- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Gollancz (10 Nov 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0575101776
- ISBN-13: 978-0575101777
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.6 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 442,523 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Ghost From The Grand Banks (GOLLANCZ S.F.)
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Product Description
New York Times
'Arthur C. Clarke is awesomely informed about physics and astronomy, and blessed with one of the most astounding imaginations ever...'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION
'For many readers Arthur C. Clarke is the very personification of science fiction'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
See what happens when Arthur Clarke, the master of space-based SF, turns his storytelling prowess to his other great passion - the oceans. Perhaps not a classic in the mould of 2001 or Rendezvous with Rama, but a good read nonetheless, very inventive and fast-moving, with two different teams battling to raise the Titanic... A slight criticism is that Clarke has incorporated many of his favourite concepts and hobby-horses into this novel, but unfortunately they don't quite fit together properly, in the manner of a slightly ill-fitting jigsaw. Still, Clarke fans will find it entertaining and worthwhile I think.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Ghost from The Grand Banks is one of the last of Clarke's books to be published before he began prostituting his name with a stream of substandard "co-authorship" efforts. For long-standing Clarke fans, it's the last of the good stuff -- but not by any means the best of the good stuff.
For good or bad, Ghost epitomises Clarke's classic style: creaky, one-dimensional and distinctly old-fashioned protagonists wander through an idealised world of scientific and technological marvels, only occasionally troubled by brief and frankly somewhat embarrassing flurries of characterisation and motivation.
Many of the character tropes are over-familiar to the fan: a world-weary engineer/adventurer, the partners in a cold marriage, Oxbridgesque Johnny Foreigners and a gentlemanly toff. Many of the characters are interchangeable and disposable, even more than is usual in a Clarke novel: at times it feels like none of them at all serve any function other than to provide wryly-delivered exposition.
This much will not be too depressing to long-standing Clarkeniks; we've long since inured ourselves to this state of affairs. What is more irritating is that this time round, the scientific marvels tend to be a let-down. Ghost has not dated well, perhaps because it is set much closer to the present day (2012, the centennial of the Titanic's sinking) than many of Clarke's other Great Engineering novels -- and its time is ten years closer now than when the book was written. Some of Clarke's predictions and factoids have already come true, and are thus boring; the others either turned out to be wrong or are no longer interesting. At the time, perhaps it was reasonable to think that a lengthy and plot-irrelevant diversion through the Mandelbrot set would hold readers' attention. Today, it isn't.
One also has to question if the engineering-heavy style is really the best way to proceed with this story. The appeal of the Titanic story as the inspiration for fiction is surely a human one. Judging by his other work, Clarke would be hard-pressed make it sing even when on form; and here, he isn't. More than anything else, the book suffers from a lack of integration: it's a catch-all collection of nifty ideas that might have been better separated out into novellas (if only Clarke, he of the 850-word "novel outline", were to do those any more) and given some narrative drive.
To sum up, this is a poor excuse for a novel. It's a thinly-fictionalised description of some schemes for raising the Titanic, bundled with some more-or-less disposable extra stuff that was moderately nifty ten years ago. Clarke nuts (like this reviewer) will find it a moderately diverting quick read: three stars. Others might find The Fountains of Paradise or Imperial Earth more worthwhile: one star. So on average, two stars.
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a Classic Arthur C Clarke work. its complicated , going into great detail & depth yet in some ways its movingly simple. As always he never looses the human element in the grander scheme of things.
Its hard to explian the plot really, but if you enjoy Clarke I think you'll love this, so much shorter than epics like Garden of Rama but better for it.
Not 5 star as you have to be into Clarke to 'get'it but a 'Must read' for fans.
Its hard to explian the plot really, but if you enjoy Clarke I think you'll love this, so much shorter than epics like Garden of Rama but better for it.
Not 5 star as you have to be into Clarke to 'get'it but a 'Must read' for fans.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Refreshing use of characters reaching a remarkable and profound...
The problem with much science fiction is the dryness of the writing style. This is true also of Arthur C. Clarke's other works (Yes, even '2001'). Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. Edmund A. Bloxam
Confusing techno-babble
This is one of the few Clarke books I have ventured to read and there is nothing to suggest that I will be repeating the process. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2002 by J. T. Brennan
A Decent Novel about the Titanic?
"The Ghost From the Sandbanks" is Clarke's take on the raising of the Titanic. It is an excelent book. Read more
Published on 26 Oct 2001 by John David Charles Hilton
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