Anvil of Stars

I think the Forge of God is just a prelude to this book, because the juicy ideas are here. This is a wonderful book on ethics, leadership, and sociology disguised as a action packed science fiction thriller. Bear is a great storyteller, and this is the best example of his abilities.

Bear produced a delicious and fascinating sequel when he wrote this book. I love the original. The sequel is wonderful but in different ways. Where the original was about average people dealing with a very earthly doom, the follow on is about a group of young but diverse people seeking revenge under very alien circumstances and surroundings. It is Hard Science fiction at its best. There are so many incredible elements of technology explored in the book, it is captivating.The characters are vivid and very well developed. The conflicts and growth they go through during their voyage are very realistic and moving.This is one of my all time favorite sci-fi novels and deserves a place beside quite a few Hugo Award winning novels.Highly Recommended!

In Anvil, Bear combines speculations on quantum physics with war-story melodrama, immense ethical quandaries with teen romance, exobiology with whodunit. Yet with all this intellectual weight, the novel proceeds at a brisk and exciting pace. Anvil picks up where Forge of God left off: the earth has been destroyed by alien machines, and aliens from a different civilization have rescued a small population and resettled them on Mars. From the survivors are drawn adolescents to serve as crew on a Ship of the Law, charged with carrying out a death sentence passed by humanity's benefactors on the race which created the planet-killing machines. Fans of SF writer Orson Scott Card will see many parallels to the Battle School milieu from Ender's Game: youths incongruously training for war under the tutelage of inscrutable teachers.We join Earth's last children some years into the mission, when they are beginning to draw close to a prime suspect civilization. Bear does not shy away from the titanic moral questions raised by Galactic Law and its harsh retribution, as youths who might otherwise be arguing capital punishment or abortion in Philosophy 101 must weigh the evidence against the suspect civilization. Simultaneously, they must stuggle within the constraints of an alien justice system that has no provision for such human notions as mitigating factors, statutes of limitations, or redemption.Bear's young protagonists (and antagonists) stand out in the often bland universe of SF characters. The crew has established a unique shipboard society of pseudofamilies and shifting allegiances, a kind of co-ed Lord of the Flies. At times they embrace the shortsighted, hedonistic tendencies that would be the invevitable consequence of college-age kids cut off from polite society, parents, and pregnancy. But when they must focus on "the Job," the youths become a cadre of genius mercenaries, armed with - and burdened with - the ability to destroy suns.Particularly conflicted is the main character, Martin, from whose perspective the story is told. As the crew's leader at the outset, Martin is the focus of all their emotional turmoil as they struggle to balance their quest for justice with their revulsion at the prospect of slaughtering innocents. He must combat his own doubts and dreads while attempting to hold togeher the crew that includes cynical boatrocker Ariel, gung-ho Machiavellian Hans, and serene intellectual Hakim. The interplay becomes even more complex when the crew are joined by the Brothers, aliens that attest to Bear's supreme inventiveness.Even with all of Martin's introspection, the novel proceeds quickly through an obstacle course of unconventional skirmishes, disheartening setbacks, and mounting evidence against the suspects. The background is a milieu of superadvanced science featuring intelligent biomechanical ships and intriguing speculations on the nature of matter.The climax is exciting, and its aftermath devastating. The poignant

This book is a tour de force, the whole concept behind it is so large that i was in awe when i completed the novel. After the Earth was decimated, there is a slim chance that earths children can determine who is responsible for the planets destruction and possibly avenge that crime. Unfortunately the plot is slow to develop and until you get to the final third of the book it can leave you wondering if the story is actually going anywhere. But i can assure you it is. I won't recommend this book if you are someone who can't stay focused if a novel gets slow for a bit, but if you can handle a few slow parts this is as good of a hard science fiction book as you will ever find.

This is the first time I've ever thought a sequel was better than the original, and that is no mean feat. What appealed to me about the original (Forge of God) was the way the author told a story and didn't get overwhelmed by sci-fi detail. Even though Anvil of Stars has MUCH more hard science, it refuses to be overwhelmed by technology. This lets the characters and plot stand out. It's believable, interesting and consistent (mostly). Plot - 4.5 stars - good, creative and for the most part, independent of the first bookCharacters - 5 stars - the story describes the life of children who have had no parental guidance for years and are faced with the task of genocide. The are portrayed brilliantly.Technology - 3 stars - I didn't follow a few of his explanations which led to me not understanding some of the cool stuff.Setting - 4 stars - Bear chose a neat angle to continue the Forge of God story.Not all of these are 5 star ratings but to find one book with some much, done so well is wonderful. You wont put it down.