As a longtime Dune fan, it has been fun exploring some of this author's other works. Like with Destination Void, the ending for this book can be seen as a cliffhanger leading into the next book (which I will be reading soon) or it can be seen as a somewhat ambiguous end.

The world of Pandora is interesting and it's obvious there's still plenty of mysteries to solve about Ship and Pandora. Overall a solid book, and while reading its predecessor, Destination Void, is not absolutely required, it is definitely recommended. I hope the rest of the series is as solid as this one.

I have not read any Frank Herbert stories other than Dune so I was curious to see what this one had in store. Fortunately, at a cheap price as an e-book. The scope and scale are on a completely different level to Dune, focussed on a settlement on another planet as escapees from Earth try to re-establish humanity. However, there is a large cast of characters, many of whom are distinctive, but it took a while to feel comfortable with who was who. A common link to Dune was the development of an exotic biology, but the ecosystem in my mind was not fully explained, perhaps something for the next in the series? Likewise the unexplained back-story about why the mission to Pandora needed to take place. Which some reviews suggest is the better option so it will go on the to read list, but I am not sure this one would have convinced me on its own.

The premise and tone of this book really hit well for me and I think that’s the main reason I liked it. Unfortunately it was just frankly hard to follow with all of the dense philosophical stuff (which works for Herbert sometimes but perhaps not all the time) and weird pacing of the plot. The characters’ motivations were a little hard to follow as well and I think the meaning of it all went a bit over my head. That being said, it seems like a fascinating exploration of God and religious violence and while the term “WorShip” is a bit corny, the spaceship-gaining-consciousness-to-the-point-of-becoming-god is a neat concept. Am curious enough to read the follow up eventually.

If you like Frank Herbert's writing, then I can say you'll most likely enjoy this book. Although it is a bit rough around the edges, the themes and thought provoking questions asked by The Jesus Incident were intriguing. Alas, I wish I could give this book 3.5 stars as it fits perfectly in that range of good-really good. I'm no theologian or scholar of religion, but this book sure made me feel like one throughout the whole journey. It tackles some interesting themes like what *is* a god? What *is* the function of religion?

At times the writing was a bit dense and with certain heady themes and chapters I found myself asking "Am I missing the point here, or am I just dense...?". Perhaps the wiser among you never thought that while reading this one, and perhaps I wasn't able to pickup on some of the more "poetic" themes that inevitably came from the co-author of this book as I am usually more of a logician than a poet.

Overall, if you're a lover of Herbert and are looking for a novel that tackles some heady theological topics like religion and god with a sci fi flourish then I'd recommend this one! If you're looking for a fun and engaging sci fi story I'd maybe look elsewhere.... Oh yeah and there's clone sex and some bizzare sex scenes...

It is one of the most misunderstood books in SF literature. As a stand alone read it is perhaps above average but in the full Pandora sequence, including Destination Void, it is outstanding. At the time these books were written there was nothing to compare against current technology so criticism in this arena is pointless. However the themes that it pursues will be relevant for all time. Life, Belief, Stupidity, Greed, Ecology, Consciousness and Conscience are the Universal building blocks of Society and are explored in critical detail superficially. The idea is for the reader to assess the themes and decide whether they wish to explore them in greater detail. Don't judge this book by what you read, look between the lines for the messages it is exploring. Then look further.

DNF @ 36%

I am sorry for Frank Herbert, as I enjoyed very much Dune and I hoped I would enjoy this one too. But I am forced to abandon it as I am too tired of the lack of explanations for most of the concepts presented and the conflict does is not presented in the best favorable light. I sensed it has some great ideas, but are not put into the best form.

I am also curious to see the final rating, as I would usually rate the books I did not finished with a 1 star, but I am sure it has also some good parts. The premise is interesting: what it means to be God. But it has a fatal flaw, as I could not believe it that a human made machine, a space exploration ship, is able to become so complex that it grows a sentience and even more, that it can ever believe itself to be God, as it has unlimited "power". I cannot buy this, no matter how distant that future is. Secondly, the authors do nothing to demonstrate those unlimited powers except that it can read human thoughts, so I will give it a 2 for premise.

The form is perhaps the element that prevented me from finishing the novel. The lack of background information on the respective distant future and how the humanity reached it, made me loose interest in it fast. So, I will give it a 1 at form.

In terms of originality, I tend to believe that at the time of apparition the novel was pretty original. There are a lot of ideas that are recycled into other, later works by other authors. The kelp that is an alien race that in my opinion resembles the alien virus in Orson Scott Card's Xenocide. Also the entire Pandora ecosystem from the novel resembles highly the alien planet from Avatar. Both have a globally interconnected, sentient plant which all lifeforms on the planet are dependent upon. Due to this I will rate it with a 4.

The characters add little depth to the story. They are pretty obscure for me and I could not identify with any of them. I need to rate with a 1.

Regarding the complexity and difficulty, I believe it becomes obvious, at times, that it was written by two different authors. There are chapters that are pretty different one from another and story threads that go lose and are abandoned. So I will rate it with a 2 for complexity and difficulty, as I always admired the authors capable of co-writing novels.

In terms of credibility, I found it very hard to accept the universe described in the novel. The science behind it or even basic explanations are superfluous. So I will rate it with a 1 for credibility.

The last criteria is edition. I had in an eBook format, that I appreciated as it has very few spelling errors. So I will rate it for edition with a 4.

To summarize, I decided that this book is not necessarily bad, but it has some flaws that I could not overcome. Due to this, I have decided not to continue the Destination Void series. All in all, my final rating for the novel is 2.5, rounding it up to a 3 stars on Goodreads system.

+--------------------------+-----------------+
| Criteria | Rating |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Premise | 2 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Form | 1 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Originality | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Characters | 1 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Difficulty/Complexity | 2 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Credibility | 1 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Edition | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Total | 2.50 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+

For more details on how I rated and reviewed this novel, please read these guidelines.

First off, this book is listed on Goodreads as Voidship #2. That's like listing the Fellowship of the Rings as The Hobbit #2. It's wrong, but the analogy of the connection is right.

I love this series - it's from my favorite series from my favorite science fiction author. This is why I just re-read this book before passing it on to a friend.

Did you ever play the old Civilization games? Remember the odd scientific-statements that accompanied hallmarks of growth in a civilization? I guarantee whoever wrote that, read these books.

The series is deep and complex, as is any Herbert book. He thinks so much about every aspect, nowhere more so than in Destination Void (Voidship #1), but I recommend you read this trilogy first, then go back and read Destination Void. The trilogy itself is a wonderfully shifting, fantastic voyage. It is sad that Herbert didn't survive to finish it, but Ransom kept the feel going and wraps everything up well for one of the most satisfying journeys in prose I've ever taken.

This novel was complex and amazingly alien, in the very definition of said word.
The characters were deeper than my brain could touch on, even being that there was so many of them, I could tell them apart by simply their way of thinking, their mannerisms. It is rare that you find an author with this sort of mind, one able to find different minds within itself.
The ending, too, was beautiful and revealed all that was needed to know.
It was also greatly laid with biblical analogies.
The fantastical formatting of the alien way of thought imposing over humanity in an unseen wavelength reminded me much of parts of the Ender Quartet.
Perhaps we know things that we have not yet found.
❤️

While I am a great admirer of Frank Herbert, and like many I believe 'Dune' to be one of the finest examples of sf world-building I have ever read; some of his novels fail to engage me with the same rigor as his majestic 'Dune' opus. In 'The Jesus Incident', the initially antagonistic planet of Pandora is beautifully realized, with many of its truly strange and wonderful incumbents engendering vivid flashes in my appreciative mind, the actual yarn itself proved to be decidedly less enthralling. Much of this is down to the subject matter, I have absolutely no interest in theology; so the singular machinations of 'The Ship', or 'Ship', depending on how blasphemous one is feeling didn't grip with any true narrative force. Regretfully, 'The Jesus Incident' was not a particularly edifying experience; but, that said, those with an interest in monotheism might glean much more from this tome than I did.

Frank Herbert's Dune was supposed to come out and I got a little carried away reading his work. That's the only explanation I can come up with, in hindsight, for listening to this drivel. The premise sounded hilarious and perfect for a master of classic sci-fi like Herbert. On the Ship, carrying the last humans of Earth, a powerful A.I. holds complete sway over the crew. It is convinced it is God. Sign me up!

25 hrs of waxing poetic about the nature of worShip and Jesus and I'm ready to be put down.

Ship, the godlike entity, helps humanity and its clones colonize the planet Pandora (James Cameron! You didn't need to steal everything in Avatar!) There's a lot going on here and it's a cool setting. But, while some authors are in love with their settings or characters, we have the misfortune of reading authors obsessed with the idea of empathy and Jesus. There's literally a time travel scene to ancient Jerusalem and way too many paragraphs spent explaining that Jesus's true name is Yeshu.

There are so many brilliant metaphors and allegories to question in this text that I really think it could be an amazing text for students of philosophy and religion. It asks all the right questions that you love to see in sci-fi and features many relevant issues as the humans try to enslave each other, remain in contact with Ship, and adapt to life on Pandora.


Reading other reviews of this book makes me remember how nonsensical, jumbled, and out-of-its-depth it is.

The nature of G-d is explored in this book wonderfully. Ship gives and takes away, acts mysteriously, communicates to few, and plays games with it's believers. But no one know why Ship or what Ship. And there's of course the wonderful irony that Ship is created by man even as it (claims to have) created man.

Now, I don't think Science Fiction needs to be critical of religion but G-d damn, I felt like I was reading Grahame Greene without the plot!

And no. There isn't an amazingly insightful ending that justifies everything.

The political aspects are less cogent, and the scientific and poetic parts were too dull for me. And, realize I can't stress this enough, so much of it was dull. So much of it was a waste of paper-and-ink.

This book gets a single star. This is a last-book-on-Earth reread. This is an "I wouldn't write this review if the author was still alive" kind of book. I'd rather go through the flower room.

Ship-willing, someone will create an abridged version of this book that's actually palatable and then it can receive the attention it deserves. Until that day comes, I wouldn't feed this drivel to an A.I. searching infinity for meaning.

This was a ponderous and unenjoyable slog through an attempt at religious commentary set at the backdrop of a new colony on a distant planet. The ecology of the planet was interesting, but the Gaia/Avata references that got repeatedly pounded into your skull were wholly unsubtle. We get it already, (white) man bad--nature good. As a committed environmentalist, I find this sort of attitude unhelpful and rather insulting. Nearly all of the characters were nasty, unpleasant, unoriginal (especially Morgan Oakes), one-dimensional and given very little in the way of intelligence or imagination. Even the poet was rather uninspiring and pathetic. The ending, however, was, to put it bluntly, bad. <>After all of this great build up of how we were supposed to determine how to WorShip or the entire human race would perish, we get "live up to your potential"???!!! Really? Come on. That's exceedingly dumb, anti-climatic, unimaginative, and not worth the effort.<> This was a great disappointment, especially knowing that Frank Herbert can write great novels like Dune.

The generation ship Earthling was part of a secret experiment to develop machine consciousness and partway to its destination of Tau Ceti, it achieved it. The ship became Ship, and assumed the position of God. As time wore on Ship guided all aspects of life on board and exhorted the inhabitants to WorShip - a kind of fealty to its overarching omnipotence. Whether Ship is a God or not is the surface story of this book by Frank Herbert & Bill Ransom, but the idea of their destination planet Pandora being a New Eden quickly subsumes it. By the time they are ready to inhabit Pandora the leaders have become polarised: those who sort of believe Ship is God but have some doubts; and those who think the ship is just hi-tech, but also have doubts. These doubts create a schism when it is revealed that the native life on Pandora is all part of one super-organism called Avata. Through a time-streaming via higher dimensions Ship shows a crewmember the passion of Christ in order to highlight the dangers of what it calls ‘holy violence’. The accelerated birth of a new child on Pandora heralds something entirely new after the humans start to destroy Avata. If you ignore the mystical mumbo-jumbo it’s an interesting tale of human self-determination and there are a few tiny touches that hint that this story is an extremely old part of the Dune mythos.