Return to Rocheworld

Since Hal Clement's Mission of GravityMission of Gravity. hard science fiction dealing with the weird xenobiology of aliens has been hard to find. The author Robert Forward is good on Einsteinian level physics and gravity, but hasn't been too good on human interaction in previous sci fi. This book seems an improvement there. His space ships and air plane designs seem like something that would get you killed? The ideas of dna and carbon based life being somewhat alike on other planets that have developed in parallel is kind of hard to take. Jelly fish that are intelligent is a real stretch. But you have to give him credit for effort when other writers just fail in anything scientific.

This is the second title (out of five) in the Rocheworld Saga. The humans sent to Barnard's system discovered intelligent (in the most stringent sense of the word) life on Rocheworld, a weird double planet subject to complex dynamics and tidal forces. These aliens -the flouwen- are aquatic amoeba-like creatures living in the oceans of Eau, one of the lobes of the double planet. The flouwen are centuries ahead of us in Mathematics, but have no technology.In this book, the flouwen are explored more in depth. We learn about their physiology and social structure. Using human technology, the flouwen get into space for the first time, and help the humans in their exploration of Roche, the second lobe of Rocheworld. Then, two longly-separated evolutionary branches meet again...As with many other Forward's books, neither plot nor characterization are the strongest points in this novel. However, Forward manages once again to put together so much thought-provoking scientific speculation that makes you forget any other deficiencies.Having read "Rocheworld" (aka "The Flight of the Dragonfly") before starting this novel is obviously recommended, but I guess one could even get into the story without it.