read this long time ago. it's actually the third book in this series about a sentient being called Ship created by the hand of man.
this book focuses on Pandora, the planet upon which Ship marooned its crew, demanding that they learn how to worShip him. at the beginning of the book, humanity is divided into mermen who live under the sea, the remnants of the true human crew of Ship, and the Islanders, descendants of the clones made by the humans. there is no land at all left on Pandora, the Islanders live on Islands composed of organic tissues, which totally freaked me out. but it's a good story.

Interesting enough to keep my attention, but not a real page-turner. I think I'm still going to finish the series, though.

This is the third volume in the Destination Void series, or the second volume in the Pandora series - I've seen both identifications. The settlers on Pandora are in trouble. All land has disappeared, the kelp is in danger of becoming extinct, Ship is gone, the majority of humans have been strongly mutated due to genetic experiments and a power-hungry mad man is trying to take over the planet. However, Avata does not remain passive when the people refuse to worship.

Not remembered, except that it was quite an enjoyable read.

beginning was fun, world building was fun, ending was eh. also i kept getting confused about characters' appearance or motives so sheesh. shout out to iz bushka being named iz, more people should be named iz.
--> (yours truly, israel c)

better than the first book by far, but unfortunately still not enough to keep me engaged.. dont feel a connection with the story or the characters at all! philosophically however i do like it a lot but i believe it would be better as one big standalone

Lazarus Effect by Frank Herbert (1984)

Despite not having read the first book in this sequence, I had no problem understanding the events that led up to this novel. The world building and characters were interesting and unique. The social and political statements are not subtle, but are just as valid today as they were in the '80's. Taking them to heart would make our world a better place.

I found the Lazarus Effect to be a much easier - as in understandable - story to follow, than the Jesus Incident. The characters were also easier to keep straight and I actually liked a few of them.

I did have a hard time suspending belief on many things when it came to the life of the Mermen living underwater, but overall, I enjoyed the story a great deal more than the first.

And why call them Mermen when that word, for me, conjures up a whole host of unrelated images? And it seemed awkward to say Merman woman...

I found a lot of this book really interesting--the divisions between the Islanders and the Mermen, the weirdness of Vata and Duque, the kelp experiments, the mystery of the hyb tanks...

But the end got...confusing. Or maybe I was just really tired, because I just could not seem to focus on what the heck was happening. I kept having to read the same parts over and over again. Something about whales? Um.

Also, ahhhhhhhhh, there are chairdogs in this book as well!!! Frank Herbert had some weird ideas, and boy, did he stick to 'em! I think I like this series more than the Dune series though, so the one mention of chairdogs will not ruin it for me like the many mentions of chairdogs ruined the Dune series.

Aaaaanyway, though I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as I did The Jesus Incident, I'm totally still interested in reading the third book. I hope Ship comes back though.

Sorry, this review is terrible! In my defense, this series is kinda hard to describe.

Oh, well, I'm going to bed.

Loved it. Explores a lot of oddly relevant (in today's world) topics. Characters to really love and HATE. Looking for the final in this series and would love to see a movie out of them. It would have to be epic - I'm talking like epic-ness on the level of what was done with Dune (I know, not gonna happen). Prolly too brainy and esoteric for a lot of the zombies out there but this nerd would eat it up like candy.

Not as much philosophical exploration as The Jesus Incident and not nearly as much as Destination: Void. Antagonist isn't as convincing. Nevertheless, Herbert tells a good story that's worth a read.

Very interesting follow up to jesus incident. I read a lot of mixed reviews prior to starting this one. Im glad to report it still holds its own. Likeable characters with a story that continues to move the world of pandora forward.