Wheelers

Ian Stewart

2000 a.

505 lk.

 

Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen - internationally popular scientists - present a richly-imagined novel of high adventure and earthshaking concepts, in the tradition of Arthur C. Clarke and Greg Bear Twenty-third-century civilisation is recovering from a decades-long anti-technology freeze that has left the world underpopulated, the Moon and asteroids controlled by a Tibetan Zen Buddhist sect from a deep-space habitat, and interplanetary exploration in the hands of a few eccentric outcasts. One such loner - Prudence Odingo - returns to Earth to report that she has recovered 100,00-year-old wheeled artifacts, from under the ice of Callisto, a moon of Jupiter. She is arrested, and about to be convicted on criminal fraud when the 'wheelers' abruptly come to life - and several of Jupiter's moons change their orbits, ready to propel a vast planet-destroying comet towards Earth. The unimaginable and incredibly powerful creatures that live in Jupiter's hellish atmosphere have apparently declared war on humanity. Prudence must somehow discover why - with the help of her Zen Buddhist friends, and the archenemy pedant who once destroyed her career.

 

Arvamus:

 

Matemaatik Stewart ja bioloog Cohen on üheskoos kirjutanud raamatu, mida mina üle 40 lehekülje lugeda ei suutnud. Märksõnu sinnamaani loetu kohta: XXIII sajand, Giza sfinks, Serengeti, budism, Oorti pilv, showbusiness... Härrade Stewarti ja Coheni raamat võib lõppkokkuvõttes ju isegi loetav olla, aga kui algus on nii igav ja selline pudru, sellest üle ei pääse ja tagapool oleva ulmepärlini ei jõua, siis on raske seda headust avastada. Minuga igatahes nii juhtus.

Ehk on keegi tulevikus kannatlikum ja oskab seda raamatut korralikult iseloomustada ja sisustki rääkida, mina elan siin välja oma pettumust raamatu alguse kohta ja panen poolelijätmise märgiks hindeks ühe.