Say goodbye to Mother Earth... (The Forge of God - Greg Bear)

Member Name: Redhead23

Product:	The Forge of God - Greg Bear
Date:	01/02/01 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Exciting, graphic, gripping, mind-boggling

Disadvantages: It doesn't go on forever :(

Never before have I read such a passionate description of Gaia, Mother Earth, home planet of a life form called 'mankind', being blown to pieces!

After having read 'Eon', I already knew that Greg Bear was a man who, not unlike Stephen King, was able to write in a way that didn't allow you to let go before you've finished reading the book. But, very much unlike Stephen King, Bear somehow manages to come up with the most realistic, mind-blowing ideas without falling back on his previous work - Every single book (even the follow-ups!) by Greg Bear is unique in its style, theme and characters!

I was a little wary of starting on 'The Forge of God', mainly because the title made me think it had something to do with religious nutters etc.
But after a few weeks of having the book beg me to read it, I had a go and I was overwhelmed - this is one of those books that take you into the story so much that yu just feel a big, empty hole inside after finishing...

Its main character is Arthur Gordon, a scientist (and ex-science advisor to the President) who lives in a peaceful village with his wife Francine, their son Marty and Marty's dog gauge. One day in '96 he receives a phone call from an old accquaintance, Chris Riley from CalTech, telling him to have a look at Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. He takes out his telescope, but no matter how hard he tries - Europa's gone!

The disappearance of the ice moon, accompanied by two separate discoveries of bogus 'mountains' that turn out to be alien spacecrafts, sparks off a whole series of events...
The problem is that the 'alien robots' in the Australian bogus claim to be friendly and wanting to help the human race, whereas a strange-looking 'alien', later named 'The Guest' is found next to the American bogus and claims that he is a 'parasite' of the robot race which, according to the 'Guest' are
actually planning on destroying earth in order to make more 'planet eaters'.

Whereas the Australian 'aliens' are regarded as 'Angels', the 'prophetic' story of the 'Guest' sparks off another kind of religious frenzy - The *Forge of Godders* a group f religious fanatics who regard the imminent destruction of Earth as a punishment from God.

As the story develops, we learn about Arthur's friendship with Harry Feynman, a school friend and fellow scientist who is slowly dying of leukemia, whilst Mother Earth is dying of its own form of 'cancer'.

The storyline gets twisted as the 'Guest' dies, turning out to be an artificial life form, and when tiny robotic 'spiders' start recruiting people with the intention to save some of the human race from earth's destruction.

We get to know more characters, such as Trevor Hicks, a journalist searching for the truth or Ed Shaw, who decides to re-visit Yosemite Park to witness the death of Earth.

Others, recruited into the 'network' by the robot spiders, manage to escape the destruction and witness the death of Mother Earth from one of the few remaining spaceships (It's not like the 'Planet Eaters' wanted to leave survivors, y'know ;) ) which then set off to chase the 'Planet Eaters' following 'The Law', a rule that any life form who sets out t destruct other planets must be destroyed at all cost. The 'Mums', the robots who built the 'Spiders', guide the surviving humans on a journey for revenge...

Each character is portrayed in such a way that, no matter whether you like them or not, you end up feeling and thinking like them, the story is intricately constructed and doesn't leave any big questions, although the follow-up, 'Anvil of Stars', shines a whole new light on the 'Planet Eaters' the 'Guest' and the 'Mums'... r>
<br>This is gripping, intelligent and brilliant Sci-Fi written by an author who takes the time to research the scientific background to his stories before writing them.

Greg Bear is one of my favourite authors, and because of the accuracy and detail in his stories (yeah I know, he's written some Star Trek as well... never mind ;) ) he is capable of making even the most absurd theory sound plausible - a MUST for every Sci-Fi fan!!!