Bowl of Heaven

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No, you don’t have to buy the ebook to participate, but we do recommend it to get the most out of your club. There are several premium social reading features that are only available when you buy the ebook, like annotations, reactions, comment threads, resources, discussion prompts, and more, all embedded right in the text. It’s a unique and immersive way to read.

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The first step is to download the Fable app. From there, you’ll be able to create your own private or public book club and invite others to read with you. Once your club is created, click on the plus sign under “Currently reading” and search for this book to add it to your club.

By Gregory Benford & Larry Niven

Publisher Description

SF masters Gregory Benford and Larry Niven spin a tale of alien encounters and strange technologies on an epic scale

In Bowl of Heaven, the first collaboration by science fiction authors Larry Niven (Ringworld) and Gregory Benford (Timescape), the limits of wonder are redrawn once again as a human expedition to another star system is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense artifact in interstellar space: a bowl-shaped structure half-englobing a star, with a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths…and it's on a direct path heading for the same system as the human ship.

A landing party is sent to investigate the Bowl, but when the explorers are separated—one group captured by the gigantic structure's alien inhabitants, the other pursued across its strange and dangerous landscape—the mystery of the Bowl's origins and purpose propel the human voyagers toward discoveries that will transform their understanding of their place in the universe.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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22 Reviews

2.5

Fladingjosephj

Created 6 months ago

“It seems like the contributions from both authors may have led to a disjointed direction for the book. I was initially drawn to the book by an excerpt about the scale of the “bowl” compared to the human’s vessel, but this was never really explored in a satisfying way. The prose is a bit weak and oscillates between moments of vivid description and rushed exposition, contributing to a moderately frustrating reading experience. For what it’s worth, I felt compelled to see where the narrative went and I would consider picking up the rest of the series in the future, but this just doesn’t stack up with other series I’ve read and loved like Cixin Liu’s Three Body Problem series or the Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time series. I wanted to like this more than I did, but I ultimately did not really connect with any of these characters.”

Limited character growth Unsatisfying conclusion Atmospheric Bleak Expansive Futuristic Otherworldly Setting fits the story Unique location Clear but uninspired

Jaz

Created over 1 year ago

Elie Huez

Created about 2 years ago

Haylee Burke

Created over 2 years ago

“DNF at 73%. I tried to stick it out and finish, but I could not force myself to care about how this book ended and wanted to move on to read more exciting things. I found myself getting very confused about what was going on during the alien chapters.”

HAMISH CLARKE

Created over 3 years ago

About Gregory Benford

GREGORY BENFORD is professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine, and lives in Irvine. Benford is a winner of the United Nations Medal for Literature, and the Nebula Award for his classic novel Timescape.

LARRY NIVEN is the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of the Ringworld series, along with many other science fiction masterpieces. His Beowulf's Children, coauthored with Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes, was a New York Times bestseller. He lives in Chatsworth, California.