Humans travel to the stars and encounter an alien existence. Carmen and her crew - and pilot husband - venture to the alien homeworld and attempt to negotiate peace.But the humans are powerless. The aliens neither care, nor listen. And the sex. Sex is good, but Haldeman spent way too much time on this obsession. And it's one of those stories where the protagonist makes no difference in the outcome. I didn't enjoy it much. Next to Haldeman's classic, The Forever War, this book is childish. As is typical of Haldeman, this rather dry book is interesting from a technical point of view, the characters existing to explore "what ifs" related to exotic forms of space travel and advanced technology. Not so interesting from a character development point of view. Rather fatalistic and pessimistic story about the futility of aggression. So thumbs down with regards to characters. Thumbs up because aliens and space travel and relativistic physics are interesting.
What do You think about Verso Le Stelle (2010)?
Good turn in direction, while in general I kind of saw the end coming, still a good surprise.
—davii52997
Again with the surprisingly downbeat endings!
—alex
