Pe planeta Pandora locuiesc 2 specii de umanoizi, insularii, la suprafață, pe insule și tritonii, sub apă, într-un fel de locuințe. Fiind un pic diferiți, nu se prea amestecă între ei. Vata si Duque sunt ținuți într-o piscină specială și interacționează cu Avata, Algele, Nava.

such fun sci fi

In Dune, Frank Herbert had a certain pattern of trilogy storytelling: a book that built the world and introduced some characters in a more traditional way, so something to hook you in, then a connective book that would upend the order set up in the first book, then a third which would tell the actual story that needed telling. This inevitably led to people enjoying just some of the books and created this up-and-down kind of level of quality. You can see something similar in the Pandora series, but the books are just so confusingly different from each other that one can barely consider them part of the same universe.

The first actual book (which is numbered 0.5 for some reason, perhaps because it's not happening on Pandora) was about building an AI on a starship. The next book was about an omnipotent starship acting like a god to the poor people of Pandora, forcing genetic mutations, cultural and personal behaviors and demanding worship. And now this one, The Lazarus Effect, where Ship is gone and all you get is a kind of whodunnit with a limited cast of characters on the now aquatic world of Pandora. I can already tell you that the last book starts from a completely different point and going in another direction than what the ending of this one left off.

And then there is the quality of the books. I kept very favorable memories of these books from my childhood when I first read them, but now I realize it was probably either a phase in which I understood and enjoyed a lot more than this one, or (more likely) I was nostalgic for the hours and hours of playing the Civilisation-like video game Alpha Centauri which was inspired by Pandora. Short story long: Other than Destination: Void, which I thought was kind of heavy but I enjoyed a lot, all the other books feel … empty of pleasure. There is nothing to make you, as a reader, feel good while reading them. No characters are fleshed out enough to empathize and they are often unlikeable anyway. The world, biologically, ecologically or socio-politically, is rather basic and uninteresting. Perhaps at the time of its writing it was an amazingly fresh universe, but now it just feels like Waterworld and Pandora (from Avatar this time) mashed together by Chinese filmmakers. All of those elements are fun taken separately, but together they're just a mess.

As for this book, I think one can get into the correct mindset to understand and maybe appreciate The Jesus Incident, even if I couldn't now, but The Lazarus Effect has almost no redeeming qualities. It is just boring and uninteresting, slogging towards a predictable ending. It took me ages to finish it because I just found other things to do rather than read it. I am now grinding through the last book and I can't wait to get rid of it.

Continues the cool world building by jumping far into the future and showing the result of evolution and genetic engineering on two different branches of former humanity.

...I must admit I found the premise of the novel and the large scale developments Herbert and Ransom describe fascinating but I didn't care for most of the characters. The judge is mildly interesting, the lovers are not. There are a few other characters I haven't mentioned thus far, including a terrorist, a diplomat and ridiculously stupid historian none of whom were really engaging. Most of them seem to miss the sharpness, awareness and deep insights Herbert's more interesting characters share. Ship's unpredictable presence is also sorely missed in this novel. In short I have to really dig to find things I like in The Lazarus Effect. It is there for sure but buried a somewhat unfocussed plot, featuring bland and largely uninteresting characters. Add to that the unremarkable prose and you end up with a novel that readable but certainly not memorable. I'm hoping for better things from the concluding volume of this trilogy.

Full Random Comments review

Strangely, The Jesus Incident and The Lazurus Effect stand out a little stronger in my mind than the sequels to Dune. Herbert seemed fascinated with the idea of interactive, alien intelligences all exerting their influences on human behavior, what their dynamics might be and how they could shape us. The titles seem peculair and out of context with the books. As with all his work, it takes a lot of reflection into the subtle metaphors before you can begin to scratch away the layers to the deeper meanings.

Strong antifa themes.

This is a super cool story, even if small and buried in the middle of a long series. I've read it many times, in part because it was all I had handy, but I think I appreciate more each time.

False

A fascinating sequel exploring humanity’s rebirth on a transformed planet. Political intrigue, ecological themes, and genetic engineering shape a gripping, thought-provoking sci-fi adventure.

Great ideas but poor execution.

Very little to say here. I've yet to find anything from Herbert that rivals the Dune series, and I'm done trying. It was really hard to stay invested with this and I found my mind wandering often. I'm not even really sure I knew what happened with this.

2/5