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The Architects of Hyperspace
This is an Authors Guild/BIP title. Please use Authors Guild/BIP specs.Text for author bio use author's bio.Text for book description dying man's message sends interstellar explorers on a search for a lost alien civilization."A splendid book. McDonough has created the most mind-boggling artifact since EON." Arthur C. Clarke"McDonough's imagination is as daring as they come."Locus"The imagination and scientific know-how of Clarke. I loved it."The Midwest Book Review"High adventure in the classic SF tradition."Science Fiction Chronicle"A feast of scientific imagination."David Brin"A wild interstellar romp."Charles SheffieldAuthor's photo courtesy of Cynthia Kumagawa, The PlanetarySocietyText for credit derived from Hubble Space Telescope image of Eagle Nebula, courtesy of Jeff Hester (Arizona State University). Original image created with support to AURA/STSCI from NASA contract NAS5-26555.
272 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 19, 2011
It's a wonderful tongue in cheek story backed by great speculative science. The combination of the sometimes screwball comedy with the specifics of how hyperspace could work and the details of the time lags of space communication, etc, made for a believable and well formed diegesis. There were times reading this book that I just had to stop to laugh. The book reminds me a great deal of Red Dwarf.
January 1, 2020
I had found this on a clearance rack back in the 90's and -- in my early twenties at the time -- I got less annoyed with books and enjoyed them for what they were. I gave the book over to my best friend and he enjoyed it too, then the book disappeared. Fast forward 15-20 years and we've made multiple attempts to find the book again without success. Fast forward more years and Internet searching has improved; leading to one stray Google link that lead to a discussion and eventually this book title.
I read it again now in my late 40's, where I too have authored and self-published science fiction and I've read many, many more books since my first foray into this one.
===================
First off a comment on the review by 2theD on Amazon's site. I partly agree with what felt like lazy effort on the author's part and his naming of stuff:
Cryo: cryocat, cryorock, cryosuit
Roid: roidbucks, roidcycle, roidminer, roidscum
and more examples.
Reading these words again were actually funny and less annoying. It felt like something I wrote in high school, so I had a good laugh.
===================
This is intended to be a book of discovering an alien artifact. I honestly felt like Rendezvous with Rama was anti-climatic, but this book was better than that in the end.
I personally like all the dangers that have grown out of the abandonment of the alien artifact and the sense of discovery I had reading through the perils lying withing the artifact.
There are moments of fantastic science combined with clear, layman explanations...unfortunately, these moments are too brief and too few.
Characters are one-dimensional, but so are the ones in Jurassic Park, as both stories are not character-driven stories, but plot-driven.
I don't feel there was enough given upfront to set the stage to make/explain why Ariadne Zepos is this naive, no humor, no wit heroine. She offered nothing to the story to move things along in most cases other than trying to follow in her father's footsteps.
Sean O'Shaughnessy is a rogue like Han Solo and we don't expect him to change, but remain a one-dimensional archetype. He is the true hero of the story and the center of the best action in the story.
On that note, the author handled the action sequences well. These scenes were easy to follow and mostly plausible.
Sean's partner Plum is even more vague and useless to the story. At least the author let Plum "stay-behind" in most scenes.
OVERALL: As a more matured reader and developing author myself, there are a lot of things in this book that may make readers cringe in their amateurish attempt. But there are still some gems, which kept me reading all the way to the end (I have no qualms about stopping a book after 50% or even 70% through).
For me, there are very few discovery books that have great scientific explanations and ones where I find a sense of discovery. This one has a place in that category for me and I felt it was worth the $2.61 paid through paperbackswap.com to get a copy again and have some enjoyment (I didn't have any book credit, but stil cheaper than the $5 here on Amazon).
I read it again now in my late 40's, where I too have authored and self-published science fiction and I've read many, many more books since my first foray into this one.
===================
First off a comment on the review by 2theD on Amazon's site. I partly agree with what felt like lazy effort on the author's part and his naming of stuff:
Cryo: cryocat, cryorock, cryosuit
Roid: roidbucks, roidcycle, roidminer, roidscum
and more examples.
Reading these words again were actually funny and less annoying. It felt like something I wrote in high school, so I had a good laugh.
===================
This is intended to be a book of discovering an alien artifact. I honestly felt like Rendezvous with Rama was anti-climatic, but this book was better than that in the end.
I personally like all the dangers that have grown out of the abandonment of the alien artifact and the sense of discovery I had reading through the perils lying withing the artifact.
There are moments of fantastic science combined with clear, layman explanations...unfortunately, these moments are too brief and too few.
Characters are one-dimensional, but so are the ones in Jurassic Park, as both stories are not character-driven stories, but plot-driven.
I don't feel there was enough given upfront to set the stage to make/explain why Ariadne Zepos is this naive, no humor, no wit heroine. She offered nothing to the story to move things along in most cases other than trying to follow in her father's footsteps.
Sean O'Shaughnessy is a rogue like Han Solo and we don't expect him to change, but remain a one-dimensional archetype. He is the true hero of the story and the center of the best action in the story.
On that note, the author handled the action sequences well. These scenes were easy to follow and mostly plausible.
Sean's partner Plum is even more vague and useless to the story. At least the author let Plum "stay-behind" in most scenes.
OVERALL: As a more matured reader and developing author myself, there are a lot of things in this book that may make readers cringe in their amateurish attempt. But there are still some gems, which kept me reading all the way to the end (I have no qualms about stopping a book after 50% or even 70% through).
For me, there are very few discovery books that have great scientific explanations and ones where I find a sense of discovery. This one has a place in that category for me and I felt it was worth the $2.61 paid through paperbackswap.com to get a copy again and have some enjoyment (I didn't have any book credit, but stil cheaper than the $5 here on Amazon).
August 1, 2020
It depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for a future adventure story, you might give it a higher rating. Initially, I liked the storytelling. But 1/3 of the book was getting to the alien artifact - with scheming by others impacting the main characters' efforts to get there. Then, there was the conflicts between the schemers and the protagonists at the artifact. And the "necessary" budding romance between the unlikely couple.
Readers do get a significant look at an imagined vaster-than-in-most-books alien artifact. But a lot of the artifact is shown in the process of adventure story. I guess I have mixed feelings about that. There's part of me that understands that exploring an abandoned alien artifact is likely to involve risks, surprises and more than just learning and speculating. On the other hand, I'd have liked a narrator to tell me, "There were many conflicts and complications to get there, and we certainly made mistakes and faced problems once we got there. But today, I'm going to skip some of that and spend more time telling you about why we went there, what it really turned out to be, and what there makes a difference for more than just a few explorers." Then, shorten the number of pages about being attacked by left-over vermin and defective robots - while telling a story.
Towards the end of the book, we get a glimpse of a civilization even beyond that of the super alien artifact. While there is a gimmick affecting the protagonists, there isn't the adventure setting when we get the glimpse.
Readers do get a significant look at an imagined vaster-than-in-most-books alien artifact. But a lot of the artifact is shown in the process of adventure story. I guess I have mixed feelings about that. There's part of me that understands that exploring an abandoned alien artifact is likely to involve risks, surprises and more than just learning and speculating. On the other hand, I'd have liked a narrator to tell me, "There were many conflicts and complications to get there, and we certainly made mistakes and faced problems once we got there. But today, I'm going to skip some of that and spend more time telling you about why we went there, what it really turned out to be, and what there makes a difference for more than just a few explorers." Then, shorten the number of pages about being attacked by left-over vermin and defective robots - while telling a story.
Towards the end of the book, we get a glimpse of a civilization even beyond that of the super alien artifact. While there is a gimmick affecting the protagonists, there isn't the adventure setting when we get the glimpse.
October 24, 2017
This was a classic, over-the-top, 80's sci-fi novel. We got casual sexism, robots, see-through trains, aliens, a villain (or two), a damsel in despair and the hero. It wasn't actually a bad read it just wasn't that good either. Anyways, the last sci-fi novel I read was by Vinge so my expectations for this one were through the roof.
August 6, 2007
Such a boring book; I'm stunned my wife recommended it to me.
May 4, 2020
Great sci-fi with lots of humor, this book inspired my love of megastructures.
October 11, 2022
I can't resist stories that focus on exploration of alien mega-structures. Although published in 1987, The Architects of Hyperspace has an idea I've never encountered (similar to Ringworld, but different enough to be new). Some unknown alien race built a structure around a neutron star (it gets close enough to touch the star). The outer ring of the structure rotates at 1% the speed of light, so docking is "do it right or die". The character development is reminiscent of the old pulp magazines, but this is veritable hard science fiction. The denouement was very satisfying.
July 1, 2022
DNF. “Cryocrocs” swimming in liquid oxygen? Stilted language and unrealistic dialogue? Yep.
March 14, 2025
Very good scifi, good characters
March 16, 2013
Cringeworthy dialogue and paper thin characters. Everything about this story was cornball. Even the Big Dumb Object left behind by an advanced (but mysteriously absent) alien civilization wasn't interesting and the "big reveal" was derivative.
September 28, 2020
This one should have had a cult following. It has a good plot, the science is pretty accurate and the reading is easy.
I wonder why it didn't fly?
I wonder why it didn't fly?
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews