The general premise of the
book is not that unique today: asteroid comes near Earth. This premise
generally takes one of two very different angles. Either asteroid is racing
towards Earth on a collision course or asteroid parks itself near Earth (in
which case it tends to end up being more than just a simple asteroid).
Foster's book takes a bit of
each alternative - starting with an asteroid coming to orbit Earth, but in an
unstable orbit. The asteroid, therefore, is destined to fall in towards
the planet and cause vast destruction. A space mission is sent to place
nukes on the asteroid which will be just enough to stabilize the orbit.
We then switch to storyline B, in which they discover it isn't a simple
asteroid.
Now we are in the "plop
down in alien world and see all the amazing gizmos" story framework (with
a bit of alien monsters mixed in for excitement). The alien world they
find themselves in is not identical to any others I've read.
Nevertheless, I did not come away with the feeling of freshness, and the alien
monsters did not help leave a feeling of a serious look at an alien
civilization.
The humans find themselves on
an island. We are told it's specially made for outsiders coming as the
humans did. But in ways we find it is central to the alien
civilization. And then again, it is suggested it isn't so much a welcome
mat as it is a way of testing those who come...
In order to take advantage of
this alien place, it is necessary for the humans to figure out ways to open
doorways and operate devices. The things they need are not put right in
front of any visitors nor is there any informational presentation just as
visitors arrive. It requires some problem solving work and at least some
of the solutions don't seem that intuitive to the characters or me, but as one
of the characters says, that may just be human thinking.
The latter part of the book
involves finding an initially dead alien, then learning about the island and
civilization from him. (He is the only alien available to the humans on
the island.)
I'm not sure what more to say
that would not get too much into spoilers. In any case, I would not
recommend the book for reading outside of those readers or times one wants to
read a book with the kind of mass market sensibilities one might find in a
Michael Crichton book. Obviously, there are many readers who chose that
kind of book, where a good helping of impressive (but improbable) tech and
frights is supposed to obscure serious holes in internal logic and
science. But these may not be typical books for readers of this site.
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Science Quibbles
It did strike me as unlikely
that this "asteroid" could find Earth in the vastness of space, but
neither plunge into Earth nor fly past it nor make a stable orbit without
help. Then, the explosions tailored not to fragment the asteroid, opens
it up just enough in just the right place to allow the discoveries without causing
irrevocable damage...
There were a number of points
on which the story did not hold together well for me. For instance, the
humans use alien tech to resurrect a dead alien. They then talk to him
and he explains to them about this world - including things that happened after
he died - and gives a few facts about "another dimension" that can't
be seen and that nobody has ever come back from. (Yet for some reason,
those in the "other dimension" can see us.) Of course, I can be
a hair-splitter, but I object to describing a place as "another
dimension". "Height", "width" and
"length" are names for three different dimensions, but
"length" is not a place you can go to. And if you could go to
"length", you’d be in a single dimension - you'd be limited to a line
in which infinitesimal things could exist and could only move forwards or
backwards.
There are various other
inconsistencies or issues, but that should give you an idea.