I just finished a re-read of GREAT SKY RIVER, the third book of Gregory Benford's GALACTIC CENTER novels. This is my favorite Benford series and my personal favorite of that series. I last read it when it was a new hardcover; now I am listening to it on an audiobook. The reader's performance is only so-so but I can't fault the story at all. It really holds up well, an action story that muses on human existence. And giant killer robots. And a Great Escape plot.. why the hell don't they ever make *intelligent* summer genre movies out of material like Great Sky River? It would blow the socks off of the yawner comic book and horror movie pablum we are normally subjected to.In case you are unfamiliar with Galactic Center, it is a story of humanity's contact with a mechanical civilization located near Galactic Center. The first two books of the series set up the confrontation with Mech Culture; this novel moves time forward hundreds of years to a planet called Snowglade, which had been settled by humanity as a haven against the Mechs. Mech Culture hardly even acknowledges the existence of humans, considering them annoying pests when the higher order mechanical beings even think about them at all-- but they have virtually wiped out humanity on Snowglade anyway. Great Sky River takes place years after the final bastions of the Human Clans (named after chess pieces, a nice touch) have fallen to mech assualt. The POV character is Killeen, a leader of House Bishop, who are on the run away from the Mechs. This is a very different humanity than what we would recognize-- as the Mech threat has grown, so has humanity's need to adapt themselves to counter mech encroachment. So we now see great tall humans who can run ceaselessly with their mechanized boots and consult digital personality chips called Aspects which ride on their own personal network interface and sensor suite called a Sensorium. For most of the story Killeen and the rest of the Bishop Clan are on the run from a disturbing new kind of mech called The Mantis, which seems to have an agenda beyond Mechanoid pest control.Benford invests a lot of effort and creativity into this series; one gets a sense of the different kinds of mechanoids- from the lower order Navvies to the middlin' threat Crafters to the higher order Mantis Marauder class. Mechanoids are not homogenous, they fight amongst themselves and rebel against the higher order mech minds all the time. One gets a sense of history from the dialogue, a glum feeling of loss and regret as mankind muses on its impending extinction and fall from great heights. I enjoy this series tremendously and find it worthy, fast read. Highly recommended.
Benford is one of the SF greats and Great Sky River one of his great books. As an act of imagination it's a triumph, as a piece of storytelling and writing it is by turns soaring, lyrical, and poetic. And sometimes it falls a bit flat on its face. That's OK because in the main Great Sky River works very well and the failings are because Benford seems to be pushing his considerable talents as a writer to the limit - and those sorts of failings you can easily forgive.So sometimes he over-indulges himself with explanation, and sometimes he doesn't quite break free of the preconceptions of his own era. As a result the narrative can meander or jerk in a few places. On the other hand his views of machine intelligence, its struggle and failure to understand organic life and the catastrophic consequences that result, all told through the story and characters of this bold novel, are as thoughtful and profound as anything you'll find in fiction.It's his gifts as a writer, his empathy with the human condition and universe-building that make me think of him as a kind of Ian Banks of his era. Except in Benford's universe humanity lives in no perfect culture. The glory days have long gone, mankind is flat on its face and struggling to rise again. Still bold and brave, still striving to understand, broken, bloody, and in its beaten and bested way still magnificent.
What do You think about Great Sky River (2004)?
The third book in the saga. It's different from the first and second book and has some interesting ideas. The writing styles are less experimental and this makes the book more a page-turner. Although the language of the characters is a kind of Orwellian New-speak it feels natural somehow and does not interfere with the storytelling. Personally i liked this book better then the second book and even the first book. Every writer has his or her strengths and weaknesses and at times i found the writing describing exterior environments a bit "fuzzy". The strength for me lies in the overall scope and the innovative and speculative ideas. I totally recommend it!
—Lauk
Great Sky River is an exceptional tale which delivers so much. Benford's "lyrical" prose is very appealing, right from the start. GSR delivers plenty of action, centered on a group of humans clinging to survival after being nearly hunted to extinction by ruthless "mechs". An excellent start to the Benford's "Galactic Center" series. And yes, I know that it is really a "sequel" to "In the Ocean of Night" and "Across the Sea of Suns", but I never thought that those two meshed well with the later tetralogy. Just my opinion.
—Jim Hoff
The setting is a planet named Snowglade near the galactic core. Small groups of humans, the remnants of a once great spacefaring civilization are now forced to live a life on the run. They are hunted by an advanced civilization of mechanized beings who have taken over their planet. The humans steal what they can from the mechs and the mechs in turn seek to exterminate humans like the pests they have become. Things look bleak indeed until a being of magnetic force, finds Killeen and tells him to seek the Argo…. Benford has written a fast paced work of hard science fiction that will keep the reader looking forward to the next page and wanting more when the last page has been turned. GREAT SKY RIVER should please any fan of the genre.
—Jim
