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Heechee Saga #2
Гейтуей ІІ
Заводът за храна е откритие, което не само би донесло милиони долари на своите изследователи, но и би решило проблемите с изхранването на милиардите земни жители. Робин Бродхед, познат ни от „Гейтуей“, вече е начело на собствена корпорация, която изпраща към Завода изследователски кораб. Астронавтите откриват странния Уон и разгадават куп дълголетни тайни…
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
206 people are currently reading
4383 people want to read
About the author
Frederik Pohl
1,151 books1,057 followersFrederik George Pohl, Jr. was an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy magazine and its sister magazine IF winning the Hugo for IF three years in a row. His writing also won him three Hugos and multiple Nebula Awards. He became a Nebula Grand Master in 1993.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 391 reviews
September 5, 2016
Beyond the Blue Event Horizon was a solid sequel to Gateway. Frederik Pohl's engaging writing style makes it easy for the reader to get caught up in the stories of his characters even when those characters themselves are not the most likeable.
Robinette Broadhead struck it rich in his time as a Gateway prospector but is still suffering from the feelings of guilt at how his last mission ended. He no longer goes on Gateway missions himself but has sponsored many other adventurers. One such group is a family of four. Their mission is to fly to newly discovered Heechee outpost in the Oort Cloud and attempt to move it closer to Earth. Broadhead and other suspect it might have been a food making facility of some sort and hope it can be used to ease the resources plight on Earth.
The story was interesting. The Heechee still remain a bit of a mystery but their technology is still pretty cool and we do learn a few of their secrets in this one. The POV cast was a lot more diverse. We got viewpoints from Broadhead, all four members of the family he sent to space, from a human boy who was discovered living on the Heechee facility, and even from a non-human!
As with the first book the characters are far from perfect examples of humanity but most of the time you find yourself routing for them despite their actions.
This was a good sci-fi story. The Heechee Saga is definitely one of the better sci-fi series I've read over the years. It has the right balance between the characters and the harder sci-fi aspects of the story.
Rating: 4 stars.
Audio Note: Oliver Wyman gave a fantastic performance with the audio production.
Robinette Broadhead struck it rich in his time as a Gateway prospector but is still suffering from the feelings of guilt at how his last mission ended. He no longer goes on Gateway missions himself but has sponsored many other adventurers. One such group is a family of four. Their mission is to fly to newly discovered Heechee outpost in the Oort Cloud and attempt to move it closer to Earth. Broadhead and other suspect it might have been a food making facility of some sort and hope it can be used to ease the resources plight on Earth.
The story was interesting. The Heechee still remain a bit of a mystery but their technology is still pretty cool and we do learn a few of their secrets in this one. The POV cast was a lot more diverse. We got viewpoints from Broadhead, all four members of the family he sent to space, from a human boy who was discovered living on the Heechee facility, and even from a non-human!
As with the first book the characters are far from perfect examples of humanity but most of the time you find yourself routing for them despite their actions.
This was a good sci-fi story. The Heechee Saga is definitely one of the better sci-fi series I've read over the years. It has the right balance between the characters and the harder sci-fi aspects of the story.
Rating: 4 stars.
Audio Note: Oliver Wyman gave a fantastic performance with the audio production.
April 17, 2022
Uh!
Ova knjiga je na momente ODLCNA, originalne ideje preplicu se sa jos originalnijim karakterima, sto ljudskim sto vanzemaljskim. A opet sa druge strane Pol precesto podseca na Lema i na njegove naucne (i maksimalno dosadne) disertacije. Stoga 4 zvezdice ili neka sedmica na mnogo realnijoj skali.
Ova knjiga je na momente ODLCNA, originalne ideje preplicu se sa jos originalnijim karakterima, sto ljudskim sto vanzemaljskim. A opet sa druge strane Pol precesto podseca na Lema i na njegove naucne (i maksimalno dosadne) disertacije. Stoga 4 zvezdice ili neka sedmica na mnogo realnijoj skali.
January 12, 2015
"The story begins when the hero of Gateway finances an expedition to a distant alien spaceship that may end famine forever. On the ship, the explorers find a human boy, and evidence that reveals a powerful alien civilization is thriving on a transport ship headed right for Earth…"
Beyond the blue horizon
Waits a beautiful day.
Goodbye to things that bore me.
Joy is waiting for me.
I see a new horizon.
My life has only begun.
Beyond the blue horizon lies a rising sun.
(Beyond the Blue Horizon, Jeanette MacDonald)
I wonder if Frederick Pohl had these song lyrics in mind with the title of this book? Or whether he had any say in the title at all, a clever combination of the song title and the event horizon of a black hole, a consuming preoccupation of Robin Broadhead, the main protagonist.
I found myself fully engaged in this novel from the first few pages—trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I find that authors who engage my curiosity, rather than telling me too much, keep me reading more quickly and with more persistence. I really enjoyed the vagueness of the threat which Pohl used to keep the reader hooked—not knowing exactly which details are significant or what exactly they mean. Who are the Dead Men? Are they really dead and if so, how do they carry on conversations? Who or what are the Old Ones? Are they really a threat to our intrepid explorers?
Of course, all of this is layered on top of the basic questions asked in the first novel, Gateway—who or what are the Heechee, where did they go, and can we expect to find them?
There is rather a lot of theoretical physics discussed, in the guise of having a computer program explain it to Robin, our billionaire protagonist. Those sections drag a little bit, being barely disguised info dumps. Despite those chunky bits, this book carried me along very quickly.
My only disappointment was how quickly things resolved in the final chapters—details that I would have liked to know were glossed over, steps were skipped in my opinion, some things tied up a little too neatly, others seemed neglected. I guess Pohl must have had a third book in mind and needed a platform on which to begin the next installment. I have many questions about what went on and where the characters go from here, so undoubtedly I will carry on to the next book in the series.
November 10, 2016
En Pórtico, aprendimos que la humanidad ha dado un salto tecnológico tan espectacular como fortuito gracias a los artefactos que una antigua y ya desaparecida civilización alienígena —los Heechee— ha dejado a su paso por nuestro sistema solar. El único inconveniente es que la utilidad de estos hallazgos escapa por completo a nuestra comprensión y su empleo conlleva una serie de riesgos que resultan letales en la mayoría de casos. No obstante, empujadas por las precarias condiciones en que se halla la Tierra (superpoblación, hambrunas, contaminación, inestabilidad económica, etc.), cada vez más personas se embarcan en misiones suicidas a bordo de estas naves alienígenas con la remota esperanza de realizar nuevos descubrimientos y llevarse un exorbitante botín por ello.
Por haber sido el único superviviente de una expedición cuyos miembros (entre ellos, su mujer) permanecen aislados del tiempo en el interior de un agujero negro, Robinette Broadhead ahora disfruta de una incontable fortuna. Gracias a ella decide financiar un proyecto que se dirige a la Fábrica Alimentaria, una nave Heechee que vaga perdida por el espacio y es capaz de transformar elementos sencillos en alimentos para el consumo, todo ello con la intención de erradicar para siempre el hambre en la Tierra. Sin embargo, al llegar allí los tripulantes de la nave enviada por Broadhead se topan con que la Fábrica Alimentaria se encuentra habitada por un adolescente delirante que asegura mantener contacto con otras formas de vida y que de vez en cuando provoca una especie de locura colectiva a través de sus sueños.
No es esta la única, pero sí quizá la más potente idea que sobrevuela las páginas de Tras el incierto horizonte. Frederik Pohl reflexiona de manera magistral sobre los límites del conocimiento y de cómo este, bajo manos inexpertas o inadecuadas, en realidad se convierte en una monumental fuente de (literales) quebraderos de cabeza. En su insaciable y desesperada búsqueda de la verdad, de los secretos que esconde el universo, el ser humano no concibe la posibilidad de causar más estragos que beneficios con sus acciones, y por eso ejecuta empresas tan ambiciosas como kamikazes sin calibrar correctamente las potenciales secuelas. El resultado, y de ello es buen ejemplo el protagonista, es un lastre de titánicas proporciones que acarreamos bajo la apariencia de arrepentimiento y culpa. Por otra parte, los personajes de Frederik Pohl suelen manifestar sin motivo aparente una sexualidad sin ambages que puede incluso llegar a niveles retorcidos. El resto de la novela, hilvanada de manera sobresaliente a través de diversos puntos de vista, es pura especulación y sentido de la maravilla que empuja hasta sus últimas consecuencias los postulados del autor en materia de astrofísica, ingeniería o inteligencia artificial, sin perder nunca el tono divulgativo.
En líneas generales, Tras el incierto horizonte me ha parecido una novela igual de adictiva que su predecesora, una historia marcada por un ritmo trepidante y un aumento constante de la tensión que ningún aficionado a la ciencia ficción debería perderse. Los personajes, aunque no son el foco de la obra, poseen una carga emocional bastante importante y rebosan el carisma propio de quien despacha a diestro y siniestro líneas memorables. Después del brillante y apoteósico final que remata la obra, no puedo contener las ganas de hincarle el diente al siguiente volumen de la saga y averiguar por fin qué más sorprendentes descubrimientos sobre los Heechee nos tiene preparados el gran Frederik Pohl.
Por haber sido el único superviviente de una expedición cuyos miembros (entre ellos, su mujer) permanecen aislados del tiempo en el interior de un agujero negro, Robinette Broadhead ahora disfruta de una incontable fortuna. Gracias a ella decide financiar un proyecto que se dirige a la Fábrica Alimentaria, una nave Heechee que vaga perdida por el espacio y es capaz de transformar elementos sencillos en alimentos para el consumo, todo ello con la intención de erradicar para siempre el hambre en la Tierra. Sin embargo, al llegar allí los tripulantes de la nave enviada por Broadhead se topan con que la Fábrica Alimentaria se encuentra habitada por un adolescente delirante que asegura mantener contacto con otras formas de vida y que de vez en cuando provoca una especie de locura colectiva a través de sus sueños.
No es esta la única, pero sí quizá la más potente idea que sobrevuela las páginas de Tras el incierto horizonte. Frederik Pohl reflexiona de manera magistral sobre los límites del conocimiento y de cómo este, bajo manos inexpertas o inadecuadas, en realidad se convierte en una monumental fuente de (literales) quebraderos de cabeza. En su insaciable y desesperada búsqueda de la verdad, de los secretos que esconde el universo, el ser humano no concibe la posibilidad de causar más estragos que beneficios con sus acciones, y por eso ejecuta empresas tan ambiciosas como kamikazes sin calibrar correctamente las potenciales secuelas. El resultado, y de ello es buen ejemplo el protagonista, es un lastre de titánicas proporciones que acarreamos bajo la apariencia de arrepentimiento y culpa. Por otra parte, los personajes de Frederik Pohl suelen manifestar sin motivo aparente una sexualidad sin ambages que puede incluso llegar a niveles retorcidos. El resto de la novela, hilvanada de manera sobresaliente a través de diversos puntos de vista, es pura especulación y sentido de la maravilla que empuja hasta sus últimas consecuencias los postulados del autor en materia de astrofísica, ingeniería o inteligencia artificial, sin perder nunca el tono divulgativo.
En líneas generales, Tras el incierto horizonte me ha parecido una novela igual de adictiva que su predecesora, una historia marcada por un ritmo trepidante y un aumento constante de la tensión que ningún aficionado a la ciencia ficción debería perderse. Los personajes, aunque no son el foco de la obra, poseen una carga emocional bastante importante y rebosan el carisma propio de quien despacha a diestro y siniestro líneas memorables. Después del brillante y apoteósico final que remata la obra, no puedo contener las ganas de hincarle el diente al siguiente volumen de la saga y averiguar por fin qué más sorprendentes descubrimientos sobre los Heechee nos tiene preparados el gran Frederik Pohl.
May 15, 2019
I do not understand the high reviews for this book. The little I was able to stomach was so unlike the interesting story of the first book in the series. There was creepy sexualization of children/underage characters, including incestuously themed situations between an adult and a child. There was inconsistent/illogical writing of said young characters even though at least one was supposed to be brilliant enough to be chosen for a space exploratory mission. There was a "fever" that conveniently caused both extreme pain and...a desire for orgies. There was sexual harassment in the form of a kid masturbating in front of people without consent, and a scene where a young boy had a conversation with a ghost about why he couldn't rape people (the answer was that there was a 60% chance it wouldn't be a pleasant experience for him).
So yeah. The little of this book I read was disturbing, disgusting, and bizarre. I wish I had stopped reading sooner.
So yeah. The little of this book I read was disturbing, disgusting, and bizarre. I wish I had stopped reading sooner.
November 25, 2024
Check out my full, spoiler free, series review HERE.
Pohl shifts gears a bit on the sequel to Gateway. We start with a small family/crew on a mission to a Heechee food factory, as they run across a child of mysterious origin. Later we find out Rob is still around and helped finance this mission. And that’s all I want to say about the plot. I really enjoyed this sequel, even though we don’t get a resolution to the ending of Gateway yet. This book actually opens up more mystery of the Heechee and the fate Rob. Loved it, on to book 3.
Pohl shifts gears a bit on the sequel to Gateway. We start with a small family/crew on a mission to a Heechee food factory, as they run across a child of mysterious origin. Later we find out Rob is still around and helped finance this mission. And that’s all I want to say about the plot. I really enjoyed this sequel, even though we don’t get a resolution to the ending of Gateway yet. This book actually opens up more mystery of the Heechee and the fate Rob. Loved it, on to book 3.
February 5, 2016
Totally loved it!!
Lots of questions from Gateway are answered here, but in the end you have a lot a brand new ones - I'm looking forward to find out more about Heechee.
P.S. Glad to see that Rob has become a much more likeable and mature character.
Lots of questions from Gateway are answered here, but in the end you have a lot a brand new ones - I'm looking forward to find out more about Heechee.
P.S. Glad to see that Rob has become a much more likeable and mature character.
August 24, 2020
Bajban vagyok ezzel a könyvvel.
Azért, mert az Átjárónak egy hasonló stílusú vagy keretű folytatására számítottam, de a kapott olvasmányélmény nagyon szembement a várakozásaimmal.
Az első szembetűnő különbség, hogy a narrátorok megváltoztak. Legalább fél tucat elbeszélő szemén keresztül látjuk a történetet, ami önmagában nem lenne gond, de egyes elbeszélőket az író később egyszerűen „elenged”, és többet nem látunk a fejükbe. (Ilyen volt pl. Wan, a könyv elején még szorgalmas narrátor, míg az utolsó harmadában már nincs egyetlen fejezete sem). Én ráeresztettem volna a könyv szerkezetére egy baltával dolgozó szerkesztőt, és a végeredmény megfaragását bíztam volna az íróra.
Talán ennek következménye, hogy a cselekmény helyenként szétesik. Az nyomon követhető utólag, hogy tart valahonnan valahová, viszont olvasás közben gyakran éreztem úgy, hogy most feleslegesen diskurálnak a szereplők, vagy éppen olyasmit csinálnak, aminek semmi értelme. Ez a regény végeztével szerencsére sokat tompult, és látható, hogy az egész történet sokkal nagyobb perspektívát kapott.
Amit nagyon hiányoltam belőle, az az első rész Átjáró-hangulata. Néha ebből fel-felvillant valamit a szerző, főleg akkor, amikor a szereplők egy ismeretlen hícsí objektumot derítenek fel, de gyorsan el is múlik. Kár, mert az első résznek is ez adta a meg a sajátos ízét.
A történet szereplői egyébként csetlő-botló emberek, és mindenkinek megvan a maga agybaja, még a kurtán-furcsán előrántott gonosz szereplőre sem lehetett igazán haragudni, főleg azért nem, mert az ő szerepe mindössze annyi lett, hogy Broadheadnek lehetőséget adjon a személyes beavatkozása. SPOILER. Kivétel talán Essie teljesen papírmasé figurája, aki tükrözi azt, ahogy a szerző az odaadó kelet-európai nőtípust elképzeli.
Szóval sok helyen ereszt számomra ez a könyv, mintha ragtapasszal akarnánk megoldani egy léket kapott hajó problémáját, és őszintén elgondolkodtatott arról, hogy akarom-e olvasni a folytatást.
Azért, mert az Átjárónak egy hasonló stílusú vagy keretű folytatására számítottam, de a kapott olvasmányélmény nagyon szembement a várakozásaimmal.
Az első szembetűnő különbség, hogy a narrátorok megváltoztak. Legalább fél tucat elbeszélő szemén keresztül látjuk a történetet, ami önmagában nem lenne gond, de egyes elbeszélőket az író később egyszerűen „elenged”, és többet nem látunk a fejükbe. (Ilyen volt pl. Wan, a könyv elején még szorgalmas narrátor, míg az utolsó harmadában már nincs egyetlen fejezete sem). Én ráeresztettem volna a könyv szerkezetére egy baltával dolgozó szerkesztőt, és a végeredmény megfaragását bíztam volna az íróra.
Talán ennek következménye, hogy a cselekmény helyenként szétesik. Az nyomon követhető utólag, hogy tart valahonnan valahová, viszont olvasás közben gyakran éreztem úgy, hogy most feleslegesen diskurálnak a szereplők, vagy éppen olyasmit csinálnak, aminek semmi értelme. Ez a regény végeztével szerencsére sokat tompult, és látható, hogy az egész történet sokkal nagyobb perspektívát kapott.
Amit nagyon hiányoltam belőle, az az első rész Átjáró-hangulata. Néha ebből fel-felvillant valamit a szerző, főleg akkor, amikor a szereplők egy ismeretlen hícsí objektumot derítenek fel, de gyorsan el is múlik. Kár, mert az első résznek is ez adta a meg a sajátos ízét.
A történet szereplői egyébként csetlő-botló emberek, és mindenkinek megvan a maga agybaja, még a kurtán-furcsán előrántott gonosz szereplőre sem lehetett igazán haragudni, főleg azért nem, mert az ő szerepe mindössze annyi lett, hogy Broadheadnek lehetőséget adjon a személyes beavatkozása. SPOILER. Kivétel talán Essie teljesen papírmasé figurája, aki tükrözi azt, ahogy a szerző az odaadó kelet-európai nőtípust elképzeli.
Szóval sok helyen ereszt számomra ez a könyv, mintha ragtapasszal akarnánk megoldani egy léket kapott hajó problémáját, és őszintén elgondolkodtatott arról, hogy akarom-e olvasni a folytatást.
July 30, 2012
Not nearly the equivalent of Gateway but that would be like asking Ken Jennings to win 74 Jeopardy games in a row. Oh Yeah. He did that.
Speaking of Jeopardy, back in the 80's I was browsing through the credits of the TV game show and noticed that one of the show writers was Frederik Pohl. "OMG" I thought, (I didn't actually think "OMG!". The internet was still in its infantry and so was internet speak) "He's writing questions on a game show now! I knew Sci-fi writers didn't make much money but Damn!". A year later I went to a Jeopardy taping as a friend of mine qualified as a contestant for the game show. I asked If I could meet Mr. Pohl and a man substantially younger than me (I was in my thirties) introduced himself. It was, of course, Pohl's son. We did have a nice but brief conversation.
OK, I'm done.
Speaking of Jeopardy, back in the 80's I was browsing through the credits of the TV game show and noticed that one of the show writers was Frederik Pohl. "OMG" I thought, (I didn't actually think "OMG!". The internet was still in its infantry and so was internet speak) "He's writing questions on a game show now! I knew Sci-fi writers didn't make much money but Damn!". A year later I went to a Jeopardy taping as a friend of mine qualified as a contestant for the game show. I asked If I could meet Mr. Pohl and a man substantially younger than me (I was in my thirties) introduced himself. It was, of course, Pohl's son. We did have a nice but brief conversation.
OK, I'm done.
November 14, 2014
-“Pórtico” no debería haber tenido secuelas para pasar a la historia como una novela todavía más grande de lo que ya es.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Robinette Broadhead es un hombre potentado con unas inversiones muy sólidas pero sigue abierto a enriquecer su fortuna y, en el fondo, sigue amando a Klara y su recuerdo no le abandona. Cuando decide financiar una expedición a la Factoría Alimentaria heechee situada en la nube de Oort, desencadena una serie de acontecimientos de consecuencias importantísimas. Segundo libro de la saga de los Heechees.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://www.librosdeolethros.blogspot....
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Robinette Broadhead es un hombre potentado con unas inversiones muy sólidas pero sigue abierto a enriquecer su fortuna y, en el fondo, sigue amando a Klara y su recuerdo no le abandona. Cuando decide financiar una expedición a la Factoría Alimentaria heechee situada en la nube de Oort, desencadena una serie de acontecimientos de consecuencias importantísimas. Segundo libro de la saga de los Heechees.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://www.librosdeolethros.blogspot....
April 16, 2021
This is one of those literary rarities, a sequel to a very successful and popular work that lives up to (and possibly surpasses) the original volume... in this case Gateway, Pohl's best known novel. He embraces the sense-of-wonder flavor of classic big-concept science fiction (the vastness and grandeur of the universe, the cosmic sweep of time and space), mixes it with the mystery of ancient vanished alien's and near-magic technology, and presents it all within the character-driven framework of the best of New Wave inner-space speculation. Though it may not hold up quite as well as Gateway, I think it was more ambitious.
October 26, 2019
(Ževraj moja stá kniha tento rok, aj keď bohvie, od leta si to tu trackujem dosť ledabolo, ale akože teda hurá.)
K meritu veci: staré dobré hard sci-fi, mimozemšťania a čierne diery, ja som spokojná.
K meritu veci: staré dobré hard sci-fi, mimozemšťania a čierne diery, ja som spokojná.
July 25, 2023
In short: 🤮
A little longer: Pessimism, capitalism, entitlement, adults having sex with children, children having sex with children 😱😨🤢🤮
Much longer: The book starts half way into an 8-year-long mission in space to find an alien food factory. The crew consists of two adults, an old geezer, and a child. They are a family, a very weird family.
The old geezer Peter was a member of the Hitler youth when he was young. Because of course he was, he's German! I don't know how that is supposed to fit into the time line of Gateway ... but ... he was a Nazi ... and maybe still is?
The 14-year-old girl-astronaut Janine is Lurvy's sister and horny for Lurvy's husband Paul. I am not sure if this is incest, technically, but it is wrong on soooooo many levels. And, as if our constantly horny 14-year-old Janine wasn't gross enough, you have to remember that she started the voyage as a horny 11-year-old! W-T-F?!?!
All of the adults care about one thing: Money 🤑🤑🤑 OK, sex is in there somewhere, but money is priority #1. One can have different opinions about capitalism, but when any possible question about a character's motivation can be answered with "Because ... MONEY!!!", things get boring. PAINFULLY BOOOOOOOORING!
The four of them enter the ominous food factory that is supposed to rescue a starving earth ... *ahem* ... make them rich as fuck. They meet the 15-year-old boy Wan. Like most children in Pohl's universe, he only thinks about sex. When Wan meets Janine, the first female human he gets to meet in person, he ... masturbates in front of her. The only positive thing to say here is "At least he didn't rape Janine" ... because a dead man told him there is a chance Janine would ruin his orgasm ... because most women don't like to get raped. He also ejaculates spontaneously when talking to Janine.
It can't get any more gross than this, can it?!
Oh my, it can. Later in the book, 15-year-old Wan is forced to "breed" with Janine's sister.
14-year-old Janine gets forced to experience "virtual reality sex", old breeding experiments conducted by the Heechees. Apparently some of that was pretty horrible to live through. And what did she learn from all this? It made her horny for Wan and they "breed" immediately! 🤢🤮🤮
Does goodreads censor explicit content? It feels so weird writing these lines. What I describe is actual content of the book! Pohl had these disgusting and sickening thoughts and put them in writing for everyone to see!
I don't know if Pohl tried to be funny. But a grown man fantasizing about children in an explicit sexual way is not my kind of humor.
Well, at least we also get to see an old acquaintance again: Robinette. He exchanged Sigfrid for Einstein. His crippling guilt did not prevent him from building his very own Broadhead empire. I can't imagine how he did it. Robinette is as "likable and intelligent" as ever.
He is filthy rich, and his only motivation is ... money ... more money. Did I mention that "money" is a terribly boring motivation for any character? At one point, he (Pohl) actually tells the reader that even actions that might look selfless, like protecting the environment, are financially motivated.
Sometimes it seems as if Bobbyrobby also cares about his wife and the girlfriend he abused violently and then left "in" a black hole. But then we find out that it is really about him and how he can cope without too much trouble.
Robinette, like all of Pohl's adults, is terribly stupid and/or lazy. Einstein and Sigfrid do _all_ the thinking. Everyone seems to feel entitled without any reason. And, they are all pessimists and spend a lot of time thinking about what could go wrong and kill them.
Wow, Pohl did not manage to invent a single character that I would not punch in the face, had I the chance to meet them in real life. Yes, I would even punch the children, Janine and Wan! I have a suspicion that Pohl shared traits with his characters: Feeling entitled, being greedy, being horny, and being pessimistic. And just for the repeated description of child sex and abuse, I would punch Pohl in the face, was he still alive today. Really hard. Harder than Robinette punched his girlfriend in the previous book. Much harder!
A little longer: Pessimism, capitalism, entitlement, adults having sex with children, children having sex with children 😱😨🤢🤮
Much longer: The book starts half way into an 8-year-long mission in space to find an alien food factory. The crew consists of two adults, an old geezer, and a child. They are a family, a very weird family.
The old geezer Peter was a member of the Hitler youth when he was young. Because of course he was, he's German! I don't know how that is supposed to fit into the time line of Gateway ... but ... he was a Nazi ... and maybe still is?
The 14-year-old girl-astronaut Janine is Lurvy's sister and horny for Lurvy's husband Paul. I am not sure if this is incest, technically, but it is wrong on soooooo many levels. And, as if our constantly horny 14-year-old Janine wasn't gross enough, you have to remember that she started the voyage as a horny 11-year-old! W-T-F?!?!
All of the adults care about one thing: Money 🤑🤑🤑 OK, sex is in there somewhere, but money is priority #1. One can have different opinions about capitalism, but when any possible question about a character's motivation can be answered with "Because ... MONEY!!!", things get boring. PAINFULLY BOOOOOOOORING!
The four of them enter the ominous food factory that is supposed to rescue a starving earth ... *ahem* ... make them rich as fuck. They meet the 15-year-old boy Wan. Like most children in Pohl's universe, he only thinks about sex. When Wan meets Janine, the first female human he gets to meet in person, he ... masturbates in front of her. The only positive thing to say here is "At least he didn't rape Janine" ... because a dead man told him there is a chance Janine would ruin his orgasm ... because most women don't like to get raped. He also ejaculates spontaneously when talking to Janine.
It can't get any more gross than this, can it?!
Oh my, it can. Later in the book, 15-year-old Wan is forced to "breed" with Janine's sister.
14-year-old Janine gets forced to experience "virtual reality sex", old breeding experiments conducted by the Heechees. Apparently some of that was pretty horrible to live through. And what did she learn from all this? It made her horny for Wan and they "breed" immediately! 🤢🤮🤮
Does goodreads censor explicit content? It feels so weird writing these lines. What I describe is actual content of the book! Pohl had these disgusting and sickening thoughts and put them in writing for everyone to see!
I don't know if Pohl tried to be funny. But a grown man fantasizing about children in an explicit sexual way is not my kind of humor.
Well, at least we also get to see an old acquaintance again: Robinette. He exchanged Sigfrid for Einstein. His crippling guilt did not prevent him from building his very own Broadhead empire. I can't imagine how he did it. Robinette is as "likable and intelligent" as ever.
He is filthy rich, and his only motivation is ... money ... more money. Did I mention that "money" is a terribly boring motivation for any character? At one point, he (Pohl) actually tells the reader that even actions that might look selfless, like protecting the environment, are financially motivated.
Sometimes it seems as if Bobbyrobby also cares about his wife and the girlfriend he abused violently and then left "in" a black hole. But then we find out that it is really about him and how he can cope without too much trouble.
Robinette, like all of Pohl's adults, is terribly stupid and/or lazy. Einstein and Sigfrid do _all_ the thinking. Everyone seems to feel entitled without any reason. And, they are all pessimists and spend a lot of time thinking about what could go wrong and kill them.
Wow, Pohl did not manage to invent a single character that I would not punch in the face, had I the chance to meet them in real life. Yes, I would even punch the children, Janine and Wan! I have a suspicion that Pohl shared traits with his characters: Feeling entitled, being greedy, being horny, and being pessimistic. And just for the repeated description of child sex and abuse, I would punch Pohl in the face, was he still alive today. Really hard. Harder than Robinette punched his girlfriend in the previous book. Much harder!
August 25, 2017
Ha sido casi tan bueno como Pórtico, los últimos capítulos del libro se vuelven emocionantes y terminé dándole un 4.
Robin, ahora millonario por los eventos ocurridos en el primer libro, financia una expedición a una nave Heechee que funciona como una Factoría Alimentaria. En este segundo libro se dan a conocer nuevas cosas sobre los Heechees y también sobre los motivos por los que Robin inició la expedición en primera instancia. Es, sin duda, un gran libro. Pohl es un maestro de la ciencia ficción.
Esta imagen parece ser el interior de una nave Heechee con ese azul tan característico.
Imagen creada por Vidom
Robin, ahora millonario por los eventos ocurridos en el primer libro, financia una expedición a una nave Heechee que funciona como una Factoría Alimentaria. En este segundo libro se dan a conocer nuevas cosas sobre los Heechees y también sobre los motivos por los que Robin inició la expedición en primera instancia. Es, sin duda, un gran libro. Pohl es un maestro de la ciencia ficción.
Esta imagen parece ser el interior de una nave Heechee con ese azul tan característico.
Imagen creada por Vidom
January 17, 2023
Това беше едно страхотно начало на книжната ми година! Втората част на Гейтуей беше точно това, на което се надявах - задълбочен анализ на астрономически забележителности, междуличностни особености, мистика, съспенс, прекрасен край, но и достатъчно запленяваща основа, която да те отведе до средата на Вселената!
Главният ни познат герой Робинет Бродхед отново е на ръба на тотален банкрут, плюс постоянните му тревоги и футуристични идеи витаещи навсякъде, отново ни потапя в пъстрия си свят, този път придружен от приятната компания на Еси, умна и красива съпруга, създателка на програми чрез изкуствен интелект.
От тук веднага се мятам на любимите ми герои, които освен Еси, бих споменала Алберт Айнщайн, страхотна програма създадена да помага на Роб, както и Джанет, един от пасажерите изпратени към Хичиянския рай. Страхотно построено продължение на историята, която евентуално ще ни разкрие невероятния свят на Хичиянците...както и много други научнопопулярни факти за космическите феномени, и човешките отношения.
Главният ни познат герой Робинет Бродхед отново е на ръба на тотален банкрут, плюс постоянните му тревоги и футуристични идеи витаещи навсякъде, отново ни потапя в пъстрия си свят, този път придружен от приятната компания на Еси, умна и красива съпруга, създателка на програми чрез изкуствен интелект.
От тук веднага се мятам на любимите ми герои, които освен Еси, бих споменала Алберт Айнщайн, страхотна програма създадена да помага на Роб, както и Джанет, един от пасажерите изпратени към Хичиянския рай. Страхотно построено продължение на историята, която евентуално ще ни разкрие невероятния свят на Хичиянците...както и много други научнопопулярни факти за космическите феномени, и човешките отношения.
June 8, 2024
Pretty sure I never read this as a kid, which is crazy, because I loved the first. In any event, I should have, because it's every bit as good as the first book. Will definitely read the rest!
August 2, 2015
Es muy difícil hacer una continuación de una gran libro como es Pórtico, pero Frederik Pohl hace un digno trabajo en esta segunda parte. Continúa con las tesis principales que plantea en el primer tomo y gracias a que el punto de vista va cambiando nos permite conocer más detalles de los Heechee y de su tecnología. También sabemos más sobre el protagonista, quien tiene una evolución del primer al segundo libro muy interesante.
Y el elemento estrella vuelve a ser los programas informáticos que ayudan al protagonista en su vida diaria. Al igual que en Pórtico conocimos a una especie de Sigmund Freud que le psicoanalizaba; aquí conocemos a la copia de Albert Einsten, su asesor personal que permite a Robin, y al lector, conocer todos los detalles necesarios para seguir avanzando en la trama.
Y el elemento estrella vuelve a ser los programas informáticos que ayudan al protagonista en su vida diaria. Al igual que en Pórtico conocimos a una especie de Sigmund Freud que le psicoanalizaba; aquí conocemos a la copia de Albert Einsten, su asesor personal que permite a Robin, y al lector, conocer todos los detalles necesarios para seguir avanzando en la trama.
June 18, 2015
Given the riotous success of Gateway, I was surprised at how difficult it was to get a copy of this, the sequel (it's basically out of print).
Having found a second-hand copy, the reason became clear: this book is a feeble shadow of its predecessor. Terribly disappointing, avoid.
Having found a second-hand copy, the reason became clear: this book is a feeble shadow of its predecessor. Terribly disappointing, avoid.
December 26, 2023
This was a great sequel to the classic Gateway in which we learn more about the Heechee without actually meeting them. Robinette is still a wacky protagonist, both charming and annoying. He and his AI-pal Albert exploit the Food Factory and Heechee Heaven to benefit mankind (but especially to Robin's benefit). We are given some more background on the Heechee's and (here it becomes suspiciously close to the story in The Expanse) what they were fleeing when they left all their artifacts all over the Solar System and beyond. We are also introduced to Wan, the strange adolescent they meet in the Food Factory.
The outdated sexism/pedo fantasy aspect of the book (the oversexed 14-year-old) fortunately is forgotten once we meet Wan, otherwise, I would have enjoyed this far less. I thought there were moments that Pohl was seeing far beyond his time, particularly when describing the AI constructs of Albert and Sigmund.
A great book and worth the read!
The outdated sexism/pedo fantasy aspect of the book (the oversexed 14-year-old) fortunately is forgotten once we meet Wan, otherwise, I would have enjoyed this far less. I thought there were moments that Pohl was seeing far beyond his time, particularly when describing the AI constructs of Albert and Sigmund.
A great book and worth the read!
September 26, 2025
Bleh.
I came here wanting to read about event horizons and ancient alien artifacts. Not some insipid sexcapades, involving minors and some dysfunctional family.
The last chapter (about 4 pages) was the only interesting part of this whole book.
It’s like the author tried to deliver a Clarke/Tchaikovsky/Reynolds-esque story, mash em all up into a stew but only resulted in making some inedible sludge.
I came here wanting to read about event horizons and ancient alien artifacts. Not some insipid sexcapades, involving minors and some dysfunctional family.
The last chapter (about 4 pages) was the only interesting part of this whole book.
It’s like the author tried to deliver a Clarke/Tchaikovsky/Reynolds-esque story, mash em all up into a stew but only resulted in making some inedible sludge.
July 7, 2015
review of
Frederik Pohl's Beyond the Blue Event Horizon
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - July 6, 2015
I read Pohl's Gateway 1st in this Heechee Saga. My review's here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15... . I'm somewhat surprised to see that I read it 3 yrs ago. That's one of those time-flies-when-you're-not-having-fun-just-getting-older thingies. Skimming over my Gateway review I think I was more impressed by that one than I was by this sequel - wch isn't to say that I thought this was 'bad', it just didn't seem quite as inspired.
One idea that caught my fancy is that of "Gosh numbers":
"Gosh numbers are numbers which represent more than one quantity, so that when you perceive the coincidence you say, 'Gosh.'" - p 45
"“Ph, well,” said the Dead Man gloomily, “all right. Point-five degrees is the angular diameter of both the sun and the Moon as seen from Earth. Gosh! How strange that they should be the same, but also how useful, because it is partly because of this coincidence that Earth has eclipses. Minus-forty degrees is the temperature which is the same in both Fahrenheit and Celsius scales. Gosh. Two thousand twenty-five is the sum of the cubes of the integers, one cubed plus two cubed plus three cubed and so on up to nine cubed, all added together. It is also the square of their sum. Gosh.["]" - p 45
""One. The quantities Tiny Jim referred to as 'gosh numbers'. These are numerical quantities, mostly of the sort called 'dimensionless' because they are the same in any units you measure. The mass ratio between the electron and the proton. The Dirac number to express the difference between electromagnetic and gravitational force. The Eddington fine-structure constant. And so forth. We know these numbers to great precision. What we do not know is why they are what they are. Why shouldn't the fine-structure constant be, say, 150 instead of 137-plus? If we understoood astrophysics—if we had a complete theory—we should be able to deduce these numbers from that theory.["]" - p 289
SO, of course, I had to do at least some cursory research on Gosh Numbers wch led me to: http://mathtricks.org/gosh-numbers/go... where Beyond the Blue Event Horizon is discussed & quoted & then this follows:
"Well, that was a rather lengthy introduction, so I will not delay any further the first Gosh Number:
"1729
"1729 is the least number expressible as the sum of 2 cubes in two different ways:
"1729 = 123 + 13 = 103 + 93
"1729 is also the 3rd Carmichael number
"1729 is also a centered cube number, a dodecagonal number, a 24-gonal and 84-gonal number. The creators of the television cartoon Futurama thought so much of 1729 that they included it within the show on several occasions.
"GOSH!!"
The author of the above is one Steven Pomeroy.
One of the Heechee artifacts found in Beyond the Blue Event Horizon is a "couch" that enables a person to broadcast their dreams: "["]We know that in human history many of the great inventions sprang up all over the world, apparently independently, maybe simultaneously. Are they Heechee suggestions, via the couch?"" (p 87) Zeitgeists fascinate me, I'm sure I've been part of many. A more Ockham's Razor explanation for them than Pohl's fanciful suggestion might be that certain mindsets reach the same conclusions at the same time b/c they're 'obvious' next steps in the mindset's progression. In other words, Marconi & Tesla shared a similar cultural background & education that led to an 'obvious' next step being the radio. W/o this shared cultural & educational background this zeigeist wdn't've occurred. In other words, radio wasn't suddenly conceived of & made by a farmer w/ no scientific training. That, however, doesn't necessarily explain Tesla's ability to completely visualize inventions before building them:
"[..]I was about seventeen when my thoughts turned seriously to invention. Then I observed to my delight that I could visualize with the greatest facility. I needed no models, drawings or experiments. I could picture them all as real in my mind." - p 33, My Inventions, Nikola Tesla, 1995, Barnes & Noble Books
It might be interesting sometime to develop whole vast theories based on deliberate acceptance of probable typos & misprints as not accidents. EG: the above Beyond the Blue Event Horizon quote from p 45 re Gosh numbers begins "“Ph, well,” said the Dead Man gloomily" w/ the "Ph" presumably intended to be "Oh" (as Pomeroy quotes it in his article).
Then, on p 129 it's printed: "But the relationship had been of suppliant and monarch" in wch "suppliant" was presumably meant to read "supplicant". But was it? After all, a "suppliant" is "a person making a humble plea to someone in power or authority" & a "supplicant" is "a person who asks for something in a respectful way from a powerful person or God". SO, what's the difference? According to http://dictionary.reference.com/brows..., the etymology for "suppliant" is "1400-50; late Middle English < Middle French, present participle of supplier < Latin supplicāre to beseech, supplicate" & can be confused w/ "supplicant". The same source, http://dictionary.reference.com/brows..., provides an etymology for "supplicant" as: "1590-1600; < Latin supplicant- (stem of supplicāns), present participle of supplicāre to supplicate; see -ant; doublet of suppliant".
& what's a "doublet"? According to Wikipedia:
"In etymology, two or more words in the same language are called doublets or etymological twins (or possibly triplets, etc.) when they have different phonological forms but the same etymological root. Often, but not always, the variants have entered the language through different routes. Because the relationship between words that have the same root and the same meaning is fairly obvious, the term is mostly used to characterize pairs of words that have diverged in meaning at least to some extent.
"For example English pyre and fire are doublets. Modern words with similar meaning but subtle differences contribute to the richness of the English language, as exemplified by the doublets frail and fragile (both from the Latin adjective fragilis): one might refer to a fragile tea cup and a frail old woman, but never frail tea cup, whilst fragile old woman adds a dimension of meaning by implying emotional infirmity rather than physical." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublet...
The point is, I don't see where suppliant & supplicant have diverged, they seem to have the same meaning - w/ suppliant coming 1st. What is Pohl really up to here? It's obvious to me that everything in this novel is just a smokescreen to hide the combined significance of "Ph" & "suppliant". Don't believe me? That's b/c yr pH balance is alkaline & I'm acid-tongued (both literally & figuratively). Further supporting my theory is this: ""That's not exactly a tenth of a number, Robin," said Sigfrid." (p 230) The careful reader will note that the psychoanalyzing program is credited w/ this sentence when it shd clearly be the science program, Albert.
("If you think back to high school chemistry class, you may recall that pH is an abbreviation for potential hydrogen. A pH number measures from 0 to14 how acidic or alkaline a liquid is -- anything above 7 is alkaline and anything below 7 is acid. Water has a pH level of 7 -- it's neutral, meaning it has the same amount of acids and alkalis, which balance each other out." - http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-... )
I don't want to give too much away about the story of Beyond the Blue Event Horizon - hence my punning tangent above. Shucks, I'm not really acid-teongued. Nonetheless, I 'can't' resist quoting this:
""They're called 'prayer fans', Wan."
""No, no," he shrilled crossly, taking it away from her and marching crossly into the chamber. "You do not pray with them. You read them. Like this."" - p 138
Let that be a lesson to you: the Bible & the Qur'an were meant to help keep kafirs like myself cooler in hot desert environments - they're not for reading. All those silly religious fanatics have got it all bass-ackwards.
The Heechee Saga is epic. "After more than three-quarters of a million years of rolling slowly around Earth;s very distant sun, the artifact pulled itself into a new orbit and surged away." (p 202) That may seem a bit too long-term to wrap yr head around but think of this: Mayflies have an average lifespan of 24 hrs & their lifespan can be as short as 30 minutes ( http://www.itsnature.org/what-on-eart... ), humans in the US have an average lifespan of 78.2 yrs. Interestingly, the US is 38 in the list of longest-lived & Japan's at the top w/ 82.6. The average expectancy independent of country is 67.2 (males 65, females 69.5). ( http://www.disabled-world.com/calcula... )
SO, contrast a Mayfly living 30 minutes to a human male making it to 65: the human male lives 1,129,580 times longer than the Mayfly who "depending on the species and after hatching [..] mate, lay eggs and die." ( http://www.itsnature.org.. again) We have time to notice them but do they even notice us? It's completely reasonable, if still only speculative, that there's another critter out there to whom we're naught but a Mayfly.
"Not much development occurred in the fifteen years between the removal of the colony from its prehistoric African home and Squint's death. The Heechee were not discouraged. In fifteen years, they did not expect much. They had much longer plans than that." - p 262
"They tidied up behind them, as they always did. Then they went away and allowed the rest of that particular experiment, among all their experiments, to run.
"For eight hundred thousand years." - p 262
Putting that in the human / Mayfly scale again: If the human male lives 1,129,580 times longer than the Mayfly by making it to 65 then the above "eight hundred thousand years" wd put the human male at age 46.
Thank you, Frederik Pohl, for stimulating me to do the above research.
Frederik Pohl's Beyond the Blue Event Horizon
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - July 6, 2015
I read Pohl's Gateway 1st in this Heechee Saga. My review's here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15... . I'm somewhat surprised to see that I read it 3 yrs ago. That's one of those time-flies-when-you're-not-having-fun-just-getting-older thingies. Skimming over my Gateway review I think I was more impressed by that one than I was by this sequel - wch isn't to say that I thought this was 'bad', it just didn't seem quite as inspired.
One idea that caught my fancy is that of "Gosh numbers":
"Gosh numbers are numbers which represent more than one quantity, so that when you perceive the coincidence you say, 'Gosh.'" - p 45
"“Ph, well,” said the Dead Man gloomily, “all right. Point-five degrees is the angular diameter of both the sun and the Moon as seen from Earth. Gosh! How strange that they should be the same, but also how useful, because it is partly because of this coincidence that Earth has eclipses. Minus-forty degrees is the temperature which is the same in both Fahrenheit and Celsius scales. Gosh. Two thousand twenty-five is the sum of the cubes of the integers, one cubed plus two cubed plus three cubed and so on up to nine cubed, all added together. It is also the square of their sum. Gosh.["]" - p 45
""One. The quantities Tiny Jim referred to as 'gosh numbers'. These are numerical quantities, mostly of the sort called 'dimensionless' because they are the same in any units you measure. The mass ratio between the electron and the proton. The Dirac number to express the difference between electromagnetic and gravitational force. The Eddington fine-structure constant. And so forth. We know these numbers to great precision. What we do not know is why they are what they are. Why shouldn't the fine-structure constant be, say, 150 instead of 137-plus? If we understoood astrophysics—if we had a complete theory—we should be able to deduce these numbers from that theory.["]" - p 289
SO, of course, I had to do at least some cursory research on Gosh Numbers wch led me to: http://mathtricks.org/gosh-numbers/go... where Beyond the Blue Event Horizon is discussed & quoted & then this follows:
"Well, that was a rather lengthy introduction, so I will not delay any further the first Gosh Number:
"1729
"1729 is the least number expressible as the sum of 2 cubes in two different ways:
"1729 = 123 + 13 = 103 + 93
"1729 is also the 3rd Carmichael number
"1729 is also a centered cube number, a dodecagonal number, a 24-gonal and 84-gonal number. The creators of the television cartoon Futurama thought so much of 1729 that they included it within the show on several occasions.
"GOSH!!"
The author of the above is one Steven Pomeroy.
One of the Heechee artifacts found in Beyond the Blue Event Horizon is a "couch" that enables a person to broadcast their dreams: "["]We know that in human history many of the great inventions sprang up all over the world, apparently independently, maybe simultaneously. Are they Heechee suggestions, via the couch?"" (p 87) Zeitgeists fascinate me, I'm sure I've been part of many. A more Ockham's Razor explanation for them than Pohl's fanciful suggestion might be that certain mindsets reach the same conclusions at the same time b/c they're 'obvious' next steps in the mindset's progression. In other words, Marconi & Tesla shared a similar cultural background & education that led to an 'obvious' next step being the radio. W/o this shared cultural & educational background this zeigeist wdn't've occurred. In other words, radio wasn't suddenly conceived of & made by a farmer w/ no scientific training. That, however, doesn't necessarily explain Tesla's ability to completely visualize inventions before building them:
"[..]I was about seventeen when my thoughts turned seriously to invention. Then I observed to my delight that I could visualize with the greatest facility. I needed no models, drawings or experiments. I could picture them all as real in my mind." - p 33, My Inventions, Nikola Tesla, 1995, Barnes & Noble Books
It might be interesting sometime to develop whole vast theories based on deliberate acceptance of probable typos & misprints as not accidents. EG: the above Beyond the Blue Event Horizon quote from p 45 re Gosh numbers begins "“Ph, well,” said the Dead Man gloomily" w/ the "Ph" presumably intended to be "Oh" (as Pomeroy quotes it in his article).
Then, on p 129 it's printed: "But the relationship had been of suppliant and monarch" in wch "suppliant" was presumably meant to read "supplicant". But was it? After all, a "suppliant" is "a person making a humble plea to someone in power or authority" & a "supplicant" is "a person who asks for something in a respectful way from a powerful person or God". SO, what's the difference? According to http://dictionary.reference.com/brows..., the etymology for "suppliant" is "1400-50; late Middle English < Middle French, present participle of supplier < Latin supplicāre to beseech, supplicate" & can be confused w/ "supplicant". The same source, http://dictionary.reference.com/brows..., provides an etymology for "supplicant" as: "1590-1600; < Latin supplicant- (stem of supplicāns), present participle of supplicāre to supplicate; see -ant; doublet of suppliant".
& what's a "doublet"? According to Wikipedia:
"In etymology, two or more words in the same language are called doublets or etymological twins (or possibly triplets, etc.) when they have different phonological forms but the same etymological root. Often, but not always, the variants have entered the language through different routes. Because the relationship between words that have the same root and the same meaning is fairly obvious, the term is mostly used to characterize pairs of words that have diverged in meaning at least to some extent.
"For example English pyre and fire are doublets. Modern words with similar meaning but subtle differences contribute to the richness of the English language, as exemplified by the doublets frail and fragile (both from the Latin adjective fragilis): one might refer to a fragile tea cup and a frail old woman, but never frail tea cup, whilst fragile old woman adds a dimension of meaning by implying emotional infirmity rather than physical." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublet...
The point is, I don't see where suppliant & supplicant have diverged, they seem to have the same meaning - w/ suppliant coming 1st. What is Pohl really up to here? It's obvious to me that everything in this novel is just a smokescreen to hide the combined significance of "Ph" & "suppliant". Don't believe me? That's b/c yr pH balance is alkaline & I'm acid-tongued (both literally & figuratively). Further supporting my theory is this: ""That's not exactly a tenth of a number, Robin," said Sigfrid." (p 230) The careful reader will note that the psychoanalyzing program is credited w/ this sentence when it shd clearly be the science program, Albert.
("If you think back to high school chemistry class, you may recall that pH is an abbreviation for potential hydrogen. A pH number measures from 0 to14 how acidic or alkaline a liquid is -- anything above 7 is alkaline and anything below 7 is acid. Water has a pH level of 7 -- it's neutral, meaning it has the same amount of acids and alkalis, which balance each other out." - http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-... )
I don't want to give too much away about the story of Beyond the Blue Event Horizon - hence my punning tangent above. Shucks, I'm not really acid-teongued. Nonetheless, I 'can't' resist quoting this:
""They're called 'prayer fans', Wan."
""No, no," he shrilled crossly, taking it away from her and marching crossly into the chamber. "You do not pray with them. You read them. Like this."" - p 138
Let that be a lesson to you: the Bible & the Qur'an were meant to help keep kafirs like myself cooler in hot desert environments - they're not for reading. All those silly religious fanatics have got it all bass-ackwards.
The Heechee Saga is epic. "After more than three-quarters of a million years of rolling slowly around Earth;s very distant sun, the artifact pulled itself into a new orbit and surged away." (p 202) That may seem a bit too long-term to wrap yr head around but think of this: Mayflies have an average lifespan of 24 hrs & their lifespan can be as short as 30 minutes ( http://www.itsnature.org/what-on-eart... ), humans in the US have an average lifespan of 78.2 yrs. Interestingly, the US is 38 in the list of longest-lived & Japan's at the top w/ 82.6. The average expectancy independent of country is 67.2 (males 65, females 69.5). ( http://www.disabled-world.com/calcula... )
SO, contrast a Mayfly living 30 minutes to a human male making it to 65: the human male lives 1,129,580 times longer than the Mayfly who "depending on the species and after hatching [..] mate, lay eggs and die." ( http://www.itsnature.org.. again) We have time to notice them but do they even notice us? It's completely reasonable, if still only speculative, that there's another critter out there to whom we're naught but a Mayfly.
"Not much development occurred in the fifteen years between the removal of the colony from its prehistoric African home and Squint's death. The Heechee were not discouraged. In fifteen years, they did not expect much. They had much longer plans than that." - p 262
"They tidied up behind them, as they always did. Then they went away and allowed the rest of that particular experiment, among all their experiments, to run.
"For eight hundred thousand years." - p 262
Putting that in the human / Mayfly scale again: If the human male lives 1,129,580 times longer than the Mayfly by making it to 65 then the above "eight hundred thousand years" wd put the human male at age 46.
Thank you, Frederik Pohl, for stimulating me to do the above research.
August 4, 2021
Siendo Pórtico una maravilla, la segunda parte de la saga me ha parecido una obra maestra.
No puedo explicar todo lo que me ha gustado. Tiene de todo:
· Variedad de escenarios, personajes interesantes y puntos de vista
· Inteligencia artificial explicada en profundidad y de forma interesante
· Misterio, acción, reflexión
Es un libro que me ha llenado de principio a fin. Si bien Pórtico iba aumentando en profundidad a lo largo de su lectura (lo cual creo acertado para la primera parte de la saga), creo que éste otro mantiene la intensidad y el interés del lector a lo largo de todo el libro de forma magistral (con sus momentos de pausa, obviamente).
Los escenarios me han resultado muy bien descritos y los personajes muy bien trabajados. Tanto éste como Pórtico me han recordado a Asimov en cuanto a estructura, en el sentido de dar un batacazo final y explicar en profundidad temas de interés para el lector sin resultar nada pedante, consiguiendo mantener el interés.
En resumen, de momento recomiendo mucho esta saga si te gusta la ciencia ficción y si, como yo, eres una persona curiosa en temas existenciales y conceptos de tiempo diferentes a los del día a día.
No puedo explicar todo lo que me ha gustado. Tiene de todo:
· Variedad de escenarios, personajes interesantes y puntos de vista
· Inteligencia artificial explicada en profundidad y de forma interesante
· Misterio, acción, reflexión
Es un libro que me ha llenado de principio a fin. Si bien Pórtico iba aumentando en profundidad a lo largo de su lectura (lo cual creo acertado para la primera parte de la saga), creo que éste otro mantiene la intensidad y el interés del lector a lo largo de todo el libro de forma magistral (con sus momentos de pausa, obviamente).
Los escenarios me han resultado muy bien descritos y los personajes muy bien trabajados. Tanto éste como Pórtico me han recordado a Asimov en cuanto a estructura, en el sentido de dar un batacazo final y explicar en profundidad temas de interés para el lector sin resultar nada pedante, consiguiendo mantener el interés.
En resumen, de momento recomiendo mucho esta saga si te gusta la ciencia ficción y si, como yo, eres una persona curiosa en temas existenciales y conceptos de tiempo diferentes a los del día a día.
June 9, 2024
This book does follow Bob, however he is almost u recognizable from the previous book— which is bittersweet for me.
There is no psychiatric discussion or even inner struggle as much as a new cast of characters (that seem outta place) and new discoveries about the heechee aliens
There is no psychiatric discussion or even inner struggle as much as a new cast of characters (that seem outta place) and new discoveries about the heechee aliens
June 15, 2018
Pohl here continues the Heechee saga with more of the same. Book 2 in the series is a small part human archeology of alien technology, a solid dose teenage sexuality, a touch of facing death and quite a lot of stupidity. Some of the tech in the book is way beyond what can ever be reasonably expected to become reality and it seems to only get more and more speculative.
Beyond the Blue Event Horizon is not too long, an easy read and quite entertaining despite all the flaws. Although it makes no lasting impression it was just good enough to make me read part 3 of the Heechee saga, sometime, with no must reads on the shelf.
Beyond the Blue Event Horizon is not too long, an easy read and quite entertaining despite all the flaws. Although it makes no lasting impression it was just good enough to make me read part 3 of the Heechee saga, sometime, with no must reads on the shelf.
September 7, 2021
[TW: alluded incest, mentions of rape, inappropriate sexual acts in front of a minor, paedophilia, sexism, medical descriptions]
What the fuck, Frederik Pohl. I thought your weird forays into writing a "queer" character (that was only actually "queer" due to childhood trauma) was just you being goofy, but the continuous hypersexualized descriptions of a 14(!!!) year old girl by her 40 year old brother-in-law and another overly sexualized teenager of undisclosed age made this book incredibly difficult to read. I enjoyed the parallel Broadhead storylines in Gateway and was very sad to see them swapped out for multiple perspectives in this book. There was not one character I liked, and the slow unraveling of the mystery of the Heechees also fell very flat. I genuinely enjoyed the horror of the unknown Gateway brought with it - sitting on edge every time someone entered a Heechee ship, unsure of whether they would return, and whether this would be alive or dead. Pohl obviously aimed to make a whole series out of it, though sadly lost the charm of the first book while doing so. I'm just angry I wasted so much time reading about men who wanted to do sexual things to a minor and unravelling a mystery that didn't need to be solved. Also why did one character have to be a Nazi son? What point was THAT supposed to make? And why do people never prepare for something they call the 130 day fever? Why would you risk billions of dollars of damages every 130 days instead of just... shutting down the world for a bit? I don't get it.
What the fuck, Frederik Pohl. I thought your weird forays into writing a "queer" character (that was only actually "queer" due to childhood trauma) was just you being goofy, but the continuous hypersexualized descriptions of a 14(!!!) year old girl by her 40 year old brother-in-law and another overly sexualized teenager of undisclosed age made this book incredibly difficult to read. I enjoyed the parallel Broadhead storylines in Gateway and was very sad to see them swapped out for multiple perspectives in this book. There was not one character I liked, and the slow unraveling of the mystery of the Heechees also fell very flat. I genuinely enjoyed the horror of the unknown Gateway brought with it - sitting on edge every time someone entered a Heechee ship, unsure of whether they would return, and whether this would be alive or dead. Pohl obviously aimed to make a whole series out of it, though sadly lost the charm of the first book while doing so. I'm just angry I wasted so much time reading about men who wanted to do sexual things to a minor and unravelling a mystery that didn't need to be solved. Also why did one character have to be a Nazi son? What point was THAT supposed to make? And why do people never prepare for something they call the 130 day fever? Why would you risk billions of dollars of damages every 130 days instead of just... shutting down the world for a bit? I don't get it.
September 14, 2016
This is re-read for me. I first read the novel when it came out and I was barely an adult. At the time I thought it was the middle book of a trilogy and that the story suffered a bit for it, but now we know there were to be five books in this series and I have no idea why I ever thought it had middle volume syndrome. It's quite immersive!
The character motivations make a good deal more sense reading it now from a more mature perspective. The novel is far more upbeat than Gateway, thus far more enjoyable to me, but I can see why some found it not as groundbreaking. It is however solid science fiction the way it used to be during my own golden age. Some of the cosmology is already a little out of date, but the characters are interesting. Some of them I might like to hang out with -- if not in a stinky cramped spacecraft for three years as in the story.
My favorite character is probably Albert (Einstein), a much more lovable computer program than the Sigmund von Shrink of the first book. It is well worth getting through the first three quarters of the novel featuring mostly character development (not a boring task by any means) to get to roughly the last quarter where great big awe inspiring vistas of time and space open up in ways only science fiction can achieve.
This is the good sense of wonder stuff I find so lacking in much of today's genre fiction.
The character motivations make a good deal more sense reading it now from a more mature perspective. The novel is far more upbeat than Gateway, thus far more enjoyable to me, but I can see why some found it not as groundbreaking. It is however solid science fiction the way it used to be during my own golden age. Some of the cosmology is already a little out of date, but the characters are interesting. Some of them I might like to hang out with -- if not in a stinky cramped spacecraft for three years as in the story.
My favorite character is probably Albert (Einstein), a much more lovable computer program than the Sigmund von Shrink of the first book. It is well worth getting through the first three quarters of the novel featuring mostly character development (not a boring task by any means) to get to roughly the last quarter where great big awe inspiring vistas of time and space open up in ways only science fiction can achieve.
This is the good sense of wonder stuff I find so lacking in much of today's genre fiction.
December 16, 2015
La historia, continuación de esa obra maestra que es ’Pórtico’, tiene dos escenarios. Por un lado tenemos a Robin Broadhead, el que fuera protagonista de ‘Pórtico’, que financia una expedición hacia un artefacto Heechee, la Fábrica Alimentaria, que se encuentra en la nube de Oort, capaz de transformar ciertos elementos del universo en alimentos. Su intención es utilizarla para acabar con el hambre en la Tierra. Y por otro lado, está la propia expedición y sus miembros, que llevan viajando tres años y medio para llegar a la Fábrica. Ambas tramas me parecen interesantes, tanto lo que sucede con los artefactos Heechee, como lo que acontece en la Tierra con Robin.
‘Tras el incierto horizonte’ (Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, 1980), del norteamericano Frederik Pohl, sin llegar al nivel de excelencia de ‘Pórtico’, me ha parecido una muy buena novela. Me ha interesado todo lo que me ha ido contado, manteniendo mi interés hacia un final abierto al tercer volumen de la saga.
‘Tras el incierto horizonte’ (Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, 1980), del norteamericano Frederik Pohl, sin llegar al nivel de excelencia de ‘Pórtico’, me ha parecido una muy buena novela. Me ha interesado todo lo que me ha ido contado, manteniendo mi interés hacia un final abierto al tercer volumen de la saga.
April 13, 2020
3/5
Coincido con lo que parece ser la opinión generalizada de esta segunda entrega de Los Anales de los Heechee: no está a la altura, ni por asomo, de la primera. El libro comienza con unas reflexiones casi pedófilas del que será uno de los protagonistas hacia una niña de 14 años que se extienden demasiado para mi gusto -y espero que también para el de la mayoría-. Ambos son miembros de una tripulación cuyos integrantes comparten un grado de parentesco entre sí. Esta tripulación compuesta por padre, hijas y yerno tiene la misión de llegar a la Factoría Alimentaria, en los límites del Sistema Solar, en la nube de Oort. Esta idílica nave dejada por los Heechee permitiría poner fin al problema de abastecimiento de alimentos que la Tierra atraviesa.
La historia se divide de esta forma en dos partes. La primera de ellas sigue a los tripulantes de ese viaje, mientras que la segunda nos cuenta las andanzas del protagonista de la original Portico, Robinette Broadhead, tras los hechos que tuvieron lugar en la primera novela. Es él quien financia esta expedición a la Factoría Alimentaria. El interés del libro reside principalmente en el viaje de estos peculiares tripulantes, siendo la parte de Robin bastante más aburrida. Pero bueno, también es comprensible dada su nueva condición de multimillonario.
La idea de esta segunda entrega resulta interesante pero es llevada a cabo de un modo mucho menos magistral. No es un mal libro pero podría ser mejor. ¿Qué sensaciones me causará El encuentro? Quién sabe, pero espero que sea algo más reminiscente de Pórtico que esta primera entrega.
Coincido con lo que parece ser la opinión generalizada de esta segunda entrega de Los Anales de los Heechee: no está a la altura, ni por asomo, de la primera. El libro comienza con unas reflexiones casi pedófilas del que será uno de los protagonistas hacia una niña de 14 años que se extienden demasiado para mi gusto -y espero que también para el de la mayoría-. Ambos son miembros de una tripulación cuyos integrantes comparten un grado de parentesco entre sí. Esta tripulación compuesta por padre, hijas y yerno tiene la misión de llegar a la Factoría Alimentaria, en los límites del Sistema Solar, en la nube de Oort. Esta idílica nave dejada por los Heechee permitiría poner fin al problema de abastecimiento de alimentos que la Tierra atraviesa.
La historia se divide de esta forma en dos partes. La primera de ellas sigue a los tripulantes de ese viaje, mientras que la segunda nos cuenta las andanzas del protagonista de la original Portico, Robinette Broadhead, tras los hechos que tuvieron lugar en la primera novela. Es él quien financia esta expedición a la Factoría Alimentaria. El interés del libro reside principalmente en el viaje de estos peculiares tripulantes, siendo la parte de Robin bastante más aburrida. Pero bueno, también es comprensible dada su nueva condición de multimillonario.
La idea de esta segunda entrega resulta interesante pero es llevada a cabo de un modo mucho menos magistral. No es un mal libro pero podría ser mejor. ¿Qué sensaciones me causará El encuentro? Quién sabe, pero espero que sea algo más reminiscente de Pórtico que esta primera entrega.
April 12, 2021
Много хлабаво продължение с доста различна история и твърде много нови герои, които ми бяха абсолютно безинтересни. Пол се е олял в ненужни и детайлни физиологични описания, сякаш авторът на продължението е съвсем друг. Единствените свежи моменти са вързани с историята на хичиянците, но са така разхвърляни, че не си заслужава останалата мъка, освен ако не се прочетат само първа и последна глава.
1,5 звезди
1,5 звезди
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