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diff --git a/content/reviews/books/heaven-makers-1967.md b/content/reviews/books/heaven-makers-1967.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b91dd83 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/reviews/books/heaven-makers-1967.md @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ ++++ +title = "Heaven Makers (Frank Herbert, 1967)" +author = ["MichaĆ Sapka"] +date = 2024-06-19T12:06:00+02:00 +categories = ["reviews"] +draft = false +weight = 2012 +reviewSection = ["Books"] +abstract = "My review of an early Frank Herbert novel" +image = "reviews/covers/herbert-heaven-makers.jpg" +rating = 3 +aliases = ["brain-rot/american-scifi/heaven-makers-1967/"] ++++ + +Chems are a race of aliens being who learned technology allowing them to live forever. +With everlasting life comes boredom. +To mitigate it, they watch and record lives and history of _lesser_ races, one which being humanity. +They can not intervene, but current team foreseeing operation on Earth may have broken this rule. +Therefore, Kelexel is sent to investigate if this is the case, but he is pretending to be just a tourist. + +At the same time we are observing humans whose lives are being recorded and (maybe) manipulated. + +_Heaven Makers_ is a 1967 novel written by Frank Herbert about an immortal race of space beings who treat humanity as a toy. +OK, there's more to that, but it all boils to this - it's a simple story which gives no indications that just a few years before Herbert published _Dune_. + +Let's get this out of the way: _Heaven Makers_ is not a great book. +It's not bad, by any means. +The plot is decent, the twists are cool, the characters are (mostly) OK. +It's not insulting, but it's never great. +It's also short, so all the underdeveloped or missed parts of the book never develop into real frustration. + +And while I have enjoyed reading it over the course of 2 evening[^fn:1] and would not call the time _wasted_, I'm afraid in a year I'll have very little recollection of the events that I've witnessed. +If anything, it reminded me that I really need to watch _Twilight Zone_. +_Heaven Makers_ is very much like an episode of that type a show. +We've got an interesting question (what would you do with eternity?) with added twist (what if you are the victim of such creatures) developed into a full story. + +One thing reader needs to keep in mind is the age to this book. +Your life being subjected to constant surveillance was something not only seen as scary, but also incomprehensible. +We're now treating is as entertainment (_Big Brother_) or even a way of living. +As always, SciFi comes with a twisted idea and warns us about it. +What we do with it? +Of course! +Let's build our lives around it! + +If _Heaven Makers_ finds a way in your hands, sure - it's a nice read. +But I would not propose people actively search for it. + +[^fn:1]: I am a slow reader |