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The Palace of Eternity
Shrouded by its shell of drifting lunar fragments, the planet Mnemosyne is a refuge for creative artists and poets, a place isolated from the desperate, losing struggle of the humans against the Syccans.
But then COMsac, theFederation's High Command, come to Mnemosyne, and suddenly the planet is more a military colony than a place for artists.
For Mack Taverner, the dilemma is either go along with the brutal military visitation or join the hopeless resitance and become a 'traitor'. His choice has awesome and extraordinary consequenses . . .
But then COMsac, theFederation's High Command, come to Mnemosyne, and suddenly the planet is more a military colony than a place for artists.
For Mack Taverner, the dilemma is either go along with the brutal military visitation or join the hopeless resitance and become a 'traitor'. His choice has awesome and extraordinary consequenses . . .
173 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
73 people are currently reading
2544 people want to read
About the author
Bob Shaw
213 books103 followersBob Shaw was born in Northern Ireland. After working in structural engineering, industrial public relations, and journalism he became a full time science fiction writer in 1975.
Shaw was noted for his originality and wit. He was two-time recipient (in 1979 and 1980) of the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. His short story Light of Other Days was a Hugo Award nominee in 1967, as was his novel The Ragged Astronauts in 1987.
Shaw was noted for his originality and wit. He was two-time recipient (in 1979 and 1980) of the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. His short story Light of Other Days was a Hugo Award nominee in 1967, as was his novel The Ragged Astronauts in 1987.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
May 23, 2024
Check out my full, spoiler free, video review HERE. Shaw took a familiar premise and flipped it on its head halfway through the book. There is a peaceful branch of humanity that is in the middle of an intergalactic war with some mysterious aliens. As this plot line moves along the book takes a major turn and the reader realizes there is much more going on than they think. Great example of classic science fiction.
April 9, 2010
- Hi Beatrice! Nice to see you again. And this must be Dante? Signor Alighieri, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Solomon. Welcome to the Heaven of the Sun. What do you think?
- It's, uh, neat. And I'm honoured to meet you, King Solomon -
- Call me Sol. No need for formality in the afterlife. So, let me introduce you to the Hosts of the Wise. I bet you'd get on with Boethius, and the Venerable Bede, and Al Einstein -
- Who?
- Oh, I'm sorry, I keep forgetting. After your time. A philosopher from the twentieth century -
- Who's the blessed soul over there?
- Ah, that's Bob Shaw. Also from the twentieth century. A science-fiction writer -
- I'm sorry?
- Hm, it's a bit difficult to explain, but it's a literary tradition that in a way grew out of your books. I mean, I know you haven't written them yet, but you will. It's rather complicated -
- What did he write?
- There's this book called The Palace of Eternity. A kind of romance. He explains that, when you die, you don't really die after all. Your spirit ascends into the heavens -
- Well, duh.
- I know, I know. But that's not all. You see, your spirit is really an electromagnetic field -
- A what?
- Oh dear. We should ask James Clark Maxwell to explain, he'll do it properly. He was here just a moment ago -
- Never mind. So my spirit is actually a - whatever it was. And then?
- You are just as inquisitive as Beatrice said, Signor Alighieri! Now Mr. Shaw tells us in his romance that the spirit, or the electromagnetic field, is not in fact immortal. It can be affected by -
- ALERT! INCOMING! INTERSTELLAR RAMSCOOP SPACESHIP SIGHTED AND CLOSING FAST!
- Excuse me, Signor Alighieri, we have an emergency. Bea, if you'd just grab hold of one of his wings, I'll take the other. We should be able to hide behind that solar prominence... okay, I think we're safe. Where was I?
- Mr. Shaw's romance?
- Yes, of course. He said that intense electromagnetic fields, like those caused by a certain kind of ... ah, winged chariot, like the one you just saw ... could destroy the soul.
- But... that's heresy! Whatever is he doing here?
- Um, to everyone's surprise, it turned out he was right. We'd all assumed he was headed for the other place - open and shut application of Deus v. Blish - but he had a good lawyer and won on appeal. Apparently it's all part of the Divine Plan.
- I ... ah ... are you sure?
- I'm afraid so. Tom Aquinas and Dick Feynman have been trying to figure it out. At least they say they're making progress. Hope to have a preliminary theory any eon now.
- I'm ... lost for words.
- I know just how you feel. Look, if you don't mind, could I ask you not to include this episode in the Paradiso? I mean, when you get around to writing it?
- Uh, well, of course ...
- Thanks. We appreciate it. Well, I'm sure you must be getting on. Mars is that way. And I look forward to seeing you again in 1321.
- What?
- Oops. Me and my big mouth. I never said that, okay? We're cool?
- Um ... right. Nice meeting you. Bye.
- Bye! And watch out for those ramscoop spacecraft. Godspeed!
- It's, uh, neat. And I'm honoured to meet you, King Solomon -
- Call me Sol. No need for formality in the afterlife. So, let me introduce you to the Hosts of the Wise. I bet you'd get on with Boethius, and the Venerable Bede, and Al Einstein -
- Who?
- Oh, I'm sorry, I keep forgetting. After your time. A philosopher from the twentieth century -
- Who's the blessed soul over there?
- Ah, that's Bob Shaw. Also from the twentieth century. A science-fiction writer -
- I'm sorry?
- Hm, it's a bit difficult to explain, but it's a literary tradition that in a way grew out of your books. I mean, I know you haven't written them yet, but you will. It's rather complicated -
- What did he write?
- There's this book called The Palace of Eternity. A kind of romance. He explains that, when you die, you don't really die after all. Your spirit ascends into the heavens -
- Well, duh.
- I know, I know. But that's not all. You see, your spirit is really an electromagnetic field -
- A what?
- Oh dear. We should ask James Clark Maxwell to explain, he'll do it properly. He was here just a moment ago -
- Never mind. So my spirit is actually a - whatever it was. And then?
- You are just as inquisitive as Beatrice said, Signor Alighieri! Now Mr. Shaw tells us in his romance that the spirit, or the electromagnetic field, is not in fact immortal. It can be affected by -
- ALERT! INCOMING! INTERSTELLAR RAMSCOOP SPACESHIP SIGHTED AND CLOSING FAST!
- Excuse me, Signor Alighieri, we have an emergency. Bea, if you'd just grab hold of one of his wings, I'll take the other. We should be able to hide behind that solar prominence... okay, I think we're safe. Where was I?
- Mr. Shaw's romance?
- Yes, of course. He said that intense electromagnetic fields, like those caused by a certain kind of ... ah, winged chariot, like the one you just saw ... could destroy the soul.
- But... that's heresy! Whatever is he doing here?
- Um, to everyone's surprise, it turned out he was right. We'd all assumed he was headed for the other place - open and shut application of Deus v. Blish - but he had a good lawyer and won on appeal. Apparently it's all part of the Divine Plan.
- I ... ah ... are you sure?
- I'm afraid so. Tom Aquinas and Dick Feynman have been trying to figure it out. At least they say they're making progress. Hope to have a preliminary theory any eon now.
- I'm ... lost for words.
- I know just how you feel. Look, if you don't mind, could I ask you not to include this episode in the Paradiso? I mean, when you get around to writing it?
- Uh, well, of course ...
- Thanks. We appreciate it. Well, I'm sure you must be getting on. Mars is that way. And I look forward to seeing you again in 1321.
- What?
- Oops. Me and my big mouth. I never said that, okay? We're cool?
- Um ... right. Nice meeting you. Bye.
- Bye! And watch out for those ramscoop spacecraft. Godspeed!
May 19, 2024
The Palace of Eternity by Bob Shaw is a space opera Science fiction in short length, which means it is unusual in space opera books. I didn’t know this book until I watched Bookpilled’s booktube channel. It starts with promising indifferentail Sci Fi tropes, till the chapter 2 that which I realized the whole story is not just about humans were conflicting with the aliens. The wars were about immortality between humans and the aliens; Egons which are particle substances that has been being pervasive in universes as the essences of immortality. This fundamental difference is the main threat to the essence of the Alien’s life. I must say that Bob Shaw take the Risk to develop the plots; it’s surprising to me that the author twists the tropes in Space operas. Until the end, readers would know what was actually happening in the story. The world buildings are solid concretes in concise descriptions, and thus in this short length novel still see the grandeur world is like. I kind like the surprises of the story, but also think it would be too coincidental to have every setups as the story progresses.
The story is the retired colonel, Tavernor Mack; he went to Mnemosyne where the operation is located to against the aliens, Pythsyccans. In Mnemosyne where has many artists who didn’t want the planet to be the operation, so that they were protesting the erections of the operation. It is the first half of the story; the second half of the story is that Mack was killed by the president, his consciousness went to Egon’s planet. (Egon is the immortality of which has been existing in the galaxies among humans and other species, it could be interpreted as souls, muses or consciousness); later he knew that the war between humans and Pyth were about the butterfly spaceships which are able to destroyed the alien’s essences. Mack was able to be immortal in Egon’s planet, instead Mother-Egon had decided that Mack was sent back to Mnemosyne in his son’s subconsciousness, until he was awakened by English-mass, helping humans fight with the aliens. He was captured by the aliens with Bitha who eventually would reveal the truth of her identity; she as the way is the first model of the bridge to connect with humans and Egons. Her mission was finished and she had told Mack he has the rare inheritance that can assist mankind, eventually the aliens would retreat from the wars.
Pythsyccans is the intellectual species who were already able to communicate with Egons and in harmony with them. On the contrary, humans were underdeveloped in the evolutionary state. From Pythsyccans’s POVs that humans are the monster without souls. Pythsyccans bodies have breathing mouths on their shoulders that reminded me of the earlier Sci Fi movies, that those aliens have mouths on their shoulders too. It’s a surprising read to me, a short length book is able to cram with many settings and ideas. I reflect that those settings are capable to be developed more. Overall, The Palace of Eternity is worth read to me.
The story is the retired colonel, Tavernor Mack; he went to Mnemosyne where the operation is located to against the aliens, Pythsyccans. In Mnemosyne where has many artists who didn’t want the planet to be the operation, so that they were protesting the erections of the operation. It is the first half of the story; the second half of the story is that Mack was killed by the president, his consciousness went to Egon’s planet. (Egon is the immortality of which has been existing in the galaxies among humans and other species, it could be interpreted as souls, muses or consciousness); later he knew that the war between humans and Pyth were about the butterfly spaceships which are able to destroyed the alien’s essences. Mack was able to be immortal in Egon’s planet, instead Mother-Egon had decided that Mack was sent back to Mnemosyne in his son’s subconsciousness, until he was awakened by English-mass, helping humans fight with the aliens. He was captured by the aliens with Bitha who eventually would reveal the truth of her identity; she as the way is the first model of the bridge to connect with humans and Egons. Her mission was finished and she had told Mack he has the rare inheritance that can assist mankind, eventually the aliens would retreat from the wars.
Pythsyccans is the intellectual species who were already able to communicate with Egons and in harmony with them. On the contrary, humans were underdeveloped in the evolutionary state. From Pythsyccans’s POVs that humans are the monster without souls. Pythsyccans bodies have breathing mouths on their shoulders that reminded me of the earlier Sci Fi movies, that those aliens have mouths on their shoulders too. It’s a surprising read to me, a short length book is able to cram with many settings and ideas. I reflect that those settings are capable to be developed more. Overall, The Palace of Eternity is worth read to me.
February 3, 2025
This does one of those Stephen King style hard turns around the mid point. It starts off as a fairly standard military science fiction story: Earth and its colonies are at war with a mysterious alien species that it’s had no communication with. A retired veteran looking for a peaceful life, starts over on a planet full of artists called Mnemosyne. Soon the military shows up to establish a base and turns it all to shit. A love triangle develops between our hero “Mack,” a free spirited babe named Lissa and this arrogant, unproven, cockblocking colonel who is a pretty decent foil.
Halfway through it takes a sudden, esoteric turn and becomes another story completely. While the first part was familiar it was entertaining. The turn it takes was a bit heavy handed for my taste. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood, maybe when it was written it was a revelation. Either way I was rolling my eyes a bit at the ending. Not the worst thing I’ve read but it’s a masterclass in subverting expectations.
November 10, 2024
More Astounding Magazine than New Worlds, 'The Palace of Eternity' has so many wild ideas but little framework to hold them. You get the Egons - globes of spirit-light that provide the soul of the universe. Energy-sucking butterfly ships tearing at the fabric of interstellar travel. Bat-guided missiles, astral reincarnation, black sack-like bipedal aliens with mouths razored into their stomachs, and a mystical three-year-old who holds a secret power but comes across like a child actor in a sitcom pilot about divorce. Clearly, the sink overfloweth and Bob Shaw does little to connect these far-flung concepts. Cliche overpowers style, and the only characters that mean anything are not the humans, but their alien enemies, the Pythsyccan, foul creatures with a viscous appearance that betrays their clear & morally-clinical understanding of the universe. For all its bright and brief fireworks, I won't remember much of this jigsawed novel besides its spectacular cover by Leo and Diane Dillon (Ace edition). And I'm glad I didn't spend $50+ dollars on it lured out on the online market. Next Bob Shaw: Other Days Other Eyes.
A 'kind' 3 stars, more like a 2 1/2.
A 'kind' 3 stars, more like a 2 1/2.
October 17, 2024
How does a science fiction novel explore the concepts of ancestral memory, the afterlife, and first contact in only 222 pages? Enter Bob Shaw.
In a distant future, humanity is locked in a brutal war with a powerful alien race. Middle-aged war vet Mack Tavernor, haunted by personal loss and the trauma of battle, retreats to a planet that houses artistry and a simpler life. But the war will eventually come to this place.
But this is only about half of the story. The first two-thirds is a solid science fiction novel about a man trying to find his place. Then—WHAM!—the plot shifts and the true depth and focus of the book reveals itself. And it’s pretty stunning.
Full of powerful characters, emotional swells, and deep exploration of humanity, The Palace of Eternity manages to create a one-of-a-kind reading experience where twist after twist carries you along the sprawling universe that Shaw pens in near perfection.
Is this book perfect? Nearly. But regardless, it’s clearly a forgotten oft-ignored masterwork of science fiction and storytelling that is sure to satisfy anyone.
In a distant future, humanity is locked in a brutal war with a powerful alien race. Middle-aged war vet Mack Tavernor, haunted by personal loss and the trauma of battle, retreats to a planet that houses artistry and a simpler life. But the war will eventually come to this place.
But this is only about half of the story. The first two-thirds is a solid science fiction novel about a man trying to find his place. Then—WHAM!—the plot shifts and the true depth and focus of the book reveals itself. And it’s pretty stunning.
Full of powerful characters, emotional swells, and deep exploration of humanity, The Palace of Eternity manages to create a one-of-a-kind reading experience where twist after twist carries you along the sprawling universe that Shaw pens in near perfection.
Is this book perfect? Nearly. But regardless, it’s clearly a forgotten oft-ignored masterwork of science fiction and storytelling that is sure to satisfy anyone.
October 25, 2024
#3 BOB SHAW 4/5
"The Palace of Eternity" is a rather ambiguous novel. It begins with Mack Tavernor, a former military soldier, leaving his small job next to his house in the woods, and shortly thereafter the night sky is suddenly flooded with a blinding white brightness... It turns out that humanity has destroyed an entire star as part of an interplanetary war against an alien race. In the course of that war, Tavernor's parents were brutally killed, and he vowed revenge. After getting tired of the war, he quits the military and hides out on the distant planet of Mnemosyne, a colony of artists. After several years, this planet is suddenly chosen as the headquarters of the war against the alien race, and Tavernor finds himself once again in the middle of chaos and fear...
What seems to be typical military SF in the first part of the book, but already with a quite intriguing approach by Shaw, shows in the second part that Shaw has something completely unique in mind. The book changes direction and becomes meta-physical, and I was not expecting that at all. The third part then uses this interlude to take the story in a direction that will completely change the fate of mankind. Many space operas try to achieve this, but The Palace of Eternity succeeds in this.
Another very strong novel from Bob Shaw! Overall, the story combines elements of hard science fiction and deep philosophical themes, deeply touching themes of mortality and the desire for eternal life. In this intermezzo in the middle of the book, Shaw explores this by describing a mysterious palace (afterlife?) that can grant a very unique form of immortality to those who enter it.
I just love these short, vintage SF novels that don't give away the story from the back of the book, and where I'm totally surprised by what twists and turns await me!
"The Palace of Eternity" is a rather ambiguous novel. It begins with Mack Tavernor, a former military soldier, leaving his small job next to his house in the woods, and shortly thereafter the night sky is suddenly flooded with a blinding white brightness... It turns out that humanity has destroyed an entire star as part of an interplanetary war against an alien race. In the course of that war, Tavernor's parents were brutally killed, and he vowed revenge. After getting tired of the war, he quits the military and hides out on the distant planet of Mnemosyne, a colony of artists. After several years, this planet is suddenly chosen as the headquarters of the war against the alien race, and Tavernor finds himself once again in the middle of chaos and fear...
What seems to be typical military SF in the first part of the book, but already with a quite intriguing approach by Shaw, shows in the second part that Shaw has something completely unique in mind. The book changes direction and becomes meta-physical, and I was not expecting that at all. The third part then uses this interlude to take the story in a direction that will completely change the fate of mankind. Many space operas try to achieve this, but The Palace of Eternity succeeds in this.
Another very strong novel from Bob Shaw! Overall, the story combines elements of hard science fiction and deep philosophical themes, deeply touching themes of mortality and the desire for eternal life. In this intermezzo in the middle of the book, Shaw explores this by describing a mysterious palace (afterlife?) that can grant a very unique form of immortality to those who enter it.
I just love these short, vintage SF novels that don't give away the story from the back of the book, and where I'm totally surprised by what twists and turns await me!
September 3, 2021
Nearly as good as Shaw's classic "Orbitsville." Metaphysical science fiction, not some dumbass military alien invasion shit like I thought at first. Although that is part of the plot. The final third goes off mercifully in a very different direction. I should read more by Shaw.
June 22, 2025
My thoughts on The Palace of Eternity by Bob Shaw::::::
Mnemosyne is a distant planet colonialized by humanity. There many artists live to escape troubles, create cool stuff, and live a peaceful life.
Many years ago, the two moons of the planet collided. Now the sky is permanently filled with the broken remains of these celestial objects. A beautiful sight to behold as the bits reflect the light of the local sun.
The military has decided to make Mnemosyne its new base of operations in a war that has been going on for too long. The citizens of the planet are not happy with this. They did not choose to be dragged into this deadly conflict.
Our main character is ex-military, living a bohemian life on this beautiful colony world. He has attempted to escape his traumatic past. The attempt is unsuccessful. The military begins construction of bases and other war paraphernalia. They begin tearing up the pristine environment of Mnemosyne. A tragic set of events.
The twists and turns that occur after a large portion of this novel are not to be discussed here without spoiling the reading experience.
And they are shocking.
I went into this one blind. Didn't know a damn thing about the story. My first Bob Shaw. My only info on him is that he's well regarded. That he's a bit new wave. That I should enjoy it.
I enjoyed the world building at the beginning of the novel. It felt a bit loose in my mind though. Not much was coagulating for me during the initial part of the book. Felt like typical SF melodrama on a distant world.
The story picks up speed after the military begins fucking everything up.
Then.....
A big old gigantic huge shift, that is about as jarring as any shift in any plot/in any book I've ever read, happens. I think some people are blown away by it but it felt a bit too out of place for me. Too random. It's almost like Shaw hated where the story was going. I understand that. It was boring the shit out of me. He might have felt that he needed to destroy the previous work he had done in order to salvage the story. Who knows but it definitely gets more interesting.
The third part of the book is really great. I'm not sure if it's worth wading through to get to it though. The third part feels very much like the infamous 18th chapter in Pandora's Star by Peter F Hamilton. Pretty sure Hamilton read this book.
Not the greatest read for me but I'll definitely try out some more Shaw. I have a few more of his books. I might need to sell Orbitsville though. Sounds like I might not like that one.
Mnemosyne is a distant planet colonialized by humanity. There many artists live to escape troubles, create cool stuff, and live a peaceful life.
Many years ago, the two moons of the planet collided. Now the sky is permanently filled with the broken remains of these celestial objects. A beautiful sight to behold as the bits reflect the light of the local sun.
The military has decided to make Mnemosyne its new base of operations in a war that has been going on for too long. The citizens of the planet are not happy with this. They did not choose to be dragged into this deadly conflict.
Our main character is ex-military, living a bohemian life on this beautiful colony world. He has attempted to escape his traumatic past. The attempt is unsuccessful. The military begins construction of bases and other war paraphernalia. They begin tearing up the pristine environment of Mnemosyne. A tragic set of events.
The twists and turns that occur after a large portion of this novel are not to be discussed here without spoiling the reading experience.
And they are shocking.
I went into this one blind. Didn't know a damn thing about the story. My first Bob Shaw. My only info on him is that he's well regarded. That he's a bit new wave. That I should enjoy it.
I enjoyed the world building at the beginning of the novel. It felt a bit loose in my mind though. Not much was coagulating for me during the initial part of the book. Felt like typical SF melodrama on a distant world.
The story picks up speed after the military begins fucking everything up.
Then.....
A big old gigantic huge shift, that is about as jarring as any shift in any plot/in any book I've ever read, happens. I think some people are blown away by it but it felt a bit too out of place for me. Too random. It's almost like Shaw hated where the story was going. I understand that. It was boring the shit out of me. He might have felt that he needed to destroy the previous work he had done in order to salvage the story. Who knows but it definitely gets more interesting.
The third part of the book is really great. I'm not sure if it's worth wading through to get to it though. The third part feels very much like the infamous 18th chapter in Pandora's Star by Peter F Hamilton. Pretty sure Hamilton read this book.
Not the greatest read for me but I'll definitely try out some more Shaw. I have a few more of his books. I might need to sell Orbitsville though. Sounds like I might not like that one.
February 8, 2024
Hay en esta novela partes que te hacen pensar que el resultado va a estar a esa altura, rayando a muy buen nivel. Por ejemplo cómo su protagonista, que empieza como machote por antonomasia, una especie de Dorsai dispuesto a renacer de sus cenizas, tras un par de cornadas se da cuen de lo dañado que está y cómo es incapaz de conectar con nadie. También se hace disfrutable un giro marciano a mitad de novela en el cuál se apuntan ideas en la línea new age que encontraríamos en una novela de Silverberg de la época, pero de mayor calado. Además hay un ambiente enfermizo por las relaciones entre personajes. Sin embargo, todas esas escenas y situaciones se hallan conectadas por otras que se comen esa grandeza (hay unos echados al monte que parecen sacados de un episodio de McGiver; las treinta últimas páginas cuentan la odisea de dos personajes encarcelados por alienígenas que me han hecho pasar páginas en diagonal con alegría). Afortunadamente el conjunto no se cancela y termina sobre cero, pero me cuesta ver El palacio de la eternidad como uno de los 100 mejores de la ciencia ficción, tal y como aparecía en la lista de La Factoría de Ideas. Su elección parece más propia de extravagancia de David Pringle que como novela de acompañamiento de un canon tan mesurado.
June 27, 2025
This one is one of the books from the box of books that are from my late father. He was a BIG fan of science fiction of the 50s and 60s and most of the books are paperbacks from those years. The latest one I picked out is this one published in 1969. The story is set in the far future. The human race has been spreading through the galaxy--and has run into an alien species that is determined to eradicate the humans from the universe. The Federation is being defeated--and the Feds' HQ is set up on the beautiful planet of Mnemosyne. Mack Tavernor retired there after resigning from the Fed military. Now, he finds himself once again on the front-lines... The first 2/3 of the book thus read like standard SF fare--but the final third comes as a big surprise, a real mind-blower. I had never read anything by Shaw before, but based on this book, he seems to be an excellent writer --and--a rare quality-ORIGINAL. His writing reminded me of that of Philip K. Dick ( can I say he's "Dickesque?" )
Bob Shaw was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1931 and died in England in 1996.
Bob Shaw was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1931 and died in England in 1996.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 8, 2024
First half was a bit boring and seemed like an unoriginal sci-fi but that second half was pretty cool. Before reading I heard this has a bunch of twists and turns in it and I can appreciate a solid twist but if that twist is becoming a good book only halfway through the story then I don’t know.
February 9, 2025
Good ol' Bob "Bait 'n Switch" Shaw is at it again in his 1969 novel, *The Palace of Eternity*. Equally parts Vietnam protest and metaphysical exploration, it's garnered a lot of praise from the contemporary swathe of video-based SF enthusiasts on YouTube, to the point where their cult audience has made the original Ace Science Fiction Special printing pretty hard to come by. Thankfully, I was able to snag a copy for only four bucks at the Mecca of Midwestern USA science fiction book-hunting - Uncle Hugo's Bookstore - and I got to reading it pretty quickly because of the reputation it garners. I was really hoping that this would help be a great start to my reading year. Unfortunately, I have slightly mixed feelings about the book. I probably would've been a bit keener on it if hadn't been talked up so much, but I just feel like it's not impactful enough and doesn't give the main character enough agency to feel too horribly engaged with the work. Still, Shaw's a really good writer, and even though this book goes into wild and inventive places you'd never expect based off the first few chapters, Shaw's able to tie it up and make it feel like a rewardingly complete work...
*The Palace of Eternity* kicks off on Mnemosyne, a human-inhabited world populated mostly by artists. Our main character, Mack Trevonar, is no artist, but he's as anxious to escape the shadow of humanity's long-waged Pythsyccan War as anybody else; when he was young, his entire homeworld was slaughtered, and he became a poster child for the war effort across human civilization before being put into the war effort, first as a COMsac soldier and later (thanks to an AI-skilled-assessment-made decision) as a weapons designer. Now he's had enough, and is spending his days doing small-engine repair, hanging out with local bat-like creatures who he thinks might be telepathic, and carrying on a relationship with Lissa, a young woman who's daughter to the colony's "governor." Then, one day, COMsac ships appear and start converting Mnemosyne into the military command center for the interstellar war. .
One thing that's evident in the first half of the book is just how good of a writer Bob Shaw is. He writes science fiction differently than anyone else thanks to a sense of fluidity and color to his prose that's made from a perfect blend of worldbuilding, physical action, and introspection. For example, in the first few chapters of the book Mack's history as a veteran and a child propaganda tool and his impact on human arms are all revealed carefully between bouts of Mack sparring with occupation soldiers and observing the world around him. There's no infodumping, but Shaw knows how to color in his world really well. And even after the crazy shift in plot about halfway through the book, Shaw's prose keeps its quality and helps anchor all the latter occurrences with the older. It would be easy for this to become more of a traditional pulp novel where the prose isn't as thought-out and textured, but Shaw's able to pull back a bunch of little worldbuilding facts from earlier in the book (like how Mnemosyne is populated mostly by artists) to realities in the back half (because ). Despite being the kind of science fiction novel in which things get discarded, Shaw keeps everything on the same level. This is pretty similar to what I had to say about the other Shaw novel I've read, *Medusa's Children*, which isn't as inventive and cool as this book but also managed to remain stable in the face of great twists and turns...
Speaking of those twists and turns... once Mack ...
One issue I do have with this book is the main character's agency, or... the lack of it. He doesn't really impact the final results of the story too much - the ! Well, I suppose it's something, but it's just not enough for me. And speaking of not enough, for some reason, Shaw's prose - whether it's intricate character details or the thrust of the book's resolution - just doesn't stick very well with me. When I'm reading it I realize how smooth and well thought-out it all seems, but it doesn't break through to the inner part of my brain, almost like it's some sort of dreamy, postmodern prose even though it's clearly not. I'm not sure just why that is, but... it's a little worrying. There are also slight gaps in logic which are similarly concerning, specifically when something bypasses Mnemosyne's asteroid shield that shouldn't be able to according to the earlier parts of the book. I suppose that's a bit minor, but... it is a ding against it.
And now I have to use even *more* spoiler tags because I want to talk about the big, spoilery presence of makes it relevant to society of any age, whether you're of the Vietnam War or of the modern day...
Overall, *Palace of Eternity* gets an 8/10; it's a pretty good book with stellar science fictional writing and a lot going for it. Sure, it falters in execution every now and again, but this was largely a success, and while I'm sure this wasn't Shaw's best work, you might enjoy it even more than I did because everybody else seems to. If you can snag a copy, go for it, but otherwise keep an eye out for other Shaw's (I know I sure will, especially since I'm now out of unread Shaw's now) so you can grab the next rediscovery before the rest of the pack. Thanks for reading, as always, and I'll see you around the next time you check out an Ace Science Fiction Special out here on Goodreads...
*The Palace of Eternity* kicks off on Mnemosyne, a human-inhabited world populated mostly by artists. Our main character, Mack Trevonar, is no artist, but he's as anxious to escape the shadow of humanity's long-waged Pythsyccan War as anybody else; when he was young, his entire homeworld was slaughtered, and he became a poster child for the war effort across human civilization before being put into the war effort, first as a COMsac soldier and later (thanks to an AI-skilled-assessment-made decision) as a weapons designer. Now he's had enough, and is spending his days doing small-engine repair, hanging out with local bat-like creatures who he thinks might be telepathic, and carrying on a relationship with Lissa, a young woman who's daughter to the colony's "governor." Then, one day, COMsac ships appear and start converting Mnemosyne into the military command center for the interstellar war. .
One thing that's evident in the first half of the book is just how good of a writer Bob Shaw is. He writes science fiction differently than anyone else thanks to a sense of fluidity and color to his prose that's made from a perfect blend of worldbuilding, physical action, and introspection. For example, in the first few chapters of the book Mack's history as a veteran and a child propaganda tool and his impact on human arms are all revealed carefully between bouts of Mack sparring with occupation soldiers and observing the world around him. There's no infodumping, but Shaw knows how to color in his world really well. And even after the crazy shift in plot about halfway through the book, Shaw's prose keeps its quality and helps anchor all the latter occurrences with the older. It would be easy for this to become more of a traditional pulp novel where the prose isn't as thought-out and textured, but Shaw's able to pull back a bunch of little worldbuilding facts from earlier in the book (like how Mnemosyne is populated mostly by artists) to realities in the back half (because ). Despite being the kind of science fiction novel in which things get discarded, Shaw keeps everything on the same level. This is pretty similar to what I had to say about the other Shaw novel I've read, *Medusa's Children*, which isn't as inventive and cool as this book but also managed to remain stable in the face of great twists and turns...
Speaking of those twists and turns... once Mack ...
One issue I do have with this book is the main character's agency, or... the lack of it. He doesn't really impact the final results of the story too much - the ! Well, I suppose it's something, but it's just not enough for me. And speaking of not enough, for some reason, Shaw's prose - whether it's intricate character details or the thrust of the book's resolution - just doesn't stick very well with me. When I'm reading it I realize how smooth and well thought-out it all seems, but it doesn't break through to the inner part of my brain, almost like it's some sort of dreamy, postmodern prose even though it's clearly not. I'm not sure just why that is, but... it's a little worrying. There are also slight gaps in logic which are similarly concerning, specifically when something bypasses Mnemosyne's asteroid shield that shouldn't be able to according to the earlier parts of the book. I suppose that's a bit minor, but... it is a ding against it.
And now I have to use even *more* spoiler tags because I want to talk about the big, spoilery presence of makes it relevant to society of any age, whether you're of the Vietnam War or of the modern day...
Overall, *Palace of Eternity* gets an 8/10; it's a pretty good book with stellar science fictional writing and a lot going for it. Sure, it falters in execution every now and again, but this was largely a success, and while I'm sure this wasn't Shaw's best work, you might enjoy it even more than I did because everybody else seems to. If you can snag a copy, go for it, but otherwise keep an eye out for other Shaw's (I know I sure will, especially since I'm now out of unread Shaw's now) so you can grab the next rediscovery before the rest of the pack. Thanks for reading, as always, and I'll see you around the next time you check out an Ace Science Fiction Special out here on Goodreads...
June 17, 2024
Proposes a science-fictional justification for the phenomena of collective unconscious and the afterlife. Interesting but rushed. Seems to have been written at speed, with little revision. The book would have benefited enormously from another draft to jettison some of the less developed ideas, work out some of the implications of the remaining ideas, and bring all its parts into closer relationship, so that the whole thing meshes together firmly and inevitably.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 4, 2024
Satisfactory prose. Very inventive and unique. Although, I didn’t much care for the main character and some of the societal attitudes haven’t aged well. The action scenes seemed to build towards a series of anticlimaxes, which was disappointing. Ultimately, I prefer a bit more science in my SF and less woo woo. Glad I read it though.
March 8, 2019
7/10. Media de los 6 libros leídos del autor : 6/10
Mark, veterano de guerra, en lucha con los psitcanos. Space Opera con alguna idea interesante. Se deja leer.
Mark, veterano de guerra, en lucha con los psitcanos. Space Opera con alguna idea interesante. Se deja leer.
August 4, 2024
Thanks go to Bookpilled's YouTube channel for recommending this book, as the first of the very top tier of books that he read and reviewed in his 'Tier Ranking the 100 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books I Just Read' video. That and a couple of Goodreads reviews pushed me over the edge to try reading this book. I like Space Opera, but was looking for a good but vastly more compact SO book.
I am glad that I read this book.
The version that I read, on internetarchive.org books, library, had a copyright date of 1969.
This book is dated in some ways, but mostly good ones.
It's darned hard to find a really good Space Opera, that pack this much punch, in anywhere as few pages as this one (225pp).
This is the first Bob Shaw book that I've read. I found the writing style engaging.
The book has good character development, for more than a handful of characters. The plot and story were also top shelf material.
The plot twists were really deftly woven and enjoyable. I don't remember if I was just finishing reading the first 75 or 100 pages, when I realized that I was really starting to like the style of the book, but that this story did not need to be told in a SciFi novel, plus where's the wild speculative concepts and Space Opera?. Then, boom, Bob Shaw pops the lid open and puts the hammer down. The aliens were alien, the egons were unique and Shaw deftly wove the way to a poignant, interesting and satisfying conclusion. There were fond echos of themes from Childhood's End, or which came first, flitting about, especially during the second half of the book.
Most importantly of all, besides being a very well written novel overall, was that this book gave me pause to think about some of the important things that make us human. In fact, it continues to do so.
I am glad that I read this book.
The version that I read, on internetarchive.org books, library, had a copyright date of 1969.
This book is dated in some ways, but mostly good ones.
It's darned hard to find a really good Space Opera, that pack this much punch, in anywhere as few pages as this one (225pp).
This is the first Bob Shaw book that I've read. I found the writing style engaging.
The book has good character development, for more than a handful of characters. The plot and story were also top shelf material.
The plot twists were really deftly woven and enjoyable. I don't remember if I was just finishing reading the first 75 or 100 pages, when I realized that I was really starting to like the style of the book, but that this story did not need to be told in a SciFi novel, plus where's the wild speculative concepts and Space Opera?. Then, boom, Bob Shaw pops the lid open and puts the hammer down. The aliens were alien, the egons were unique and Shaw deftly wove the way to a poignant, interesting and satisfying conclusion. There were fond echos of themes from Childhood's End, or which came first, flitting about, especially during the second half of the book.
Most importantly of all, besides being a very well written novel overall, was that this book gave me pause to think about some of the important things that make us human. In fact, it continues to do so.
May 3, 2024
Leí este libro porque aparece en varias listas de las mejores novelas de ciencia ficción de la historia. No entiendo por qué. Es una combinación de space opera y metafísica new age con muy poca originalidad en ninguno de los dos ingredientes. Los personajes son arquetípicos (triángulo héroe de acción - malo malísimo - mesías), el estilo quizá pierda en la traducción pero parece muy brillante, y los conceptos, pues a quien le guste la religión quizá le gusten. Al menos no es largo ni aburrido y eso le salva del desastre.
Nota: no fiarse más de las listas de mejores novelas de ciencia ficción de la historia.
Nota: no fiarse más de las listas de mejores novelas de ciencia ficción de la historia.
August 10, 2016
I first read this book in the Seventies, when I was in my early teens. I really liked it, mostly for the protagonist’s encounter with the Syccans – the alien bad guys – in the last part of the story.
I just finished re-reading it for the first time in about forty years. The first part of the book was exactly as I remembered it. Then I came to a part of the story I had forgotten, no doubt because it made little impression on me at the time. The hero is recovering after a beating, and he is visited by a little girl, not yet four years old, who turns out to be a healer (and much else, later). The child heals the hero by touching his bruises and contusions. Among other places, she touches him (it’s mentioned in passing) on his genitals. Later, there is another, similar scene in the shower.
There is nothing overtly erotic about the scene but I did feel rather uncomfortable re-reading it.
As an adult, I was less impressed with the basic conceit of the story than I had earlier been. Reading it today, I seemed to find elements of Scientology coupled with a Blakeanized take on Christian mysticism – all secularized and scientifictionalized, of course – but nothing terribly original. The unexpected and somewhat shocking turn taken by the plot about two-thirds of the way through the book still retained its power for me, but the ending was a lot less satisfactory than I remembered.
A disappointment, then, and one that leaves me feeling rather uneasy for having liked it so much as a youngster. It is, however, powerfully and muscularly written, and Shaw’s prose is frequently lighted by unexpected shafts of poesy.
I just finished re-reading it for the first time in about forty years. The first part of the book was exactly as I remembered it. Then I came to a part of the story I had forgotten, no doubt because it made little impression on me at the time. The hero is recovering after a beating, and he is visited by a little girl, not yet four years old, who turns out to be a healer (and much else, later). The child heals the hero by touching his bruises and contusions. Among other places, she touches him (it’s mentioned in passing) on his genitals. Later, there is another, similar scene in the shower.
There is nothing overtly erotic about the scene but I did feel rather uncomfortable re-reading it.
As an adult, I was less impressed with the basic conceit of the story than I had earlier been. Reading it today, I seemed to find elements of Scientology coupled with a Blakeanized take on Christian mysticism – all secularized and scientifictionalized, of course – but nothing terribly original. The unexpected and somewhat shocking turn taken by the plot about two-thirds of the way through the book still retained its power for me, but the ending was a lot less satisfactory than I remembered.
A disappointment, then, and one that leaves me feeling rather uneasy for having liked it so much as a youngster. It is, however, powerfully and muscularly written, and Shaw’s prose is frequently lighted by unexpected shafts of poesy.
January 15, 2023
The good: nice prose, rich vocabulary, and Shaw takes care to plant seeds that foreshadow his big theme and plot reveal so that it doesn't seem completely contrived.
The bad: the protagonist's boorish attempts to be witty; the fact that too many confrontations are resolved by a fight (he's a former colonel; wouldn't he have learnt to deal with uppity grunts like an adult?); the way it seems like Shaw is increasingly just making it up as he goes along; a plot that shades too far out of SF into woo-woo fantasy just for the sake of trying to look original.
Also fails to imagine a future that feels very futuristic: newspapers are printed out by a fax in each home. Homosexuality is sneered at. Gender politics feels pre-20th century (sic). The human race has FTL spaceships but in every other respect has slipped backwards -- though, to be fair, Shaw might have intended that, as it makes a kind of plot sense.
The takeaway: a moment when the protagonist remarks on "a woman's ability to bemoan disaster, shed tears over death, and at the same time retain all her own certitudes, all the universal preoccupations of a womb-carrier." It hadn't occurred to me (not for a very long time, anyway) that a person's attitude to society and politics might be influenced by whether they give birth or not, but it does make some logical sense, and might explain why men and women as groups have different political and religious views (https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/... ). So I'll be thinking about that long after I've forgotten the book.
The bad: the protagonist's boorish attempts to be witty; the fact that too many confrontations are resolved by a fight (he's a former colonel; wouldn't he have learnt to deal with uppity grunts like an adult?); the way it seems like Shaw is increasingly just making it up as he goes along; a plot that shades too far out of SF into woo-woo fantasy just for the sake of trying to look original.
Also fails to imagine a future that feels very futuristic: newspapers are printed out by a fax in each home. Homosexuality is sneered at. Gender politics feels pre-20th century (sic). The human race has FTL spaceships but in every other respect has slipped backwards -- though, to be fair, Shaw might have intended that, as it makes a kind of plot sense.
The takeaway: a moment when the protagonist remarks on "a woman's ability to bemoan disaster, shed tears over death, and at the same time retain all her own certitudes, all the universal preoccupations of a womb-carrier." It hadn't occurred to me (not for a very long time, anyway) that a person's attitude to society and politics might be influenced by whether they give birth or not, but it does make some logical sense, and might explain why men and women as groups have different political and religious views (https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/... ). So I'll be thinking about that long after I've forgotten the book.
January 19, 2022
Mack war der einzige Überlebende, als die Syccas den Planeten verwüsteten. Er wurde Soldat, um sich zu rächen. Später nach dem Ausscheiden aus dem Militär zog er sich auf einen Planeten zurück, der überwiegend von Künstlern bewohnt wird. Nach Jahrzehnten verliert die Menschheit langsam ihren Kampf gegen die ETs.
In alten Zeiten gefiel mir Bob Shaw immer recht gut. Dieses Buch habe ich vor Jahrzehnten schon mal gelesen. Allerdings erinnerte ich mich nur an wenig.
Beim zweiten Lesen gefiel es mir von Anfang an nicht richtig. Die Idee mit den ETs, die die die Menschheit ausrotten wollen und die langsam an Boden gewinnen, finde ich eigentlich recht gut.
Aber der Plot war von Anfang an nicht sonderlich stimmig. Der Roman geht in x verschiedene Richtungen. Für so ein (nach heutigem Maßstab) kurzes Buch waren es entschieden zu viele.
Die Kosmologie / Welterklärung mit den Ergons gefiel mir dann überhaupt nicht mehr. Auch der Schluss war für mich unbefriedigend. Trotzdem gebe ich ihm 3 Sterne, weil doch einige Ideen recht gut waren.
In alten Zeiten gefiel mir Bob Shaw immer recht gut. Dieses Buch habe ich vor Jahrzehnten schon mal gelesen. Allerdings erinnerte ich mich nur an wenig.
Beim zweiten Lesen gefiel es mir von Anfang an nicht richtig. Die Idee mit den ETs, die die die Menschheit ausrotten wollen und die langsam an Boden gewinnen, finde ich eigentlich recht gut.
Aber der Plot war von Anfang an nicht sonderlich stimmig. Der Roman geht in x verschiedene Richtungen. Für so ein (nach heutigem Maßstab) kurzes Buch waren es entschieden zu viele.
Die Kosmologie / Welterklärung mit den Ergons gefiel mir dann überhaupt nicht mehr. Auch der Schluss war für mich unbefriedigend. Trotzdem gebe ich ihm 3 Sterne, weil doch einige Ideen recht gut waren.
Read
January 18, 2025Here's my spoiler-free review :) It's the general script from my video review here: https://youtu.be/00dESZ5MWgY?si=pFfC5...
The Palace of Eternity is a short space opera that jams a lot into under 200 pages.
It’s got all your favorite science fiction tropes split into 3 parts, each completely unique to the other two.
We’re following Mack, an ex-military man who now lives and works as a mechanic on Mnemosyne, a planet mostly for poets and artists. At least until now, as the humans are moving their base of operations to the planet so life there naturally gets turned upside down for the inhabitants. It’s advertised as that being the conflict but that’s not the meat of it in my opinion. I can’t really give away the true meat of the plot without spoiling but trust me when I say it’s really really sci-fi.
The good:
This is not a boring read whatsoever. It kind of does all the things you expect in a science fiction book really well. The world building is colorful, the tech is well explained, the aliens are cool, etc. etc. It moves really fast. Nothing is dwelled on for long at all. But unlike some books where it feels like characters act too spontaneously, all of the action and plot developments feel reasonable, so it doesn’t suffer from that.
The prose is really fast, it’s a quick read, not just because of how short it is but because it’s just well written. The middle of the book does take a step back but it’s for a plausible reason that I won’t spoil.
Shaw is really good at effectively making the reader feel things. A lot of times I read and think “whatever” but with his writing when he described someone I’m supposed to hate, I really did despise them. When I’m supposed to be scared of something, he writes it in a way that’s chilling. His depiction of the aliens, who are the villains, is vivid and haunting. I feel like within a page or two of writing, he can really make you feel a certain way about whoever he wants you to. Except the main character, which I’ll get into in a bit.
The ending so good. Fit for ending to a set of novels hundreds and hundreds of pages, it felt that powerful and big. Even as someone who didn’t necessarily care for the main characters that much. The entire last part has a “gimmick” that’s really fun to read. Without getting into spoilers there are massive twists that I wouldn’t have seen coming in a million years.
It’s a space opera. It tries, I think, to go beyond its action and adventure and touch on some philosophy, but that really didn’t land too much for me. I think where it hits, it hits, and for me that’s the quickness of the plot and the speed of the prose and the vividness of Shaw’s worldbuilding.
The Bad:
First and foremost, this book is dated to the extent that it was in my mind for the majority of the book. The main character reads like a middle aged man’s fantasy. I didn’t like him. He’s sort of a war hero with a tragic backstory, violently emotional, he’s rich and talented at his craft, has retired in a place for artists and, most frustratingly, in a relationship with a much, much younger woman. He’s 49 dating a 19 year old. There’s a point in the book where he describes her as looking at him and seeming “childlike” and I’m like, dude, she literally is. He’s too macho and he’s very one dimensional. Too much to be liked by me. And given that we follow him the whole book pretty much, it’s hard to like the book too much because of all that.
As I referenced a little bit earlier there is a jarring shift between each part and while that didn't bother me too much I could certainly see how some readers would feel a bit whiplashed.
It gets very "hand-wave-y” and etherial and confusing in the second part, and I got a little lost. Its only one facet of the book, but that part is not for me.
Okay so I have to talk about this one character. So, there’s this one girl Mack meets. And there is this really weird scene where, for a non-sexual reason I won’t get into, she sort of watches Mack naked showering and right afterwards she “briefly handled his genitals”. She is 3 in this scene and it’s just waaaaaay too far for me. Like, to the point I wanted to stop reading. There wasn’t anything overtly sexual but just the fact that the main character is comfortable being naked and touched by this three year-old girl is uncomfortable to read. And I won't get in the spoilers about what she's doing but she could've touched him anywhere else and it would've meant the exact same to the plot. There's also another character, with an asterisk next to that, that Mack interacts with later, and she's really important. And Mack talks about her with extreme revery. But he does it in this way that is so so common with books from around this time where it seems like he can't talk up this woman as important without for some reason making it sexual and obsessing about her femininity and sexual beauty. And it's so common in this era of sci-fi. Like they can't put a woman up on a pedestal without also talking about her as a sexual object.
OK look, so you might hear all this and say well yeah the book is written in 1969 what did you expect and to that I'd say go ahead and enjoy it. Nobody is trying to take the book away from you dude. If you can just go ahead and take the best and leave the rest, read your heart out. That being said, I’m doing this review in 2024, and so I’m gonna review it as such and note some things that I don’t like about it right now, in 2024. If you can compartmentalize the bad from the good it’s got undeniable positives and achieves things many meandering books can’t in hundreds and hundreds of pages.
Thanks for watching.
The Palace of Eternity is a short space opera that jams a lot into under 200 pages.
It’s got all your favorite science fiction tropes split into 3 parts, each completely unique to the other two.
We’re following Mack, an ex-military man who now lives and works as a mechanic on Mnemosyne, a planet mostly for poets and artists. At least until now, as the humans are moving their base of operations to the planet so life there naturally gets turned upside down for the inhabitants. It’s advertised as that being the conflict but that’s not the meat of it in my opinion. I can’t really give away the true meat of the plot without spoiling but trust me when I say it’s really really sci-fi.
The good:
This is not a boring read whatsoever. It kind of does all the things you expect in a science fiction book really well. The world building is colorful, the tech is well explained, the aliens are cool, etc. etc. It moves really fast. Nothing is dwelled on for long at all. But unlike some books where it feels like characters act too spontaneously, all of the action and plot developments feel reasonable, so it doesn’t suffer from that.
The prose is really fast, it’s a quick read, not just because of how short it is but because it’s just well written. The middle of the book does take a step back but it’s for a plausible reason that I won’t spoil.
Shaw is really good at effectively making the reader feel things. A lot of times I read and think “whatever” but with his writing when he described someone I’m supposed to hate, I really did despise them. When I’m supposed to be scared of something, he writes it in a way that’s chilling. His depiction of the aliens, who are the villains, is vivid and haunting. I feel like within a page or two of writing, he can really make you feel a certain way about whoever he wants you to. Except the main character, which I’ll get into in a bit.
The ending so good. Fit for ending to a set of novels hundreds and hundreds of pages, it felt that powerful and big. Even as someone who didn’t necessarily care for the main characters that much. The entire last part has a “gimmick” that’s really fun to read. Without getting into spoilers there are massive twists that I wouldn’t have seen coming in a million years.
It’s a space opera. It tries, I think, to go beyond its action and adventure and touch on some philosophy, but that really didn’t land too much for me. I think where it hits, it hits, and for me that’s the quickness of the plot and the speed of the prose and the vividness of Shaw’s worldbuilding.
The Bad:
First and foremost, this book is dated to the extent that it was in my mind for the majority of the book. The main character reads like a middle aged man’s fantasy. I didn’t like him. He’s sort of a war hero with a tragic backstory, violently emotional, he’s rich and talented at his craft, has retired in a place for artists and, most frustratingly, in a relationship with a much, much younger woman. He’s 49 dating a 19 year old. There’s a point in the book where he describes her as looking at him and seeming “childlike” and I’m like, dude, she literally is. He’s too macho and he’s very one dimensional. Too much to be liked by me. And given that we follow him the whole book pretty much, it’s hard to like the book too much because of all that.
As I referenced a little bit earlier there is a jarring shift between each part and while that didn't bother me too much I could certainly see how some readers would feel a bit whiplashed.
It gets very "hand-wave-y” and etherial and confusing in the second part, and I got a little lost. Its only one facet of the book, but that part is not for me.
Okay so I have to talk about this one character. So, there’s this one girl Mack meets. And there is this really weird scene where, for a non-sexual reason I won’t get into, she sort of watches Mack naked showering and right afterwards she “briefly handled his genitals”. She is 3 in this scene and it’s just waaaaaay too far for me. Like, to the point I wanted to stop reading. There wasn’t anything overtly sexual but just the fact that the main character is comfortable being naked and touched by this three year-old girl is uncomfortable to read. And I won't get in the spoilers about what she's doing but she could've touched him anywhere else and it would've meant the exact same to the plot. There's also another character, with an asterisk next to that, that Mack interacts with later, and she's really important. And Mack talks about her with extreme revery. But he does it in this way that is so so common with books from around this time where it seems like he can't talk up this woman as important without for some reason making it sexual and obsessing about her femininity and sexual beauty. And it's so common in this era of sci-fi. Like they can't put a woman up on a pedestal without also talking about her as a sexual object.
OK look, so you might hear all this and say well yeah the book is written in 1969 what did you expect and to that I'd say go ahead and enjoy it. Nobody is trying to take the book away from you dude. If you can just go ahead and take the best and leave the rest, read your heart out. That being said, I’m doing this review in 2024, and so I’m gonna review it as such and note some things that I don’t like about it right now, in 2024. If you can compartmentalize the bad from the good it’s got undeniable positives and achieves things many meandering books can’t in hundreds and hundreds of pages.
Thanks for watching.
August 20, 2013
A solid short sci-fi book, with a good introduction to the world and the war with an incommunicable alien race. The twist two-thirds of the way through the book was alluded to, but still felt a bit random to me, and thereafter I felt the story a bit rushed. I don't regret reading it, as it was a reasonable extrapolation of the future and had some neat concepts, but I wouldn't read it twice.
December 31, 2019
What an incredibly bizarre book. The hard left turn at the half way point had me reeling, and the insanity only bloomed from there.
I probably won't be reading another Bob Shaw sci-fi book, but in a way I'm glad this bewildering mashup of gritty noir and muddily spiritual transhumanism graced my bookshelf at the end of this decade.
I probably won't be reading another Bob Shaw sci-fi book, but in a way I'm glad this bewildering mashup of gritty noir and muddily spiritual transhumanism graced my bookshelf at the end of this decade.
Read
September 25, 2022Odd.
December 5, 2019
I got familiar with Bob when I read a collection of his novels - that book contained 4 his earlier works & each of them had its own face. I didn't particularly like "Ground zero man" although it had its moments; "Light of other days" was OK but I liked "Night walk" & "The two-timers" best.
That's why when I decided to continue reading him I examined plot summaries of all his other novels then chose "The palace of eternity" as the most reminiscent of"Night walk"; in that regard the former book didn't disappoint me but there's more to it than just that.
"The palace" consists of 3 parts with a big surprise in the 2nd one. Part #1 has many parallels with "Night walk": there're lots of similarities in setting, plot twists, even personal traits of main character.
Bob also elaborated on the subject of ideological & political struggle between human factions in the face of forthcoming alien invasion & feared ultimate annihilation. This reminded me of "The star fox" or "Ensign Flandry" by Poul Anderson but of course Bob Shaw describes it on much smaller scale.
That big surprise I was talking about is probably the most memorable element of the whole story, that whole concept seems rather unique to me. It even redeems some of more questionable Bob 's ideas like a tiny girl with mysterious healing abilities as well as a few downright paranormal ones.
To sum it up "The palace" is definitely a novel I'd recommend to anyone only beginning to check out Shaw's bibliography; it's a somewhat classical story set in a not-so-revolutionary sci-fi world but the author knows how to keep the reader immersed, intrigued & even surprised at the right time.
I'd be the first to admit that his later works casually feature way more uncommon ideas or nonstandard plot twists ("Dagger of the mind" or "Fire pattern" are prime examples) but all things considered there's nothing quite like the best of his very 1st novels.
That's why when I decided to continue reading him I examined plot summaries of all his other novels then chose "The palace of eternity" as the most reminiscent of"Night walk"; in that regard the former book didn't disappoint me but there's more to it than just that.
"The palace" consists of 3 parts with a big surprise in the 2nd one. Part #1 has many parallels with "Night walk": there're lots of similarities in setting, plot twists, even personal traits of main character.
Bob also elaborated on the subject of ideological & political struggle between human factions in the face of forthcoming alien invasion & feared ultimate annihilation. This reminded me of "The star fox" or "Ensign Flandry" by Poul Anderson but of course Bob Shaw describes it on much smaller scale.
That big surprise I was talking about is probably the most memorable element of the whole story, that whole concept seems rather unique to me. It even redeems some of more questionable Bob 's ideas like a tiny girl with mysterious healing abilities as well as a few downright paranormal ones.
To sum it up "The palace" is definitely a novel I'd recommend to anyone only beginning to check out Shaw's bibliography; it's a somewhat classical story set in a not-so-revolutionary sci-fi world but the author knows how to keep the reader immersed, intrigued & even surprised at the right time.
I'd be the first to admit that his later works casually feature way more uncommon ideas or nonstandard plot twists ("Dagger of the mind" or "Fire pattern" are prime examples) but all things considered there's nothing quite like the best of his very 1st novels.
July 9, 2024
A former military man with a tragic past has taken up residence as a mechanic on the distant world of Mnemosyne, known throughout the universe as the poets' planet. Humanity is at war with a race of aliens called the Syccans who vaguely resemble people with moistened skin and exposed organs. Mnemosyne is about as far away from the conflict as civilised planets get and some of the more romantic artists seem to believe that it's humanity's last bastion of the soul. The relatively peaceful life here is disrupted when the military show up in vast numbers, razing forests to the ground in order to erect buildings and outposts. It's revealed that Mnemosyne is to be their new main base of operations in the war effort against the Syccans, which sparks a conflict with the artistically-minded inhabitants which our protagonist becomes embroiled in.
This book is incredibly well written, with excellent pacing and characters. There are telepathic alien bats, military action sequences, thoughtful passages of philosophical dialogue, strange technologies and much more that I won't reveal here. It goes in some really wild directions which I'm not too sure of but it is exceptionally unique. I'm starting to really enjoy these shorter science fiction books that pack a punch well above their weight and that's exactly what The Palace of Eternity does.
This book is incredibly well written, with excellent pacing and characters. There are telepathic alien bats, military action sequences, thoughtful passages of philosophical dialogue, strange technologies and much more that I won't reveal here. It goes in some really wild directions which I'm not too sure of but it is exceptionally unique. I'm starting to really enjoy these shorter science fiction books that pack a punch well above their weight and that's exactly what The Palace of Eternity does.
April 30, 2024
Hostile aliens named Syccans kill Mack Tavernor's parents when he is eight years old. He spends the next forty years as a soldier fighting the Syccan invaders. He retires to an artist's colony on a back-water planet named Mnemosyne. Sometime in the distance past, the planet's moons fragmented into a contiguous blanket of ice and rock that surrounds Mnemosyne's surface. The military arrives and rapidly sets up a base to become the central headquarters for the war against the Syccans. A group of protestors march on the base but are massacred by military forces. Tavernor finds the remaining protestors hiding in the wilderness and helps some of them escape. This pulls him further into the mystery of why the military selected Mnemosyne.
The story starts as a straightforward adventure, including a love triangle, but then goes in unexpected directions. The victories feel well-earned and the story culminates on an inspiring note of transcendence.
The story starts as a straightforward adventure, including a love triangle, but then goes in unexpected directions. The victories feel well-earned and the story culminates on an inspiring note of transcendence.
October 13, 2013
'The planet Mnemosyne, surrounded by a lambent shell of tiny moon-fragments, was known throughout the Federation as the Poets’ World. It was a beautiful planet far inside the frontiers of Man’s long war with the alien Pythsyccans, and it was to this quiet world that Mack Tavernor retired when he resigned from the Federation forces.
But suddenly the peace of Mnemosyne was shattered; the Federation was moving its military headquarters here. Man’s forces were in retreat – and now that Mnemosyne had become Earth’s military centre, it became also the target of wave after wave of alien attacks, in a continuing onslaught that could not fail to break through Man’s last defences.
Tavernor was caught up in that battle, and he knew that neither he nor humanity would ever again find the peace they sought… unless, perhaps, in death.’
Blurb from the 1969 Ace Paperback Edition
Bob Shaw is one of the unsung heroes of British SF. Outside of SF readership his name is virtually unknown and much of his generally excellent work is sadly out of print.
The war with the Pythsyccans has been raging across space for forty years. The aliens are elongated, spindle-shaped monstrosities who seem determined to wipe Mankind from the galaxy and show no desire to communicate or seek a peaceful solution.
Mack Tavernor, retired Army Colonel turned engineer, has settled on the planet Mnemosyne, ‘The Poet’s Planet’ which boasts an orbital shell composed of fragments of a long-destroyed moon.
Tavernor’s history has, to a certain extent, been dictated by the Pythsyccans, since his parents died saving him during an attack by the aliens when he was a child. He subsequently dedicated himself to engineering and specifically to the design of weaponry capable of defeating the aliens.
Tavernor discovers that the military have chosen to use Mnemosyne as the Central Control for War Operations when his house is destroyed to make way for a military headquarters.
Suspicious of the military’s true intentions – particularly after several demonstrators are killed by military forces – he joins the rebelling artists who are hiding out in forests outside the city.
Later, hearing that his girlfriend Lissa, is planning to marry one of the military leaders, he returns to persuade her to change her mind, but is captured. Realising that it is only a matter of time before he betrays the other rebels he engineers his own killing whilst being interrogated.
Death, however, is not the end, for Tavernor finds himself reborn as an Egon.
Egons are particles of life-essence which connect to every life-form at conception and are basically – a copy or back-up of the life-experiences of the organism. At the moment of death, the Egon returns to the Mother mass which surrounds every life-bearing planet and whose influence is responsible for flashes of creative or scientific brilliance.
A foretaste of what the Egon masses actually are is sensed by Tavernor at the start of the novel as he stands alone in the forest, witnessing the results of a man-made supernova whose light has just reached Mnemosyne after seven years.
'Tavernor found himself gripped by the ghastly stillness, reduced to the level of one of Mnemosyne’s forest creatures, virtually mindless, yet he had in that moment a sense of being aware of Life’s relationship to the space-time continuum in a way that men no longer understood. The vast and transparent parameters of the eternal problem seemed to parade on the surface of the gestalt mind of which he might suddenly have become a part. Life. Death. Eternity. The numinous. Panspermism. Tavernor felt a tremendous elation. Panspermism – the concept of ubiquitous life. Justification for believing that every mind in existence was linked to every other mind that had ever been? If so, then novae and supernovae were only too well understood by the quivering inhabitants of the dark burrows and shielded nests around him. How many times in this galaxy alone had a star gone berserk? A million times? And in the eternity of galaxies? How many civilisations, how many incomputable billions of lives had been blasted out of existence by the star death? And had each being, intelligent or otherwise, in that last withering second, fed the same message into the panspermic all-mind, making it available to every sentient creature that would ever exist in the continuum’s dark infinities? Look out, little brother, whether you walk, crawl, swim, burrow or fly – when the sky suddenly floods with light, make your peace, make your peace…’ (Page 11)
Egon individuals are virtually immortal, but, unbeknown to living humanity, the Egon masses are being decimated by the effects of the Bussard Ramjet butterfly ships which Man employs to travel between the stars.
Tavernor is sent back, grafted to the consciousness of his unborn son in an effort to persuade Humanity that the only way to avoid extinction at the hands of the Pythsyccans is to abandon Ramjet technology. (It becomes clear that the Pythsyccans are aware of Egons and the damage that Man’s ship are doing to the sentient masses)
Although oddly structured, it’s a well-characterised work, with quite a few of what Shaw used to call his ‘wee thinky bits’, such as the telepathic batlike creatures which Tavernor employs to great effect in one of his guerrilla attacks on the occupying military. Where other writers would be satisfied with merely introducing a telepathic species, Shaw provides – if not a scientific explanation for telepathy – at least a solid evolutionary basis for why such a talent should have developed and a plausible description of how they mesh into their ecosystem.
Above all, this a story about real people relating to real events and significantly, given that it is a novel of the sixties, a very anti-establishment work in which the military are untrustworthy and pursuing the wrong course.
But suddenly the peace of Mnemosyne was shattered; the Federation was moving its military headquarters here. Man’s forces were in retreat – and now that Mnemosyne had become Earth’s military centre, it became also the target of wave after wave of alien attacks, in a continuing onslaught that could not fail to break through Man’s last defences.
Tavernor was caught up in that battle, and he knew that neither he nor humanity would ever again find the peace they sought… unless, perhaps, in death.’
Blurb from the 1969 Ace Paperback Edition
Bob Shaw is one of the unsung heroes of British SF. Outside of SF readership his name is virtually unknown and much of his generally excellent work is sadly out of print.
The war with the Pythsyccans has been raging across space for forty years. The aliens are elongated, spindle-shaped monstrosities who seem determined to wipe Mankind from the galaxy and show no desire to communicate or seek a peaceful solution.
Mack Tavernor, retired Army Colonel turned engineer, has settled on the planet Mnemosyne, ‘The Poet’s Planet’ which boasts an orbital shell composed of fragments of a long-destroyed moon.
Tavernor’s history has, to a certain extent, been dictated by the Pythsyccans, since his parents died saving him during an attack by the aliens when he was a child. He subsequently dedicated himself to engineering and specifically to the design of weaponry capable of defeating the aliens.
Tavernor discovers that the military have chosen to use Mnemosyne as the Central Control for War Operations when his house is destroyed to make way for a military headquarters.
Suspicious of the military’s true intentions – particularly after several demonstrators are killed by military forces – he joins the rebelling artists who are hiding out in forests outside the city.
Later, hearing that his girlfriend Lissa, is planning to marry one of the military leaders, he returns to persuade her to change her mind, but is captured. Realising that it is only a matter of time before he betrays the other rebels he engineers his own killing whilst being interrogated.
Death, however, is not the end, for Tavernor finds himself reborn as an Egon.
Egons are particles of life-essence which connect to every life-form at conception and are basically – a copy or back-up of the life-experiences of the organism. At the moment of death, the Egon returns to the Mother mass which surrounds every life-bearing planet and whose influence is responsible for flashes of creative or scientific brilliance.
A foretaste of what the Egon masses actually are is sensed by Tavernor at the start of the novel as he stands alone in the forest, witnessing the results of a man-made supernova whose light has just reached Mnemosyne after seven years.
'Tavernor found himself gripped by the ghastly stillness, reduced to the level of one of Mnemosyne’s forest creatures, virtually mindless, yet he had in that moment a sense of being aware of Life’s relationship to the space-time continuum in a way that men no longer understood. The vast and transparent parameters of the eternal problem seemed to parade on the surface of the gestalt mind of which he might suddenly have become a part. Life. Death. Eternity. The numinous. Panspermism. Tavernor felt a tremendous elation. Panspermism – the concept of ubiquitous life. Justification for believing that every mind in existence was linked to every other mind that had ever been? If so, then novae and supernovae were only too well understood by the quivering inhabitants of the dark burrows and shielded nests around him. How many times in this galaxy alone had a star gone berserk? A million times? And in the eternity of galaxies? How many civilisations, how many incomputable billions of lives had been blasted out of existence by the star death? And had each being, intelligent or otherwise, in that last withering second, fed the same message into the panspermic all-mind, making it available to every sentient creature that would ever exist in the continuum’s dark infinities? Look out, little brother, whether you walk, crawl, swim, burrow or fly – when the sky suddenly floods with light, make your peace, make your peace…’ (Page 11)
Egon individuals are virtually immortal, but, unbeknown to living humanity, the Egon masses are being decimated by the effects of the Bussard Ramjet butterfly ships which Man employs to travel between the stars.
Tavernor is sent back, grafted to the consciousness of his unborn son in an effort to persuade Humanity that the only way to avoid extinction at the hands of the Pythsyccans is to abandon Ramjet technology. (It becomes clear that the Pythsyccans are aware of Egons and the damage that Man’s ship are doing to the sentient masses)
Although oddly structured, it’s a well-characterised work, with quite a few of what Shaw used to call his ‘wee thinky bits’, such as the telepathic batlike creatures which Tavernor employs to great effect in one of his guerrilla attacks on the occupying military. Where other writers would be satisfied with merely introducing a telepathic species, Shaw provides – if not a scientific explanation for telepathy – at least a solid evolutionary basis for why such a talent should have developed and a plausible description of how they mesh into their ecosystem.
Above all, this a story about real people relating to real events and significantly, given that it is a novel of the sixties, a very anti-establishment work in which the military are untrustworthy and pursuing the wrong course.
December 23, 2024
Unfortunately after loving everything Bookpilled has recommended in the sci fi genre so far, I have found a complete miss in Bob Shaw’s Palace of Eternity. Initially interesting in premise, concept and world, about half way through the book it is completely thrown out the window and fails to capture any of itself again afterwards. It reaches of insane and outsized concepts that it has not earned, grapples with none of it’s important ideas it has tried to introduce haphazardly, and ends in a cacophony of immediate explanation that creates more havoc and questions, leaving you in a state of confusion as to what any of that was supposed to be about.
Ugh. Whatever glad it’s so short so that I didn’t have to slog through any more of it! And the way he writes characters was also so weird and uncomfortable with his descriptions of women… I got almost. Nothing out of this unfortunately.
Ugh. Whatever glad it’s so short so that I didn’t have to slog through any more of it! And the way he writes characters was also so weird and uncomfortable with his descriptions of women… I got almost. Nothing out of this unfortunately.
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