Not particularly interesting nor intriging. Just when the plot began to go somewhere, I ran out of pages. Not particularly bad, but if you are a Sci-Fi fan, and are intrigued by the character of Roger Torraway (as I am) then seek the prequel titled "Man Plus".

The sequel to Man Plus. This novel was far less intriguing, which is ironic since it played out as a mystery. I we remember the end of Man Plus, there is the implication that machine intelligence has tricked mankind into colonizing Mars in order to protect its own interests (since man might wipe out Earth and thus the machine intelligence too). Mars Plus is a mystery where all the players are manipulated by the machines, but it just isn't very mysterious or clever. I think Pohl phoned this one in without exploring the many facets of what the existence of a manipulative machine intelligence would mean.

This book is an oldie but it's amazing how man continues to plod on toward a Martian landing as did the characters in this story. I kept wondering for 17 chapters who the narrator,"We," was who told the story? In a cutesie, laconic way this question was sort of answered in Chapt 18, the four page ending. I won't, but I don't think it would spoil anything by revealing the ending, in fact, not knowing the "We" identity sort of spoiled the book for me. I like to know who is telling me a story. Still, much was attempted for the 1970's so I will only spank the author with the brevity of this review.

Pohl is a great writer. This is a horrible book. I picked up a copy of the hardcover for 1$ at a used book store, after reading half the book I wanted my money back. The plot is dull, unimagantive and boring. This book is a fight againts continual bordem to read. Pohl recounts page afer page of redunt "daily life" information. The plot creeps along at a snail's pace without any suprises. I kept reading the book in the hope that it would show some some hint of value, it never did. Simply not worth it.

There are no studly, over-muscled do-gooders in this book fighting hordes of aliens or saving defenseless Baywatchesque females. The hero is a nice guy with a bit of a psychological problem and some 'real-life' problems as well. The situation, while futuristic (a space colony complete with a friendly alien race) is extremely matter of fact. This makes it a bit slow (and downright boring at times) but very 'immersive'. The main character was fleshed out well and I really felt that I knew him by the end of the story. The ending was also very interesting.

If Pohl was trying to write something different I think he achieved his purpose. I wouldn't want to read many books like this but it was a fairly fresh approach to sci-fi (although I can't claim to be a sci-fi expert). I did this book on tape unabridged and I would recommend it in this format. The narrator sounded a bit amateurish at first, but after one side of the first tape I realized he was perfect for the somewhat simple main character (narrator).

I was mostly satisfied by The Voices of Heaven. As science fiction novels go, it was highly accessible. In fact, its central story and themes could have fit easily within other genres, though the futuristic element is rendered easily and plausibly.

The story is basically one that could easily be adapted into a novel about a European colonist in the Americas - with Native Americans being substituted for the alien Leps.

Pohl writes masterfully within the voice of his intelligent but often clueless narrator. The author has a real gift for rendering characters - even fairly unsympathetic ones - as real tangible human beings. The character of Tscharka is particularly well-done - we do get a sense of his positive attributes, though they are not frequently displayed.

At its core, this is a novel about what people need in life, about religion, and about dislocation. As science fiction novels go, it is readily concrete and not at all disorienting or confusing. The storyline is consistently engaging, but not always tense.

I agree about the audio narration of this book - Johnny Heller does a fine job as the narrator.

I urge to you stay away from this book. It is by far the worst novel, SF or otherwise, that I have ever had the displeasure to read. Its very, very few redeeming aspects did little to alleviate the extremely frustrating, annoying, predictable and dumb parts of this book. As an avid SF fan and huge admirer of Frederik Pohl's, I was deeply disappointed.

The characters were the most pathetic I have ever encountered - they were completely flat and one-sided, totally naive, and uttered such annoying dialogue that I wanted to smack most of them every time they opened their mouths. Except for one, who I loved, but by the time she next appeared she had given birth, and, mysteriously, was stripped of all the interesting parts of her character and became solely a mother to her child.

The plot was predictable and surprisingly uninteresting. For a book about a comet striking the Earth (almost - the best part of the premise, one of the book's few highlights, is not the damage the impacts cause, but the damage inflicted onto the ozone layer and electronic equipment, by the comet's gases and EMPs. Sadly, this gem of a premise is strangled by the poor story in which it is presented), _Land's End_ is remarkably lacking in any sort of tension, suspense, or credible emotion.

At first, I thought the story was supposed to be some sort of fable or satire - where such hollow, annoying characters and such a preachy plot (filled with extremely obvious references to our current polluting of the environment and relations with animals) would be successful. But _Land's End_ takes itself too serious to be a satire and aims for too tangled a complexity (in both plot and execution) to be a fable.

The only two redeeming features of _Land's End_ - the secondary effects of a comet strike and the underwater 18 Cities - do not redeem it enough to make this book worth reading. For a much more exciting, captivating, and realistic comet-strike book, try Niven and Pournelle's _Lucifer's Hammer_ (their _Mote In God's Eye_ is also a MUCH better novel on the topic of first contact with aliens; as is Carl Sagan's _Contact_. Actually, just about any book is better than this one, regarding aliens. Pohl and Williamson's "Eternal" alien was like something cast by a Hollywood agent with no imagination beyond a half-drunken viewing of "Independence Day" - cliche, boring, and so overwraught as to be unintentionally comical.)

If I could give a negative amount of stars to this book, I would. It is, by far, the poorest SF novel I have ever read.

If there was a prozac for books, this book would need a dose of it. Dumb, pointless plot. Dumb, pointless characters. A substandard effort from Pohl, who is one of my favorite authors.