a good read, just not Bear's best.
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2.8 out of 5 stars
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