Giants' Star (Giants #3) by James P. Hogan

[gilda_elise]

A PROBLEM IN RELATIVITY

ONE:
Eons ago, a gentle race of giant aliens fled the planet Minerva, leaving the ancestors of Man to fend for themselves.

TWO:
50 thousand years ago, Minerva exploded, hurling its moon into an orbit about the Earth.

THREE:
In the 21st century, scientists Victor Hunt and Chris Danchekker, doing research on Ganymede, attract a small band of friendly aliens lost in time, who begin to reveal something of the origin of Mankind.

Finally, Man thought he comprehended his place in the Universe...until he learned of the Watchers in the stars!

The book is probably heavier into science than the first two, but not so far out to be incomprehensible to the average reader. Well, the average hard science fiction reader. It was fun, seeing what Hogan had gotten right when it came to the future (quite a bit, actually,) and what he got wrong.

And the mystery continues, though, because I’d learned so much about the history of all the players, this mystery was a lot easier to figure out. Once we know who all the players are, it sort of fell into place. I’d figured it out before the characters had.

But that was okay, because, finally, there’s more character development. Not a whole lot, but enough to make up for the lack of real mystery. Maybe because one of the main characters is a woman, and Hogan had to work harder in order to make her believable? Maybe. Whatever the reason, it was a refreshing change. Change enough that I know I’ll read the next, and final, installment in the Giants series.

Oops, no, make that second to the last.






Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

1. The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry
2. Polaris (Alex Benedict #2) by Jack McDevitt
3. How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
4. Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories From My Childhood: Beloved Fairy Tales from the Queen to Cinderella by Mikhail Baryshnikov
5. The Fateful Lightning (Civil War: 1861-1865, Western Theater #4) by Jeff Shaara
6. Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
7. The Petticoat Men by Barbara Ewing
8. Lily Pond: Four Years with a Family of Beavers by Hope Ryden
9. Running with the Demon (The Word & The Void #1) by Terry Brooks
10. The Gentle Giants of Ganymede (Giants #2) by James P. Hogan
11. Ararat (Ben Walker #1) by Christopher Golden
12. If It Bleeds by Stephen King
13. American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant by Ronald C. White Jr.
14. The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
15. Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell Adventurer, Adviser to Kings by Janet Wallach
16. Snowblind by Christopher Golden
17. Women of Ashdon (Bridges Over Time #3) by Valerie Anand
18. Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt
19. The Family Plot by Cherie Priest
20. The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa (translated by Nick Caistor)


21. Roses are White by Lesley Lambert
22. Giants' Star (Giants #3) by James P. Hogan

Comments

[wpadmirer.livejournal.com]

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

I don't remember if it was this book or another of his, but I loved the James P. Hogan book that posited that we and an alien species were in a race, and that other species had introduced religion to our planet TO SLOW US DOWN. That made SO much sense to me!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Yes, this is the book. I think he touches on it in the previous one in the series, but it becomes a major issue in this one. Hogan did come up with ideas that made a lot of sense, scientifically. This one, especially.