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This is a novel that I have read many times, and I am not a voracious reader. I have always considered that there were other beings out in space. What if they had made the decision to nip other races in the bud? That is the overall concept of this novel.


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This novel is sometimes technical, and paints very descriptive mental pictures. There are a lot of different characters, who look at the happenings from their points of view. Some of their stories end, and others keep going. People sometimes lose their houses, or cities, but the characters in this novel lose their planet. In the sequel, "Anvil of Stars" the children saved enact "The Law" on the beings who destroyed earth.

Both novels are classics in my opinion. Rich with its intriguing, spellbinding plot and depth of character development Greg Bear's Forge of God joins the ranks of other iconic Sci-fi classics by the likes of Heinlein, Dick, Asimov and Clarke. Not only does Bear skillfully accomplish a grand speculative galaxy-spanning future history, but he does so with characters the reader comes to join with and accompany on their mind-blowing journey.

From the first hint of something amiss in the disappearance of Europa to the criminal, cataclysmic destruction of Earth and Beyond, this fast-paced, page-turner fulfills its promise taking the reader on an enthralling, mind-numbing thrill-ride that leaves one both stunned and awestruck in the end. See all reviews. Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway. The Forge of God.

Set up a giveaway. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. The Sequel to Forge of God. The Mote in God's Eye. The War Dogs Trilogy. Pages with related products. See and discover other items: There's a problem loading this menu right now. Learn more about Amazon Prime. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Get to Know Us. English Choose a language for shopping. Amazon Music Stream millions of songs.

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Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers. Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon. Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web. AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally. Amazon Inspire Digital Educational Resources. Amazon Rapids Fun stories for kids on the go. The story is rather complex, with a host of characters being introduced in the first eighty pages or so. It remains complex for most of the novel, but without ever really coming into focus. The driving threat feels abstract and the actions of the characters are rather erratic. The writing is average.

Many good ideas are competently presented, but there is no sign of prose virtuosity. Not because it is implausible, but because it is so uncool. His descriptions of locales are formulaic and boring and I found myself skimming through them. I was left dissatisfied.


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  4. I could barely work up the energy to finish the book, and it took a long time. Balfour has some great ideas, but does not present them nearly well enough. Mar 16, Tom rated it it was ok. This book was like a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. It seems like it should be really good, but then while you eat it, you realize it's sugary, but not really delicious. It ought to be delicious! And then when you're done, you think, "Did I really just eat a whole bowl of that?

    The main character is either an amazing super-agent guy, or just some Navajo dope This book was like a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. The main character is either an amazing super-agent guy, or just some Navajo dope, and you can't tell from this book. It's got that whole soap-opera vibe going, too, with multiple storylines.

    Unfortunately, none of them ever really get developed well enough. It touches on some really interesting ideas, but just like the storylines, they're not developed in any real depth.

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    Dec 29, Mark Lacy rated it liked it Shelves: I initially tried to get into this book, but just couldn't. It didn't seem that interesting.

    But I tried again a few years later, and it turned out to be interesting after all. For example, there were too many subplots that weren't tied together till near the end. That got confusing and aggravating. Like "The Forge of Mars", it had a variety of different themes in it, including chase scenes and espionage worthy of a thriller. May 26, Macha rated it liked it.

    Apr 25, Jonathan is currently reading it. This book is so good so far - that I intend to find a copy of the first book Forge of Mars so that I can read that as well. Feb 15, JC rated it really liked it.

    Bounces around a little toward the end and leaves me wanting more details on the conspiracies that are resolved abruptly. Sergio Cespedes rated it really liked it Apr 28, Jeremy Kofoot rated it liked it Sep 29, Don Gaspar II rated it really liked it Feb 10, Peter Okeafor rated it liked it Mar 29, J Kukacka rated it it was amazing Jun 28, Dan Sutton rated it it was ok Jun 03, Kj rated it it was ok Nov 30, Omar rated it really liked it Jun 27, Daniel rated it really liked it Jul 29, Matt rated it liked it Jun 17, Kim Gaard rated it liked it Nov 30, Yurifreak rated it it was amazing Feb 01, Melody Bliss rated it really liked it Aug 09, Michel Bosman rated it liked it Apr 21, Christopher rated it liked it May 04, Ivar rated it really liked it Dec 25, Frank rated it really liked it Jan 02, Chris Kemper rated it really liked it Jan 23, John Kiat rated it it was ok Jul 16, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.

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    Books by Bruce Balfour. Please try your request again later. Bruce Balfour was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In response, the American government created the space program. Balfour moved to Orange County, California when he was ten.

    Anvil of Stars (Forge of God, #2) by Greg Bear

    An avid science fiction reader, he started writing short fiction when he was fourteen. Hundreds of short stories later, his first professional sales occurred in , when he was finally able to beat the editor of Twilight Zone into submission with a flurry of manuscripts. When he realized that there were only about eight people in California who were actually employed in film production, he made the natural switch and became a computer science major at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

    While managing the development of his computer games, Balfour's first novel, Star Crusader, was published in A non-fiction book that explained the science behind his Outpost space simulation game - sometimes characterized as "Sim City in space" - was published in Adopted as a teaching tool by many high school science classes, the Outpost game and book remained in print until Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, Balfour put a few software companies together. Some exploded, but some did not. He then saw something shiny and his attention turned elsewhere. Fearing that he might miss something during the dot-com boom, Balfour moved from the mountains near Yosemite and returned to the San Francisco Bay Area.

    As the director of product development for a large educational software company, he was a highly-paid cog in the machine of a multinational corporation, spending way too much time with high-tech executives, cultish software developers, and the possibilities of advanced Internet technologies, causing the darker themes of his next novels to ferment in his head.

    As you might expect, his natural response was to then get a degree in science journalism from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Infected with an apparent desire to work for every federal lab in the country, Balfour then took a job with Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California, where he worked in Business Development creating domestic and international partnerships, among other things. While at Sandia, Balfour developed and managed a technology business incubator known as i-GATE to support young companies engaged in advanced transportation and renewable energy product development.

    This plan worked out pretty well, and he liked the attention, so Balfour then got a master's degree in community and economic development from Penn State. Realizing that nobody would preface his name with "doctor" unless he earned yet one more degree, he is now working on his PhD at Penn State.