Beyond the Blue Event Horizon

635 Words2 Pages

The novel Beyond the Blue Event Horizon is the sequel to Frederik Pohl’s Nebula Award winning novel, Gateway. Without prior knowledge of the first book’s plot, the sequel is extremely hard to read and get into. The story starts on a ship somewhere in space with a mysterious boy named Wan. On a different ship, the Herter-Halls company is making a journey to the Food Factory since there was a shortage on Earth. As the book progresses, the two ships meet up, and they meet an alien race. The aliens imprison the Herter-Halls company. The book’s characters, plot, and setting help make this book interesting and directional.
The characters in this book are, for the most part, resilient and knowledge hungry. According to Pohl, the future is going to be a harsh time for humans. As a result, the humans should try to find better ways of living. The main characters are forced to endure many hardships, including imprisonment: “‘…I must never let myself be caught’” (Pohl 151). Wan said this in order to convey to the Earthlings that the Old Ones are dangerous and should be avoided. When the humans get caught, it is as dangerous as Wan said. Later, the company escapes, and quickly recovers from the brutal harm done to them by discovering many new things about this alien race. However, people can’t rely on only discoveries. Albert, a computer program, helps Robin through many scientific reasoning dilemmas Robin might have: “‘So mass itself – according to Mach’s Principle – depends on some external system…’” (Pohl 296). This shows that Albert’s reasoning is beyond par and is very credible to Robin. Robin uses this program often in order to learn more about how to accomplish his lifetime goal of saving his lost girlfriend. Klara. Without Albert’s kn...

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...t include a glowing, shiny place with holographic tools. The tone also helped shape the story, as most of the story was dark and gloomy because of the unpredicted space travel. One event explained the possibility of people stranded around the galaxy. The ominous feel of what might happen to them makes this book easier to connect to. The setting kept the story fun to read through its imaginative properties.
In retrospect, this book is fun to read, interesting, and page turning due to its amazing characters, unpredictable plot, and imaginative setting. The combination of those three elements make the story better than average. Since this is the second book of a trilogy, the third book will be a great ending if it continues having these same elements. Even though there is strong language used, this book is a recommended read for mature, science fiction loving people.

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