Science fiction author Greg Bear published Eon in 1985 though I didn’t get around to reading it (and writing a book review) ’till now. Considered a “hard” S/F writer because of the many scientific details in his writing, Bear focuses on themes of accelerated evolution, artificial universes, consciousness and cultural practices, and galactic conflict.
Synopsis
A hollowed-out asteroid suddenly appears in Earth’s orbit. Various countries send out teams of scientists to the asteroid they (boringly) nickname “the Stone” and jockey for control of the discoveries.
It turns out that the humans who’d fashioned “the Stone” into a massive starship had escaped a worldwide nuclear holocaust in an alternate future. Their descendants lived in advanced cities within huge, terraformed spaces inside the hollowed-out asteroid. But then they moved out of the cities, which continued to be maintained by automatic systems, and into a “pocket universe” (called “The Way”), where they set up ultramodern cities with populations organized according to the main tenet of their beliefs (e.g., technological vs. conservative).
Despite warnings of the nuclear devastation experienced on the alternate Earth as recounted in libraries on “the Stone,” the current Earth falls victim to people’s inability to accept each other’s diverging beliefs. Fighting also breaks out on the asteroid when Soviet forces attack to wrest control from the American group. Eventually, a truce is arranged, and survivors choose either to join the technologically advanced and genetically enhanced humans in “The Way” or return to Earth and help to repair the environmental damage and rebuild civilization.
Major Themes
- High technology
- Parallel universes
- Alternate timelines
- Political/ideological conflict
- Genetic engineering
- Human enhancements (physical and mental)
- Space-time manipulation
- War with aliens
Excerpts
First sentence: “It’s going into a wide elliptical Earth orbit,” Judith Hoffman said.
Last sentence: “How wonderful…”
My Opinion
Overall, I liked it. The physics and math sounded authentic though, frankly, they were over my head. The suspense kept building up ’till close to the end. Bear didn’t anticipate the end of the Cold War, but it could be argued that the novel’s events occurred in an alternate universe, with a different timeline than the one we know.
What I didn’t like was how many times I had to read about how brilliant the protagonist (Patricia Vasquez) was even though her actions showed her to be a twit. At one point, she persuades another character (male) to have sex with her in order to clarify her thinking and focus on her research [puhleeze, talk about male fantasy]. Close to the end of the book, she’s adamant about going to an alternate universe where her parents are alive, and she’s actually confident of being able to guess correctly which universe is the right one for her [hello, ever heard about the scientific method?].
My Rating
This book gets a thumbs-up from me – along with a couple of eye rolls.
ABOUT THE BLOG AUTHOR
In addition to being a writer, Marinela Miclea runs Mendo Digital, a digital marketing agency that specializes in search engine optimization (SEO), eCommerce, social media, and website optimization. She’s passionate about books, music, social justice, and ethics. Follow her on Twitter @marinelamiclea or contact her with any questions.