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Cargando... Misión de gravedad (1954)por Hal Clement
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2023/08/review-of-mission-of-gravity-by-hal.htm... ( ) King Solomon's Mines in Space Mission of Gravity is a sf classic because of its compelling world building: an extremely fast-spinning planet with a gravity 700 times that of earth at its poles. It is marred however by totally unconvincing inhabitants. The Mesklinites encountered by the "Earthmen"--back in 1953, the idea of female scientists or astronauts apparently was inconceivable even for a science fiction author--speak better English than most native speakers on earth, and they behave and think like humans. Also their civilization is entirely human even though they are caterpillars. With a captain and first mate, even the command structure of the raft Bree is that of a western European/American ship. Convincing alien life is also part of compelling world building and the novel entirely fails in that respect. Nothing on Mesklin feels really alien. An even bigger problem is the absence of any conflict to drive the story. The leading earthman, Lackland, and leading Mesklinite, Barlennan (yes, the aliens have human names, too), interact so awfully friendly and harmoniously that it becomes boring from very early on. In the beginning there is a hint that Barlennan has a hidden agenda; but in the end that turns out to be nothing bad really. Also, the title's second meaning of "something of great importance" doesn't come into its own: the information gathered about the planet by the lost probe that the Mesklinites have to recover is no doubt scientifically interesting but not really a matter of life and death. One could also mention the colonialist subtext of the novel. The Mesklinite explorers and their superior Terran mentors behave like European explorers in "Dark Africa". They hunt big game, are attacked by primitive natives and trade peacefully with friendly primitives, making maps along the way to make the unknown territory controllable. But I guess all that was only normal in the 1950s western view of the world. This book surely must be the record-holder for having the most endearing arthropodic character in fiction and possibly for weirdest planet in fiction! Of course the two are connected; if a planet has a surface gravitational pull never less than three times that of Earth and varying up to 700x that of Earth, intelligent life isn't going to look just like a human with maybe a weird looking forehead or nose. Clement has very carefully worked out what the consequences of his rapidly spinning, exceedingly cold planet are and built a jolly adventure story round them, with a somewhat piratical, canny, mischievous explorer-trader as the protagonist asked to rescue the science probe visiting humans have lost and are unable to rescue themselves. Long considered a genre classic and deservingly so. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
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Mesklin is a vast, inhospitable, disc-shaped planet, so cold that its oceans are liquid methane and its snows are frozen ammonia. It is a world spinning dizzyingly, a world where gravity can be a crushing 700 times greater than Earth's, a world too hostile for human explorers. But the planet holds secrets of inestimable value, and an unmanned probe that has crashed close to one of its poles must be recovered. Only the Mesklinites, the small creatures so bizarrely adapted to their harsh environment, can help. And so Barlennan, the resourceful and courageous captain of the Mesklinite ship Bree, sets out on an heroic and appalling journey into the terrible unknown. For him and his people, the prize to be gained is as great as that for mankind... Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity is universally regarded as one of the most important and best loved novels in the genre. The remarkable and sympathetic depiction of an alien species and the plausible and scientifically based realization of the strange world they inhabit make it a major landmark in the history of hard sf. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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