Timescape (S.F. Masterworks) (Paperback)

OK, a lot of the sidetracking (dinner parties and long walks ad infinitum) was unnecessary, but it wasn't unentertaining. The science was solid and well-explained, though nothing truly mindblowing.

All in all, the sort of book you'd take home to meet your parents.

A quick synopsis of the story before we proceed:

It's the springtime of 1998 and trouble is afoot. Yes, those damnable scientists have been playing God yet again with their bioengineering tomfoolery, thus conveniently condemning the entire planet to thoroughly depressing ecological oblivion (will these eggheads ever learn?).

Deep within the sleepy halls of Cambridge University, John Renfrew is attempting to send a faster-than-light message, via the use of tachyons, back to 1962, where Californian postgraduate Gordon Bernstein is tinkering around with advanced particle physics.

Renfrew's goal is a simple one: to prevent the ecological catastrophe by telling the people of the past about the plight of the people in their future.

A worthy pursuit to be sure and one that, in my opinion, really shouldn't take much more than two hundred pages to document. Unfortunately for the reader, Mr. Benford is one of these contemporary SF writers who are totally oblivious to the word 'pacing' and the phrase: less is more.

At 400+ pages, this text is far too long; and any genuinely interesting plot developments have the life choked out of them by seemingly endless bouts of mind-numbing characterization.

Not that I have a problem with the creation of three-dimensional protagonists of course, it's just that Benford's attempts appear to go above and beyond the boundaries of overkill, and truth be known, much of it isn't all that good anyway.

To begin with, many of his characters appear to be hopeless stereotypes: Renfrew the typically idiosyncratic, and reserved Englishman; Marjorie his twittering horticulturist wife; Greg Markham the ultra-confident Yank smoothie (no doubt packing some nylons and a couple of Hershey bars); and Peterson, the string-pulling Machiavellian lothario.

The latter deserves special attention for his (preposterous) 007esque ability to take horizontal advantage of any woman who walks within earshot of his predatory charms, irrespective of whether they are happily partnered or not. Wasn't it Nietzche who said that when faced with death, human beings rush to procreate? Well, it seems that the author is in agreement with his assessment.

Quite frankly, Peterson appears to be the compensatory fantasy for every science boffin that ever struggled to get the girl, in fact, the entire book reads as a scientist's compensatory fantasy. Gone are those pesky thick-brained politicians with their deceitful antics and inane 'governments'; no the future (invoking the tropes of 50's pulp SF) will be run by scientific oligarchy, making scientific decisions - messing just about everything up in the most scientific manner possible

Now, my apologies if it appears as if I am totally dissatisfied with this novel because this is not the case. Indeed there are several positives to be gleaned here, and it would be unfair not to give mention to the book's intriguing insight into the unglamorous realities of scientific discovery and university politics. Not to mention Benford's ability to evoke fairly convincing imagery of humanity's whimpering descent into oblivion.

Peterson's departure from the story is particularly haunting, and this is arguably the book's strongest and most memorable chapter.

Unfortunately, the 'juicy bits' just don't arrive fast enough, and for much of the book you are left wondering just how these braniacs can spend so much time painfully missing what would be patently obvious to a carpet-hugging toddler.

Final verdict: an interesting premise heavily diluted by languid tedium.

This is a book to be patient with. It's necessary to accept the characters, not dismiss them as dull and uninteresting. The characters are people like you and me who are facing their challenges in the best way they can, same as you and me. These challenges placed against a cosmic type of fate therefore become significant.

This book gives a deep look at life itself through the depiction and contrast of the working life where the characters in two different time periods are dealing with mind-boggling events on the one level and on the living of their personal lives on another.

This book isn't for an action and adventure fan. It's one which presents concepts that will stretch your mind, and at the same time show how everyday life complexities are part of the picture.

If you allow yourself to become absorbed in this book, you'll find much to think about, both on intellectual and on personal levels.

I did have one fault with the book. It begins in 1998, and I would have liked to see it end in 1998 showing the changes in the primary characters as well as the development of those who we meet in the 60's.