Most helpful customer reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Good hard SF, interesting characters, May 20 2003
...Any good SF reader knows Nancy Kress, and knows her writing style well. In Probability Sun, she does not reach the pinnacle of her success (though Moon is pretty close), but she nonetheless writes a decent novel. Particularly interesting are her complex characters, for which she is well known throughout her Beggars in Spain series; (*minor spoilers follow*) you find yourself agreeing with Capelo's desire to murder the Faller, you find yourself sort of surprised at the backbone of Kaufmann, and the dwellers of World continue to hold your interest throughout the book. Not to mention the science, which is great as usual for Kress (whose husband helped out just a bit, according to the author's note =)So, for real SF readers, the review is in: great characters, interesting science (though nothing spectacular), good plot. Pick it up, and pray Space comes out in paperback soon ... =)
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting physics--but need more character development, Sep 19 2001
The human race is losing a war against the 'Fallen' a mysterious race who kills rather than communicating. Now the Fallen have discovered a shield that protects them from anything the humans can throw at them. If they don't do something, the human race is doomed.In PROBABILITY SUN, a small group of scientists and soldiers travel to a fascinating world of 'shared reality' to uncover an artifact that just might have something to do with the interstellar travel that humans have discovered but don't understand, and just might have something to do with the Fallen shield. The same mission, for no particular reason, also carries the only Fallen ever captured alive. I loved author Nancy Kress's depiction of 'The World' and the shared reality system that makes it work. The physics that run through the 'probability' aspect of her work are also interesting. I found the military situation that two such critical missions (saving the human race and communicating with the only captured member of the attacking species) would be conducted by such a small group of scientists (only one of which had any communication with the Fallen). An even bigger problem was with the characters. Tom Capelo is flat, his emotions ranging from rage to a sort of maudlin love for his children. Colonel Kaufman, more or less the protagonist, doesn't really seem to arc much. He does what he has to, but the reader never sees the change or what it means to him. PROBABILITY SUN is interesting and well written, but it won't stick with you the way Kress intended, nor the way it almost achieved.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Character-driven dilemmas and suspense, Aug 20 2001
The foundation of this Hugo and Nebula Award winner's latest series is an interstellar war with the mysterious Fallers, a civilization so alien there has never been any communication other than killing. Both sides use a little-understood series of space tunnels left by a vanished race.The first in the series, "Probability Moon" introduced World, a planet of empaths whose "shared reality" makes lying impossible. While a team of anthropologists established relations with the Worlders, a military team studied the planet's artificial moon, another of the vanished race's artifacts, which they hoped would turn the tide in the war. The story ended in disaster, with the humans declared "unreal" and the moon destroyed. The sequel, "Probability Sun," neatly telescopes the earlier story as humans prepare for a new mission to study a second artifact hidden in World's sacred caves. The mission includes two characters from the first book, blunt, straightforward geologist Dieter Gruber and his thoughtful wife, xenobiologist Ann Sikorski as well as brilliant, eccentric physicist Tom Capelo, gene-engineered empath Marbet Grant and Major Lyle Kaufman, the mission's reluctant leader, a mild, politic man who doesn't recognize his own strengths. While the scientists swarm over the artifact and re-establish relations with (and studies of) the Worlders, including Enli, whose previous experience gives her more insight into humans than she wants, the military secretly uses Marbet Grant to study the first Faller ever captured alive. The character-driven action moves between the ship and the planet, the alien enemy and the enigmatic artifact, military ambitions and scientific goals, building to choices that may destroy Worlder civilization, tip the balance of the war or end the universe as we know it. Kress' story is well organized and well written and her characters multi-dimensional. The story is an engaging blend of military and psychological strategy, speculative science, moral dilemmas and suspense. The ending provides satisfying closure while leaving the door open for a third book.
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