BOOK REVIEW: Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke

My rating: 4 out of 5

Alien “invasion”, while not a new concept, has been a tried and true science fiction trope since the genre came to be. Many sci-fi authors have had a go at it at some stage because the arrival to Earth of a spectacular fleet of starships carrying more advanced beings will always be a cracking foundation for a story. In Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke applies his great mind to the idea and the result is a thoughtful tale, academic and philosophical, offering a possible outcome to the evolutionary journey of mankind.

Huge silent ships appear over cities around the globe but the beings within keep themselves hidden, communicating only via the leader of the United Nations, all the while manipulating human society so that it becomes healthy and peaceful - a far cry from its state upon their arrival. They become known as the Overlords and they unite a world at war where crime is rife and poverty is all too common. What follows is a time of peace and prosperity where no one really has to work and where leisure, the arts and culture are what it's all about. Eventually the Overlords do reveal themselves and mix to a limited extent among the people of Earth, watching and learning. It soon becomes apparent that they have a bigger agenda, greater plans for the inhabitants of Earth. They desire to do more than just create a peaceful world, and what follows is a dramatic change of the human race. Ultimately it is the children of Earth who are the key to the grand plan, whatever it is, and it appears that even the Overlords aren’t privy to the big picture either. The ending is enjoyable and interesting, if a little depressing, and leaves me hoping that our species has a more noble destiny than the one portrayed here by Clarke.

There are a few things about the book that I really liked, one of them being the physical appearance of the Overlord aliens, which was an interesting surprise. It was cool how this tied into human mythology and thought, but it’s very late in the story that we learn the reasons why. I enjoyed the commentary on the state of humanity and of our psyche, which shows how well Clarke understood such things, and it's really quite sobering. It's written very well (allowing for the old-school dialogue and references) and flowed well making for a fairly smooth read.

Ballantine Books 1953 First edition

As far as things I didn’t like, there aren't really any that spring to mind. It doesn't come across as overly dated, I thought, and even though it was originally published in the 1950s, the book has stood the test of time reasonably well. There are odd references to things such as listening to a "tape recording" or to the radio being the main form of broadcast media, but other than those it's generally okay. To be fair, being a work from a different era, the society is a little different (things like gender equality and representation, etc.) but that's exactly it, it was different world back then and to judge certain aspects of the narrative by our modern standards (as many do) is simply unfair and rather stupid. As an interesting side note, in 2004 Childhood’s End was nominated for a Retro-Hugo Award for Best Novel for 1954, which is indicative of it’s contemporary popularity. Honestly, this is definitely a book for the purist, someone who appreciates the work for what is it and who won't judge it by current thinking.

In conclusion, it's a good example of golden era writing by an author who thought about big ideas and was able to present them as a plausible (for the day) scenario. Would I generally recommend this to a reader under the age of about 40, or for one looking for pure entertainment? Nope, not at all, but for a reader who likes philosophical ideas and can accept the differences of the world in which it is set will probably enjoy the experience. I sure did and was again shown why writers like Arthur C. Clarke are seen as giants of literature.

4/5 for concept

4/5 for delivery

3/5 for entertainment

= 3.7 out of 5

Buy the ebook HERE (Amazon)

Buy the paper book HERE (Book Depository)

Childhood's End concept art by Alexander Forssberg

BOOK REVIEW: For We Are Many [Bobiverse #2] by Dennis E. Taylor

For We Are Many (Bobiverse #2) by Dennis E. Taylor

My rating: 4 out of 5

This is the second book of a series that deserves to be recognized because it's quality hard sci-fi which is well written and superbly plotted. The author’s personality and wit shine through in his style and those of you who saw my review of the first book of the series We Are Legion (We Are Bob) will know that I made comparisons with the writing of John Scalzi, one of the biggest names in contemporary sci-fi literature. I dare say that Dennis E. Taylor could also be destined for grand things just like Scalzi. This Bobiverse series so far has been a refreshing and fun injection of style into what has often seemed to me as a rather dry and dull sub-genre of science fiction.

You need to have read the previous book because the story continues on directly, told from the same multiple first person perspectives of the ex-human AI vessel Bob and his various offspring or clones, of which there have become quite some number. These guys are roaming around the galaxy, spreading out and discovering new places and species. They have become overseers and protectors of the human race which is needing to depart Earth and new planets are required for colonization. The Bobs are actively finding and setting up new places for this purpose. On Earth, not everybody is happy about the colonization efforts or the fact that the whole enterprise is overseen by artificial intelligences, and some factions are actively trying to shut the whole thing down. But, even though they are computer brains, the Bobs maintain their humanity and that which comes with it (including an excellent sense of humor) which means that their decisions aren’t based on pure logic alone. Along the way there are some interesting and sometimes startling interactions with both local flora and fauna on the new planets and the Bobs and humans settlers need to get inventive to find ways to coexist with the natives, mindful of humanity’s past errors on native Earth. “Original Bob” or Bob-1 continues his interactions with a primitive sentient species which he discovered in the Delta Eridani star system. He’s trying to uplift them without ruining their own natural development and this is the most prominent sub-plot of the book. As well, another more advanced and malevolent space-faring species (who are dubbed the “Others”) have been encountered and the Bobs must defend themselves and others in the path of these marauders who seek to devour and plunder anything and everything, organic or otherwise. It is soon after a fierce confrontation between the Bobs and the Others that the book comes to a abrupt halt, but setting the scene for the next book All These Worlds.

The Bobiverse series

As with the previous book, I found the narrative style great, but it is a tiny bit confusing. Even though it’s a first person narrative by a number of different “persons”, each one is a version of the same “person” but in a different location and set of circumstances. This made me sometimes lose track slightly of which Bob was telling the story but it never really detracted from the yarn in any significant way. What was cool was when the Bob AIs came together in virtual reality to have meetings (called a “Bobmoot”) to discuss matters or just to have a chinwag. A couple of the Bobs also start experimenting with android bodies to more closely interact with the physical realm which is another fun aspect of the story. The storyline itself is nothing particularly stunning, much the same as the first book (and I'm expecting book three to be the same as well), but it is the way in which the story is told that really makes this series interesting and worth reading. They're easy to get lost in and always leave me reluctant to put them down, which is exactly what I want in a science fiction book.

3/5 for concept

5/5 for delivery

4/5 for entertainment

= 4 out of 5

Buy the ebook HERE (Amazon)

Buy the paper book HERE (Book Depository)