The Crucible of Time: Amazon.co.uk: John Brunner: 9780345302359: Books

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Amazon.com: 3.7 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Favorable Exudations, 1 Nov 2007

By David F. Mcginnis - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Crucible of Time (Mass Market Paperback)

I had finished reading Dangerous Visions : The 35th Anniversary Edition and Year's Best SF 5 -- lots of short stories. I wanted a novel, which would last a while, where I could get more into the characters and the situations. So I chose the Brunner.

This is more a series of novellas. Each chapter ("Part" in the contents) covers a period in the planet's history. Each is very close to 60 pages long, about 20,000 words. This ticked me off a little, at first. I wanted a novel, not six linked novellas. Then after about the third chapter I realized Brunner had only three or four characters which appeared and reappeared in each, with a new name. So I felt better.

There is always a main protagonist who is young; there are two groups of investigators -- seamen, astronomers, rocketry scientists -- all adults but at odds over a procedure or technique or idea. Through the efforts of the young person, the situation is resolved and the race makes progress.

In this way we learn of the cosmic danger faced by their world, of their ice age, of their discovery of radio-activity, of their space program. After a short while, the world becomes the main character and its fate provides the tension.

Walter Alvarez T. Rex and the Crater of Doom developed the asteroid theory in 1980. Brunner wrote "Crucible..." in 1982 and uses it to drive the plot. In 1977 when I became an accredited meteorologist, temperatures were cooling and we wondered if another ice age were on the way. Brunner must have absorbed this idea, too.

In this way the book is an interesting look at the question "What if?" or "If this goes on..."

The writing is very good; uses an inventive vocabulary. The characters are sympathetic and their situations are interesting. One has to extrapolate a bit to bring to human application -- they are aliens -- and this might have diminished the book's popularity. Nontheless it is a good read and I recommend it. It has held up. Oh, you should also find a copy of Dangerous Visions, too. Lots of good stuff in there.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very Lacking in Description, 18 Sep 2009

By Judah - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Crucible of Time (Mass Market Paperback)

Crucible of Time is a series of six novella length stories, each set in a different historical time period with new characters, involving an alien society as their technology advances against looming extinction. Their planet is in a debris heavy region of space, and massive climate changes and meteor impacts keep happening in the stories. This much is exciting.

What made me dislike the novel is the lack of descriptions. Brunner never describes his aliens. We know they have a mantle, reproduce by budding, use pheromones for emotional communication, and have claws. They also are described as a 'symbiosis.' Without enough food they literally lose their minds as their bodies react into a more primitive state. Are they lobsters, insects, carnivorous plants, or oversized amoebas? I still don't know after reading the book. (And don't even get me started on the other mystery native creatures -- carnifangs, briqs, braqs, porps, junqs, etc..)

Half of the chapters were good despite not knowing what 'people' looked like, and the others were boring. Apparently office politics is commonplace in alien societies. If you like alternate history, imagined psychology, and don't mind making your own mental pictures of weird aliens, you'll like the book. If you are expecting a solid science fiction story involving any other science but biology, you won't like it. Technology levels in this book are very primitive. The novel is more about alien culture than anything else (and hard to get into without good physical descriptions).

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing and Wonderful Story, 24 Feb 2008

By Mark Ian Kendrick - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Crucible of Time (Mass Market Paperback)

This is easily one of my favorite scifi novels of all time. The vast time period that this story spans and the wonderful love of discovery that takes place by the loveable creatures on this planet is awe inspiring.

I loved the descriptions of the creatures, their wonderlust, the amazing descriptions of the different time periods, the excellent descriptions of the cultures, the seafaring people, the ones who lived on the land, etc.

The amount of background work that Mr. Brunner had to do to flesh out these creatures, the cultures, etc in this story is nothing less than stunning. What a great thing to do to make the story sound so believeable - albeit with creatures that are vastly different than us.

I really can't say enough about the marvelous feelings this story invoked in me about the danger of religion, the importance of spreading knowledge, and the delight I felt about the long periods of time between the major sections of the story as their civilization progressed.

Thank you, Mr Brunner for this story. Altho it was written 25 years ago and I missed it for that entire quarter century, at least I finally found his awesome tale! My only regret is that Mr. Brunner passed on over a decade ago and I can't contact him to tell him directly.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 7 reviews 3.7 out of 5 stars

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