"Marrow" by Robert Reed.
pub by Orbit,
pb,
502pp,
ISBN 1-84149-078-4,
Price: 6.99 UKP.
Review by Ian Brown.
Consider a Great Ship, a very big Great Ship, so big, in fact,
that it contains a whole planet within its core. This Great Ship
drifts into our Galaxy derelict, and completely devoid of any form
of life. So being the sort of people humans are, we colonise it.
After a period things get settled down, and the Ship starts a long
voyage, picking up guests of all races. Which is all very well, as
the human crew have, by now, evolved immortality, and the ability
to heal themselves (without a doctor) in an emergency. Eventually,
they start to explore the world at the centre of the Ship, and then
the plot starts to thicken...
This book is well written, with good characters, and a plot that
has been thought out. The only trouble is, with an immortal cast of
characters that it is practically impossible to kill, nothing is
impossible, it just takes time. When you think about it, the main
reason things fail to get done is because you run out of time. But
when you're immortal you've literally got all the time in the
world. Even the dangerous stuff becomes a bit academic when it is
possible to re-grow someone from just their head.
Therefore, even though this book has quite a good story with
some nice plots and counter-plots, it just seems to take too long.
When the characters think in centuries you do tend to loose
interest in their struggles and concerns; after all, you've all got
to get everything done in less than a hundred years which means
their plight seems trivial compared with yours! And with so much
time available the characters can afford to drift a bit, however,
that drifting tends to be for a century or so, which can make you
loose interest pretty quickly.
A reasonable read, with a well explored story and plot, but I
wish it had been about a third shorter...
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