Hegira

ISBN: 0-812-53163-9 Order from: Amazon.com

A moderately suspensful world-exploration adventure story combined with very bold but choppily grafted ideas make this novel feel like two separate narratives.

Reviewed by David on October 15, 2000

Genre: Science Fiction (Regressed Colony)

Synopsis: On a huge world filled with mysterious obelisks, taller than any mountains, carrying the information from long-vanshed but very advanced ancestors, multiple tribes live in generally stable but stagnant environment. An ambitious warlord, Sulay, raises an army to unify the world and to discover the limits of the ancients' design. However, time and the immense scale of the world stop the warlord long before his goal is achieved. One of his most trusted soldiers, Bar-Woten, continues the quest after the army's dissolution. With a couple of companions, he tries to reach the end of the world. However, as wars escalate, the obelisks themselves start falling, and the world of Hegira is changing beyond recognition.

Full Review: Bear likes to play with large, world-destroying and world-transforming ideas. The initial travelogue, with enormous artifacts, and endless variable civivlizations, resembles Niven's Ringworld.

The viewpoint, which frequently shifts between several characters, does not provide a very smooth narrative. The plot accelerates rapidly near the end, as greater and greater wonders, and destruction, is encountered. The choppiness of the latter part of the plot, combined with a rather improbable revelation, decrease this novel's entertainment value significantly.

Overall: 5.5; Plot: 4; Characters: 5; Style: 5; World-building: 6.5; Originality: 7;

ISBN: 0-812-53163-9 Order from: Amazon.com