This is an old favorite of mine, and my paperback copy is worn almost to falling apart. The story has its weaknesses. There are a myriad of SF and fen injokes, some of which might be confusing to a reader unfamiliar with the sources. But the characters and premise always worked well to me.
As an aside, this was the book that introduced me to filk in high school, and I give it an extra nod for that!
Was this comment helpful?
yesno
(0 people found this comment helpful, 1 did not)
2. jan on 3/13/2012, said:
I loved it. Solid tribute to the LOYAL fen, in a very immediate future. It would be too easy to wake up to this tomorrow, and recognise most of the cast. I could have put this down, but chose to lose sleep instead, and had a much better night. Yes, there was a slight challenge to my ability to suspend disbelief, but there were only two "assumptions" required, both so close to being true that accommodating both was not intrusive.
It would have been even better if the original print file had been saved in e-format. I guess we'll just have to see ourselves as proof-readers to upgrade the current, presumably scanned, copy.
Was this comment helpful?
yesno
(0 people found this comment helpful, 1 did not)
3. Jeremy on 3/2/2012, said:
Great book, and quite prescient given that it was written 20 years ago!
Worth reading if only for the comment about the lunar ecology!
Was this comment helpful?
yesno
(0 people found this comment helpful, 1 did not)
4. David on 11/24/2011, said:
Just short of great. I particularly liked the way that this future was imagined. The anti tech establishment is very scary and very credible. Love these authors. Should be more writers like these two.
Was this comment helpful?
yesno
(1 people found this comment helpful, 1 did not)
5. Brian on 10/22/2010, said:
An entertaining fantasy that portrays a future of extreme enviro-socialism run amok. Not a pretty picture but certainly a fun store!
Was this comment helpful?
yesno
(3 people found this comment helpful, 1 did not)
6. Peter on 8/25/2010, said:
I found this almost unreadable! Such a desperately saccharine sop to the fen that any sense of entertaining or believable story line was lost, caught up in showing how well the author understands and adores his faithful. The mutual love-in was not to my taste - felt like suggesting Niven and the fen get a room and consummate it that way. A shame as a kernel of a good story was lost in the drivel.
Especially disappointing as I usually LOVE Niven's work.
Was this comment helpful?
yesno
(4 people found this comment helpful, 5 did not)
7. E on 7/3/2010, said:
A big, sloppy butt-smooch to fen everywhere, especially the subset that think that knowing how to add and subtract makes them economists and knowing how to read a thermometer makes them climatologists. Still, it's an amusing read, if only for the glimpse it gives into fennish egos.
Was this comment helpful?
yesno
(5 people found this comment helpful, 7 did not)
8. Diane on 4/4/2009, said:
Very enjoyable read.
Was this comment helpful?
yesno
(3 people found this comment helpful, 5 did not)
9. Jay on 7/29/2008, said:
Originally written/published back in '91/'92, I've been intending to read this for a long time, and just now got around to it. Wow, it is amazing how timely it is becoming with respect to luddite Greens promoting non-science, attacking real science that could help our energy problems, etc. The story is a combination of fugitive chase and cautionary tale. As such, it probably is guilty of exaggerating characters and threats a bit to sell the cautionary tale portion of the story. In short, luddite Greens have shut down 'inappropriate' science in the name of 'saving the Earth'. This leaves the various small habitats in orbit stranded and on their own. The Green politics of attempting to save Earth from Global Warming has led once again to a trip down Best Intentions Lane to the sudden onset of the long-delayed next Ice Age. Of course, just as Global Warming Believers are now claiming that anything that happens, be it increased floods, increased droughts, more hurricanes, less huricanes, etc. is actually proof that man-caused man-preventable Global Warming is REAL, the Greens of the novel claim that the mile-thick ice sheet that has swallowed Canada and begun to eat the northern US is actually the fault of Technology and capitalism, conveiniently forgetting that they got to power by claiming Technology and capitalism was causing Global Warming. After all, it's all 'climate change', right? So, with 'inappropriate technology' banned, scientists finding themselves hanged and burned right along with their books, SF writers, and fans being labeled as 'dangerous technophiles' who need to be 'helped' psychologically, and any of a number of technologies that could have saved Canada and the northern US from the glaciers being outright banned, the world has become a colder, bleaker place for hope and optimism in the future. It is into this state of affairs that two space-men are dropped when their craft is shot down over the glacier, and a small band of underground sci-fi fans scramble to rescue them, staying one step ahead of the Green police who want them for 'crimes against Earth and Humanity'. The neat thing is that the story makes reference to, and uses as a character, Gary Hudson, who has been and still is intimately involved with the civilian rocket and space plane development going on at Mojave today. At the time of writing in '91, Gary Hudson had merely had plans for a cheap, reusable rocket lifter, and the story tells of how he built a working prototype that the Greens shut down. It is this prototype which the space-men and their sci-fi fans hope to utilize in a bid to return the fugitives to orbit. However, in real life, Hudson really did build a prototype that made a few atmospheric test in the late '90s, and is currently working on real rocket craft at Mojave now, along with many others, including the Rutan's Scaled Composites (winner of the X-Prize for the first civilian craft in 'space'), XCOR, and many other small companies. The Aug. 2008 issue of Popular Mechanics, just out, has an article on Hudson and the other men and companies now working on civilian space craft at the 'Mojave Space Port'. It is very interesting to see real history playing out around us with people like Al Gore and his ilk leading us to the Green Luddite future on the one hand, and the men and women in the Mojave leading us to the future in space on the other. When the Gore's of this world shut down Mojave in the name of protecting the 'fragile ecosystem of the Moon', then this book will be the first on their 'burn list'.
Was this comment helpful?
yesno
(10 people found this comment helpful, 6 did not)
10. Vernon on 5/16/2008, said:
Very good story, I enjoyed it completely, I would recomend this book to anyone who is a sci-fi fan ;)
Was this comment helpful?
yesno
(6 people found this comment helpful, 3 did not)