Great Sky River

I haven't reed it yet, but I'm hope it's like the rest of Benfords books

I reviewed in the Ocean of Night and Great Sky River in the series and felt that from these two reviews, the potential buyer can get most of what I think regarding the entire series. The whole series gets 5 stars but the flavor of the first book is very different from the other 5, with the last 4 having the most consistent story and the last book of the series bringing things full circle. Great Sky River was the first book in the Galactic Center series I read back in 1987 when it was first released. I must say that Benford introduced me to the world of hard science fiction bringing to life and showing me landscapes of the center of the galaxy that before where flat and lifeless concepts buried in science books at the library. Great Sky River is a tale of survival for a small group of humans who use tremendously advanced technology to survive in a location where humanity was perhaps not engineered to exist - the center of the galaxy. All throughout the series, there is this oppressing weight that the sky is falling (which it is) as a vast machine empire has crushed humanity everytime that humanity has started to stand up and become a threat/challenger to the machines but the machines are never able to eliminate humanity, some always remain - and this is the story of one group of people who literally fight for survival. Albeit, Benford shows us a world where humanity as a race has peaked and which is is terminal decline at the relentless onslaught of an ancient and powerful machine civilization that controls most of the resource rich central part of the galaxy and its giant black hole. *** Generic Review of Series *** Collectively, this series of books written by Gregory Benford are known as the Galactic Center Saga. In order the books are: 1) In the Ocean of Night - Near Future 2) Across the Sea of Suns - Few hundred years from Now Future --- Big Break in Time 3) Great Sky River - Distant Future 4) Tides of Light - Distant Future 5) Furious Gulf - Distant Future 6) Sailing Bright Eternity - Distant Future The series is an early monument to epic science fiction on a grand scale across space and time. The prevailing concept of the books is that of how life in all its forms is resilient and how life adapts and evolves in response to different circumstances. The series also tells the story of how sometimes there is intense competition for resources and how sometimes groups seek to protect their resources. And finally, the series talks about how when things go out of balance - like human overexpansion - something happens in nature that brings back balance --- so in a large sense, the series is a cautionary tale although Benford skillfully makes out the Machine empire as the out of balance force that has to be brought back into normality but if you go back to the original book, it is humanity that is out of balance with earth. Reading the entire series was a voyage of discovery for me. So, I first started reading the series with

I had always strayed away from trying Benford because of the dreaded "hard" science fiction tag. Mind, I always end up loving authors who get stuck with that tag from Alistair Reynolds to Benford's frequent writing partner David Brin. However, the term always makes the writers sound so scary and lead you to believe that you'll be reading more textbook science than characterization and plot. Nothing could be further from the truth with Great Sky River! The book is full of examination about what it means to be human through a very strong, very human, protagonist. A lot of the ideas in this book are actually along the lines of what later was labeled "Cyberpunk" in terms of gritty survival crossed with computer-human interface tech that changes the nature of what we are as people (in this case allowing additional personalities into our head via chips called aspects.) Of course Cyberpunk was a near-future genre, and this is a very far-future setting, but there are some striking similarities. If it had been written later, it would have been called "post-Cyberpunk".

Over the last 20 years or so I've attempted to read all of the great Sci-Fi. The first time I read this book was about 15 years ago and at that time I felt that it was the best Sci-Fi novel that I have ever read. Clarke, Hebert, Asimov, Card, none of them have ever written as original and compelling a story as this one. I recently read it again and it was just as enthralling as the first time. Buy this book! The jargon is a little challenging, but it adds to the authenticity of the novel. Once you get the feel for it, will seem natural. The plot is flawless. Man has populated the stars and in doing so, crossed paths with a race that is so advanced, man hardly rates a second look. Unfortunately, this species requires a dry, almost waterless world, so as a result, humans find themselves on the brink of extermination at the... hands?, of a heartless, ruthless species. Constantly on the run, reduced to a mere vestige of their great past, humanity is again a tribal unit of hunter/gatherers, scraping out an existence beneath the... radar?, forced to utilize the alien technology to their own ends, man searches for hope on the edge of extinction.

this is the beginning of the absolutely best science fiction series I have ever read in my entire life. I've been an avid reader of sf for fifty years and this is one of the best sf books I have ever read. I love this guy!