Mon, 02 Feb 2009
The Ghost from the Grand Banks by Arthur C. Clarke
Back in 1990 Arthur C. Clarke had read about a lot of really neat things and really wanted to have a long chat with someone about them. What he did instead was write a novel, and a not very good one at that.
In general, I like Clarke's books — the 2001 and Rama series are some of my favorite sci-fi, and favorite books ever. But this really falls short. The idea is a good one, the raising of the Titanic, but it never seems to go anywhere. And the entire sub-plot of fractals doesn't even seem connected to anything else in the book (seriously, I mean, I did read this over a couple of nights right before bed, so maybe I missed it, but what the hell did that have to do with any of the rest of the book).
In general, if you are looking for some good Clarke, steer clear of this one. If you want sci-fi, go read the Rama series, especially the later books. If you want non-sci-fi, read Glide Path.
Posted at: 22:55 | category: /reviews/2009 | Link