The cover sums it up nicely: blue balls.Warning, there may be a few spoilers below.There is some really cool ideas in here, but they're completely overshadowed by Benford's need to overly develop his cardboard characters. For example, many pages are dedicated to the Nigel's (the main protagonist) relationship with two other women. His feelings, how he doesn't identify with one of them when the other isn't around etc. This is fine as far as it goes, but this type of drama ends up consuming 90% of...

Don't stop here!This initial book of the series is the weakest in the series, but it should not discourage you from continuing with the series which is quickly becoming my one of favorites. There are some that suggest you skip this first novel and jump right to volume 2. The completionist in me could never allow me to do that but looking back, I think it's a totally viable option. If you can suffer through it, you will see that Benford does begin setting the stage for a story of a much larger st...

I found myself disappointed with this 1976 'hard sci' novel, not because the outdated sci fi component was an issue but because, as a novel, its literary experimentation and narrative jumps did not cut the mustard. One should never be too hard on old hard sci-fi books just because their imaginative futures look less imaginative nearly half a century later (say). At least they tried and the core idea here has merit - Earth's first contact with a galactic struggle between machine and organic intel...

1.5 stars rounded down to 1.First, a bit of backstory. I actually started this series, not knowing it was a series, back in the 80s. I'd picked up Across the Sea of Suns (book #2) through a sci-fi book club as a teen. Upon reading it, I realized that it wasn't a standalone but a sequel. However, there was enough backstory that it didn't matter. But then the ending was left wide open, so I knew that it was, in fact, a series. I was not amused and subsequently forgot about the series for decades.B...

white british dude whose only personality trait is getting irrationally angry at complete strangers about religion goes from being in a polyamorous relationship with two women to getting a petite Japanese manic pixie dream girl to fall in love with him via impressing her with weed? and being incredibly patronizing towards her. (and of course those three women are the only ones in the entire novel) plus the occasional misogynistic introspection from the pretentious white british dude. the scifi s...

Before discussing the book itself, it seems appropriate to consider its theme, which is pretty simple and familiar: humans vs. artificial intelligence. That's a conflict that has been envisioned for a long time – at least since the middle eastern golem folklore, followed by works such as Frankenstein and The Island of Dr. Moreau. At present, with the rapid technological progress of computer-based AI, the opposition between humans and "intelligent machines" ("robots") is as heatedly debated as ev...

Benford works with a fascinating concept here. In the Ocean of Night was first published in episodic format, before the pieces were cobbled together to form this first novel in the Galactic Centre series. It’s a good novel too. However, there is a problem with the pacing, undoubtedly because of its episodic origin. The novel consists of a number of separately defined timeline sequences, which makes sense given the plot progression. It is heavy stuff all round, but the problem lies with the secon...

A third way through the book I had to put it down, this rarely happens to me. I tried very hard to read it, if you put the $’s down to buy you want read it. I must preface this review with the fact I’m an emotional void in true life and books … getting involved in relationships real and written should be avoided at all costs. I also spent a number of years in the Army, thus hippies, holding hands and singing in circles with happy clappers, existentialist god and mung bean books leave me cold. (I...

Started off strong with asteroids and mysterious aliens, but then, near the end... Big-foot. I'm not even kidding. Big-foot.50% Intriguing science fiction25% Inter-personal relationships that are at least mildly interesting20% Lame social and religious blah blah 4% Random digressions into poetry (yeah, I don't quite get that) 1% Big-foot... No, seriously!

An OK read, difficult to become invested in the characters.

When it comes to hard-SF, I'm generally of the opinion that it is almost always rooted in real science, has a big scope, and sometimes veers off into Clarkian speculative stuff that might be POSSIBLE, but generally looks like magic to the rest of us.Back in '77, hard-SF was coming off a late-sixties, early-seventies vibe that sometimes goes philosophical, sometimes metaphysical, and often gives us that man-power vibe that was such a common silly motif back then that quickly backfired to give way...

I first read In The Ocean of Night when I was around 10 years old. Or tried to read it. I found it haunting and moving, plus having space action that I loved, but it was also over my head. Since then I read and enjoyed the other books that follow it in the Galactic Center sequence.On a whim I dug up a copy and reread it. It's an ambitious book. There's a first contact story at the center, along with a very 1970s view of a fouled-up world, sexual exploration, institutional politics, meditations o...

loved the lifting sweep as a misty dust of snow sprang up beneath the machine like chiming crystals attempting to fly anew—farewell—this unflagging energy of the mind he loved the most as each sense in turn made a fresh grab at the greased pig which was the world even as he waves upward at the veiled white faces receding,a good representation of the incoherence ,that is this book

I bow before the master. Goodreads author Andrew Leon has been politely asking me to give Gregory Benford a chance for almost a year now. When he first asked me to, I had assumed that I already had. Back in the 90’s when I first started reading science fiction in earnest I found that the sci fi portion of my local bookstore was pretty well stocked with authors whose last name started with ‘B.’ Stephen Baxter, Greg Bear, David Brin, Ben Bova, they are probably others that I can’t recall at the m...

Dreary, mysoginistic crap. Combining all the very worst aspects of Clarke, Asimov, and Heinlein, with nothing that made any of those three any good.I thought Heart of the Comet was pretty bland when I read it way back when, but this set impressive new lows.Back to the second hand bookshop with you, book, and I'm not even bothering to crack open the sequel.

Thanks to this book, I now know for a fact that I react badly to a stream of consciousness writing style. I took this for a sci-fi book, which it is, and largely is not. The elements of world-building and sci-fi I needed are here drowned under so much irritating stream of consciousness expositions, that you are left unsure of what the bloody hell is happening. The ridiculous way conversations happen, conducted in cryptic half-sentences and jumping from one idea to the next without bothering comp...

My favourite thing about this book has got to be Nigel Walmsley. He's probably one of my favourite characters in fiction, ever. He's such a fun main character: very passionate but at the same time extremely cynical, which makes for a lot of amusing scenes. The storyline of this book is a very interesting one and I enjoyed the other characters too: Mr Ichino and Nikka are fun, and I was surprised at the emotional depth that was involved with Alexandria's storyline. I didn't really expect emotions...

review of Gregory Benford's In the Ocean of Night by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - January 13-17, 2019 "I did not set out to write a series of interconnected novels over a span of twenty-five years. I'm sure that if I'd known it would grow to a million words, I'd not have started." - p 1 The thought that this is only the 1st novel in a series of 6 ones is truly mind-boggling. This bk, alone, is deeply detailed & very thoughtful in many, many ways. If the other 5 live up to this beginning & even m...

So, some random thoughts. First, I really need to steer clear of hard sf written in the 1970s and 1980s because the rampant sexism really bugs me. I've written about this before, when it comes to Ringworld (1970) by Larry Niven or Sundiver (1980) by David Brin. I realize that terms like "white privilege" can be really politically loaded, but for me it's not about politics. It's just about the annoyance of men who write male protagonists who treat women as nothing but sexual objects. It's fundame...

Full review: http://infinispace.net/2015/03/review...In the Ocean of Night started out promising, but it's "fixup" novel structure quickly began to crack through the interesting facade. What starts as a mysterious and potentially threatening first contact scenario quickly turns into a political/neo-religious read strewn with the land mines of inconsistent and broken science. For example, the main character has cybernetic implants in his brain that can allow an alien AI take over his body, but he...