Engineman

by Eric Brown

Once the Enginemen pushed bigships through the cobalt glory of the nada-continuum. But faster than light isn’t fast enough anymore. The interfaces of the Keilor-Vincicoff Organisation bring planets light years distant a simple step away. Then a man with half a face offers ex-Engineman Ralph Mirren the chance to escape his ruined life and push a ship to an undisclosed destination. The nada-continuum holds the key to Ralph’s future. What he cannot anticipate is its universal importance – nor the mystery awaiting him on the distant colony world.
Engineman is a thrilling action adventure by the author of Helix and Kéthani. Also in this volume are eight stories set in the Engineman universe, including the Interzone award-winning ‘The Time-Lapsed Man.’

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

640 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Eric Brown was a British science fiction author and Guardian critic.

Reviews

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read a book by Eric Brown that I haven't enjoyed and this was another example. It seemed to start off a little slowly initially, but ramped up sufficiently to a nice pace that wasn't overly fast, either, but comfortable. The ending came on a little too fast, though, and I seem to remember feeling like this about Penumbra, another of Brown's books. The story was also slightly light on action, for me. Still good, but a bit more would've earned it another point.

The guts of the story is really good, although I never really felt that I 'got' the concept of the Engineman's mind pushing the ships through the void of the Nada-continuum. However, it all fitted together well and came together nicely at the end. I liked how the worn-out Enginemen that we first meet finish the story having reached fulfilment and happiness. Nice.

I did like all of the characters, and reckon that this is one of Brown's strengths - believable characters. The human side to the story (as well as the alien side) was warm and touching without being too much, and I'm a reader that can be turned off by an excess of that sort of thing.

Overall a good book.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric Brown (1960-2023) was a critic for The Guardian and a frequent contributor to the British science fiction magazine Interzone. He published his first novel in 1992 and his last, The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Martian Menace, in 2020. His second novel, Engineman (1994), finally got an e-book edition with a few related short stories in 2010.

Engineman is a big-idea far-future adventure. Protagonist Ralph Mirren is an Engineman starship pilot put out of work by the development of instantaneous star travel through jump gates. The cyber-enhanced engineman is addicted to the mystical experience of the flux created by FTL travel through the nada-continuum. Mirren cannot resist an offer by an eccentric billionaire to refurbish an abandoned starship and give him another chance to fly. The trip will have cosmic consequences.

The novel is a bit slow in places, but it has some of the same appeal as works by Cordwainer Smith and Roger Zelazny. 3.5.

[James Geary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engineman created a very interesting universe, which I found very intriguing. The idea that there's a real afterlife which is also the medium by which FTL travel happens is interesting. The characters and the narrative definitely pulled me along. My only criticism is that the chapters for such a short novel felt overlong, and I was constantly having to finish in the middle of them.

[Pavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some scenes were entirely unexpected and some felt like an age old cliche. Overall, pretty decent.

[Joey Lusk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contains one of my favorite paragraphs in all of science fiction.

[Brent L · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent sci-fi story about a universe in which humankind has discovered two ways to travel through space. The first way involves starships ‘pushed’ by specially trained humans who enter into a state of communion with the ‘nada-continuum’ and mentally propel the ships. The other way involves interfaces that can instantly transfer people and things across any distance. The interfaces are a newer technology and have resulted in the closure of the shipping lines, to the immense sadness of the Enginemen. The act of pushing the ships is a more intense high than any drug and is a powerful force in the lives of all Enginemen.

The story follows several Enginemen, primarily Ralph and Bobby Mirren, and a woman named Ella who wants to find her father. As their stories become intertwined, it is revealed that far more is at stake than any of them originally realized. The villains of the book are the powerful ‘Danzig Organization’ who are gradually taking over free worlds all over the outer sectors. They are a transparent stand-in for Nazis, even having a persecuted minority (The alien Lho-Dharvon race) who clearly represent the Jews.

Engineman was a pretty solid sci-fi thriller, but nothing special.

[Steve Gillway · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the characterisations and the basic concepts, my only criticism is that is ending is oversimplistic. The characters are well drawn and Brown gives you the backstory at just the right time for the reader to enjoy the ebb and flow of the story. The basic concept the book is based on is an imagined furure where spaceships lose out to a new form of transport, just as trains were superseded by planes and cars. This has incredible effects on the engineman with the loss of status and the adrenalin rush (But it is much stronger than this) of their job. The ending has implications for us now, concerning global warming. In the book, once the world's leaders can experience for themselves some approaching apocalypse they agree to fundamental changes to their society. I believe that it is not so simple. Our leaders could be taken en masse to experience global warming at first hand, yet because of many selfish and shortsighted reasons I think they would refuse to implement anything more than cosmetic changes.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Buddhist terrorists save nirvana from entropy while longing for death.

A squalid bunch of pleasure seeking addicts meander about, led by an evil genius to change society. This is a fairly naked tract, overlaid with story elements, though goodness me these Buddhists don't seem like very nice people. The plot is rather laboured and unconvincing, the writing is just about ok, but the glory of space flight is never sold to the reader very well. Cynical Grainger in Brian Stableford's Hooded Swan novels does a much better job of living the dream of jacked in space flight.

The main novella is followed up with a number of short stories in the same universe, generally better than the main story. The morality is generally um interestingly different from today's consensus on coercive personal relationships, which probably saves the book from being dull to be honest. You find yourself wondering how brave/mad the author is. If this makes the book sound worth picking up, really don't bother.

[Liviu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, 2 1/2 stars so a D+/C- for the engaging style that kept me reading the novel, though I lost patience with the stories that follow and are set in its milieu; the book shows its age and even 15+ years ago it would have been a mediocre mid-list sf, today it is dated to boot.

Talk, talk and talk in one thread; the other starts intriguing and then it goes in "Red Hood and the Wolf" mode with girl lost among bad guys - just like that and losing all suspension of disbelief.

Penumbra which deals with similar themes is way better, while for modern Eric Brown Helix is another good choice

I could harp on all the stuff that made roll my eyes from the novel, but i see little point - just poor execution

[Lee Pfahler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have now read several of Eric Brown's science fiction novels and at least three of them this year alone and there is not a bad one among them. He tells wonderful stories of redemption and adventure with strong characterization and plot. And the bonus to my copy is several short stories written in the Engineman universe which introduce some different characters and tells more of the backstory to one of the semi-major characters in the novel. I may just get one more of his books read this year; he's rather addictive!

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was weird but I started reading the novel and thought I've already read this (probably started it a while back and forgot I didn't get very far). So I ended up reading the short stories and they really engaged me. Went back and read the novel and really liked it. Ok, its clichéd at times and most of the ideas seem as if they are lifted from other books, however I sped through it and enjoyed it probably to the same degree as a good popcorn flick at the movies. Don't expect to engage your brain though.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The core problem with this book for me was that none of the characters were at all interesting to me. They were all standard cyberpunk characters, none of whom I found at all compelling. Add to that a core plot lifted prety much directly from Dan Simmons's Hyperion/Endymion series, and it was quite disapointing.

Not recommended.

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although it read well, the plot was underwhelming. I kept waiting for a twist to make it interesting, but it never arrived. The extreme changes of heart of at least two major characters were never really justified, the overarching enemy never appeared, and one character returned from the dead just to do some exposition and then was dropped completely.

[Cerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up in work, must have been in the mid-nineties, and it sat unread on my bookshelves, until last month.

It's a pretty good read, and I was struck at the start by the similar theme to Cordwainer Smith's 'Scanners Live in Vain' - people who'd once been essential to space travel but were now effectively made obsolete by technological changes.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel that makes up the first two-thirds of this book is thoroughly enjoyable...the nine short stories also good, but they become a bit repetitive towards the end. Interesting universe, thoughtfully created characters. I will look for more from Eric Brown!

[DMS · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://dms.booklikes.com/post/382211/...

[Joseph Anonymous · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book, but it felt... unfinished.

[Alan Vardy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read, but hardly memorable. A simple sci - fi story with a strong Buddhist bent to it. I wouldn't recommend.

[Allan Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took a while to get into and still this book never really gripped like I had hoped...