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Ossian's Ride
The year is 1970. Sealed behind an impenetrable barrier in the south of Ireland, the Industrial Corporation of Eire startles the rest of the world with its efficiency, its brilliance ... and its utter ruthlessness.
To penetrate the barrier is to invite a swift and silent death. Scientific reports on its methods of operation are found to be faked.
One man is sent to challenge this mysterious and invincible syndicate. His name is Thomas Sherwood...
To penetrate the barrier is to invite a swift and silent death. Scientific reports on its methods of operation are found to be faked.
One man is sent to challenge this mysterious and invincible syndicate. His name is Thomas Sherwood...
251 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1959
About the author
Fred Hoyle
115 books181 followersProfessor Sir Fred Hoyle was one of the most distinguished, creative, and controversial scientists of the twentieth century. He was a Fellow of St John’s College (1939-1972, Honorary Fellow 1973-2001), was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1957, held the Plumian Chair of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy (1958-1972), established the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy in Cambridge (now part of the Institute of Astronomy), and (in 1972) received a knighthood for his services to astronomy.
Hoyle was a keen mountain climber, an avid player of chess, a science fiction writer, a populariser of science, and the man who coined the phrase 'The Big Bang'.
Hoyle was a keen mountain climber, an avid player of chess, a science fiction writer, a populariser of science, and the man who coined the phrase 'The Big Bang'.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
August 1, 2011
Ireland becomes the most technologically advanced country in the world.
Well, wouldn't you suspect that superintelligent aliens from outer space were somehow involved? Honestly, I couldn't understand why it took the hero so long to figure it out.
Well, wouldn't you suspect that superintelligent aliens from outer space were somehow involved? Honestly, I couldn't understand why it took the hero so long to figure it out.
December 20, 2021
1982 grade A
2009 grade A
2021 Grade B+
180 pages of literature quality SciFi. The SciFi only enters the picture in the last 20 pages. The first 160 pages is a sort of spy adventure journey story. The protagonist travels from Dublin to the odd industry under investigation on the west coast of Ireland - mostly On Foot. He of course encounters unusual people and problems as he slogs across most of the countryside of Ireland. You can follow it easily on a smart phone map.
Unfortunately, the book is old and a bit of a slog both figuratively and literally. It is truly beautifully written and very detailed. But it became tedious within an hour on each reading session. Fortunately, there were good stopping places. There was very little tendency to speed read but I did a little. I can see why it earned an A grade the first two times I read it, but the world has sped up since then and I like stories to progress faster now.
Recommended with reservations.
(My copy was published by Perennial, does not have an ISBN inside, and is not on the Goodreads list.)
2009 grade A
2021 Grade B+
180 pages of literature quality SciFi. The SciFi only enters the picture in the last 20 pages. The first 160 pages is a sort of spy adventure journey story. The protagonist travels from Dublin to the odd industry under investigation on the west coast of Ireland - mostly On Foot. He of course encounters unusual people and problems as he slogs across most of the countryside of Ireland. You can follow it easily on a smart phone map.
Unfortunately, the book is old and a bit of a slog both figuratively and literally. It is truly beautifully written and very detailed. But it became tedious within an hour on each reading session. Fortunately, there were good stopping places. There was very little tendency to speed read but I did a little. I can see why it earned an A grade the first two times I read it, but the world has sped up since then and I like stories to progress faster now.
Recommended with reservations.
(My copy was published by Perennial, does not have an ISBN inside, and is not on the Goodreads list.)
November 20, 2014
The novel is a very British Sci-Fi/Mystery taking place in Ireland during a time when County Kerry has become the most technological advanced place on Earth. The questions are why and how. The protagonist Thomas Sherwood, a Cambridge scholar in Mathematics is sent by the English to spy and find out the answers to the questions. The title, I suspect refers to deception, as the Ossian epic was a forgery. Thomas the amateur spy is taken in by almost everyone he met, as were Victorian romantics by the epic poem.
It's an interesting story, written by a famous scientist who pulls no punches when it comes to science. There are no dumbed down explanations when the mathematics of an idea is used—brush up on your calculus if needed. Thomas is likable and heroic as he figures out what is really going on. The prose is better than Hoyle's prior novel. The novel hints at coming human scientific breakthroughs.
It's an interesting story, written by a famous scientist who pulls no punches when it comes to science. There are no dumbed down explanations when the mathematics of an idea is used—brush up on your calculus if needed. Thomas is likable and heroic as he figures out what is really going on. The prose is better than Hoyle's prior novel. The novel hints at coming human scientific breakthroughs.
March 10, 2012
Pretty fun. Utterly rambling, but not in a bad way. I enjoyed thinking of it as a parable of Silicon Valley.
(Side note: my edition was a 1969 paperback that had updated the story to taking place in 1980 instead of 1970. Most of it works just fine, though not the part about the invention of contraception.)
(Side note: my edition was a 1969 paperback that had updated the story to taking place in 1980 instead of 1970. Most of it works just fine, though not the part about the invention of contraception.)
March 27, 2022
shockingly good for 1959 👍
November 21, 2019
Fred Hoyle was a great astronomer who wrote popular science books and science fiction on the side. The popular science books were very good. The science fiction is mixed.
Some of the books by Hoyle that I have read (The Black Cloud, October the First is Too Late) lack characterization. The characters are wooden. They don't have dialogue, they make speeches. The main characters are nearly perfect automatons. Other novels are much better, such as A is for Andomeda. This one, Ossian's Ride, is the best I have read.
It is Britain, summer 1970. A recent college graduate and mathematics major, Thomas Sherwood, is waiting to start graduate school in the fall. He wants a summer job. Quite by coincidence (?) a letter arrives from Whitehall Street, the center of the British government, inviting him to an interview for an interesting job to occupy July and August. It is not specific and the signature is illegible, but he goes.
He meets a man named Percy Parsonage, evidently a high ranking member of a spy organization. The basic story is that over the previous twelve years an incredibe organization called the Industrial Corporation of Eire -- I.C.E -- has taken over the southwestern corner of Ireland. Their rise to power and wealth is unprecendented. They have done so by having a limitless energy supply, evidently a fusion reactor, and by producing the first effective oral contraceptive (!) This has brought them great wealth. [Note: Ossian's Ride was published in 1959. It was probably written in 1958, when the pursuit of an oral contrceptive was a hot topic that many people thought might soon be realized. It was in fact produced in 1960.]
I.C.E now rules southwestern Ireland with an iron hand. No one is allowed in, even other Irelanders, without good reason. All the major governments of the world are dying to get information about what is going on there. Sherwood's task, should he choose to accept it, is to get in and report back on everything he can learn, especially the source of their amazing technological advances. "Papa Percy" has some spies already in Ireland, and gives Sherwood information about where to find one in Dublin.
Thomas Sherwood accepts and flies to Dublin. There he begins an amazing, complex adventure full of intriguing characters, daring plans, and narrow escapes. Again and again Sherwood shows great creativity and determination to wend his way to the forbidden part of I.C.E. country, encountering all manner of double agents and thugs. It would take a five page essay to try to summarize all his exploits. To mention only one, after a shipwreck he finally arrives at the small island of Inishvickillane, a real place in the extreme west of Ireland. He finds a well constructed modern house occuied by several intriguing people, including a Nobel laureate and another famous scientist. They work for I.C.E.! He goes for a boat ride the next day with a young woman from there and is left hanging precariously on a dangerous cliff, from which he must make his way down to safety.
That is only the most literal example of many cliffhangers that our intrepid young hero overcomes. There are a few women and one romantic interlude.
I was continally struck by the excellent writing, the ingenious situations, and the thrilling dangers artfuly constructed by Hoyle. It is hard to beieve that the same person wrote this book, "The Black Cloud", and "October the First is too Late," so very different are the styles. This is an amazingly good read! I wonder if he designed it to be adapted for television in a miniseries of about eight episodes. It would make a good one.
I was also struck by the extensive and very detailed descriptions of the journey, all the dozens of place names in Ireland. I constantly went to a map to check if such places really existed. They always did. Was Fred Hoyle intimately familiar with Ireland? He must have been to write this book.
But is it science fiction? Barely. The science fiction part occupies the last ten pages or so. All the rest is a spy thriller adventure yarn. And a darn good one.
One small citicism: I am a mathematician and there is a discussion of topology at one place in the book. Sherwood explains a point about simply connected spaces and impresses the I.C.E. scientists. But he gets it wrong.
And who is "Ossian"? The name refers no doubt to a series of books that no one seems to read anymore, written by Scotsman James Macpherson in the middle 1700s. Macpherson said he found old manuscripts written in Gaelic by someone named Ossian describing adventures of various people 1000 years earlier. Actually, Macpherson wrote them himself. The books were wildly popular for many years.
The Ossian books and Hoyle's book "Ossian's Ride" are really inspired by the Odyssey.
I highly recommend this book!
Some of the books by Hoyle that I have read (The Black Cloud, October the First is Too Late) lack characterization. The characters are wooden. They don't have dialogue, they make speeches. The main characters are nearly perfect automatons. Other novels are much better, such as A is for Andomeda. This one, Ossian's Ride, is the best I have read.
It is Britain, summer 1970. A recent college graduate and mathematics major, Thomas Sherwood, is waiting to start graduate school in the fall. He wants a summer job. Quite by coincidence (?) a letter arrives from Whitehall Street, the center of the British government, inviting him to an interview for an interesting job to occupy July and August. It is not specific and the signature is illegible, but he goes.
He meets a man named Percy Parsonage, evidently a high ranking member of a spy organization. The basic story is that over the previous twelve years an incredibe organization called the Industrial Corporation of Eire -- I.C.E -- has taken over the southwestern corner of Ireland. Their rise to power and wealth is unprecendented. They have done so by having a limitless energy supply, evidently a fusion reactor, and by producing the first effective oral contraceptive (!) This has brought them great wealth. [Note: Ossian's Ride was published in 1959. It was probably written in 1958, when the pursuit of an oral contrceptive was a hot topic that many people thought might soon be realized. It was in fact produced in 1960.]
I.C.E now rules southwestern Ireland with an iron hand. No one is allowed in, even other Irelanders, without good reason. All the major governments of the world are dying to get information about what is going on there. Sherwood's task, should he choose to accept it, is to get in and report back on everything he can learn, especially the source of their amazing technological advances. "Papa Percy" has some spies already in Ireland, and gives Sherwood information about where to find one in Dublin.
Thomas Sherwood accepts and flies to Dublin. There he begins an amazing, complex adventure full of intriguing characters, daring plans, and narrow escapes. Again and again Sherwood shows great creativity and determination to wend his way to the forbidden part of I.C.E. country, encountering all manner of double agents and thugs. It would take a five page essay to try to summarize all his exploits. To mention only one, after a shipwreck he finally arrives at the small island of Inishvickillane, a real place in the extreme west of Ireland. He finds a well constructed modern house occuied by several intriguing people, including a Nobel laureate and another famous scientist. They work for I.C.E.! He goes for a boat ride the next day with a young woman from there and is left hanging precariously on a dangerous cliff, from which he must make his way down to safety.
That is only the most literal example of many cliffhangers that our intrepid young hero overcomes. There are a few women and one romantic interlude.
I was continally struck by the excellent writing, the ingenious situations, and the thrilling dangers artfuly constructed by Hoyle. It is hard to beieve that the same person wrote this book, "The Black Cloud", and "October the First is too Late," so very different are the styles. This is an amazingly good read! I wonder if he designed it to be adapted for television in a miniseries of about eight episodes. It would make a good one.
I was also struck by the extensive and very detailed descriptions of the journey, all the dozens of place names in Ireland. I constantly went to a map to check if such places really existed. They always did. Was Fred Hoyle intimately familiar with Ireland? He must have been to write this book.
But is it science fiction? Barely. The science fiction part occupies the last ten pages or so. All the rest is a spy thriller adventure yarn. And a darn good one.
One small citicism: I am a mathematician and there is a discussion of topology at one place in the book. Sherwood explains a point about simply connected spaces and impresses the I.C.E. scientists. But he gets it wrong.
And who is "Ossian"? The name refers no doubt to a series of books that no one seems to read anymore, written by Scotsman James Macpherson in the middle 1700s. Macpherson said he found old manuscripts written in Gaelic by someone named Ossian describing adventures of various people 1000 years earlier. Actually, Macpherson wrote them himself. The books were wildly popular for many years.
The Ossian books and Hoyle's book "Ossian's Ride" are really inspired by the Odyssey.
I highly recommend this book!
January 12, 2021
I really did enjoy this read! I vaguely knew who Fred Hoyle was. An astronomer. With perhaps some slightly controversial ideas, as I remembered.
However, never knew he wrote Sci-fi!
I really enjoyed the actual process of reading this novel! The actual joy and progress of the journey was of itself entertaining and a good read.
Layered on top of this was an initially vague Sci-fi flavour that only becomes more evident towards the end.
In fact, the novel almost flips near the end, "From Dusk till Dawn" style (Tarantino movie), from a road trip to, not vampires this time, but Sci-fi. I won't give away the ending too much! I'd accidentally stumbled upon the punchline whilst reading up on the novel, and wish I hadn't known!
Suffice to say, it fits some of his slightly outré theories!
Enjoyed this much more than expected.
However, never knew he wrote Sci-fi!
I really enjoyed the actual process of reading this novel! The actual joy and progress of the journey was of itself entertaining and a good read.
Layered on top of this was an initially vague Sci-fi flavour that only becomes more evident towards the end.
In fact, the novel almost flips near the end, "From Dusk till Dawn" style (Tarantino movie), from a road trip to, not vampires this time, but Sci-fi. I won't give away the ending too much! I'd accidentally stumbled upon the punchline whilst reading up on the novel, and wish I hadn't known!
Suffice to say, it fits some of his slightly outré theories!
Enjoyed this much more than expected.
August 3, 2009
2 and a half stars maybe. Hoyle was a scientist but this isn't all that hard an SF book. OK but it didn't make me necessarily want to read more by him.
August 5, 2011
Not great - long journey ok but random ending not well explained.
March 22, 2023
This was a fun [if ultimately confusing] read. For a start, the premise --Ireland as a secretive country under the de facto control of an amazingly technologically advanced megacorporation [ICE]-- was refreshingly unconventional.
And, for most of the book, the narrative is an enjoyable "Geoffrey Household-esque" romp thrugh this fictitious Ireland, as our hero Thomas Sherwood tries to sneak into ICE controlled tip of Co. Kerry whilst being pursued across the Irish countryside by various baddies, including the unfortunately named PSD, Ireland's equvalent of the KGB --but which I couldn't help thinking of as "The Photoshop" [any graphic designers out there will get why].
So, all good fun, if you like that kind of "Rogue Male" vibe. But, only up to a point. Because, ultimately, even though the plot was fairly simplistic, I found myself struggling to keep track of who exactly was doing what to who and why. You could argue that this was a clever indication of all the double-dealing and subterfuge going on. But, reading the novel, I got the feeling that the main character Thomas Sherwood seemed to know more about what was happening than I did. Which felt like a bit of a role reversal. For isn't it more usual for the reader to have the "bigger picture" and the protagonist to be struggling to work things out?
I think the beginning and end of the novel epitomise this confusion more than the rest of it:
At the outset Thomas Sherwood is called to a meeting in London with a British security-spy-chief-type-person. Sherwood himself isn't a spy. He's just an ordinary Joe Bloggs like you or me. But, for some unaccountable reason, he gets called in and asked to go on this perilously dangerous mission to Ireland, to infiltrate ICE territory. Because that's how the security services work. They spend millions training people in espionage and counter espionage techniques.... so they can just pluck some untrained member of the public off the streets and send them instead, on any dangerous missions they have lined up.
Similarly. Right at the end of the book, Sherwood [who is now ensconced in ICE territory] is in the company of some people who maybe goodies... or baddies... who may want to kill him... or get him to join them.... [to be honest, by this stage I'd completely lost track of who was playing for what team!] and then...
Sherwood goes outside for a walk with one of the girls in the party who basically just looks up at a distant star, announces they're all shape-shifting aliens from a dying planet., which is why they're all so technologically advanced. And Sherwood pretty much just shrugs and goes 'Oh. OK. Fair enough'.
And that was it. It reminded me of the essays we used to get given to write at school. I'd start off full of piss and vinegar, with my great idea for a blockbuster story and then, after a page or two, run out of steam and quickly bail out on my tale with a hurried "...and then I woke up and it was all a dream."
And, for most of the book, the narrative is an enjoyable "Geoffrey Household-esque" romp thrugh this fictitious Ireland, as our hero Thomas Sherwood tries to sneak into ICE controlled tip of Co. Kerry whilst being pursued across the Irish countryside by various baddies, including the unfortunately named PSD, Ireland's equvalent of the KGB --but which I couldn't help thinking of as "The Photoshop" [any graphic designers out there will get why].
So, all good fun, if you like that kind of "Rogue Male" vibe. But, only up to a point. Because, ultimately, even though the plot was fairly simplistic, I found myself struggling to keep track of who exactly was doing what to who and why. You could argue that this was a clever indication of all the double-dealing and subterfuge going on. But, reading the novel, I got the feeling that the main character Thomas Sherwood seemed to know more about what was happening than I did. Which felt like a bit of a role reversal. For isn't it more usual for the reader to have the "bigger picture" and the protagonist to be struggling to work things out?
I think the beginning and end of the novel epitomise this confusion more than the rest of it:
At the outset Thomas Sherwood is called to a meeting in London with a British security-spy-chief-type-person. Sherwood himself isn't a spy. He's just an ordinary Joe Bloggs like you or me. But, for some unaccountable reason, he gets called in and asked to go on this perilously dangerous mission to Ireland, to infiltrate ICE territory. Because that's how the security services work. They spend millions training people in espionage and counter espionage techniques.... so they can just pluck some untrained member of the public off the streets and send them instead, on any dangerous missions they have lined up.
Similarly. Right at the end of the book, Sherwood [who is now ensconced in ICE territory] is in the company of some people who maybe goodies... or baddies... who may want to kill him... or get him to join them.... [to be honest, by this stage I'd completely lost track of who was playing for what team!] and then...
Sherwood goes outside for a walk with one of the girls in the party who basically just looks up at a distant star, announces they're all shape-shifting aliens from a dying planet., which is why they're all so technologically advanced. And Sherwood pretty much just shrugs and goes 'Oh. OK. Fair enough'.
And that was it. It reminded me of the essays we used to get given to write at school. I'd start off full of piss and vinegar, with my great idea for a blockbuster story and then, after a page or two, run out of steam and quickly bail out on my tale with a hurried "...and then I woke up and it was all a dream."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2025
(recensione in italiano a seguire)
Stopped just over halfway through due to the overwhelming boredom caused by the implausibility of the story and the unnatural psychology of the hero-narrator.
The story itself would have been nice, but it's much more spy story and "three-men-in-a-boat" adventure than science fiction, which is almost entirely absent (at least in the first half of the book).
There are also some inconsistencies, such as
Furthermore, the incongruous and forced interlude in which the protagonist, in the midst of a daring escape, "grabs" the girl he's escaping with (another character who is inherently unbelievable), with obvious intentions, and she "does not protest"... and what's more, the guy boasts about his feat in a supposedly official report. Meh.
Interrotto a poco più di metà per sopraggiunta noia dovuta all'implausibilità del racconto e all'innaturalezza della psicologia della voce narrante.
La storia in sè sarebbe anche carina, ma è molto più spy story e avventura alla "tre-uomini-in-barca" che non fantascienza, che è quasi assente (almeno nella prima metà del libro).
Ci sono anche alcune incongruenze come
In più, l'intermezzo incongruo e forzato nel quale il protagonista, nel bel mezzo di una fuga rocambolesca, "afferra" la fanciulla con la quale sta scappando (altro personaggio in sè poco credibile), con ovvi propositi, e lei "non protesta"... e per di più il furbetto si vanta della sua bella impresa in un presunto rapporto ufficiale. Meh.
Stopped just over halfway through due to the overwhelming boredom caused by the implausibility of the story and the unnatural psychology of the hero-narrator.
The story itself would have been nice, but it's much more spy story and "three-men-in-a-boat" adventure than science fiction, which is almost entirely absent (at least in the first half of the book).
There are also some inconsistencies, such as
Furthermore, the incongruous and forced interlude in which the protagonist, in the midst of a daring escape, "grabs" the girl he's escaping with (another character who is inherently unbelievable), with obvious intentions, and she "does not protest"... and what's more, the guy boasts about his feat in a supposedly official report. Meh.
Interrotto a poco più di metà per sopraggiunta noia dovuta all'implausibilità del racconto e all'innaturalezza della psicologia della voce narrante.
La storia in sè sarebbe anche carina, ma è molto più spy story e avventura alla "tre-uomini-in-barca" che non fantascienza, che è quasi assente (almeno nella prima metà del libro).
Ci sono anche alcune incongruenze come
In più, l'intermezzo incongruo e forzato nel quale il protagonista, nel bel mezzo di una fuga rocambolesca, "afferra" la fanciulla con la quale sta scappando (altro personaggio in sè poco credibile), con ovvi propositi, e lei "non protesta"... e per di più il furbetto si vanta della sua bella impresa in un presunto rapporto ufficiale. Meh.
September 8, 2025
I liked this. Well, sort of. It wasn't great, and it was a little long and quite tedious, but it was still readable enough. The only thing that really bothered me was that Ireland seems to be the most technologically advanced nation in the world in the late 20th century. It does not surprise me that Ireland may seem rather friendly to the US, but, from what I have learned about them, the Irish greatly oppose the UK, even though they are a neighboring nation. Still, I should imagine that it is quite very disturbing to many people (yes, possibly including many Irishmen and Irishwomen) that Ireland and the UK have political and religious differences and Ireland retains a strong anti-English feeling, yet it seemingly becomes worse when you realize Hoyle's depiction of Ireland herein. But it doesn't necessarily mean Hoyle was of Irish descent when he wrote this about that country since he was after all a true Englishman. I'll probably have to re-read it so I can see what has become of Ireland! But don't let that stop you, it was almost better than I expected. It is science fiction, but without a lot of the science and technology...until much later.
March 4, 2020
I usually like stories like this one. Stories that are based on something true (that actually happened) but then are completely changed with a lot of fantasy around them. If there is something that I particularly enjoy, is reading about beings that are not from this world.
With this being said, did I enjoyed this book? No!
Yes, it was entertaining. I really liked Thomas Sherwood character and how resourceful he was, how he managed to escape time and time again (even when it seemed that that was the end for him).
The story is very interesting throughout the book but, honestly, that ending feels very disconnected of the rest of the story. Was I expecting that ending? No. Did I liked it? Also no. In my opinion, it doesn't make any sense.
With this being said, did I enjoyed this book? No!
Yes, it was entertaining. I really liked Thomas Sherwood character and how resourceful he was, how he managed to escape time and time again (even when it seemed that that was the end for him).
The story is very interesting throughout the book but, honestly, that ending feels very disconnected of the rest of the story. Was I expecting that ending? No. Did I liked it? Also no. In my opinion, it doesn't make any sense.
July 2, 2018
I read this when it was still new, and had not been overtaken by events. I liked it, but even then I thought Hoyle had totally skipped over the challenges of recognizing and decoding the message from outer space, let alone the problems of implementing in human beings - like, what happened to the people that these folks would have become without the outside interference. Also, if the information space in human brains was too limited, why bother to put in memories and emotions of the place this message came from.
I reread it for something that would not tax my brain too much. And the tramps through Ireland were well presented.
We own a paperback copy on our SciFi bookcase.
I reread it for something that would not tax my brain too much. And the tramps through Ireland were well presented.
We own a paperback copy on our SciFi bookcase.
November 10, 2023
A very bizarre book. The plot, like the protagonist, wanders all over Ireland. Only the last page or so makes the book Science Fiction. It reminded me of CS Lewis’s That Hideous Strength. For good reason, as it turns out, because it was written as a rebuttal to that book, which I much prefer to this one.
Read
June 22, 2023not sure what to make of this, as with most of Fred Hoyle's novels. Starts relatively OK, proceeds decently, and then the science fiction starts, which though scientifically convincing is not very convincing in most other respects
April 21, 2018
Hoyle influenced me for his scientific ideas but this novel seemed very dated
Want to Read
August 15, 2019Added to my to-read list on the strength of this Brexit-related article, shared by a Facebook friend
December 8, 2019
Nem rossz könyv, bár a végkifejlet nem túl meglepő.
August 8, 2020
Not sure what in the blazes just happened.
June 7, 2022
Really lousy for Hoyle.
May 8, 2023
Liked this book when I read it fifty years ago, although I can't really explain why. Could have been too many doobies.
August 13, 2023
I kept waiting for it to be science fiction and then it was and I was disappointed
Want to Read
April 7, 2019Synopsis: it's 1970. The Industrial Corporation of Eire startles everyone with brilliance and ruthlessness. One man challenges them.
March 22, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"Fred Hoyle’s Ossian’s Ride (1959) is a disappointing sci-fi thriller which fails to live up to its intriguing premise: why is unusual technology flowing from unknown sources from far Western Ireland (a handy map is provided) beyond the Erin Curtain? Get it, Ireland’s IRON CURTAIN… This wobbly little thriller [...]"
"Fred Hoyle’s Ossian’s Ride (1959) is a disappointing sci-fi thriller which fails to live up to its intriguing premise: why is unusual technology flowing from unknown sources from far Western Ireland (a handy map is provided) beyond the Erin Curtain? Get it, Ireland’s IRON CURTAIN… This wobbly little thriller [...]"
July 22, 2016
Wondered if a conclusion was ever going to be reached to the mystery of how Eire had become sort of superpower and when it did reach a conclusion it was not what I expected. Wanted to give it two and a half in all honesty but felt it did not deserve a two, so three out of five it was.
Ray Smillie
Ray Smillie
April 26, 2023
I enjoyed most of this book, but at points it felt like it needed more urgency. The story then picks up way too much speed with the final 2 chapters shoot away into a crazy direction which up until then has not been alluded to.
Thomas Sherwood is a great hero although a bit full of himself at times, but the plot was what really let this story down.
Thomas Sherwood is a great hero although a bit full of himself at times, but the plot was what really let this story down.
Did Not Finish
January 2, 2023I've read a couple of Fred Hoyle's other books and would have rated them at least 3 stars but not this one; I couldn't finish it. Pity, as I admire him and his science.
November 23, 2017
No me ha enganchado la trama para nada. El protagonista da la impresión que corre de aquí para allá, saliéndose a lo James Bond, pero de forma barata (Vamos, sin gadgets se entiende). Si nos ponemos con que se liga a todas las guapas y otros clichés del género, no acabaríamos.
Lo he terminado por orgullo y no lo recomiendo.
Lo he terminado por orgullo y no lo recomiendo.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews