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A space exploration vessel brings alien animals and plants from the depths of space, and scientists are exploring this alien life on a space station orbiting Earth.
But there, obviously in connection with the newcomers, the first humans begin to fall ill and die.
The doctors are powerless, the staff of the space station seems to be lost. What's more, an irresponsible politician who happens to be aboard the station wants to resist all prohibitions and return to Earth.
He would take the disease with him ...
But there, obviously in connection with the newcomers, the first humans begin to fall ill and die.
The doctors are powerless, the staff of the space station seems to be lost. What's more, an irresponsible politician who happens to be aboard the station wants to resist all prohibitions and return to Earth.
He would take the disease with him ...
- GenresScience FictionFiction
Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
2 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Jack C. Haldeman II
69 books15 followersJack Carroll "Jay" Haldeman II was an American biologist and science-fiction writer. He was the older brother of SF writer Joe Haldeman. He was married to writer Barbara Delaplace.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 18, 2019
The blurb and the cover make this novel more exciting than it truly is. Not to say that it isn’t a well-written and interesting novel, but the back cover sets it up as almost a zombie-infection story, rather than what truly happens. This book is serious science fiction (the author was a scientist).
The basic premise is that you have scientists on a space station studying animal life from other planets. We follow a collection of scientists as they slowly start dying off due to some mysterious. What the disease does is make people forgetful, lazy and clumsy, as the “dream disease” causes them to lapse in and out of reality. Only one person reacts violently. It’s an immersive, well-wrought story and I really enjoyed it.
There is no main character, but this does allow for more varied accounts of how the dream disease affects people, which was worth it as the writing in those scenes is evocative. The prose is descriptive and the dialogue realistic, but the star scenes are when the characters in the dream disease state. It’s almost poetic – “He saw only walls, but in his mind there were mountains and storms.”
What I particularly enjoyed was the diversity of the characters and the normalization of a lesbian couple. You rarely see this in sci-fi earlier than the 80s, and sometimes if there is an LGBTQ+ character they are a stereotype or their sexuality is used a device. This couple was realistic, and they were not vilified for their relationship.
The theme of animal rights pervaded the story for me. I don’t believe this was the intention at the time, but today it’s a very relevant topic. Poor mantas!
Overall, the novel was engaging, entertaining and a lot of fun. Recommended!
Plug! Do you like Book Reviews of old Science Fiction? Do you like Analyses of Novels? Do you like pugs? Check out my Booktube Channel Sound and Fury for a deeper dive into this novel!
The basic premise is that you have scientists on a space station studying animal life from other planets. We follow a collection of scientists as they slowly start dying off due to some mysterious. What the disease does is make people forgetful, lazy and clumsy, as the “dream disease” causes them to lapse in and out of reality. Only one person reacts violently. It’s an immersive, well-wrought story and I really enjoyed it.
There is no main character, but this does allow for more varied accounts of how the dream disease affects people, which was worth it as the writing in those scenes is evocative. The prose is descriptive and the dialogue realistic, but the star scenes are when the characters in the dream disease state. It’s almost poetic – “He saw only walls, but in his mind there were mountains and storms.”
What I particularly enjoyed was the diversity of the characters and the normalization of a lesbian couple. You rarely see this in sci-fi earlier than the 80s, and sometimes if there is an LGBTQ+ character they are a stereotype or their sexuality is used a device. This couple was realistic, and they were not vilified for their relationship.
The theme of animal rights pervaded the story for me. I don’t believe this was the intention at the time, but today it’s a very relevant topic. Poor mantas!
Overall, the novel was engaging, entertaining and a lot of fun. Recommended!
Plug! Do you like Book Reviews of old Science Fiction? Do you like Analyses of Novels? Do you like pugs? Check out my Booktube Channel Sound and Fury for a deeper dive into this novel!
January 7, 2009
Like the Andromeda Strain, but in space, and of lesser depth. I'm really talented at picking books with crappy endings these days, and this fit the bill. On the plus side, they did blow up a chromatograph - let the anti-LCMS revolution begin.
February 21, 2018
Pretty standard old sci-fi. Capture alien species, poke and prod alien species, alien species retaliates unintentionally, lots of people end up dead, scientist saves the world (or space station in this case).
Think Andromeda Strain but with less fleshing out of the story.
Think Andromeda Strain but with less fleshing out of the story.
April 13, 2023
Pretty solid little sci-fi book. The big issue is the pacing. For such a short novel it takes a bit too long to get going and rushes it’s conclusion. I feel if it was around 250 pages it would be paced much better.
February 19, 2024
Not bad as such, but, like the FAR superior Andromeda Strain, this book is not science fiction. It's pure medical horror. The fact that the horror "comes from space" makes zero difference. Also, too dreamy, overwhelmingly confusingly. Stay away.
February 4, 2016
Nice solid SiFi story. An easy and quick read. good plot and characters. Recommended
May 14, 2023
The most rushed ending of a book I’ve ever read the entire conflict is resolved on the last page it’s very weird. Like a weird bad sci fi movie from the 70s with plot holes that get forgotten about and weird pacing but I like the first half of the third act. I got this book for 3 dollars at a bookstore in vermont so I guess I got what I paid for. I kind of love it though
March 10, 2013
good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews