Shiva Descending

Rating:
Summary: A good book about the coming of the end
Review: "Shiva Descending" by Grergory Benford & William Rosler is the classic story of an asteriod hitting the earth. On one side, you have NASA with the help space agencies from around the world trying to stop Shiva. On the other side, the effect of the coming doom have sent the avarage person over the edge.
This book was pretty good, but the book was dated and it seem slow in places. Another problem I had that the reader didn't really have a time frame for the book and at time that really bug me. A fan of the "End of the world" genre will enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Flying Mountain
Review: "Shiva Descending" is the genesis of movies, "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon" --- a huge, mountain-sized asteroid is going to enter the earth's orbit and destroy the planet. The big-daddy asteroid is accompanied by a "swarm" of smaller asteroids that are hitting the planet causing earthquakes, tidal waves and huge destruction. The main asteroid designated, Shiva, is discovered eleven months before its projected impact.

How does the earth's populace prepare for this devastating event? On balance, not well at all. NASA and the military are the only heroes, our government gets a grade C, organized religion rates a D, and the general population flunks. Pandemonium, lawlessness, strange sects and anarchy reign. As Shiva nears Earth's orbit, the level of civilization declines drastically. The only hope for humanity is if the massive asteroid can be deflected away from earth. Enter NASA and the astronauts carrying a bomb load that would make Anola Gay look like a peashooter.

More than a nodding acquaintance with astronomy and physics would add to the enjoyment of this book. The technical passages are many and sometimes too long. The male characters are well delineated, surprisingly so for this type of book. The anti-hero, Carl Jagen, is particularly complex; he creates tension whenever he appears. The females, with the exception of the clear-eyed astronaut, are pliant, ...... ravenous, and servile. The story contains a few dead spots, but provides a rousing, spot-on finale when the astronauts do battle with Shiva in space. After barely retaining my interest in the opening passages, I was riveted by the last third of the story. Grade B-

Rating:
Summary: Flying Mountain
Review: "Shiva Descending" is the genesis of movies, "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon" --- a huge, mountain-sized asteroid is going to enter the earth's orbit and destroy the planet. The big-daddy asteroid is accompanied by a "swarm" of smaller asteroids that are hitting the planet causing earthquakes, tidal waves and huge destruction. The main asteroid designated, Shiva, is discovered eleven months before its projected impact.

How does the earth's populace prepare for this devastating event? On balance, not well at all. NASA and the military are the only heroes, our government gets a grade C, organized religion rates a D, and the general population flunks. Pandemonium, lawlessness, strange sects and anarchy reign. As Shiva nears Earth's orbit, the level of civilization declines drastically. The only hope for humanity is if the massive asteroid can be deflected away from earth. Enter NASA and the astronauts carrying a bomb load that would make Anola Gay look like a peashooter.

More than a nodding acquaintance with astronomy and physics would add to the enjoyment of this book. The technical passages are many and sometimes too long. The male characters are well delineated, surprisingly so for this type of book. The anti-hero, Carl Jagen, is particularly complex; he creates tension whenever he appears. The females, with the exception of the clear-eyed astronaut, are pliant, ...... ravenous, and servile. The story contains a few dead spots, but provides a rousing, spot-on finale when the astronauts do battle with Shiva in space. After barely retaining my interest in the opening passages, I was riveted by the last third of the story. Grade B-

Rating:
Summary: I think the movie "Armageddon" takes ideas from this book.
Review: "Armageddon" is very good. However, if you had read this book first and watched the movie second, you will be never satisfied, because the movie got a little cheaper. The results of the movie is too optimistic. They must underestimate the danger by asteroids. You can find the detailed real in this excellent book. If the movie had been made faithfully in the basic line of this book...!

Rating:
Summary: I think the movie "Armageddon" takes ideas from this book.
Review: "Armageddon" is very good. However, if you had read this book first and watched the movie second, you will be never satisfied, because the movie got a little cheaper. The results of the movie is too optimistic. They must underestimate the danger by asteroids. You can find the detailed real in this excellent book. If the movie had been made faithfully in the basic line of this book...!

Rating:
Summary: A good book about the coming of the end
Review: "Shiva Descending" by Grergory Benford & William Rosler is the classic story of an asteriod hitting the earth. On one side, you have NASA with the help space agencies from around the world trying to stop Shiva. On the other side, the effect of the coming doom have sent the avarage person over the edge.
This book was pretty good, but the book was dated and it seem slow in places. Another problem I had that the reader didn't really have a time frame for the book and at time that really bug me. A fan of the "End of the world" genre will enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat uneven, but it certainly has it's moments
Review: 3 and 1/2 stars actually. "Shiva Descending" gets high marks as a book far ahead of its time as far as meteoric "space disasters" are concerned. Written long before the topic became vogue, Benford and Rotsler do a creditable job describing what life would be like if Earth was threatened by an impending disaster of global proportions.

Unfortunately, it takes the authors too long to get to the "good stuff" and that's the main downfall of this novel, IMHO. The selection of the astronauts assigned to save the world is interesting enough. And so are the frequent depictions of the smaller meteor strikes in advance of the main astral body known as "Shiva". Benford and Rotsler's view of worldwide paranoia, religious zeal, and sexual depravity in reaction to this pending catastrophic event is disturbing at best. But... probably not too far from the truth if a disaster of this proportion ever threatens the earth.

This story becomes more uneven as the authors try and describe how world governments would react during a situation like this. Would world leaders be shallow enough to take their own lives instead of attempting to save their countrymen? Would a US President turn to debauchery and apathy instead of trying to be a leader? (The analogy of a banjo-playing President and Nero, his violin, and a burning Rome definitely came to my mind as the asteroid got closer to Earth.)

The other main complaint that I have is that there are so many characters introduced in this novel, that the authors can't really do justice to character development. In particular, I would have really liked to have seen Brother Gabriel's character developed a little more.

As an earlier reviewer pointed out, the last third of the book is riveting. You'll be on the edge of your seat as the book takes a few twists and turns before arriving at it's (expected) ending. It should be noted that this book is often given credit for spawning movies like "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact". It should also be noted that like most books, the novel is superior to the film version(s).

Should you read this book? Yes. It is well-researched and imaginative. Is it one of the best of the Apocalyptic genre' books? No. I would recommend instead ... "Rift" by Walter Williams, "The New Madrid Run" by Michael Reisig, or "Earth Abides" by George Stewart.

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat uneven, but it certainly has it's moments
Review: 3 and 1/2 stars actually. "Shiva Descending" gets high marks as a book far ahead of its time as far as meteoric "space disasters" are concerned. Written long before the topic became vogue, Benford and Rotsler do a creditable job describing what life would be like if Earth was threatened by an impending disaster of global proportions.

Unfortunately, it takes the authors too long to get to the "good stuff" and that's the main downfall of this novel, IMHO. The selection of the astronauts assigned to save the world is interesting enough. And so are the frequent depictions of the smaller meteor strikes in advance of the main astral body known as "Shiva". Benford and Rotsler's view of worldwide paranoia, religious zeal, and sexual depravity in reaction to this pending catastrophic event is disturbing at best. But... probably not too far from the truth if a disaster of this proportion ever threatens the earth.

This story becomes more uneven as the authors try and describe how world governments would react during a situation like this. Would world leaders be shallow enough to take their own lives instead of attempting to save their countrymen? Would a US President turn to debauchery and apathy instead of trying to be a leader? (The analogy of a banjo-playing President and Nero, his violin, and a burning Rome definitely came to my mind as the asteroid got closer to Earth.)

The other main complaint that I have is that there are so many characters introduced in this novel, that the authors can't really do justice to character development. In particular, I would have really liked to have seen Brother Gabriel's character developed a little more.

As an earlier reviewer pointed out, the last third of the book is riveting. You'll be on the edge of your seat as the book takes a few twists and turns before arriving at it's (expected) ending. It should be noted that this book is often given credit for spawning movies like "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact". It should also be noted that like most books, the novel is superior to the film version(s).

Should you read this book? Yes. It is well-researched and imaginative. Is it one of the best of the Apocalyptic genre' books? No. I would recommend instead ... "Rift" by Walter Williams, "The New Madrid Run" by Michael Reisig, or "Earth Abides" by George Stewart.

Rating:
Summary: GOOD if you like "rocks" hitting the Earth (and Hard SF too)
Review: Beetween "Lucifer's Hammer" and "The Hammer of God", Benford's is better. You have to read it to the end, to see what happens. For a pre-Alvarez paradigm novel, the science is good. If you like the asteroid or comet hitting Earth stories, this is a good pick.

Rating:
Summary: SHIVA saw Armageddon coming...
Review: Reading reader comments on this novel, written about 20 years ago, is both amusing and sad. Sobering indeed, that Bill Rotsler died last year without seeing the two films so clearly made from the ideas we introduced in 1980 -- DEEP IMPACT & ARMAGEDDON. Sad that he got no recognition or income from these $100 million flicks, which brushed aside all our attempts to even get them to option the novel! -- at a time Bill desperately needed the money to treat his heart condition and cancer. I found the movies' technical boners amusing, for they could have been easily fixed if they had hired someone who knew the tensions between drama and scientific truth. This is a major problem in bringing sf to the screen, and I fear will give us a film genre with increasing contempt for simple facts, wedded to the jokey farces like MEN IN BLACK & INDEPENDENCE DAY, who see sf as a grab bag to raid for quick ideas and special effects. At least the novels that "inspired" (polite term) the films, SHIVA & LUCIFER'S HAMMER & HAMMER OF GOD, remain in print, able to present views plausible at the time of writing. The issue of long term defense of the biosphere remains, long after these movies will be forgotten.

Gregory Benford