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The Forge Of God [Paperback]

Greg Bear
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
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Book Description

11 Nov 2010
The disappearance of one of Jupiter's moons, the appearance of "little green men" in Australia and the American Southwest, and the sudden presence of unidentifiable objects on a collision course inside the Earth's core add up to the inescapable conclusion that the Earth has been invaded by an enemy it cannot fight. Powerfully and gracefully written, the latest novel by the author of Eon and Blood Music stands far above most examples of "doomsday" science fiction

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Product details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz (11 Nov 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0575096837
  • ISBN-13: 978-0575096837
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.1 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 93,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

engaging, gripping and scarily readable ... a great read. (SFFworld.com )

Book Description

A stunning novel of alien invasion from a master of the genre.

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First Sentence
Arthur Gordon stood in the darkness by the bank of the Rogue River, having walked a dozen yards away from his house and family and guests, momentarily weary of company. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Earth-shattering! 4 Aug 2000
By M&RLove
Format:Paperback
I stumbled across Greg Bear and this book about 3 years ago. It really blew me away! I have re-read the book a couple of times and the emotion of the finale still bites too deep for comfort. Who says hard sci-fi cannot be for the heart as well as the head... The reworkings and discarding of familiar sci-fi themes is very clever and makes you continually have to reevaluate the book as you read on. If you have not already read this book, BUY IT! Then go out and buy EON. The only guy giving Bear a run for his money is Peter Hamilton (Reality Dysfunction, et al). It does not get better than this.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Makes you think...... 16 Jan 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I must confess, after reading the blurb attached to Mr. Bear's book I assumed that it was some sort of comedy. A moon vanishes and then aliens arrive baring bad news ?? "Must be a humourous read" I thought.....

Boy was I wrong !! Greg Bear describes in detail just what happens when two different species of alien arrive, both at the same time, both of whom are being economical with the truth as to their reasons for visiting. With characters you care about and want to see succeed in their survival, Mr. Bear's story takes us on a bleak and certainly "terminal" road to earth's destruction at the hands of aliens who, whilst not necessarily evil, are determined to finish their task !!

The book is only 325 pages long, however, it feels a lot longer. This no way inhibits the story but I do feel that a lack of direction plagues the middle part of the novel, also, there are some characters who just disappear when I wanted to know more about them. In addition, one does need a certain amount of patience when reading all the technical jargon (some of which went over my head), but again, this does not ruin the book, I picked up the gist of what was going on easily and quickly.

I will certainly read more of Greg Bear's work
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Apocalyptic... 24 Dec 2010
By M. Yon
Format:Paperback
Here's a welcome re-release, originally from 1987. This was Greg's fourth novel. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1987, and was also nominated for the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1988.

It is basically a combination of alien invasion novel and global catastrophe tale. As with the best of these tales, it starts simply. Set in contemporary times (well, 1996), it tells us of what happens when there are a number of seemingly-relatively minor solar system anomalies. Astronomers suddenly notice that Europa, the moon orbiting Jupiter, disappears. This is perceived with little interest by the non-astronomer general public. Then mountains are discovered in the Mojave Desert in the USA and in Australia, in areas where less than a year before there were no mountains.

What these are in actual fact are two spaceships. In the case of the spacecraft crashing in the Californian Mojave desert, there is a dying alien, in its own words, `a flea', hitchhiking a ride with superior beings. In English, it tells its discoverers that it is very sorry to bring bad news but that the Earth is doomed.

In the case of the Australian ship we have metallic silver floating gourd-shapes telling people that they come in peace for our benefit.

The truth is sadly more sinister. What is happening is that the aliens, attracted by radio signals emitted from Earth, have brought with them two `bullets' of neutronium and anti-neutronium that are eating through the interior of the Earth. Their meeting will be the end of the Earth as we know it. Moreover there is the scary realisation that this is deliberate: it is this that creates the matter used to birth more alien spaceships, a force created by a mechanical alien species who look at humans as if they are a lower lifeform. (Saberhagen's Beserkers are mentioned as a sf-nal reference point.)

There is a further force: an alien spider-like species who seem to be gathering human data in order to store and retrieve for the future. Their means of doing so is chillingly creepy: like Heinlein's Puppet Masters, they `possess' people and make them do their bidding. Despite this being often proposed as a means of securing humanity's future, and their symbiotic relationship being relatively benign, it did read uneasily for me at first.

Against this global backdrop, the characters themselves are fairly simple and prone to those clichés. There is a President who falls back on religious faith after speaking to the alien and sees the approaching Armageddon as an act of God, brought to Earth as a punishment. Consequently he is seen as giving up, and the US military have to find a means of stopping things happening whilst working around one of the most powerful men on the planet. The scientists work against time to solve the puzzles and act for the good of humanity. The government aides try not to panic the public and maintain some degree of civil order and evacuation, whilst things are clearly not retrievable.

This is both a strength and a weakness, as the characters humanise the major events and yet at times the relatively tight focus means that the reader cannot grasp the immensity of what is happening. The tight viewpoint on mainly US events consequently fails to show the wider, broader global consequences. Furthermore on the negative side, the characterisation is not the book's strongest point. They're workable and serviceable, yet almost Clarkean in their simplicity. President Crockerman is rather un-Presidential, and the scientists are Analog-style scientists, doing what they do as best as they can. For me this wasn't particularly a problem, though I can see why it could annoy others.

There's a couple of nice touches along the way. Ex-British writer and reporter Trevor Hicks has an Arthur C Clarke feel to him. There's also a Lawrence Van-Cott, an SF writer turned television expert mentioned (that's Larry Niven to you and me!)

Towards the end of the tale it is grim: but what is clever is the way that this unremittedly bleak tale gathers momentum. Perhaps the scariest thing for me was as time runs out, the masses carry on with life relatively normally: they buy things with money, they travel, they go to school. The enormity of the problem is just too vast for the majority of people to understand. The end is inevitable and yet there are moments of heroism and self-sacrifice. Though the global catastrophe idea is not new, this tale manages to keep many of the clichés at bay (though not all, it must be said!) The ending is still quite emotive.

It has been said (and optioned a number of times) that this would make a great movie. I agree: with a little updating, this would be brilliant.

One surprise to this reread is how far the world has moved on since this book was first published. The use of home computers and UseNet is explained here as something quite radical in 1987, whereas today it is a normal part of everyday life for most of us. Mobile phones are barely mentioned, with the discoverers of the first alien having to drive around to find a public telephone to contact the authorities of their discovery. Similarly the Cold War seems also to still be operative, which means that some of the plot difficulties are caused by that basic inability to communicate between the opposing human factions.

The skill here is that the writing on the whole still works, as long as the reader can see it from the perspective of a 1987 reader, or at least see it as part of an alternate timeline. It is engaging, gripping and scarily readable. I am tempted to say that with a little upgrade this would work just as well in 2010 as it did in 1987.

Despite its dating (nothing dates so fast as the future!) which some may find difficult to adjust to, I still think that this is a great read.

The tale is continued in Anvil of Stars, also recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Bold idea
Bear's 1987 novel "The Forge of God" is the second book by this author I've read after "Hull Zero Three" (2010). Read more
Published 4 months ago by Patrick Borer
1.0 out of 5 stars Not for intelligent sci-fi fans, more of a primer.
Almost all of the reviews on this book have been positive and therefore the book has given those reviewers great pleasure. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Dung
4.0 out of 5 stars Armageddon has never been so entertaining.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!! A real page turner. Lent it to friend, who lent it to a friend, etc, etc. Solid read, good concepts and a good story line. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Stunt Goat
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning yet..
This is one of the author's best pieces of work and ranks along with EON. I found the story initially a little slow but it builds and becomes very engrossing. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Halo Reader
2.0 out of 5 stars Hard Work for Little Return
This is a depressing book. Its simple, and deeply unrewarding plot could be summed up in two sentences. Read more
Published on 19 Mar 2011 by SteveJones
5.0 out of 5 stars sci-fi for grown ups
I really enjoyed this read. Went off customer reviews and have to say that I,m glad I trusted you. I like sci-fi but not, unfortunately , most sci-fi writers. Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2011 by P. Winthrop
2.0 out of 5 stars Creative and imaginative, but poorly executed
There are plot spoilers be warned.

The ideas in this book are Great, however I made the mistake of reading Orson Scott Card's Ender series which blows this out of the... Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2011 by D.Mac
4.0 out of 5 stars Problems With Conversion
Well.
I first got this book as a paperback, so when i saw it available for Kindle i got it.

I'm about 55% through it at the moment but I've found several 'Mistakes'... Read more
Published on 2 Dec 2010 by D. C. L. Ford
5.0 out of 5 stars One word - Epic
The Forge of God by Greg Bear is a fantastic novel. The sheer scale of events will blow you away, the characterization is, most of the time, spot on and the storyline leaves very... Read more
Published on 19 Dec 2009 by N. Durand
4.0 out of 5 stars a very good book
I read this book about ten years ago i've read it again & it was great second time around . I read 'Eon' first which i found a little complicated but i would thoroughly recommend... Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2009 by D. S. Sample
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