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Highway of Eternity
Two present-day investigators race across time to escape malevolent aliens from the future and their terrible "gift" of immortality in this science fiction classic.What is the price of eternal life? Secret agent Jay Corcoran is about to learn the answer when his investigation into an inexplicable disappearance carries him and journalist friend Tom Boone hundreds of years into the past. Corcoran and Boone's powerful extrasensory abilities lead them to an advanced transportation system through time and back to the bucolic 18th-century English countryside. There, they discover a family from the distant future that is hiding from the Immortals - an alien race that, many centuries on, is seducing human subjects with the promise of immortality. But the cost of life eternal is the corporeal self, and there is no place in the aliens' future for anyone unwilling to exist as mind alone.Now that the Evans family's sanctuary has been breached, escape is the only answer - for Tom Boone and Jay Corcoran as well - and the only way out is forward...far forward. But racing through space and time can be a hazardous occupation, especially with monstrous beasts, killer robots, and Immortal body destroyers waiting at every juncture.
289 pages, Hardcover
First published April 12, 1986
136 people are currently reading
653 people want to read
About the author
Clifford D. Simak
963 books1,063 followers"He was honored by fans with three Hugo awards and by colleagues with one Nebula award and was named the third Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) in 1977." (Wikipedia)
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford...
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
December 3, 2025
Имам амбицията да препрочета малко фантастика и фентъзи тази година и започвам точно с една знакова книга, излязла първа в поредицата "Избрана световна фантастика" на издателство "Бард" - "Магистрала на вечността" от Клифърд Саймък.
Дълги години това бе една от най-сериозните подборки с предимно твърда фантастика и понякога на фентъзи в България, чиито книги се очакваха с голямо нетърпение от почитателите на нестандартното. Учудващо, но издаването ѝ продължава и до днес, и макар че е позагубила инерция и качеството на предлаганите произведения силно да варира, ИСФ си остава значим фактор на родната книжна сцена.
Саймък е на висота в този си роман от далечната 1986 година. Умело ползва любими теми и похвати, държи читателя в напрежение и го провокира да си задава въпроси. На мен ми допадна доста, не е остарял нито час!
Моята оценка - 4,5*.
Дълги години това бе една от най-сериозните подборки с предимно твърда фантастика и понякога на фентъзи в България, чиито книги се очакваха с голямо нетърпение от почитателите на нестандартното. Учудващо, но издаването ѝ продължава и до днес, и макар че е позагубила инерция и качеството на предлаганите произведения силно да варира, ИСФ си остава значим фактор на родната книжна сцена.
Саймък е на висота в този си роман от далечната 1986 година. Умело ползва любими теми и похвати, държи читателя в напрежение и го провокира да си задава въпроси. На мен ми допадна доста, не е остарял нито час!
Моята оценка - 4,5*.
February 9, 2017
I really don't know what to think about this one. I've become a fan of his works, but this last one, written two years before his death, neither feels like he's losing his spirit or a swan song.
Instead, it feels like a rather awesome adventure through time in the far past and the far future, relying on an average joe who's doomed to see the incorporeal spirits of what may well be fourth dimensional beings who are ourselves after being seduced by aliens in the far future after losing our drive in a perfectly conquered material universe.
It sounds pretty awesome, right? And it is, to a point, but the philosophical questions about who we are and why we gave up and then the single family who said no to the aliens comes back to ask another question... are we worthy to change our fate, or should we pass it on to our brothers?
Being in the deep past, and after interesting adventures with killer robots and translators with the wolves, the question then slides to our brothers... Will the wolves inherit the legacy we eschewed?
It's interesting and it's gratifying to dog lovers and it harkens beautifully to City, a novel about humans who've died, leaving robots and telepathic canines to ask what it was all for.
In this respect, it is a companion to that classic novel, but perhaps not fully satisfying on its own except if you don't mind open questions at the end. And maybe that's kind of the point. If the greatest members of humanity can't answer it, then can anyone?
I'm on the fence with this one. I think it is great and also not so great. It certainly left me very thoughtful.
Instead, it feels like a rather awesome adventure through time in the far past and the far future, relying on an average joe who's doomed to see the incorporeal spirits of what may well be fourth dimensional beings who are ourselves after being seduced by aliens in the far future after losing our drive in a perfectly conquered material universe.
It sounds pretty awesome, right? And it is, to a point, but the philosophical questions about who we are and why we gave up and then the single family who said no to the aliens comes back to ask another question... are we worthy to change our fate, or should we pass it on to our brothers?
Being in the deep past, and after interesting adventures with killer robots and translators with the wolves, the question then slides to our brothers... Will the wolves inherit the legacy we eschewed?
It's interesting and it's gratifying to dog lovers and it harkens beautifully to City, a novel about humans who've died, leaving robots and telepathic canines to ask what it was all for.
In this respect, it is a companion to that classic novel, but perhaps not fully satisfying on its own except if you don't mind open questions at the end. And maybe that's kind of the point. If the greatest members of humanity can't answer it, then can anyone?
I'm on the fence with this one. I think it is great and also not so great. It certainly left me very thoughtful.
December 17, 2024
„Магистрала на вечността“ e последната творба на големия Клифърд Саймък. Книгата е много приятно научнофантастично четиво, чиято основна тема е пътуването във времето или по-точно – бягството във времето!
През 20-ти век, клиент на частния детектив Джей Коркорън е безследно изчезнал... Докато Коркорън го издирва, благодарение на своето специфично зрение вижда загадъчна „кутия“, прикрепена до хотелската му стая. Детективът вика на помощ своя приятел Том Буун, който пък има необяснимата дарба да „преминава отвъд“ ( но само в случаите, когато е изложен на сериозна опасност). Двамата заедно успяват да влязат в „кутията“, която се оказва машина на времето. Тя ги пренася в 18-ти век на място в Англия, наречено Хопкинс Ейкър, където живее мистериозно семейство бегълци във времето. Те са избягали от далечното бъдеще, укривайки се във времето от „Неограничените“. Впоследствие Коркорън, Буун и членовете на семейството преживяват изключително интересни приключения... В книгата се срещат още извънземни раси, роботи, а и се заплита доста интересен възел, на който Саймък е решил да не дава еднозначно обяснение накрая.
„Магистрала на вечността“ повдига важни теми за размисъл, притежава любопитна визия за бъдещето, както и ни запознава ни с вълнуващи герои... със сигурност ще допадне на почитателите на автора!
През 20-ти век, клиент на частния детектив Джей Коркорън е безследно изчезнал... Докато Коркорън го издирва, благодарение на своето специфично зрение вижда загадъчна „кутия“, прикрепена до хотелската му стая. Детективът вика на помощ своя приятел Том Буун, който пък има необяснимата дарба да „преминава отвъд“ ( но само в случаите, когато е изложен на сериозна опасност). Двамата заедно успяват да влязат в „кутията“, която се оказва машина на времето. Тя ги пренася в 18-ти век на място в Англия, наречено Хопкинс Ейкър, където живее мистериозно семейство бегълци във времето. Те са избягали от далечното бъдеще, укривайки се във времето от „Неограничените“. Впоследствие Коркорън, Буун и членовете на семейството преживяват изключително интересни приключения... В книгата се срещат още извънземни раси, роботи, а и се заплита доста интересен възел, на който Саймък е решил да не дава еднозначно обяснение накрая.
„Магистрала на вечността“ повдига важни теми за размисъл, притежава любопитна визия за бъдещето, както и ни запознава ни с вълнуващи герои... със сигурност ще допадне на почитателите на автора!
November 30, 2024
Highway of Eternity was Simak's last novel; it appeared in 1986, and he passed two years later. He revisits many of the same tropes that were much loved by his fans, such as intelligent canines, kindly robots, far-ranging travels in time, and a friendly, pastoral setting. The plot meanders a little, and not all of the loose ends are satisfactorily tied up, but it's a fun, lazy, last visit to the imaginative creation for which Simak was most revered. I enjoyed it.
December 1, 2013
I ran across Clifford Simak years ago, and thought of him as the decent, but not compelling author of books such as Project Pope. Then, this year, I read his excellent All Flesh is Grass, and immediately went looking for more Simak to read.
Unfortunately, this book is a bit uneven. Some is excellent, but then there's this book. It's not bad. Despite an array of oddities and adventures, it still has Simak's usual understated feel, and it has plenty of ideas. What it doesn't have is the feel of a complete novel.
There are two problems. The first is that the pieces simply don't add up, nor do they leave a satisfying, intriguing enigma. Simak presents a number of disconnected items, and largely leaves them that way. There are suggestions that he at some point intended more, but he doesn't follow through, even by way of hints and innuendo. There aren't so much loose ends, as a puzzle with a lot of the pieces missing, including the edges.
The second problem is that the story tends toward the philosophical, but doesn't commit. There are moments of introspection or discussion that verge on depth, but never quite reach it. Simak usually draws on 'average person' characters. Here, he introduces a cast that we're told is largely above average, but there's really not much evidence of it, including in their grander speculations. The book would have worked better as straightforward adventure or as more profound philosophy, but is trapped in a grey and bland middle region that doesn't hold the reader's attention.
All in all, readable, but in no way special. There's far better Simak out there.
Unfortunately, this book is a bit uneven. Some is excellent, but then there's this book. It's not bad. Despite an array of oddities and adventures, it still has Simak's usual understated feel, and it has plenty of ideas. What it doesn't have is the feel of a complete novel.
There are two problems. The first is that the pieces simply don't add up, nor do they leave a satisfying, intriguing enigma. Simak presents a number of disconnected items, and largely leaves them that way. There are suggestions that he at some point intended more, but he doesn't follow through, even by way of hints and innuendo. There aren't so much loose ends, as a puzzle with a lot of the pieces missing, including the edges.
The second problem is that the story tends toward the philosophical, but doesn't commit. There are moments of introspection or discussion that verge on depth, but never quite reach it. Simak usually draws on 'average person' characters. Here, he introduces a cast that we're told is largely above average, but there's really not much evidence of it, including in their grander speculations. The book would have worked better as straightforward adventure or as more profound philosophy, but is trapped in a grey and bland middle region that doesn't hold the reader's attention.
All in all, readable, but in no way special. There's far better Simak out there.
March 29, 2020
Идва един момент, когато си прочел достатъчно фантастики, за да кажеш, че Магистрала на вечността не е нещо супер пленяващо. Започнах книгата с голямо желание, като старт на поредицата, но уви не беше това, на което се надявах. Има си достатъчно герои, достатъчно пътешествия, извънземни и роботи, но....Тоооолкова мудна средна част! После изведнъж хоп и всичко се нарежда за 2 странички. Ами и действието някак беше мудно, нещо и екшънчето не беше топ. Уж главните персонажи са заплашени от смърт пък...нищо в мен не трепва..Е поне имаше едно убийство, ок. Също съм длъжна да отбележа - краят си заслужаваше!!! Ще дам шанс на други книги от Саймък, за да изтрият тази мудност от мозъка ми.
April 30, 2025
(ελληνική κριτική κάτω από την αγγλική)
Highway of Eternity (1986), penned a mere two years before Clifford D. Simak's death, stands as the author's final novel—a dignified, if uneven, coda to the career of one of the most contemplative and humanistic voices in twentieth-century science fiction. While it may not scale the heights of his finest pre-retirement work, it is far from the sort of feeble postscript that so often mars the twilight years of once-formidable writers—particularly, it must be said, within the genre.
The narrative follows Jay Corcoran and his companion Tom Boone, a journalist endowed with the curious ability to “slip around corners” and vanish from perilous situations. Together they stumble upon a mysterious structure—visible only to Corcoran—that proves to be a time machine, launching them into the past. There they encounter a family of fugitives from a distant future (alongside, incongruously yet not uncharmingly, a sabre-toothed tiger—but that is another tale). These refugees have fled an age in which an alien species has rendered humanity immaterial—a concept later elaborated upon by Peter F. Hamilton in his Commonwealth Saga and Void Trilogy.
As the protagonists drift through time and space, they are confronted not merely with external challenges but with deeper questions concerning the essence and destiny of humankind. Simak’s prose remains characteristically gentle, philosophical, and meditative. In marked contrast to the action-driven science fiction of his contemporaries (mercifully, long past the era of Martians ravishing princesses), Simak's concern lies with ideas—with the nature of reality, the ethical implications of technology, and the enduring value of human experience. Time and its traversal are employed here not solely as plot devices but as philosophical emblems: what does it mean to exist in a world where time itself is no longer intelligibly linear?
To be sure, the novel is not without its flaws. The plot tends at times toward fragmentation—one senses the narrative needle skipping—and certain episodes feel hastily rendered or underdeveloped. Though the characters possess psychological depth, they function primarily as vessels for ideas, which may deter readers in search of visceral emotional engagement or brisk pacing. Moreover, the exposition-heavy ending leaves several threads unresolved—though whether tantalisingly or frustratingly so will depend upon the reader’s temperament.
Still, Highway of Eternity is an honest, almost wistful endeavour—a final turn along the quiet path of “big ideas” that Simak trod throughout his literary life. It may not be his finest novel, but for those who value the more philosophical and human side of science fiction, it retains substance and quiet merit. And, one mustn’t forget: it also features a wolf who approaches a man (the reason for which is later revealed), and—a talking hat.
Γραμμένο μόλις δύο χρόνια πριν το θάνατο του συγγραφέα, το Highway of Eternity (1986) είναι το τελευταίο μυθιστόρημα του Clifford D. Simak, και αποτελεί μια αξιοπρεπή, αν και κάπως ακανόνιστη, αποχαιρετιστήρια νότα στην καριέρα ενός από τους πιο στοχαστικούς και ανθρωποκεντρικούς συγγραφείς της επιστημονικής φαντασίας του 20ού αιώνα. Προσοχή, μπορεί να μη φτάνει το ύψος άλλων έργων του, ιδίως της περιόδου πριν τη σύνταξη, αλλά δεν είναι και για πέταμα, όπως τα στερνογραφικά σκουπίδια τόσων και τόσων συγγραφέων (και ειδικά στο genre…)
Η πλοκή περιστρέφεται γύρω από τον Τζέι Κόρκοραν και τον φίλο του Τομ Μπουν, έναν δημοσιογράφο με την ικανότητα να "εξαφανίζεται" από επικίνδυνες καταστάσεις («στρίβοντας στη γωνία»). ΟΙ δ��ο τους ανακαλύπτουν μια μυστηριώδη δομή που μόνο ο Κόρκοραν μπορεί να δει και που αποδεικνύεται ότι είναι μια μηχανή του χρόνου, η οποία τους μεταφέρει στο παρελθόν. Εκεί συναντούν μια οικογένεια φυγάδων από το μέλλον (και ένα σμιλόδοντα, αλλά αυτό είναι άλλη ιστορία). Αυτοί οι φυγάδες έχουν δραπετεύσει από μια μακρινή εποχή όπου μια εξωγήινη φυλή έχει μετατρέψει την ανθρωπότητα σε άυλες οντότητες (ιδέα με την οποία έπαιξε μπάλα αργότερα ο P.F. Hamilton στο Commonwealth Saga και το Void Trilogy). Καθώς οι ήρωες περιπλανώνται μέσα στον χρόνο και τον χώρο, αντιμετωπίζουν διάφορες προκλήσεις και ερωτήματα σχετικά με την ανθρώπινη φύση και το μέλλον της ανθρωπότητας.
Το ύφος του Simak είναι ήπιο, φιλοσοφικό και συχνά στοχαστικό. Σε αντίθεση με τη γεμάτη δράση επιστημονική φαντασία της εποχής (αν και έχουμε βγει από το τέλμα του βιασμού πριγκιπισσών από πράσινους αρειανούς προ πολλού), ο Simak ενδιαφέρεται περισσότερο για τις ιδέες, τον στοχασμό πάνω στη φύση της πραγματικότητας, την ηθική της τεχνολογίας και την αξία της ανθρώπινης εμπειρίας. Ο χρόνος και το ταξίδι μέσα του χρησιμοποιούνται εδώ όχι μόνο ως αφηγηματικά εργαλεία αλλά και ως φιλοσοφικά σύμβολα: Τι σημαίνει να υπάρχεις σε έναν κόσμο όπου ο χρόνος δεν έχει σαφή σημασία;
Όπως είπα από την αρχή, το βιβλίο δεν είναι χωρίς τα μειονεκτήματά του. Η πλοκή συχνά γίνεται αποσπασματική (πηδάει η βελόνα), με κάποια σημεία να μοιάζουν βιαστικά ή ελλιπώς ανεπτυγμένα. Οι χαρακτήρες, παρόλο που έχουν βάθος, λειτουργούν κυρίως ως φορείς ιδεών, κάτι που μπορεί να ξενίσει αναγνώστες που αναζητούν έντονη συναισθηματική σύνδεση ή δράση. Επίσης, το expositioned τέλος αφήνει πολλά ερωτήματα ανοιχτά, όχι απαραίτητα με τρόπο ικανοποιητικό για όλους.
Παρά τις αδυναμίες του, το Highway of Eternity είναι μια τίμια προσπάθεια, σχεδόν νοσταλγική, που κλείνει τον κύκλο του Simak με το ίδιο ήσυχο πάθος για τις "μεγάλες ιδέες" που χαρακτήριζε όλη τη συγγραφική του πορεία. Δεν είναι ίσως το καλύτερο έργο του, αλλά για τους θαυμαστές του και για όσους αγαπούν την πιο φιλοσοφική και ανθρώπινη πλευρά της επιστημονικής φαντασίας, παραμένει ένα έργο με ουσία. Και έχει ένα λύκο (ίσως τον πρώτο) που προσεγγίζει τον άνθρωπο (αργότερα μαθαίνουμε και τον πραγματικό λόγο) και… ένα ομιλούν καπέλο!
Highway of Eternity (1986), penned a mere two years before Clifford D. Simak's death, stands as the author's final novel—a dignified, if uneven, coda to the career of one of the most contemplative and humanistic voices in twentieth-century science fiction. While it may not scale the heights of his finest pre-retirement work, it is far from the sort of feeble postscript that so often mars the twilight years of once-formidable writers—particularly, it must be said, within the genre.
The narrative follows Jay Corcoran and his companion Tom Boone, a journalist endowed with the curious ability to “slip around corners” and vanish from perilous situations. Together they stumble upon a mysterious structure—visible only to Corcoran—that proves to be a time machine, launching them into the past. There they encounter a family of fugitives from a distant future (alongside, incongruously yet not uncharmingly, a sabre-toothed tiger—but that is another tale). These refugees have fled an age in which an alien species has rendered humanity immaterial—a concept later elaborated upon by Peter F. Hamilton in his Commonwealth Saga and Void Trilogy.
As the protagonists drift through time and space, they are confronted not merely with external challenges but with deeper questions concerning the essence and destiny of humankind. Simak’s prose remains characteristically gentle, philosophical, and meditative. In marked contrast to the action-driven science fiction of his contemporaries (mercifully, long past the era of Martians ravishing princesses), Simak's concern lies with ideas—with the nature of reality, the ethical implications of technology, and the enduring value of human experience. Time and its traversal are employed here not solely as plot devices but as philosophical emblems: what does it mean to exist in a world where time itself is no longer intelligibly linear?
To be sure, the novel is not without its flaws. The plot tends at times toward fragmentation—one senses the narrative needle skipping—and certain episodes feel hastily rendered or underdeveloped. Though the characters possess psychological depth, they function primarily as vessels for ideas, which may deter readers in search of visceral emotional engagement or brisk pacing. Moreover, the exposition-heavy ending leaves several threads unresolved—though whether tantalisingly or frustratingly so will depend upon the reader’s temperament.
Still, Highway of Eternity is an honest, almost wistful endeavour—a final turn along the quiet path of “big ideas” that Simak trod throughout his literary life. It may not be his finest novel, but for those who value the more philosophical and human side of science fiction, it retains substance and quiet merit. And, one mustn’t forget: it also features a wolf who approaches a man (the reason for which is later revealed), and—a talking hat.
Γραμμένο μόλις δύο χρόνια πριν το θάνατο του συγγραφέα, το Highway of Eternity (1986) είναι το τελευταίο μυθιστόρημα του Clifford D. Simak, και αποτελεί μια αξιοπρεπή, αν και κάπως ακανόνιστη, αποχαιρετιστήρια νότα στην καριέρα ενός από τους πιο στοχαστικούς και ανθρωποκεντρικούς συγγραφείς της επιστημονικής φαντασίας του 20ού αιώνα. Προσοχή, μπορεί να μη φτάνει το ύψος άλλων έργων του, ιδίως της περιόδου πριν τη σύνταξη, αλλά δεν είναι και για πέταμα, όπως τα στερνογραφικά σκουπίδια τόσων και τόσων συγγραφέων (και ειδικά στο genre…)
Η πλοκή περιστρέφεται γύρω από τον Τζέι Κόρκοραν και τον φίλο του Τομ Μπουν, έναν δημοσιογράφο με την ικανότητα να "εξαφανίζεται" από επικίνδυνες καταστάσεις («στρίβοντας στη γωνία»). ΟΙ δ��ο τους ανακαλύπτουν μια μυστηριώδη δομή που μόνο ο Κόρκοραν μπορεί να δει και που αποδεικνύεται ότι είναι μια μηχανή του χρόνου, η οποία τους μεταφέρει στο παρελθόν. Εκεί συναντούν μια οικογένεια φυγάδων από το μέλλον (και ένα σμιλόδοντα, αλλά αυτό είναι άλλη ιστορία). Αυτοί οι φυγάδες έχουν δραπετεύσει από μια μακρινή εποχή όπου μια εξωγήινη φυλή έχει μετατρέψει την ανθρωπότητα σε άυλες οντότητες (ιδέα με την οποία έπαιξε μπάλα αργότερα ο P.F. Hamilton στο Commonwealth Saga και το Void Trilogy). Καθώς οι ήρωες περιπλανώνται μέσα στον χρόνο και τον χώρο, αντιμετωπίζουν διάφορες προκλήσεις και ερωτήματα σχετικά με την ανθρώπινη φύση και το μέλλον της ανθρωπότητας.
Το ύφος του Simak είναι ήπιο, φιλοσοφικό και συχνά στοχαστικό. Σε αντίθεση με τη γεμάτη δράση επιστημονική φαντασία της εποχής (αν και έχουμε βγει από το τέλμα του βιασμού πριγκιπισσών από πράσινους αρειανούς προ πολλού), ο Simak ενδιαφέρεται περισσότερο για τις ιδέες, τον στοχασμό πάνω στη φύση της πραγματικότητας, την ηθική της τεχνολογίας και την αξία της ανθρώπινης εμπειρίας. Ο χρόνος και το ταξίδι μέσα του χρησιμοποιούνται εδώ όχι μόνο ως αφηγηματικά εργαλεία αλλά και ως φιλοσοφικά σύμβολα: Τι σημαίνει να υπάρχεις σε έναν κόσμο όπου ο χρόνος δεν έχει σαφή σημασία;
Όπως είπα από την αρχή, το βιβλίο δεν είναι χωρίς τα μειονεκτήματά του. Η πλοκή συχνά γίνεται αποσπασματική (πηδάει η βελόνα), με κάποια σημεία να μοιάζουν βιαστικά ή ελλιπώς ανεπτυγμένα. Οι χαρακτήρες, παρόλο που έχουν βάθος, λειτουργούν κυρίως ως φορείς ιδεών, κάτι που μπορεί να ξενίσει αναγνώστες που αναζητούν έντονη συναισθηματική σύνδεση ή δράση. Επίσης, το expositioned τέλος αφήνει πολλά ερωτήματα ανοιχτά, όχι απαραίτητα με τρόπο ικανοποιητικό για όλους.
Παρά τις αδυναμίες του, το Highway of Eternity είναι μια τίμια προσπάθεια, σχεδόν νοσταλγική, που κλείνει τον κύκλο του Simak με το ίδιο ήσυχο πάθος για τις "μεγάλες ιδέες" που χαρακτήριζε όλη τη συγγραφική του πορεία. Δεν είναι ίσως το καλύτερο έργο του, αλλά για τους θαυμαστές του και για όσους αγαπούν την πιο φιλοσοφική και ανθρώπινη πλευρά της επιστημονικής φαντασίας, παραμένει ένα έργο με ουσία. Και έχει ένα λύκο (ίσως τον πρώτο) που προσεγγίζει τον άνθρωπο (αργότερα μαθαίνουμε και τον πραγματικό λόγο) και… ένα ομιλούν καπέλο!
September 23, 2013
-La última novela del autor.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Tom Boone, un periodista que ha demostrado una capacidad muy especial en situaciones de peligro pero que no sabe cómo manejarla, responde inmediatamente al súbito reclamo de Jay Corcoran, un ex agente de la CIA que ahora está en el sector privado al que conoció hace quince años y que tras un accidente sufrió una reconstrucción de parte de su cerebro que ha alterado su percepción y razonamiento mejorando su capacidad. Corcoran necesita a Tom para comprobar si su “visión” sobre la desaparición de uno de sus clientes es correcta.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Tom Boone, un periodista que ha demostrado una capacidad muy especial en situaciones de peligro pero que no sabe cómo manejarla, responde inmediatamente al súbito reclamo de Jay Corcoran, un ex agente de la CIA que ahora está en el sector privado al que conoció hace quince años y que tras un accidente sufrió una reconstrucción de parte de su cerebro que ha alterado su percepción y razonamiento mejorando su capacidad. Corcoran necesita a Tom para comprobar si su “visión” sobre la desaparición de uno de sus clientes es correcta.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
April 23, 2024
A wild ride full of delightful ideas. This has an Alice in Wonderland vibe at times with a Talking hat among other curiosities. Seems a bit out of the norm for a Simak but elements of his style are evident; in particular the relationship between Boone and Wolf and the many picturesque landscapes.
The ideas are grand but they unfold slowly which is helpful to lessen the confusion of the constantly absurd scenarios.
It took a little longer to grab me but I highly enjoyed it through to the end.
The ideas are grand but they unfold slowly which is helpful to lessen the confusion of the constantly absurd scenarios.
It took a little longer to grab me but I highly enjoyed it through to the end.
November 16, 2017
Нещо чувството не е такова, каквото обикновено очаквам да ми бъде донесено от Саймък...
April 10, 2018
This was a blast from the past for me. I haven't read anything by Clifford Simak since my junior high sci-fi fascination phase almost 60 years ago.
It was enjoyable, and if the plot had been just a bit more compelling and the writing just a bit better, I would have added a star. I allowed also for the cultural differences. Although this was written in 1986 and may have been Simak's last novel (he died two years later in his 80s), it has the feel of a novel from the '50s or '60s, particularly in the somewhat stilted male-female relationships and the oddly formal dialogue.
Still, it kept me turning the pages (or swiping, since I read it on Kindle), just to find out how the humans who were scattered near the beginning of the story would all fare.
The adventure begins when a New York-based secret agent named Corcoran hires an old friend, journalist Boone, to help him figure out what happened to another client who has disappeared. Each of the men have mysterious extra mental abilities they don't quite understand. Corcoran, after a severe accident, found in recovery that he could see connections among things that others couldn't. Boone has found that when he's in great danger, he can "step around a corner" into some other place he can't define, before returning to the reality he was in.
In this case, Corcoran finds that his missing client, Martin, has a strange structure jutting from the side of a skyscraper that only he can see. When they visit the building to check it out, they find themselves under attack by an alien entity, and Boone gets them into the extra structure, which turns out to be a time machine.
They end up in a bucolic island of farmland in England occupied by several humans. These folks, it turns out, had been born nearly a million years in the future, when an alien race called the Immortals has convinced most Earthlings to give up their bodies and become free-floating intelligences (shades of Ray Kurzweil). The small group in England rebelled and used time machine technology stolen from the immortals to scatter themselves about in the past. The visit of Boone and Corcoran unfortunately puts them on the radar of the immortals, who seem to have sent out netlike robots to capture or kill the renegades, and so suddenly everyone has to flee in the three time machines on the site.
Boone and another man end up 50,000 years before in the American southwest, confronting wolves, prehistoric bison, and saber tooth tigers. Another group ends up in the far future, where one woman, Enid, meets a strange horsefaced alien who enlists her to help him finish making a machine that can also travel through time with much more efficiency.
Eventually, after many more adventures and mishaps, the humans will end up with each other, and at one point or another, most of them spend a little time on an endless road in a grey, foggy world, which a strange creature tells them is the Highway of Eternity.
Without giving away the ending, suffice it to say that someone is manipulating this whole process, all in the hopes that Boone, with his preternatural mental abilities, might help the human race advance to its next step of evolution.
So, all in all, this was enjoyable and interesting without being gripping or filled with grand ideas. As my dad used to say about our old Mercury, it won't win any prizes, but it'll get you where you're going.
It was enjoyable, and if the plot had been just a bit more compelling and the writing just a bit better, I would have added a star. I allowed also for the cultural differences. Although this was written in 1986 and may have been Simak's last novel (he died two years later in his 80s), it has the feel of a novel from the '50s or '60s, particularly in the somewhat stilted male-female relationships and the oddly formal dialogue.
Still, it kept me turning the pages (or swiping, since I read it on Kindle), just to find out how the humans who were scattered near the beginning of the story would all fare.
The adventure begins when a New York-based secret agent named Corcoran hires an old friend, journalist Boone, to help him figure out what happened to another client who has disappeared. Each of the men have mysterious extra mental abilities they don't quite understand. Corcoran, after a severe accident, found in recovery that he could see connections among things that others couldn't. Boone has found that when he's in great danger, he can "step around a corner" into some other place he can't define, before returning to the reality he was in.
In this case, Corcoran finds that his missing client, Martin, has a strange structure jutting from the side of a skyscraper that only he can see. When they visit the building to check it out, they find themselves under attack by an alien entity, and Boone gets them into the extra structure, which turns out to be a time machine.
They end up in a bucolic island of farmland in England occupied by several humans. These folks, it turns out, had been born nearly a million years in the future, when an alien race called the Immortals has convinced most Earthlings to give up their bodies and become free-floating intelligences (shades of Ray Kurzweil). The small group in England rebelled and used time machine technology stolen from the immortals to scatter themselves about in the past. The visit of Boone and Corcoran unfortunately puts them on the radar of the immortals, who seem to have sent out netlike robots to capture or kill the renegades, and so suddenly everyone has to flee in the three time machines on the site.
Boone and another man end up 50,000 years before in the American southwest, confronting wolves, prehistoric bison, and saber tooth tigers. Another group ends up in the far future, where one woman, Enid, meets a strange horsefaced alien who enlists her to help him finish making a machine that can also travel through time with much more efficiency.
Eventually, after many more adventures and mishaps, the humans will end up with each other, and at one point or another, most of them spend a little time on an endless road in a grey, foggy world, which a strange creature tells them is the Highway of Eternity.
Without giving away the ending, suffice it to say that someone is manipulating this whole process, all in the hopes that Boone, with his preternatural mental abilities, might help the human race advance to its next step of evolution.
So, all in all, this was enjoyable and interesting without being gripping or filled with grand ideas. As my dad used to say about our old Mercury, it won't win any prizes, but it'll get you where you're going.
August 6, 2014
-La última novela del autor.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Tom Boone, un periodista que ha demostrado una capacidad muy especial en situaciones de peligro pero que no sabe cómo manejarla, responde inmediatamente al súbito reclamo de Jay Corcoran, un ex agente de la CIA que ahora está en el sector privado al que conoció hace quince años y que tras un accidente sufrió una reconstrucción de parte de su cerebro que ha alterado su percepción y razonamiento mejorando su capacidad. Corcoran necesita a Tom para comprobar si su “visión” sobre la desaparición de uno de sus clientes es correcta.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Tom Boone, un periodista que ha demostrado una capacidad muy especial en situaciones de peligro pero que no sabe cómo manejarla, responde inmediatamente al súbito reclamo de Jay Corcoran, un ex agente de la CIA que ahora está en el sector privado al que conoció hace quince años y que tras un accidente sufrió una reconstrucción de parte de su cerebro que ha alterado su percepción y razonamiento mejorando su capacidad. Corcoran necesita a Tom para comprobar si su “visión” sobre la desaparición de uno de sus clientes es correcta.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
May 31, 2022
I was at the used book store today and, scanning the copy on the back cover of a paperback copy of this Simak novel, I realized I read it eight or 10 years ago 🤦♂️ I'm giving Highway of Eternity a generous 4 💫s because, while I can't recall many of the plot details, I do remember enjoying it.
November 5, 2017
Обичам тази книга заради всичко, което не разбирам с разума си, но обичам толкова много със сърцето си. Все едно дали си в галактическата карта, или на сивата магистрала на вечността, или катериш дървото, което расте в небето с невидим връх и стълба около ствола - важното е да чуваш тази песен: "Пееха му звездите — музиката на сферите, съскането на водорода, жуженето на радиацията, мелодията на времето, химна на пространството, тананикането на космичния прах и песента на необятната празнота."
January 9, 2026
I never took Simak as the kind to write while on psychedelics, but... this book makes me think that I was wrong.
*Highway of Eternity* is the last of Simak's twenty-eight published novels, a fact I didn't realize until prepping for this review. Honestly, it's a bit disappointing that a career which included such science fictional classics as *City* and *Way Station* (neither of which I've actually read), a respectable amount of short stories, and thoroughly solid novels like *All Flesh Is Grass* and *Why Call Them Back Form Heaven?* (the Simak novels that I have actually read) had to end on such a scattershot and mediocre note. This isn't a bad book, but it sure doesn't feel like it accomplishes what it sets out to do, and the only real flavor within the book comes sprinkled on meals that a goofy robot character makes for the humans. If that doesn't sell you, well... let's see if the rest of the review does. I think you'll be okay without it, but I'm going to give this book its fair shake, so without further ado... let's summarize.
*Highway of Eternity* starts in the present (or very near future) with two men: Corcoran and Boone. The former gathers information for a living and reaches out to his old buddy Boone for his tendency to "step around corners"; this ability to magically hop from spot to spot has saved his life a couple times, and now Corcoran hopes that it can get them access to a mysterious box that he (but no one else) can see built onto the apartment that a disappeared client of his lived in before the building is demolished. It works, but only because they're put in lethal danger when the demolition starts early. They make it into the box and find that it's a time machine; when they panic, it's pulled back to the Hopkins Acre estate in 1745, where we've already been introduced to David, who lives there with his Emma little sister Enid; his studious little brother Timothy; a mysterious alien named Spike; his older sister, and her husband (David's step-brother) Horace. The family explains to the two men that they're from a million years in the future and are fleeing an alien race called the Infinites who convinced most humans to join their collective consciousness. They say that Boone and Corcoran can't return to New York, but then another time machine (they're called travelers) crashes with a similar temporal refugee based in Athens dying inside. The family decide to evacuate because the Infinities are onto them (at least, it seems that way after the crashlanding, but ...
Once Enid
*Highway of Eternity* is the last of Simak's twenty-eight published novels, a fact I didn't realize until prepping for this review. Honestly, it's a bit disappointing that a career which included such science fictional classics as *City* and *Way Station* (neither of which I've actually read), a respectable amount of short stories, and thoroughly solid novels like *All Flesh Is Grass* and *Why Call Them Back Form Heaven?* (the Simak novels that I have actually read) had to end on such a scattershot and mediocre note. This isn't a bad book, but it sure doesn't feel like it accomplishes what it sets out to do, and the only real flavor within the book comes sprinkled on meals that a goofy robot character makes for the humans. If that doesn't sell you, well... let's see if the rest of the review does. I think you'll be okay without it, but I'm going to give this book its fair shake, so without further ado... let's summarize.
*Highway of Eternity* starts in the present (or very near future) with two men: Corcoran and Boone. The former gathers information for a living and reaches out to his old buddy Boone for his tendency to "step around corners"; this ability to magically hop from spot to spot has saved his life a couple times, and now Corcoran hopes that it can get them access to a mysterious box that he (but no one else) can see built onto the apartment that a disappeared client of his lived in before the building is demolished. It works, but only because they're put in lethal danger when the demolition starts early. They make it into the box and find that it's a time machine; when they panic, it's pulled back to the Hopkins Acre estate in 1745, where we've already been introduced to David, who lives there with his Emma little sister Enid; his studious little brother Timothy; a mysterious alien named Spike; his older sister, and her husband (David's step-brother) Horace. The family explains to the two men that they're from a million years in the future and are fleeing an alien race called the Infinites who convinced most humans to join their collective consciousness. They say that Boone and Corcoran can't return to New York, but then another time machine (they're called travelers) crashes with a similar temporal refugee based in Athens dying inside. The family decide to evacuate because the Infinities are onto them (at least, it seems that way after the crashlanding, but ...
Once Enid
December 14, 2025
3.5
Some cool ideas but it seems that aside from the essential Simack works like "City" and "Way Station" and his collected short stories, these all have the same tropes in different portions. This one is no different.
✅Time Travel
✅Paranormality/Telepathy
✅Characters who all sound like they are from 1920 with names from the same time.
✅Extra Solar travel
✅Goofy aliens
✅Wild interdimensional places
✅Humanity are lazy and are headed for disaster"
✅Camping
Sometimes the prose flows, sometimes its pages and pages of 5 characters arguing about interrupting each other and their mutton lunch getting cold.
Some cool ideas but it seems that aside from the essential Simack works like "City" and "Way Station" and his collected short stories, these all have the same tropes in different portions. This one is no different.
✅Time Travel
✅Paranormality/Telepathy
✅Characters who all sound like they are from 1920 with names from the same time.
✅Extra Solar travel
✅Goofy aliens
✅Wild interdimensional places
✅Humanity are lazy and are headed for disaster"
✅Camping
Sometimes the prose flows, sometimes its pages and pages of 5 characters arguing about interrupting each other and their mutton lunch getting cold.
August 9, 2024
Early Bird Book Deal | Not entirely satisfying | I did enjoy this, but it felt as though Simak had no idea where he was going with it as he wrote. It meanders, characters remain two-dimensional, events lack explanation or relevance, settings are visited for no apparent purpose, and it finally just sort of peters to a stop, instead of having an ending. In some ways, it seemed story was sacrificed in favor of concept and idea, but even those were not fully explored. This was Simak's last novel, and I think it reflects that, he achieved much better earlier in life.
November 26, 2021
I came to this novel shortly after finishing another by Clifford D. Simak,
Way Station
. I'd thought that one was interesting enough to warrant trying something else by the same author. This effort, unfortunately, was less impressive, at least in terms of how it's put together.
The concept is somewhat unique, while (like the one in Way Station) resonating in an eerie way with today's news. A million years hence, alien "missionaries" come to Earth for the purpose of converting everyone into spirit format. That is, after conversion one's consciousness continues, perhaps forever, but one no longer has a physical body. Lots of people in that distant future may like the idea—but anyone who resists being fundamentally transformed by their betters becomes a public enemy.
That much I accept. The rest, not so much. There are two main characters from our contemporary era, each with a strange talent. Corcoran sometimes sees objects that are screened in a way that makes them invisible to everybody else. And when in a life-threatening situation, Boone is able to "step around" a metaphorical corner and into another location. The two of them team up to enter a condemned high-rise building on the night before its scheduled demolition in hopes of investigating a structural appendage high up on the side of the building that only Corcoran can see, and the dynamite charges begin going off while they are up there. Boone saves their lives by stepping into the mystery structure and pulling Corcoran with him. Suddenly they find themselves in a time/space transport device from the far future. It carries them a few hundred years earlier in time to meet with a small band or family of fugitives, who've been hiding from the aliens in pre-industrial England.
Everyone becomes acquainted, but then a robot agent of the aliens bursts into the scene, intent on killing them all. Three transport devices are on hand, and they barely have time to jump inside and scatter to random destinations.
Boone and Enid (one of the refugees from the future) happen to get into the same transport and soon find themselves in the American Southwest, in prehistoric times. There are wolves. There's an enormous bison. And the damned killer robot is still hot on their heels.
Corcoran and David, another refugee, escape futureward, almost to David's era. There's lots of conversation as they wander there, which serves in part to address doubts the reader might be having. For example, how is it that there seems to be no difference between our 20th-century adventurers and their new friends? How can they converse so easily and naturally? David explains that his bunch are conservative "hillbillies," the people most resistant to change. But still—we're talking about a gap of a million years! (I know present-day conservatives are sometimes called knuckle-dragging troglodytes, but come on.) Maybe in Mr. Simak's generation readers were more willing to gloss over stretches like that.
Another problem, for me at least, was a growing worry that the narrative had become unmoored. I was reminded of the poorer sort of medieval romances, in which knights ride across the land in a seemingly pointless series of adventures. Was this ever going to lead to anything? By the midway point, it didn't look that way. I took a break and read another book that, by pure coincidence, has a very similar title.
Returning, I gave it another honest try, but finally I gave up. It just did not feel like the author had tried to tell a story.
The concept is somewhat unique, while (like the one in Way Station) resonating in an eerie way with today's news. A million years hence, alien "missionaries" come to Earth for the purpose of converting everyone into spirit format. That is, after conversion one's consciousness continues, perhaps forever, but one no longer has a physical body. Lots of people in that distant future may like the idea—but anyone who resists being fundamentally transformed by their betters becomes a public enemy.
That much I accept. The rest, not so much. There are two main characters from our contemporary era, each with a strange talent. Corcoran sometimes sees objects that are screened in a way that makes them invisible to everybody else. And when in a life-threatening situation, Boone is able to "step around" a metaphorical corner and into another location. The two of them team up to enter a condemned high-rise building on the night before its scheduled demolition in hopes of investigating a structural appendage high up on the side of the building that only Corcoran can see, and the dynamite charges begin going off while they are up there. Boone saves their lives by stepping into the mystery structure and pulling Corcoran with him. Suddenly they find themselves in a time/space transport device from the far future. It carries them a few hundred years earlier in time to meet with a small band or family of fugitives, who've been hiding from the aliens in pre-industrial England.
Everyone becomes acquainted, but then a robot agent of the aliens bursts into the scene, intent on killing them all. Three transport devices are on hand, and they barely have time to jump inside and scatter to random destinations.
Boone and Enid (one of the refugees from the future) happen to get into the same transport and soon find themselves in the American Southwest, in prehistoric times. There are wolves. There's an enormous bison. And the damned killer robot is still hot on their heels.
Corcoran and David, another refugee, escape futureward, almost to David's era. There's lots of conversation as they wander there, which serves in part to address doubts the reader might be having. For example, how is it that there seems to be no difference between our 20th-century adventurers and their new friends? How can they converse so easily and naturally? David explains that his bunch are conservative "hillbillies," the people most resistant to change. But still—we're talking about a gap of a million years! (I know present-day conservatives are sometimes called knuckle-dragging troglodytes, but come on.) Maybe in Mr. Simak's generation readers were more willing to gloss over stretches like that.
Another problem, for me at least, was a growing worry that the narrative had become unmoored. I was reminded of the poorer sort of medieval romances, in which knights ride across the land in a seemingly pointless series of adventures. Was this ever going to lead to anything? By the midway point, it didn't look that way. I took a break and read another book that, by pure coincidence, has a very similar title.
Returning, I gave it another honest try, but finally I gave up. It just did not feel like the author had tried to tell a story.
August 21, 2021
“We need some place where we can get some answers. There have been too many daft places and mad happenings. This road, Jay’s tree…”
“You are confused?” asked The Hat.
“Considerably.”
These quotes about sum up this book for me, Clifford D. Simak’s last novel. It was by no means a bad book, but it was odd, disjointed, and felt like it never quite coalesced into what could have been. The premise was interesting, two men in the 20th century, Jay Corcoran (who is quite wealthy finding things for people thanks in large part to the ability to see things no one else can see, including things physically invisible to everyone else but him) and his friend Tom Boone (a man who can “step around a corner,” as in vanish from any dangerous situation instantly and appear some distance away safely), two men with strange abilities, stumble on a time machine in New York as part of Corcoran investigating something about a mysterious client named Martin. With Corcoran seeing the time machine and when the two are in danger (the time machine is attached to a building about to be demolished) Boone’s ability getting the two of them into the machine, the two of them travel to Hopkins Acre, a hidden family estate in Shropshire, England (in 1745).
They are most unexpected by the inhabitants of Hopkins Acre, a family of humans (and one alien who is basically treated like a pet) who are refugees from a million years in the future. They are hiding out from the Infinites, monk-like aliens who in this far distant future converted the vast majority of humanity into immortal incorporeal forms. This family, self-described hillbillies, wanted nothing to do with this and traveled back to the past, living in a time bubble of sorts in Shropshire, content to live a quiet life with their alien friend Spike (the family consisting of “Horace, the hardheaded, practical lout, the organizer, the schemer, Emma, the moaner, the keeper of our consciences, Timothy, the student, Enid, the thinker,” David, “the loafer,” and Henry, sometimes called in the book “Ghost,” at least early on, who is partially incorporeal thanks to the unfinished actions of the Infinites, though unlike those who fully completed the transformation, can still move around and interact with non-transformed humans).
Corcoran, Boone, the family, and Spike aren’t around long before a killer robot sent by the Infinites suddenly shows up at Hopkins Acre, its arrival presaged shortly before by one of the family returning from a trip to I believe Athens, Greece, basically dying in the family’s arms as the killer robot had attacked him. The family, along with Corcoran and Boone, understandably panicked, hurry into their various time machines and basically tell the machines to just go! And thus begins the main story, as the various family members, Boone, and Corcoran are all widely separated in time and later space (with distant alien planets entering the narrative along with the titular Highway of Eternity), with probably the least strange of the places some end up in is the Pleistocene American Southwest (complete with saber tooths cats and extinct bison species).
What follows are a series of adventures, apparently completely unconnected at first, as various members of the family as well as Corcoran and Boone deal with all manner of encounters with seemingly helpful aliens, scheming aliens, dangerous Pleistocene wildlife, ruins left by ancient civilizations that don’t even exist yet in the 20th century, killer robots, helpful robots, a giant tree only Corcoran can see, and the Highway of Eternity. All the events and places more or less connect at the end, with Simak touching on (but debatable if he got too deep on) questions of man’s fate and the ethics of people other than humans helping man achieve this fate (were the Infinites good or evil, was mankind meant to become immortal and incorporeal, free from the needs and wants of being flesh and blood, is being immortal and incorporeal good or bad?).
I liked the Golden Age sense of wonder of the alien planets and the Highway of Eternity, I liked aliens just being really alien and inscrutable in the book, there were some whimsical and even humorous moments (especially with the helpful robots), and though I don’t think Simak got anywhere deep enough for my tastes, he did touch on some deep philosophical questions science fiction used to ask more frequently, something more recent efforts (as far as I can tell) now shy away from.
I didn’t like how poorly explained some elements of the book were (we get more information about Spike for instance, but a lot is left unsaid, Boone’s and Corcoran’s abilities, though important several times in the book, are never really explained to my satisfaction, a deep past between Boone and Corcoran is hinted at but we never really get it, when we finally meet the Infinites I thought the description was underwritten, and I had a lot of questions about the Highway of Eternity). Though it is a common thing with older science fiction, for as important as the family was in the story, I think many of them were either shallowly written or little more than a one or two sentence description (Horace was always grumbling for instance, something the other characters even explicitly said).
It was definitely unique though and many scenes will stick with me. I liked the sense of wonder in a number of scenes. A few elements I really wished had been fleshed out better (notably Henry’s visit to basically the end of the Earth, before the death of the Earth, with his discussions with another being who in fact left on Earth is the dominant species after man and does there need to even be a dominant species or what does dominant mean, and what happened to Martin, which could have been its own book, as we learn Martin is quite unlike the other characters). A few things are completely unexplained (Martin had a companion, a fellow time traveler named Stella; she is a complete enigma in the book, basically just a name mentioned a few times). There is a weird focus on food, as a number of meals and drinks are lovingly described again and again. The character of Ghost in _The Goblin Reservation_ bears a striking resemblance at times to Horace in this book, though over time the personalities are shown to be different (it was odd though that early on Henry was called Ghost and then at some point in the book never referred to by that name again). Much talk about what the pets in the book want, don’t want, or are thinking in the book (Spike and later another pet acquired in the characters’ travels), reminding me of how often Carol Hampton talked about her bio-mech saber tooth Sylvester in _The Goblin Reservation_, though thankfully this time no one has so much of their personality wrapped up in constantly talking about their pet nor is the talk of pets anywhere near as distracting as it could get in _The Goblin Reservation_.
I liked it well enough. I would not say it is a good entry into Simak’s works though.
“You are confused?” asked The Hat.
“Considerably.”
These quotes about sum up this book for me, Clifford D. Simak’s last novel. It was by no means a bad book, but it was odd, disjointed, and felt like it never quite coalesced into what could have been. The premise was interesting, two men in the 20th century, Jay Corcoran (who is quite wealthy finding things for people thanks in large part to the ability to see things no one else can see, including things physically invisible to everyone else but him) and his friend Tom Boone (a man who can “step around a corner,” as in vanish from any dangerous situation instantly and appear some distance away safely), two men with strange abilities, stumble on a time machine in New York as part of Corcoran investigating something about a mysterious client named Martin. With Corcoran seeing the time machine and when the two are in danger (the time machine is attached to a building about to be demolished) Boone’s ability getting the two of them into the machine, the two of them travel to Hopkins Acre, a hidden family estate in Shropshire, England (in 1745).
They are most unexpected by the inhabitants of Hopkins Acre, a family of humans (and one alien who is basically treated like a pet) who are refugees from a million years in the future. They are hiding out from the Infinites, monk-like aliens who in this far distant future converted the vast majority of humanity into immortal incorporeal forms. This family, self-described hillbillies, wanted nothing to do with this and traveled back to the past, living in a time bubble of sorts in Shropshire, content to live a quiet life with their alien friend Spike (the family consisting of “Horace, the hardheaded, practical lout, the organizer, the schemer, Emma, the moaner, the keeper of our consciences, Timothy, the student, Enid, the thinker,” David, “the loafer,” and Henry, sometimes called in the book “Ghost,” at least early on, who is partially incorporeal thanks to the unfinished actions of the Infinites, though unlike those who fully completed the transformation, can still move around and interact with non-transformed humans).
Corcoran, Boone, the family, and Spike aren’t around long before a killer robot sent by the Infinites suddenly shows up at Hopkins Acre, its arrival presaged shortly before by one of the family returning from a trip to I believe Athens, Greece, basically dying in the family’s arms as the killer robot had attacked him. The family, along with Corcoran and Boone, understandably panicked, hurry into their various time machines and basically tell the machines to just go! And thus begins the main story, as the various family members, Boone, and Corcoran are all widely separated in time and later space (with distant alien planets entering the narrative along with the titular Highway of Eternity), with probably the least strange of the places some end up in is the Pleistocene American Southwest (complete with saber tooths cats and extinct bison species).
What follows are a series of adventures, apparently completely unconnected at first, as various members of the family as well as Corcoran and Boone deal with all manner of encounters with seemingly helpful aliens, scheming aliens, dangerous Pleistocene wildlife, ruins left by ancient civilizations that don’t even exist yet in the 20th century, killer robots, helpful robots, a giant tree only Corcoran can see, and the Highway of Eternity. All the events and places more or less connect at the end, with Simak touching on (but debatable if he got too deep on) questions of man’s fate and the ethics of people other than humans helping man achieve this fate (were the Infinites good or evil, was mankind meant to become immortal and incorporeal, free from the needs and wants of being flesh and blood, is being immortal and incorporeal good or bad?).
I liked the Golden Age sense of wonder of the alien planets and the Highway of Eternity, I liked aliens just being really alien and inscrutable in the book, there were some whimsical and even humorous moments (especially with the helpful robots), and though I don’t think Simak got anywhere deep enough for my tastes, he did touch on some deep philosophical questions science fiction used to ask more frequently, something more recent efforts (as far as I can tell) now shy away from.
I didn’t like how poorly explained some elements of the book were (we get more information about Spike for instance, but a lot is left unsaid, Boone’s and Corcoran’s abilities, though important several times in the book, are never really explained to my satisfaction, a deep past between Boone and Corcoran is hinted at but we never really get it, when we finally meet the Infinites I thought the description was underwritten, and I had a lot of questions about the Highway of Eternity). Though it is a common thing with older science fiction, for as important as the family was in the story, I think many of them were either shallowly written or little more than a one or two sentence description (Horace was always grumbling for instance, something the other characters even explicitly said).
It was definitely unique though and many scenes will stick with me. I liked the sense of wonder in a number of scenes. A few elements I really wished had been fleshed out better (notably Henry’s visit to basically the end of the Earth, before the death of the Earth, with his discussions with another being who in fact left on Earth is the dominant species after man and does there need to even be a dominant species or what does dominant mean, and what happened to Martin, which could have been its own book, as we learn Martin is quite unlike the other characters). A few things are completely unexplained (Martin had a companion, a fellow time traveler named Stella; she is a complete enigma in the book, basically just a name mentioned a few times). There is a weird focus on food, as a number of meals and drinks are lovingly described again and again. The character of Ghost in _The Goblin Reservation_ bears a striking resemblance at times to Horace in this book, though over time the personalities are shown to be different (it was odd though that early on Henry was called Ghost and then at some point in the book never referred to by that name again). Much talk about what the pets in the book want, don’t want, or are thinking in the book (Spike and later another pet acquired in the characters’ travels), reminding me of how often Carol Hampton talked about her bio-mech saber tooth Sylvester in _The Goblin Reservation_, though thankfully this time no one has so much of their personality wrapped up in constantly talking about their pet nor is the talk of pets anywhere near as distracting as it could get in _The Goblin Reservation_.
I liked it well enough. I would not say it is a good entry into Simak’s works though.
November 9, 2022
“Calea eternității” a fost ultimul roman pe care l-a publicat Clifford D. Simak iar textul pare a fi o recapitulare generală a întregii sale creații. O trecere în revistă a ideilor pe care Simak le-a dăruit cititorilor de-a lungul timpului, și nu cred că lipsește ceva important. Călătorii în spațiu și în timp, extratereștri și tehnologii nepământene, ființe metamorfozate sau imateriale, și bineînțeles “factorul limită”, una dintre temele preferate ale autorului, prezentă aici sub forma unei omeniri care a ajuns în ultimul stadiu de plictiseală și nu mai găsește niciun motiv pentru a progresa.
Să fi intuit oare Clifford D. Simak. că nu va mai exista și un alt roman și că acesta este cel din urmă? Dacă a fost așa, atunci actul care a încheiat stagiunea a fost unul cu adevărat magistral. Am aplaudat și eu, alături de toți cei care i-au cunoscut scrierile. Iar apoi, chiar la sfârșit, a venit și ultima reverență, pe care Clifford a oferit-o publicului strângând la piept o pălărie (personajul care rămâne alături de cititor în pagina de final este alcătuit doar dintr-o pălărie și un costum), după care s-a retras cu discreție, pentru totdeauna, de pe scena literelor și a cuvintelor.
Firește, drumul acestui om nu se încheie odată cu dispariția sa fizică. Îl putem oricând reîntâlni pe Calea Eternității Cărților, acel loc magic în care scriitorii, fără a mai obosi sau îmbătrâni vreodată, continuă să-și depene poveștile.
Nota acordată romanului : 9,6
http://www.bucurestifm.ro/2022/06/27/...
Să fi intuit oare Clifford D. Simak. că nu va mai exista și un alt roman și că acesta este cel din urmă? Dacă a fost așa, atunci actul care a încheiat stagiunea a fost unul cu adevărat magistral. Am aplaudat și eu, alături de toți cei care i-au cunoscut scrierile. Iar apoi, chiar la sfârșit, a venit și ultima reverență, pe care Clifford a oferit-o publicului strângând la piept o pălărie (personajul care rămâne alături de cititor în pagina de final este alcătuit doar dintr-o pălărie și un costum), după care s-a retras cu discreție, pentru totdeauna, de pe scena literelor și a cuvintelor.
Firește, drumul acestui om nu se încheie odată cu dispariția sa fizică. Îl putem oricând reîntâlni pe Calea Eternității Cărților, acel loc magic în care scriitorii, fără a mai obosi sau îmbătrâni vreodată, continuă să-și depene poveștile.
Nota acordată romanului : 9,6
http://www.bucurestifm.ro/2022/06/27/...
November 22, 2016
Simak's last novel. As such, it tends to revisit some of the underpinnings of his previous novel, Special Deliverance Basically, it's a tale of humankind's struggles to foil attempts by alien intelligence to manipulate the course of our evolution and destiny. In this case, the participants are from different points in time rather than from different worlds. Again, however, we find that the prevailing personas are fairly well steeped in Simak's midwestern values, mores and folkways. In some sense, this novel seems to serve as something of a valedictory piece, summing up the author's world view.
The story itself bounces from one point in time to another, following the characters' inadvertent scattering when pursued by agents of the "Infinites", the entities attempting to force humans into an incorporeal future. The end result, when they are reunited, is to return to the good old logical path of human self-determination. An enjoyable, if not overly profound piece.
The story itself bounces from one point in time to another, following the characters' inadvertent scattering when pursued by agents of the "Infinites", the entities attempting to force humans into an incorporeal future. The end result, when they are reunited, is to return to the good old logical path of human self-determination. An enjoyable, if not overly profound piece.
June 10, 2023
Lord Clifford remains a lord or all things science fiction. I love how ghost returns in this tale. He was a favorite in The Goblin Reservation. This title wasn’t a bad read at all. It was an interesting time travel tale with more guests than I'm used to in Clifford's work. That’s not a complaint, just an observation. This story probably had like 20 people total with 12 being the main cast and the rest being unusual abstractions. Those concepts are what I take away from this tale. I love how self contained yet rational the world is and how likable certain characters can be. And no story is complete without cats and dogs. That’s a surefire way to make a classic. This book remains a classic and further cements Clifford as a sci fi legend. The story was ok but not great but that’s also OK.
March 7, 2020
Have you ever read a book and wondered what sort of mind altering substance the author was on when they wrote it? I wondered this a lot while reading this book.
This book contains a whole bunch of weak characters, strange logic about where humanity is headed, and no real plot. The ending, which happens after an anticlimactic climax, is about as good as starting a conclusion to an analytical paper with “in conclusion”. Overall, this book was awful. It was a struggle to get through.
This book contains a whole bunch of weak characters, strange logic about where humanity is headed, and no real plot. The ending, which happens after an anticlimactic climax, is about as good as starting a conclusion to an analytical paper with “in conclusion”. Overall, this book was awful. It was a struggle to get through.
January 19, 2017
За романи като "Магистрала на вечността" може да се каже само "класика"...за Клифърд Саймък също. Изключително елегантната фабула, следваща най-добрите традиции на научната фантастика, ни пренася във вдъхновяващ свят, наподобяващ на "Алиса в страната на чудесата" на Карол. Задължително четиво за любителите на сериозния "sci-fi" роман.
June 24, 2016
cestování v čase, lidská nesmrtelnost, alternativní světy, roboti, mimozemšťané...
July 19, 2016
2,5/5, в полза на автора 3, и то само защото бе от любимите ми фантасти като бях малък. Нищо, което да не сме чели преди. Скука.
August 17, 2025
A Messy Time Travel Epic
5 August 2025
So, this is a rather odd story, though by the end it sort of makes sense. In fact, for half, or actually most, of the time I suspected that all of the characters were dead and they were experiencing the afterlife. Another character I thought had been tricked by an alien into an hallucinogenic state, though that idea was dashed when she met up with other characters later on in the story.
This book is about a group of rebels from the future who are hiding out in the 17th Century in a manor that they had acquired from a noble family, who at the time were away on a European trip (and the manor ended up vanishing). They had fled a time when some aliens, known as the Infinites, had appeared and were encouraging humanity to shed their physical bodies and become pure thought. They basically didn’t like this idea, but by the time they fled, this transformation was being pursued rather aggressively.
The trick with the book is that you need to work out where people are travelling in time, and where the specific main points are (such as when the Inifinites arrive and start transforming humanity). There was one period which was rather confusing, namely where everybody was living in an hallucinogenic dream, but that did set up the reason for the robots to be doing everything.
There are a number of eras that they travel to, though the main one seems to be pre-human south western United States, an area where there happens to be the skeletal remains of a giant bison (that for some reason lasts for tens of thousands of years – like, I know that there are fossils, but they tend to be bones that have been buried, and over the centuries the bones rot a way, and the hollows are filled with a different type of sediment – when you have bones sitting on the ground, they just rot away to nothing). Of course, there is something important about this era, and it can be rather comical as well.
As I suggested, it does get rather weird at the end, but then again this is from the era of speculative sci-fi, namely when you got a lot of weird stories and ideas that sometimes don’t make all that much sense. It’s not like modern sci-fi, which seems to be more world building, with space ships and space battles (not that I tend to read all that much of the modern stuff, unless it happens to be really good).
Honestly, a quick scan of some of the reviews suggested that this wasn’t one of his best books, which I why I suspect you don’t get any diagrams of where and how the protagonists travel. As for me, well, yeah, it was strange, and it did take a while to work out, though some of the characters, and aliens, were rather strange, and the idea of Broome being able to step around corners was, well, used, but never satisfactorily explained. For instance, you have this character, and alien, named Horseface, and another one called The Hat, which collapses to be picked up and carried by a wolf that befriends Broome and follows him around (though he is definitely not a pet). As I mentioned, they do travel to North America before humans arrive, so when Broome, Enid, and later others, turn up, this is the first human encounters the wolf has.
Would I say that it is a good ride? Well, I’m not all that sure, but it is the weird style of sci-fi that I don’t mind.
5 August 2025
So, this is a rather odd story, though by the end it sort of makes sense. In fact, for half, or actually most, of the time I suspected that all of the characters were dead and they were experiencing the afterlife. Another character I thought had been tricked by an alien into an hallucinogenic state, though that idea was dashed when she met up with other characters later on in the story.
This book is about a group of rebels from the future who are hiding out in the 17th Century in a manor that they had acquired from a noble family, who at the time were away on a European trip (and the manor ended up vanishing). They had fled a time when some aliens, known as the Infinites, had appeared and were encouraging humanity to shed their physical bodies and become pure thought. They basically didn’t like this idea, but by the time they fled, this transformation was being pursued rather aggressively.
The trick with the book is that you need to work out where people are travelling in time, and where the specific main points are (such as when the Inifinites arrive and start transforming humanity). There was one period which was rather confusing, namely where everybody was living in an hallucinogenic dream, but that did set up the reason for the robots to be doing everything.
There are a number of eras that they travel to, though the main one seems to be pre-human south western United States, an area where there happens to be the skeletal remains of a giant bison (that for some reason lasts for tens of thousands of years – like, I know that there are fossils, but they tend to be bones that have been buried, and over the centuries the bones rot a way, and the hollows are filled with a different type of sediment – when you have bones sitting on the ground, they just rot away to nothing). Of course, there is something important about this era, and it can be rather comical as well.
As I suggested, it does get rather weird at the end, but then again this is from the era of speculative sci-fi, namely when you got a lot of weird stories and ideas that sometimes don’t make all that much sense. It’s not like modern sci-fi, which seems to be more world building, with space ships and space battles (not that I tend to read all that much of the modern stuff, unless it happens to be really good).
Honestly, a quick scan of some of the reviews suggested that this wasn’t one of his best books, which I why I suspect you don’t get any diagrams of where and how the protagonists travel. As for me, well, yeah, it was strange, and it did take a while to work out, though some of the characters, and aliens, were rather strange, and the idea of Broome being able to step around corners was, well, used, but never satisfactorily explained. For instance, you have this character, and alien, named Horseface, and another one called The Hat, which collapses to be picked up and carried by a wolf that befriends Broome and follows him around (though he is definitely not a pet). As I mentioned, they do travel to North America before humans arrive, so when Broome, Enid, and later others, turn up, this is the first human encounters the wolf has.
Would I say that it is a good ride? Well, I’m not all that sure, but it is the weird style of sci-fi that I don’t mind.
September 12, 2021
La última novela de Simak nos transporta a un mundo dónde lo físico ha sido casi devastado por los “Infinitos”. Éste es una especie de grupo alienígena del centro del universo, el cual ha prometido la vida eterna a los terrícolas mediante la supervivencia a través del conocimiento personal, así los individuos son seres de luz, que perpetúan en su inteligencia para que la galaxia no perezca. Y en conflicto, obviamente, se encuentra un grupo de refugiados, que viajan a través de la historia, aparte de esconderse, para indagar más acerca de los supremos y controladores extraterrestres; intentando derrocarlos. (el viaje en el tiempo, se lo han robado a los superiores). A uno de los grupos revolucionarios, y por un casual, se unen un par de tipos, aparentemente, de los más común, y desconocedores de tal magnitud futura…tendrán que tomar cartas en el asunto.
Qué decir que esta peculiar novela. Para empezar, su voz es muy antigua (parece estar escrita en la época de oro, y no en los ochenta; quizá el autor, dentro de su estilo, no evolucionó en su obra), su narrativa, pues, resulta algo “tosferínica”, aunque simpática, repleta de diálogos y poco elemento descriptivo (en referencia a los mundos futuros, pasados, y más acerca de la procedencia de esos Infinitos y su mundo).
El ritmo es aceptable, los personajes tienen cierta chispa, y el trasfondo que enmarca la historia, pese a los poco original a esas alturas dentro del género, es sugerente: con un mundo plagado de células combatientes, y ése camino hacia la autopsita de la eternidad, dónde hay varios tipos de seres, formas y sub cuerpos, que acompañan a el grupo protagonista. Pero el conjunto es demasiado extraño, con muchos toques del mago de Oz (¿otro escritor que se pirró por la obra en su otoño vital?), otras novelas del género que ya explotan la idea de fondo, denuncia ecológica y misticismo, y ése vagar a los Weird Western, que se antoja a veces demasiado largo (paja en cierta medida, que podría haber sido aprovechada para escenificar los viajes a través de las épocas, especialmente, y en mayor medida, los juegos de las dimensiones, su traspaso, las nubes dimensionales, y no la supervivencia de los corales y sus diálogos con sombreros y diversos animales...), para acabar en pocas páginas, de modo fantástico religioso ( “ a lo génesis”; tratando la biología y la perfección del ser, que han tocado otros autores con mayor gloria y realismo, o solidez…¡y no digo quien esta vez, xd!).
Simak, además, se enreda con muchos circunloquios sobre el espacio – tiempo, y no logra sacarlo adelante; todo ello, entorpecido por la narración bizarra, onírica, que pretende ser epopéyica, abarcando un desplegable de muchos conceptos, y tan sólo logran ser esbozados; todo coronado con el mundo de los robots, y el ahínco que pone, en la servidumbre a los árboles… ¡ya os lo digo, extrañísimo!
En resultas, es una obra que trata temas interesantes, ya antes expuestos en otras clásicas, y que quiere elaborarlo a su modo; a lo apocalíptico- westerniano, mezclando demasiada fantasía e imprimiendo más fuerza narrativa al enfoque de peligro y carrera, que a resolver y explicar como dios manda todos los elementos argumentales que introduce. Una lástima.
Tan sólo recomendable para curiosos del género, y de las últimas épocas decadentes de los clásicos.
Qué decir que esta peculiar novela. Para empezar, su voz es muy antigua (parece estar escrita en la época de oro, y no en los ochenta; quizá el autor, dentro de su estilo, no evolucionó en su obra), su narrativa, pues, resulta algo “tosferínica”, aunque simpática, repleta de diálogos y poco elemento descriptivo (en referencia a los mundos futuros, pasados, y más acerca de la procedencia de esos Infinitos y su mundo).
El ritmo es aceptable, los personajes tienen cierta chispa, y el trasfondo que enmarca la historia, pese a los poco original a esas alturas dentro del género, es sugerente: con un mundo plagado de células combatientes, y ése camino hacia la autopsita de la eternidad, dónde hay varios tipos de seres, formas y sub cuerpos, que acompañan a el grupo protagonista. Pero el conjunto es demasiado extraño, con muchos toques del mago de Oz (¿otro escritor que se pirró por la obra en su otoño vital?), otras novelas del género que ya explotan la idea de fondo, denuncia ecológica y misticismo, y ése vagar a los Weird Western, que se antoja a veces demasiado largo (paja en cierta medida, que podría haber sido aprovechada para escenificar los viajes a través de las épocas, especialmente, y en mayor medida, los juegos de las dimensiones, su traspaso, las nubes dimensionales, y no la supervivencia de los corales y sus diálogos con sombreros y diversos animales...), para acabar en pocas páginas, de modo fantástico religioso ( “ a lo génesis”; tratando la biología y la perfección del ser, que han tocado otros autores con mayor gloria y realismo, o solidez…¡y no digo quien esta vez, xd!).
Simak, además, se enreda con muchos circunloquios sobre el espacio – tiempo, y no logra sacarlo adelante; todo ello, entorpecido por la narración bizarra, onírica, que pretende ser epopéyica, abarcando un desplegable de muchos conceptos, y tan sólo logran ser esbozados; todo coronado con el mundo de los robots, y el ahínco que pone, en la servidumbre a los árboles… ¡ya os lo digo, extrañísimo!
En resultas, es una obra que trata temas interesantes, ya antes expuestos en otras clásicas, y que quiere elaborarlo a su modo; a lo apocalíptico- westerniano, mezclando demasiada fantasía e imprimiendo más fuerza narrativa al enfoque de peligro y carrera, que a resolver y explicar como dios manda todos los elementos argumentales que introduce. Una lástima.
Tan sólo recomendable para curiosos del género, y de las últimas épocas decadentes de los clásicos.
September 29, 2025
Highway of Eternity (1986), penned a mere two years before Clifford D. Simak's death, stands as the author's final novel—a dignified, if uneven, coda to the career of one of the most contemplative and humanistic voices in twentieth-century science fiction. While it may not scale the heights of his finest pre-retirement work, it is far from the sort of feeble postscript that so often mars the twilight years of once-formidable writers—particularly, it must be said, within the genre.
The narrative follows Jay Corcoran and his companion Tom Boone, a journalist endowed with the curious ability to “slip around corners” and vanish from perilous situations. Together they stumble upon a mysterious structure—visible only to Corcoran—that proves to be a time machine, launching them into the past. There they encounter a family of fugitives from a distant future (alongside, incongruously yet not uncharmingly, a sabre-toothed tiger—but that is another tale). These refugees have fled an age in which an alien species has rendered humanity immaterial—a concept later elaborated upon by Peter F. Hamilton in his Commonwealth Saga and Void Trilogy.
As the protagonists drift through time and space, they are confronted not merely with external challenges but with deeper questions concerning the essence and destiny of humankind. Simak’s prose remains characteristically gentle, philosophical, and meditative. In marked contrast to the action-driven science fiction of his contemporaries (mercifully, long past the era of Martians ravishing princesses), Simak's concern lies with ideas—with the nature of reality, the ethical implications of technology, and the enduring value of human experience. Time and its traversal are employed here not solely as plot devices but as philosophical emblems: what does it mean to exist in a world where time itself is no longer intelligibly linear?
To be sure, the novel is not without its flaws. The plot tends at times toward fragmentation—one senses the narrative needle skipping—and certain episodes feel hastily rendered or underdeveloped. Though the characters possess psychological depth, they function primarily as vessels for ideas, which may deter readers in search of visceral emotional engagement or brisk pacing. Moreover, the exposition-heavy ending leaves several threads unresolved—though whether tantalisingly or frustratingly so will depend upon the reader’s temperament.
Still, Highway of Eternity is an honest, almost wistful endeavour—a final turn along the quiet path of “big ideas” that Simak trod throughout his literary life. It may not be his finest novel, but for those who value the more philosophical and human side of science fiction, it retains substance and quiet merit. And, one mustn’t forget: it also features a wolf who approaches a man (the reason for which is later revealed), and—a talking hat.
The narrative follows Jay Corcoran and his companion Tom Boone, a journalist endowed with the curious ability to “slip around corners” and vanish from perilous situations. Together they stumble upon a mysterious structure—visible only to Corcoran—that proves to be a time machine, launching them into the past. There they encounter a family of fugitives from a distant future (alongside, incongruously yet not uncharmingly, a sabre-toothed tiger—but that is another tale). These refugees have fled an age in which an alien species has rendered humanity immaterial—a concept later elaborated upon by Peter F. Hamilton in his Commonwealth Saga and Void Trilogy.
As the protagonists drift through time and space, they are confronted not merely with external challenges but with deeper questions concerning the essence and destiny of humankind. Simak’s prose remains characteristically gentle, philosophical, and meditative. In marked contrast to the action-driven science fiction of his contemporaries (mercifully, long past the era of Martians ravishing princesses), Simak's concern lies with ideas—with the nature of reality, the ethical implications of technology, and the enduring value of human experience. Time and its traversal are employed here not solely as plot devices but as philosophical emblems: what does it mean to exist in a world where time itself is no longer intelligibly linear?
To be sure, the novel is not without its flaws. The plot tends at times toward fragmentation—one senses the narrative needle skipping—and certain episodes feel hastily rendered or underdeveloped. Though the characters possess psychological depth, they function primarily as vessels for ideas, which may deter readers in search of visceral emotional engagement or brisk pacing. Moreover, the exposition-heavy ending leaves several threads unresolved—though whether tantalisingly or frustratingly so will depend upon the reader’s temperament.
Still, Highway of Eternity is an honest, almost wistful endeavour—a final turn along the quiet path of “big ideas” that Simak trod throughout his literary life. It may not be his finest novel, but for those who value the more philosophical and human side of science fiction, it retains substance and quiet merit. And, one mustn’t forget: it also features a wolf who approaches a man (the reason for which is later revealed), and—a talking hat.
August 20, 2018
Pilgrim's Progressing/The Past as Prolog
A solid and well crafted story. Journalist Boone (Simak was also a journalist) has a unique ability to "walk around a corner" and find refuge outside the space/time continuum, but only in moments of mortal danger. Henry is a "ghost", a botched halfling human conversion to an incorporeal form of life. Enid, Emma, Timothy, David, Horace are a family of time traveling misfit rebels on the lam from the far future, seeking refuge in 17th century England in bubble estate while trying to figure out where humanity went wrong. And "Horseface" is the last of an alien species seeking to create a device for traversing space and time out of his ancestral imagination, only he needs a human in the form of Enid to help.
Boone is asked by his friend Corocan to investigate a mysterious client (Martin) who has been asking questions about the past. Corocan can see "around the corner", but cannot go there on his own. They come across Martin's traveler and are lead into the past, first to the 17th century, then to a prehuman North America of 50,000 BC, eventually leading to the titular Highway, a grayish expanse who's origins are a mystery.
The story elements are superb. Simak is a master at this and he expertly advances the plot while weaving provocative concepts into his tale. The pace is slower than some of his earlier work and he uses the technique of devoting each chapter to the perspective of a different character.
The weakness is in the relationships between the characters. There is supposed to be a love story between Enid and Boone, but the best the author can do is to have Enid fall into Boone's arms. The "family" is somewhat dysfunctional, but this is largely shown by references and apologies for their bickering - more showing rather than telling could have been employed. On the other hand the bond between Boone and the wolf flows seamlessly as do the revelations about Horseface. So rather than a perfect 5 I'd rating this just under 4.5.
What I do enjoy about Simak is how fluently he introduces new ideas. The motifs regarding speculations on the end of humanity, galactic civilization and the quest to assert meaning in the universe are both classic and yet unique. Recommended.
A solid and well crafted story. Journalist Boone (Simak was also a journalist) has a unique ability to "walk around a corner" and find refuge outside the space/time continuum, but only in moments of mortal danger. Henry is a "ghost", a botched halfling human conversion to an incorporeal form of life. Enid, Emma, Timothy, David, Horace are a family of time traveling misfit rebels on the lam from the far future, seeking refuge in 17th century England in bubble estate while trying to figure out where humanity went wrong. And "Horseface" is the last of an alien species seeking to create a device for traversing space and time out of his ancestral imagination, only he needs a human in the form of Enid to help.
Boone is asked by his friend Corocan to investigate a mysterious client (Martin) who has been asking questions about the past. Corocan can see "around the corner", but cannot go there on his own. They come across Martin's traveler and are lead into the past, first to the 17th century, then to a prehuman North America of 50,000 BC, eventually leading to the titular Highway, a grayish expanse who's origins are a mystery.
The story elements are superb. Simak is a master at this and he expertly advances the plot while weaving provocative concepts into his tale. The pace is slower than some of his earlier work and he uses the technique of devoting each chapter to the perspective of a different character.
The weakness is in the relationships between the characters. There is supposed to be a love story between Enid and Boone, but the best the author can do is to have Enid fall into Boone's arms. The "family" is somewhat dysfunctional, but this is largely shown by references and apologies for their bickering - more showing rather than telling could have been employed. On the other hand the bond between Boone and the wolf flows seamlessly as do the revelations about Horseface. So rather than a perfect 5 I'd rating this just under 4.5.
What I do enjoy about Simak is how fluently he introduces new ideas. The motifs regarding speculations on the end of humanity, galactic civilization and the quest to assert meaning in the universe are both classic and yet unique. Recommended.
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