Sailing Bright Eternity

I started reading Benford's "Galactic Center" novels when the first one (Into the Ocean of Night) came out. I loved the first three, but the two prior to "Sailing" became slightly tedious, although they were good enough to keep me reading and to buy the next ones as they appeared. "Sailing" has it flaws and excesses (I became very impatient with the "Life on the Missisippi" part), but overall it is a great novel and a fitting end to the impressive series. I loved the re-appearance of good old Nigel, as well as Nikka (although, again, the "Little House on the Prairie/in the ESTY" was a bit hard to take). I am a psychopharmacologist and a biological psychologist, and Benford's observations about human brain function and some of our biological underpinnings were right on the mark, and were woven into the story in a masterful way. I suspect that some of his astrophysics speculation, while apparently based on our current knowledge, may be a bit...weak? chintzy? - but still, this is great hard sci-fi. In the summary or synopsis of the 30,000+ stretch of time covered in the series,(at the very end of the book), it is apparent that there could be many other stories told about this sequence... for instance, some of the things happening on Earth as the mechs made successive attacks and before the humans departed for galactic center. Also, what, if anything was left of old earth 30,000 years later. I suppose the best indicator of how much I like this conclusion of the series is that I dug out my old copy of the first novel in the series, and then found the second (Across the sea of suns) in a used book store, so I coul re-read both of them. "Sailing" has a few flaws, but overall it is grand in scope and a dynamite book. I am Perry Duncan, and I live in Norfolk, Virginia.

Sailing Bright Eternity is the final and best novel in Gregory Benford's galactic center saga. The centuries old war between the biological life forms and the mechanical life forms boils to a climax that engenders Benford's themes of hope even through dismal and desperate times. In the end, it is found that higher life forms (the clays) have manipulated these events and have more in store for us. The two sets of main characters, the far future humans genetically engineered to survive and resolve the biological mechanical conflict, and the near future character Nigel Walmsley have had their story lines kept seperate throught the series, with Benford slipping artfully between the two story lines. In this novel, the two story lines merge for the resolution of the series. The technique of switching between the two story lines makes the story more interesting and adds a greater sense of urgency to find out what happens next in each thread. I eagerly look forward to Mr. Benford starting a new series of novels delving into the clay's activities.