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Summary
Summary
The dramatic sequel to Larry Niven and Gregory Benford's New York Times bestselling novel, Bowl of Heaven
Science fiction masters Larry Niven ( Ringworld ) and Gregory Benford ( Timescape ) continue the thrilling adventure of a human expedition to another star system that is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense artifact in interstellar space: a bowl-shaped structure cupping a star, with a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths. And which, tantalizingly, is on a direct path heading toward the same system the human ship is to colonize.
Investigating the Bowl, or Shipstar, the human explorers are separated--one group captured by the gigantic structure's alien inhabitants, the other pursued across its strange and dangerous landscape--while the mystery of the Shipstar's origins and purpose propel the human voyagers toward discoveries that transform their understanding of their place in the universe.
Author Notes
Gregory Benford, was born on January 30, 1941 in Mobile, Alabama. He is a physicist and science fiction writer who earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego, in 1967. He is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and a consultant for NASA.
Benford's first novel "Deeper than the Darkness" (1970), which was revised as "The Stars in Shroud" (1978), gave him notice as a serious Science Fiction writer. His most popular work is "Timescape" (1980), which was the winner of the Nebula and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards; it presented a hard physics approach to limited time travel. "In the Ocean of Night" (1977), "Across the Sea of Suns" (1984), "Great Sky River" (1987), "Tides of Light" (1989) and "Furious Gulf" (1994) were all a part of the Galactic Cluster Series. He has also written the juvenile novel "Jupiter Project" (1975), "Against Infinity" (1983) and the thriller "Artifact" (1985). He has been nominated for 12 Nebula Awards (winning for "Timescape" and for the novelette, "If the Stars are Gods").
Benford, writing alternately with Bruce Sterling, produces science fact articles for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. They took over after the death of regular columnist Isaac Asimov. He has also co-edited theme anthologies with Martin H. Greenburg, which include "Hitler Victorious" (1986), "Nuclear War" (1988), "What Might Have Been, Volume 1: Alternate Empires" (1988), "Volume 2: Alternate Heroes" (1989) and "Volume 3: Alternate Wars."
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Kirkus Review
The promised sequel to Bowl of Heaven (2012), in which a starship containing would-be colonists encounters a vast bowl-shaped construct that's being steered toward the same destination, using an entire star as its engine. Once the humans begin to explore the artifact, they learn that it's been wandering the galaxy for millions of years, capturing and enslaving other intelligent species and incorporating them into its complex ecology. Since the starship needs supplies, a landing party investigates and becomes separated when the Bowl's nominal rulers, the bulky, birdlike Folk, attempt to capture them. One group under biologist Beth Marble, assisted by creatures called finger snakes, manages to escape back to the starship; a second group, led by Cliff Kammash, teams up with the alien Silyet another species that chafes under the Folk's arrogant and inflexible governance. Back on the starship, Capt. Redwing attempts to communicate with the Folk and with Cliff, learning of still more powerful aliens whose ambition is to communicate with the advanced intelligences inhabiting the planet that is the Bowl's, and the starship's, ultimate destination. Putting less emphasis on the Bowl object itself, the authors make an effort to develop their characters, with notably more success where the aliens are concernedtechnical discussions still tend to clog the human interactions. And there are lots of revelations concerning the Bowl's origins and purpose, even if much of it is reportage with little mystery or tension. The upshot is often impressivenot too surprisingly, given the authors' stellar credentialsyet only occasionally engaging. With the welcome influx of new ideas, a definite improvement on Volume 1.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Masters of artifact-based world-building, Benford and Niven have created a fascinating structure, the Bowl, and added politics, varied alien societies, and advanced technologies. The first team sent down to the Bowl escapes with the help of some snakelike aliens. The other team has escaped Folk custody and flees across the Bowl, aided by the Sil, another humanoid species. Assumptions are challenged; a threatening message comes in from Glory, the SunSeeker's original destination; and the secret origin of the Folk comes out. There are creatures living in and on the Bowl beyond human imagination, with their own goals, and the Folk have overstepped their role as enforcers of equilibrium among the many species of the Bowl. The humans are a disruptive influence, too chaotic for this closed system, and by the end of the book, everything will be different on the Bowl and the SunSeeker. From its origin, in a vast engineered world, to the concluding social upheaval, the story is a solid adventure and entertaining speculation on the lives of alien creatures.--Schroeder, Regina Copyright 2014 Booklist
Excerpts
Excerpts
ONE Memor glimpsed the fleeing primates, a narrow view seen through the camera on one of the little mobile probes. Simian shapes cavorted and capered among the understory of the Mirror Zone, making their way to--what? Apparently, to the local express station of mag-rail. Very well. She had them now, then. Memor clashed her teeth in celebration, and tossed a squirming small creature into her mouth, crunching it with relish. These somewhat comic Late Invaders were scrambling about, anxious. They seemed dreadfully confused, too. One would have expected more of ones who had arrived via a starship, with an interstellar ram of intriguing design. But as well, they had escaped in their scampering swift way. And, alas, the other gang of them had somehow evaded Memor's attempt to kill them, when they made contact with a servant species, the Sil. So they had a certain small cleverness, true. Enough of these irritants! She would have to concentrate and act quickly to bring them to heel. "Vector to intercept," Memor ordered her pilot. Their ship surged with a thrumming roar. Memor sat back and gave a brief clacking flurry of fan-signals expressing relief. Memor called up a situation graphic to see if anything had changed elsewhere. Apparently not. The Late Invader ramship was still maneuvering near the Bowl, keeping beneath the defensive weapons along the rim. From their electromagnetic emissions, clearly they monitored their two small groups of Late Invaders that were running about the Bowl. But their ship made no move to directly assist them. Good. They were wisely cautious. It would be interesting to take their ship apart, in good time, and see how the primates had engineered its adroit aspects. Memor counted herself fortunate that the seeking probe had now found this one group, running through the interstices behind the mirror section. She watched vague orange blobs that seemed to be several simians and something more, as well: tentacular shapes, just barely glimpsed. These shapes must be some variety of underspecies, wiry and quick. Snakes? The ship vibrated under her as Memor felt a summoning signal--Asenath called, her irritating chime sounding in Memor's mind. She had to take the call, since the Wisdom Chief was Memor's superior. Never a friend, regrettably. Something about Asenath kept it that way. Asenath was life-sized on the viewing wall, giving a brilliant display of multicolored feathers set in purple urgency and florid, rainbow rage. "Memor! Have you caught the Late Invaders?" "Almost." Memor kept her own feather-display submissive, though with a fringe of fluttering orange jubilance. "Very nearly. I can see them now. The primate named 'Beth' has a group, including the one I've trained to talk. I'm closing on them. They have somehow mustered some allies, but I am well armed." Asenath made a rebuke display, slow and sardonic. "This group you let escape, yes?" "Well, yes, they made off while I was attending to--" "So they are the escaped, I take it. I cannot attend to every detail, but this was a plain failure, Attendant Astute Astronomer. They eluded you." Memor suppressed her irritation. Asenath always used full titles to intimidate and assert superiority--usually, as now, with a fan-rattle. "Only for a short while, Wisdom Chief. I had also to contend with the other escaped primates, you may recall, Your Justness." "Give up everything else and get us that primate who can talk! We need it. Don't fire on them. If they die, you die." Memor had to control her visible reaction. No feather-display, head motionless. "Wisdom Chief? What has changed?" No answer. Asenath's feather-display flickered with a reflexive blush of fear, just before she faded. She was hiding something ... but what? Memor would have to learn, but not now. She glanced at the detection screen, ignoring her pilot. Beth's group had disappeared into a maze of machinery. There were heat traces in several spots, leading ... toward the docks. Yes! Toward another escape. There had been six of these Late Invaders when they escaped. Now the heat traces found only five, plus some slithering profiles of another species. Had one died or gone astray? These were a social species, on the diffuse hierarchy model, so it was unlikely they had simply abandoned one of their kind. "Veest Blad," she said to the pilot, "make for the docks. We'll intercept them there. Fast. " Copyright © 2014 by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven Excerpted from Shipstar by Gregory Benford, Larry Niven All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.