Reckoning Infinity
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
A riveting exploration of what it means to be an alien...and what it means to be human. Explorers sent deep into the interior of a moon-sized alien visitor may wind up dead before they discover the visitor's secrets. The team includes a woman who received several bionic replacements after an accident and the man she blames for the accident. Could be thought of as Rendezvous with Rama meets A Journey to the Center of the Earth. On the Science Fiction Chronicle best of year list. Chosen by the New York Public Library as one of their Best Books for Young Adults. Winner of the Colorado Authors' League Top Hand Award. Reached the preliminary Nebula Award ballot. Science Fiction Book Club selection.
Praise for Reckoning Infinity
"A taut, solidly written adventure with well-handled character interactions...this is his best outing so far."--Kirkus Reviews
"[Stith] has always had a real talent for describing bizarre environments...will offer fans of hard SF much to satisfy their sense of wonder."—Publishers Weekly
"John Stith is among the finest writers of hard science fiction in the world. ... In what can best be described as `The Six-Million Dollar Woman' meets `Rendezvous with Rama,' Stith will keep you turning the pages as he reveals the marvels of an alien `moonscape.'"—Rocky Mountain News
"vividly imagined, from the big opening scenes of the shuttle-habitat collision, to the descriptions of the medical procedures used to save Alis's life, to the small details of working (and being injured) in spacesuits."—Locus
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An unidentified object the size of a small moon is discovered approaching the solar system at high velocity. The exploratory spaceship Ranger is sent to investigate. Reaching the object's surface, Lt. Commander Nussem and her crew discover that the sphere, which they have dubbed Cantaloupe, is in some sense alive. What is unclear is whether it's a naturally occurring life form or some strange type of semi-organic spacecraft. In his eighth novel, Stith (Reunion on Neverend) works an enjoyable variation on Arthur C. Clarke's classic Rendezvous with Rama. As Nussem and her crew descend into the sphere, they discover a series of mysterious, machine-like inner organs. There are tantalizing hints that Cantaloupe may be inhabited by higher lifeforms, as well as evidence of previous exploratory probes presumably sent by other races at earlier points in the sphere's journey. Eventually, trapped miles beneath Cantaloupe's surface, attacked by the sphere's equivalent of antibodies, Nussem and her crew must exert all of their ingenuity to discover some means of escape before their air runs out and before Cantaloupe leaves the solar system behind. Stith has never been a particularly strong stylist and his plots sometimes rest heavily on coincidence, but he has always had a real talent for describing bizarre environments. This novel proves no exception and, despite its problems, will offer fans of hard SF much to satisfy their sense of wonder.
