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Съществата буквално се появиха от нищото и се приземиха в големите градове по целия свят: Лос Анджелис, Лондон, Ню Йорк, Пекин. Високи пет метра и неописуемо красиви — или невероятно ужасни, в зависимост от гледната точка — извънземните нашественици се отнесоха към човечеството по най-жестокия начин.
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First published January 1, 1995
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About the author
Robert Silverberg
2,342 books1,600 followersThere are many authors in the database with this name.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
October 14, 2007
What can I say about Silverberg, except that he's the greatest sci-fi writer since Asimov? His use of language, his amazing longevity as a published writer (over 50 years!), and his inventiveness are all legendary. THE ALIEN YEARS is about surviving under alien domination, and spans decades of life in the occupied USA. The characters are diverse: an aging hippie, a cold-blooded Muslim assassin, a prodigal son, and a renegade hacker, all combine to create a fascinating "what if?" scenario that both warms and chills the heart. Good stuff.
May 12, 2025
DNF. This novel is generic to the point of making me question whether Silverberg actually wrote it.
A boring, cliche-ridden alien invasion story.
It seems to be an attempt at contemporary SF but only succeeds in being pedestrian.
A boring, cliche-ridden alien invasion story.
It seems to be an attempt at contemporary SF but only succeeds in being pedestrian.
September 24, 2010
This is my first novel by Silverberg, and it doesn't make me want to grab another book by him.
In this novel, set in the near future, aliens of greatly superior force and inscrutable motives invade and occupy Earth. The story mostly follows one family, the Carmichaels of Southern California, over five decades as they cope and resist. I rather liked that the eldest males in the line were named "Anson"--Heinlein's middle name. Nice homage that.
Early on the Carmichael patriarch, "The Colonel," reflects that the invasion brings to mind Wells' The War of the Worlds and expresses his frustration Wells resorted at the end to a deus ex machina and never really answered the question as to how to overcome an overwhelmingly superior force. Ironic that. Silverberg in this book makes (not) answering that question his theme.
The characters of the Carmichael clan are likable enough and Silverberg's style is readable, but there just wasn't anything here I found imaginative or thought-provoking or caused me to connect with the characters in a way that made me care overmuch. Too many important events happened off the page. The chapters are very episodic in feel with years between the the end of one and the start of another. (I've read several portions of this novel first appeared as short stories, which might explain that.)
Moreover, I found how a lot of the plot developed inexplicable or implausible--in terms of actions of the humans and aliens both. For instance, there's utter anarchy and things are reverting to savagery, the infrastructure has crumbled, there's plague--but apparently still a functioning internet?
The ending, although I could see it fitting a novel that can be seen as the anti-Independence Day, felt like an anti-climatic cheat after such a long sprawl of a book--over 400 pages. Had that resolution come at the end of a short story or novella, I might have seen the ending as satisfying, but at this epic length it's not enough of a payoff for a long novel more slow-moving than a L.A. traffic jam.
In this novel, set in the near future, aliens of greatly superior force and inscrutable motives invade and occupy Earth. The story mostly follows one family, the Carmichaels of Southern California, over five decades as they cope and resist. I rather liked that the eldest males in the line were named "Anson"--Heinlein's middle name. Nice homage that.
Early on the Carmichael patriarch, "The Colonel," reflects that the invasion brings to mind Wells' The War of the Worlds and expresses his frustration Wells resorted at the end to a deus ex machina and never really answered the question as to how to overcome an overwhelmingly superior force. Ironic that. Silverberg in this book makes (not) answering that question his theme.
The characters of the Carmichael clan are likable enough and Silverberg's style is readable, but there just wasn't anything here I found imaginative or thought-provoking or caused me to connect with the characters in a way that made me care overmuch. Too many important events happened off the page. The chapters are very episodic in feel with years between the the end of one and the start of another. (I've read several portions of this novel first appeared as short stories, which might explain that.)
Moreover, I found how a lot of the plot developed inexplicable or implausible--in terms of actions of the humans and aliens both. For instance, there's utter anarchy and things are reverting to savagery, the infrastructure has crumbled, there's plague--but apparently still a functioning internet?
The ending, although I could see it fitting a novel that can be seen as the anti-Independence Day, felt like an anti-climatic cheat after such a long sprawl of a book--over 400 pages. Had that resolution come at the end of a short story or novella, I might have seen the ending as satisfying, but at this epic length it's not enough of a payoff for a long novel more slow-moving than a L.A. traffic jam.
October 19, 2012
One of the best sci-fi novels I have read in some time. Silverberg has always been one of my favorites in this genre and in my opinion, this is one of his best! The novel details an alien invasion over a 50-year period using one family, the Carmichaels, as a focus. The Carmichaels struggle for years through several generations to try to rid the earth of the invaders with no success. Any attempt at killing the invaders results in harsh reprisals including a virus that kills more than half of earth's population. The invaders seem to be invincible and use humans as slave labor. During the invasion, many earthlings collaborate with the invaders and these "quislings" are hated and despised by the rest of humanity. There are several complex characters in the book mostly in the Carmichael family. The patriarch of the family fought in Vietnam and was named Anson, a name passed down through the generations and a nice tribute by Silverberg to Robert Anson Heinlein. Overall, a high recommendation for this one.
February 8, 2015
"They came, They saw, They conquered, We survived." How does a person come to terms with an enslaving force so omnipotent and omniscience that (to use a clique) resistance is futile. Is it madness to have hope? This book tackles that question through the eyes and lives of a number of different people scattered over the globe. As well written as it is (and as engrossing as it is), the book ultimately left this reader unsatisfied with the outcome of the story and the answers posited to the questions.
August 30, 2015
I really liked this one very much. It is a return to more of a pulpy fifties alien 'first contact' story idea, but written in a modern style. It is very character driven and entertaining. It did not try to be over philosophical, or stylistically creative, or overly high-tech. It was just a good old fashion "what if, and how would we cope?" type of story.
A good read from one of the greats in his later years.
A good read from one of the greats in his later years.
November 25, 2020
Alien invasion story as done by one of the science fiction greats--Robert Silverberg. Gigantic spacecraft appear over Los Angeles and other cities. There's no command of "Take me to your leader." The aliens don't attempt to communicate with the inferior species of the blue dot they're taking over. And there doesn't seem to be any way that humanity can stop the invaders.
The story focuses on one family, the Carmichaels, living in their family compound in the hills near Santa Barbara. They are dedicated to keeping a resistance going against an invincible enemy...Well-written and thought-provoking, it is perhaps a little too long at over 400 pages. Published in 1998, it's one of Silverberg's later books and I think some would argue it does not measure up to his best earlier work.
The story focuses on one family, the Carmichaels, living in their family compound in the hills near Santa Barbara. They are dedicated to keeping a resistance going against an invincible enemy...Well-written and thought-provoking, it is perhaps a little too long at over 400 pages. Published in 1998, it's one of Silverberg's later books and I think some would argue it does not measure up to his best earlier work.
January 13, 2019
Very fascinating book about the alien conquest of earth. The book follows one family through generations as it survives and resists the alien occupation.
It is a book that calls out for a sequel about the rebuilding. A book that should be be written.
It is a book that calls out for a sequel about the rebuilding. A book that should be be written.
April 16, 2009
I'm a sucker for alien invasion stories and this is a pretty good one. Silverberg is a master storyteller and he spins an interesting and different take on this sci-fi sub-genre.
January 29, 2021
This is an intergenerational family saga, which reminded me that I ought to find and read other similar books because it's a concept that I seem to enjoy. Unfortunately, I've also been burned by concepts I enjoy many times as well.
Although this is a fix-up novel, which means much of the content of the book is from previously published short fiction, in this case I didn't hold that against it at all. I usually do. I've previously read of one the stories before, The Pardoner's Tale, and it was interesting to see how it differed.
Sometimes it's helpful to have proper expectations before engaging with a work. I believe this is one of those times. A person can start something and expect to know where the story is heading based on what they've previously experienced and stake their projected enjoyment on that only to be disappointed when the work takes a different path.
There's an alien invasion, which is the plot for the entire book, but first and foremost this is a family saga. This isn't a story about joy, victory, or heroism. That by itself may be too off-putting for many. If you require the "why" of anything to be answered, then you'll be severely frustrated. The considerable amount of sex, the long and frequent descriptions of the bodies of various women, and the utter contempt that several of the men hold for women, will be deal breakers for others.
There are many viewpoints and no single character is the protagonist. This was a nice change of pace and I really should read more books that don't have any characters in a dominant narrative role. There are a lot of characters presented, but most of them only have minor roles, so it isn't that important to keep track of them.
The beginning was slow going, the entire first part really, but eventually I couldn't put it down and was completely engrossed. If you don't find yourself interested in the family and others, then it'll probably be a slow read from beginning to end for you.
This book was an unusual case in that most of the time I was reading I was considering how I ought to rate it and what sort of statement that would make. I remain conflicted, but I've rated this in terms of personal enjoyment. Take from that what you will as I'm uninterested in defending the aforementioned potential concerns about the content.
Many readers seem to have strongly disliked the ending for various reasons, which is understandable. The ending is entirely thematically appropriate for the book, but that's the problem in of itself. What the ending says about the book will be abhorrent and/or confusing to many readers.
I've rated this 5/5, but when considering what seems to be its reception, that may be mostly because of my personal biases and interests. This is not intended to be an endorsement for others to read this. As noted above, I've included the preceding disclaimer I believe it can be important to have realistic expectations.
Although this is a fix-up novel, which means much of the content of the book is from previously published short fiction, in this case I didn't hold that against it at all. I usually do. I've previously read of one the stories before, The Pardoner's Tale, and it was interesting to see how it differed.
Sometimes it's helpful to have proper expectations before engaging with a work. I believe this is one of those times. A person can start something and expect to know where the story is heading based on what they've previously experienced and stake their projected enjoyment on that only to be disappointed when the work takes a different path.
There's an alien invasion, which is the plot for the entire book, but first and foremost this is a family saga. This isn't a story about joy, victory, or heroism. That by itself may be too off-putting for many. If you require the "why" of anything to be answered, then you'll be severely frustrated. The considerable amount of sex, the long and frequent descriptions of the bodies of various women, and the utter contempt that several of the men hold for women, will be deal breakers for others.
There are many viewpoints and no single character is the protagonist. This was a nice change of pace and I really should read more books that don't have any characters in a dominant narrative role. There are a lot of characters presented, but most of them only have minor roles, so it isn't that important to keep track of them.
The beginning was slow going, the entire first part really, but eventually I couldn't put it down and was completely engrossed. If you don't find yourself interested in the family and others, then it'll probably be a slow read from beginning to end for you.
This book was an unusual case in that most of the time I was reading I was considering how I ought to rate it and what sort of statement that would make. I remain conflicted, but I've rated this in terms of personal enjoyment. Take from that what you will as I'm uninterested in defending the aforementioned potential concerns about the content.
Many readers seem to have strongly disliked the ending for various reasons, which is understandable. The ending is entirely thematically appropriate for the book, but that's the problem in of itself. What the ending says about the book will be abhorrent and/or confusing to many readers.
I've rated this 5/5, but when considering what seems to be its reception, that may be mostly because of my personal biases and interests. This is not intended to be an endorsement for others to read this. As noted above, I've included the preceding disclaimer I believe it can be important to have realistic expectations.
March 19, 2017
This rating was a tough one, if able I probably would have given it 2 1/2 stars and it probably deserves 3 just based on how well written it is. But the rating given is in a large part based on my subjective enjoyment of the book and it all came down to this nagging unhappiness that kept creeping up on me throughout the book (and good grief it's almost 500 pages long! but I finished it) and the huge letdown I felt at the ending.
Even though most of the book is taken up with this one group/family striving to accomplish something/anything to get rid of the aliens the overall message felt like it was - there's nothing anyone can ever do and when you do actually do something it won't amount to anything. I'm pretty sure that was the exact opposite of what the author was trying to convey based on a few paragraphs at the end, but truly that was the message that held through most of the book and the few paragraphs here and there that faintly gave a different message hardly amounted to a hill of beans against such overwhelming blah. Okay, I get that these few who have striven and passed on the desire to strive for something more will usher in something better moving forward from the end of the book, but hey, it's not like we get to see any of that - I'd much preferred to have actually seen humanity doing better.
Also, I didn't like any of the characters. Of course that might be because we hardly get to know any of them more than superficially and the family/clan just kept growing and growing, so more and more people would be mentioned which got pretty confusing.
So, I'm kinda sorry I wasted my time on this book and I wouldn't recommend reading it...
Even though most of the book is taken up with this one group/family striving to accomplish something/anything to get rid of the aliens the overall message felt like it was - there's nothing anyone can ever do and when you do actually do something it won't amount to anything. I'm pretty sure that was the exact opposite of what the author was trying to convey based on a few paragraphs at the end, but truly that was the message that held through most of the book and the few paragraphs here and there that faintly gave a different message hardly amounted to a hill of beans against such overwhelming blah. Okay, I get that these few who have striven and passed on the desire to strive for something more will usher in something better moving forward from the end of the book, but hey, it's not like we get to see any of that - I'd much preferred to have actually seen humanity doing better.
Also, I didn't like any of the characters. Of course that might be because we hardly get to know any of them more than superficially and the family/clan just kept growing and growing, so more and more people would be mentioned which got pretty confusing.
So, I'm kinda sorry I wasted my time on this book and I wouldn't recommend reading it...
January 28, 2017
I think the Alien Years by Silverberg was an enjoyable book, albeit with a lame ending. We are following the lives and doings of the family Carmichaels in California, USA when the aliens arrive. The book takes a unique take on how aliens may be, act and behave when they conquer the Earth. Because they just have the spaceships and shit they are actually godlike compared to modern mankind. The end was a kind of lame though and the book is not really finished in my view. But the story is very suited for a nerd man as I am, dealing with technical aspects on aliens, human resistance, computer networks and the like. There is a decent amount of different characters, and some lively descriptions of daily aspects, and gruwelsome actions and mistakes, but it is not going too deep. 3.5 stars. Rounded up.
September 20, 2009
This book was Ok. But it bogged down in the middle and I almost gave up on it. I didn't think it had enough detail about post apocalype kinds of things. It basically followed one family's survival and many of the details seemed very unrealistic.
September 23, 2023
Another great book by Silverberg. I loved the narrative of the same family spanning 50 years of living under alien rule. I only gave it three starts because it was more of a relationship story with aliens and invasion sprinkled in. I would like more of the alien background and explaination of their world and background, but I still enjoyed it.
November 10, 2020
I enjoy reading variations of alien invasion books and find that all need a way to be different than their peers in some fundamental way. Silverberg gives us the omnipotent indifferent aliens, here for no apparent purpose known to the humans living under their dominance. And in keeping the characters in the dark we the readers must endure the ignorance as well. Do animals understand us? Do the insects beneath our feet? They must endure and suffer our presence as well. My only issue is that after realizing the fascinating aliens were to remain a mystery, I was left with characters I wasn't that endeared to. PMoscarella/Machinia.ca
February 20, 2020
Pisano je odlicno, lako se cita, ali me radnja nije nesto odusevila.
Dosli i otisli 8-))
Dosli i otisli 8-))
April 12, 2019
Aliens invade Earth and conquer the human race. They can probe human minds to get people to do their bidding. They can shut off the entire planet's electricity at will. When the humans try to retaliate with a satellite attack, the aliens release a plague upon the world that kills half the planet's population.
There are actually three distinct species of aliens- the "master" species are 15-feet tall squid-like creatures, but there are also smaller creatures with glistening skin, and behemoth monsters with dome-like heads. The glistening and behemoth species are mentioned when the aliens first land on earth, but are barely mentioned again. I would have liked to read more about the relationship among the three species and how they interact and what their respective functions were. The book spans fifty years and three generations of a family; the main characters in the beginning have died off by the end, so there are really no "central" characters. To me that is a weakness of the book. Characters in general take a back seat to the plot. Also there are so many family members that they are impossible to keep track of, and many are named after their parent or grandparent, so the reader is thinking "Is this Anson III or IV or V?"
I like the aloofness of the aliens with respect to humans. They make no attempt to learn human language, they just like to probe human minds to control them. That clearly demonstrates how superior to humans the aliens considered themselves to be. I have mixed feelings about the ending. I like that it was not a cliched conclusion, but I dislike that there were so many questions unanswered.
There are actually three distinct species of aliens- the "master" species are 15-feet tall squid-like creatures, but there are also smaller creatures with glistening skin, and behemoth monsters with dome-like heads. The glistening and behemoth species are mentioned when the aliens first land on earth, but are barely mentioned again. I would have liked to read more about the relationship among the three species and how they interact and what their respective functions were. The book spans fifty years and three generations of a family; the main characters in the beginning have died off by the end, so there are really no "central" characters. To me that is a weakness of the book. Characters in general take a back seat to the plot. Also there are so many family members that they are impossible to keep track of, and many are named after their parent or grandparent, so the reader is thinking "Is this Anson III or IV or V?"
I like the aloofness of the aliens with respect to humans. They make no attempt to learn human language, they just like to probe human minds to control them. That clearly demonstrates how superior to humans the aliens considered themselves to be. I have mixed feelings about the ending. I like that it was not a cliched conclusion, but I dislike that there were so many questions unanswered.
January 14, 2021
The first 50 pages of this book were very exciting. After a while I realized that all of the female characters in this book are completely one-dimensional. The author spends more time describing their anatomy than bothering to build any type of inner thinking; we are lucky if they even get a backstory. Even the physical descriptions are one dimensional. They all are described as having a “flat belly” or a lack of it.
This book describes multiple generations of a family and yet there is not a single developed character that is female. They are all stereotypes of one kind or another. I’m generally a big fan of this author. I have read dozens of his books, novellas, and stories and I generally give him a break since a lot of them were written in the 60s and 70s. It’s a chronic problem of the genre. Particularly, in the novellas, it seems less obvious and you only have so many words, right?
But this book was written in the 1990s. The author must have learned something about women in the remaining decades that would allow him to write a full-fledged female character.
I was so frustrated by this book. Great ideas! It had so much potential, but over and over again I was disappointed. I started with 5 stars. I took off my customary 1 star for sexual violence against women that is not essential to the plot or character development. Sadly, this is a common trend in this novel. Lastly, I took off a star for the atrocious portrayal of the female characters in a sci-fi book written in the modern age.
This book describes multiple generations of a family and yet there is not a single developed character that is female. They are all stereotypes of one kind or another. I’m generally a big fan of this author. I have read dozens of his books, novellas, and stories and I generally give him a break since a lot of them were written in the 60s and 70s. It’s a chronic problem of the genre. Particularly, in the novellas, it seems less obvious and you only have so many words, right?
But this book was written in the 1990s. The author must have learned something about women in the remaining decades that would allow him to write a full-fledged female character.
I was so frustrated by this book. Great ideas! It had so much potential, but over and over again I was disappointed. I started with 5 stars. I took off my customary 1 star for sexual violence against women that is not essential to the plot or character development. Sadly, this is a common trend in this novel. Lastly, I took off a star for the atrocious portrayal of the female characters in a sci-fi book written in the modern age.
December 22, 2021
I loved reading this and was very intrigued. It felt like speculative fiction and had a cyber-punky vibe. The only reason that I'm giving it 4 stars* is because the way that Silverberg writes women is very grating and borderline offensive. They are almost never there to further the plot, but their bodies are described in full detail and they are merely support for the male protagonists. Now, I don't want to get up on a soapbox so I'll stop right there. In short; this is a surprisingly well-written, fun and engaging novel, from a guy who clearly didn't consider the fact that women would read sci fi, and that shows.
* I’m not sure what was going on with me at the time that I gave it 4 stars. It really deserves only 3, since it was good but not exactly a masterpiece!
* I’m not sure what was going on with me at the time that I gave it 4 stars. It really deserves only 3, since it was good but not exactly a masterpiece!
January 13, 2025
This one would be about 2 1/2 stars for me, but Goodreads doesn't let you give half stars, and lists 3 stars are "liked it," which is not the case.
Short version of my review:
The blurb for the book makes a dull non-event of a story sound like it is an epic tale of resistance, and it is not. The writing and dialogue feel out of touch, not just by today's standards but also by those of when the book came out. I cannot recommend this to anyone.
Long version of my review:
I had sought out books about human resistance on Earth fighting back against aliens after conquest, and this one was recommended to me. I had never previously read any Robert Silverberg, but I was familiar with his name in a context of "classic" scifi authors, supposedly up there with Asimov, and also had a weird childhood memory of wanting to read his book Nightwings (probably because of the comic book character).
This book started out rough for me. First, the initially-introduced characters seemed weirdly boomer-ish (in a cliche way) about their views of things, such as the "Colonel" complaining about the immorality of people in L.A.. I kept going, thinking that maybe this was intentional, to make him seem out of touch, but nope... that type of things keeps coming up, and it keeps coming up presented as an apparent virtue.
The hippie woman, judged by the main characters for wearing hoop earrings and sandals, eventually settling down years later and being accepted, the people who chose non-military paths in life being viewed as black sheep in the family and morally corrupt because... they went into computer science?
Even the dialogue just isn't how people talk, and it really wasn't how people spoke in 1994, when this book was written. "Oh, Ronnie, Ronnie, you scamp, you miserable rogue..." That's a father speaking to his adult son. This adult son gets referred to as being a rogue and a disappointment for DECADES.
For anyone reading this who wasn't alive then, and thinks that maybe people in the 90s DID speak like it was 1932... they didn't. Kurt Cobain was dead by then. We had two Terminator movies out. The Crow was about to come out. We had already rejected 80s hair bands and the world of American Psycho (the time frame, not the book or movie) were far in the past. We weren't calling each other scamps and rogues. You weren't consistently referred to as a "mutant" for being into computer science.
We also didn't have people in their 20s referring to porn as having too many "waggling fannies".
I have never in my life read a book that felt so very much like it was written by a boomer.
That's not inherently a bad thing, but in this case it feels like every trope of how a boomer might potential write is actually present here.
Beyond that, the story is not as advertised.
"When aliens invade, a generations-long struggle begins against an impenetrable enemy in this sci-fi epic..."
"But, one family at least—the Carmichael clan led by Colonel Anson Carmichael—will never give up the resistance. THE ALIEN YEARS is an epic story told over multiple generations by master of thoughtful science fiction Robert Silverberg. Can ideas of freedom survive in the face of an overwhelmingly powerful enemy?"
This Carmichael family sits up in the hills, watching 50 years of alien control, consistently patting themselves on the back about how superior they are to others, and talking about how they are a major player in the resistance... and that's about it. We keep being told, but nothing is shown, because nothing happens. We don't even get into deep philosophical debates about why nothing SHOULD happen yet, but just throw away, brief, unnatural conversations, and then we return to a geography lesson about California.
369 pages, and the first step towards an act of resistance by the Carmichael family happens on page 338. At that point, for the brief half down pages or so of resistance, we get told things with little detail, but the book switches from past tense to present tense, and then switch back to past. I THINK that was intended to make those six pages feels more immediate and tense, but it just feels jarring.
Then... SPOILER...
The aliens leave. We get some very heavy handed talk of them being a bit like God, mysterious, unable to be understood, very very briefly, with the last 30 pages or so almost feeling like a different writer wrote it.
It just feels like the author was so set on his (alleged) 10,000 words a day output, that he just rambled for 369 pages, projecting someone of his age into a world where he feels morally superior, and nothing happens, no characters get any real depth, no characters are fleshed out, no philosophical questions are actually explored, and then we're done.
Maybe Silverberg's other books are better. Maybe they are written better, with better characters, better dialogue, better plot. Maybe his other works show that he deserves to be in the pantheon of great scifi writers.
This book, however, does not support any of that. In some ways, I'm amazed it was ever published. It reads much more like a currently selfpublished book (interlude: self publishing isn't bad, but does allow for some people to put out tons of garbage too, cluttering up the field from the talented selfpublished authors) that desperately needed developmental editors and beta readers.
Short version of my review:
The blurb for the book makes a dull non-event of a story sound like it is an epic tale of resistance, and it is not. The writing and dialogue feel out of touch, not just by today's standards but also by those of when the book came out. I cannot recommend this to anyone.
Long version of my review:
I had sought out books about human resistance on Earth fighting back against aliens after conquest, and this one was recommended to me. I had never previously read any Robert Silverberg, but I was familiar with his name in a context of "classic" scifi authors, supposedly up there with Asimov, and also had a weird childhood memory of wanting to read his book Nightwings (probably because of the comic book character).
This book started out rough for me. First, the initially-introduced characters seemed weirdly boomer-ish (in a cliche way) about their views of things, such as the "Colonel" complaining about the immorality of people in L.A.. I kept going, thinking that maybe this was intentional, to make him seem out of touch, but nope... that type of things keeps coming up, and it keeps coming up presented as an apparent virtue.
The hippie woman, judged by the main characters for wearing hoop earrings and sandals, eventually settling down years later and being accepted, the people who chose non-military paths in life being viewed as black sheep in the family and morally corrupt because... they went into computer science?
Even the dialogue just isn't how people talk, and it really wasn't how people spoke in 1994, when this book was written. "Oh, Ronnie, Ronnie, you scamp, you miserable rogue..." That's a father speaking to his adult son. This adult son gets referred to as being a rogue and a disappointment for DECADES.
For anyone reading this who wasn't alive then, and thinks that maybe people in the 90s DID speak like it was 1932... they didn't. Kurt Cobain was dead by then. We had two Terminator movies out. The Crow was about to come out. We had already rejected 80s hair bands and the world of American Psycho (the time frame, not the book or movie) were far in the past. We weren't calling each other scamps and rogues. You weren't consistently referred to as a "mutant" for being into computer science.
We also didn't have people in their 20s referring to porn as having too many "waggling fannies".
I have never in my life read a book that felt so very much like it was written by a boomer.
That's not inherently a bad thing, but in this case it feels like every trope of how a boomer might potential write is actually present here.
Beyond that, the story is not as advertised.
"When aliens invade, a generations-long struggle begins against an impenetrable enemy in this sci-fi epic..."
"But, one family at least—the Carmichael clan led by Colonel Anson Carmichael—will never give up the resistance. THE ALIEN YEARS is an epic story told over multiple generations by master of thoughtful science fiction Robert Silverberg. Can ideas of freedom survive in the face of an overwhelmingly powerful enemy?"
This Carmichael family sits up in the hills, watching 50 years of alien control, consistently patting themselves on the back about how superior they are to others, and talking about how they are a major player in the resistance... and that's about it. We keep being told, but nothing is shown, because nothing happens. We don't even get into deep philosophical debates about why nothing SHOULD happen yet, but just throw away, brief, unnatural conversations, and then we return to a geography lesson about California.
369 pages, and the first step towards an act of resistance by the Carmichael family happens on page 338. At that point, for the brief half down pages or so of resistance, we get told things with little detail, but the book switches from past tense to present tense, and then switch back to past. I THINK that was intended to make those six pages feels more immediate and tense, but it just feels jarring.
Then... SPOILER...
The aliens leave. We get some very heavy handed talk of them being a bit like God, mysterious, unable to be understood, very very briefly, with the last 30 pages or so almost feeling like a different writer wrote it.
It just feels like the author was so set on his (alleged) 10,000 words a day output, that he just rambled for 369 pages, projecting someone of his age into a world where he feels morally superior, and nothing happens, no characters get any real depth, no characters are fleshed out, no philosophical questions are actually explored, and then we're done.
Maybe Silverberg's other books are better. Maybe they are written better, with better characters, better dialogue, better plot. Maybe his other works show that he deserves to be in the pantheon of great scifi writers.
This book, however, does not support any of that. In some ways, I'm amazed it was ever published. It reads much more like a currently selfpublished book (interlude: self publishing isn't bad, but does allow for some people to put out tons of garbage too, cluttering up the field from the talented selfpublished authors) that desperately needed developmental editors and beta readers.
December 8, 2020
This is a mediocre family drama masquerading as a mildly entertaining alien invasion story that is full of flat characters and which is told almost entirely from a traditional male point of view. Overall the impression is “meh”.
March 26, 2021
An interesting premise but bogged down in generations of mostly uninteresting characters. Female characters exist solely for sex and raising children. Disappointing. First book I’ve read by this author and it hasn’t tempted me to read more.
June 15, 2021
Slight but aight
March 12, 2025
Sometime, not long from now, an alien ship lands in California triggering a wildfire that turns into a conflagration. Four meter tall squidlike beings, purple with orange patches, it is not understood whether it is an exploratory, diplomatic or invasive landing. Very soon they find that it is an invasion. The book revolves around the extended Carmichael family: Patriarch Colonel Carmichael; sons Anson, Ronnie and Mike; their spouses and children, and their formation of a resistance movement from a mountain retreat. The aliens are telepathically coercive, and mightily powerful, capable of making electricity unworkable at a whim, yet Mike’s wife voluntarily entered their ship and as far as anybody knows, left Earth with one of them. Mike, distraught, crashed his plane while fighting the fires. Errant son Ronnie has returned to the fold while stalwart son Anse has slowly succumbed to the drink. As humans do, some have become collaborators, the worst being a Czech coder named Borgmann, his name an epithet equivalent to quisling. We also follow the development of a young man Khalid, fathered by a violent quisling, raised by his Pakistani step-grandmother, who vows vengeace on both the invading Entities and his vicious father. Robert Silverberg has given us a tense disaster movie, where only a zen-like calm can allow a human to get within an Entity’s mind-shield and kill it - as Khalid had once done. But defeating the aliens seems impossible, and even if they do, what will happen to the world? Throws up interesting Stockholm Syndrome musings and well worth a read.
March 23, 2018
Aliens invade Earth. Well... not really invade as setting up shop and refuse to leave. It's an interesting take on the sub-genre. Instead of blowing up the white house the aliens simply turn off electricity. It's sobering to see how dependent we are on technology and how a simple thing like turning it all off basically throws civilization to the dark ages in an instant. Of course, this is just the premise. The story focuses on multiple generations of a Southern California family and its attempts to dethrone the invaders. Silverberg is one of my favorite authors, and the novel is never boring, always chugging along and full of surprises. It's a bit overlong and I felt there were too many characters (the author actually acknowledges it at one point in a nice bit of self-awareness), but the ending made it feel really epic. It's not prime Silverberg (for this try Man in the Maze or Tom O'Bedlam, just to name a few), so I wouldn't recommend it as a primer for the author's work, but if you are looking for a solid SF novel it delivers.
January 4, 2022
I debated about whether this deserved two stars or three. I opted for three because a lot of it is well-written from a literary point of view.
Silverberg writes action scenes well.
He writes dialogue well.
What he doesn't write so well is plots. Or pacing.
Without getting into any plot details, my problem with the pacing is that the chapters are set many years apart. You could meet a character in his teens and then in the next chapter, without seeing him in between, he's in his 30s. The book covers a long span of time, so I suppose Silverberg thought that was necessary. To make the point he's making, I suppose it is, but what he needed was a longer book, or even a series. Compressing time that much hurt the characterization and made me feel nothing for the characters.
As far as the plot goes, I think the book ends in the worst possible way he could've ended it. It made little sense, and left zero impact.
I've liked some of Silverberg's short stories, so I'm not giving up on him, but this was a disappointment.
Silverberg writes action scenes well.
He writes dialogue well.
What he doesn't write so well is plots. Or pacing.
Without getting into any plot details, my problem with the pacing is that the chapters are set many years apart. You could meet a character in his teens and then in the next chapter, without seeing him in between, he's in his 30s. The book covers a long span of time, so I suppose Silverberg thought that was necessary. To make the point he's making, I suppose it is, but what he needed was a longer book, or even a series. Compressing time that much hurt the characterization and made me feel nothing for the characters.
As far as the plot goes, I think the book ends in the worst possible way he could've ended it. It made little sense, and left zero impact.
I've liked some of Silverberg's short stories, so I'm not giving up on him, but this was a disappointment.
May 29, 2022
The story of aliens coming to earth and the human resistance trying to fight them.
I have to say I found the first half of the book almost nauseating - there was way too much melodramatic character background, too little worldbuilding, and pacing and writing more reminiscent of the Independence Day than anything else. I am glad I didn't stop reading though.
The second half, and in particular, the last quarter of the book, were excellent. I particularly liked the unusual twists (2 major ones) that were very much unlike anything I encountered in this genre. The ending of the book is probably among the best endings I've ever read in sci fi. It also becomes a nuanced study of the rather insane and misplaced hero complex that dominates a lot of American cultural narratives. That was a surprise!
That being said, in addition to the shoddy first half, I also disliked the confusing number of characters, whose presence on the scene had little to add to the narrative.
I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars, but on balance I think the quality of the ending just warrants 4.
I have to say I found the first half of the book almost nauseating - there was way too much melodramatic character background, too little worldbuilding, and pacing and writing more reminiscent of the Independence Day than anything else. I am glad I didn't stop reading though.
The second half, and in particular, the last quarter of the book, were excellent. I particularly liked the unusual twists (2 major ones) that were very much unlike anything I encountered in this genre. The ending of the book is probably among the best endings I've ever read in sci fi. It also becomes a nuanced study of the rather insane and misplaced hero complex that dominates a lot of American cultural narratives. That was a surprise!
That being said, in addition to the shoddy first half, I also disliked the confusing number of characters, whose presence on the scene had little to add to the narrative.
I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars, but on balance I think the quality of the ending just warrants 4.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2022
Silverberg at his best! He manges put together independent short stories, not even closely related by the triad of the place/time/persons in a single novel about the alien invasion. The inspiration was given by Wells and funny fact is: as Wells´novel is recalled by the old colonel and heavily critised by him (the victorious end is just the matter of chance), the same thing could be applied on Silverbergs´s novel! The Americans will be probably shocked how fast the USA fell (at least in nineties they probably were) and never restituted, which gives a little fresh air. Czechs will be shocked by the accurate scenery of the occupied Prague and by Entities lodged in the St. Vitus cathedral, probably little pissed that the "Prague protagonist" is a German but later they will be happy for it, Germans are really better villains... :-D
January 27, 2020
Aliens come to earth and take over. they do not communicate with humans, or ever reveal their purpose -- they do not care. The novel follows the history one family that creates a resistance movement against them, however powerless they are.
The premise is very interesting, a different take on an alien invasion, neither friendly nor hostile in the normal sense. Characters are decently developed. Issues of religion and meaning are explored in this context.
The premise is very interesting, a different take on an alien invasion, neither friendly nor hostile in the normal sense. Characters are decently developed. Issues of religion and meaning are explored in this context.
December 26, 2022
Wow! This one takes you on quite a ride. Aliens have taken over the Earth and appear to be invincible. One family group maintains a tradition of rebellion. The story follows the family through generations of fighting the alien regime.
The ending will stay with you and keep you thinking for a long time.
I recommend this to any lover of sci-fi. A little dated, but doesn't get in the way of the story.
The ending will stay with you and keep you thinking for a long time.
I recommend this to any lover of sci-fi. A little dated, but doesn't get in the way of the story.
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