Also, the book isnt helped by the way Benford devotes entire chapters to events and characters, who are memorable only for the degree to which they turn out to be irrelevant. A very disapointing end to a very promising series.


The bestGregory Benford Galactic center novel yet.   September 16, 1996
Sailing Bright Eternity is the final and best novel in Gregory Benford's galactic center saga. The centuries old war between the biologicallife forms and the mechanical life forms boils to a climax that engenders Benford's themes of hope even through dismal and desperate times. In the end, it is found that higher life forms (the clays) have manipulated these events and have more in store for us. The two sets of main characters, the far future humans genetically engineered to survive and resolve the biological mechanical conflict, and the near future character Nigel Walmsley have had their story lines kept seperate throught the series, with Benford slipping artfully between the two story lines. In this novel, the two story lines merge for the resolution of the series. The technique of switching between the two story lines makes the story more interesting and adds a greater sense of urgency to find out what happens next in each thread. I eagerly look forward to Mr. Benford starting a new series of novels delving into the clay's activities.


Doesn't measure up to the rest of the series   February 6, 2007
The first two novels of the series were excellent, the middle two so-so, the fifth mediocre, and this last one would be completely dreadful were it not for the need to complete the series. The novel reads more like a disjointed collection of random adventures than a cohesive work. It's hard to be mentally or emotionally invested in a work when there's no rhyme or reason why anything is happening. I'll give you an example -- Toby spends part of the novel as a river guide... a river guide? why? it makes no sense. Usually I have no trouble visualizing even the most fantastic science fiction, but this one I found hard to take in the imagery. On the plus side, we get a large dose of Nigel Walmsley, the hero of the (excellent) first two novels of the series. The bad part is, like Toby and Killeen he's just doing seemingly random things. Like the 'esty' and black hole that Benford describes, the novel itself suffers from a disconnection of cause and effect. Maybe the novel itself was sucked into a black hole and spit out the other side. I really wanted this novel to be good, but it wasn't. bummer.