Robert L Forward's Dragon's Egg has a single feature to recommend it: it is a thoroughly hard science fiction novel with a very, very cool central idea. That central idea concerns the development of life on a neutron star, where gravity is so intense that subatomic particles mush together rather than repel. Naturally, the denizens of this neutron star, lovingly dubbed "cheela," look a little different from humans: they are only a few centimeters tall, and spread flat rather than up; their whole lives are essentally lived on a two-dimensional plane; and because of the warping effects of gravity, a century for them (subjectively speaking) is only a few scant minutes of our own time. Nevertheless, Forward's book culminates in contact between these two very different species, despite the enormous difference between them, as two storylines converge: one storyline concerning humanity's attempts to reach the neutron star (which is passing through our solar system) and study it, and another storyline concerning the cheela's development from neutron-star savages to hyper-advanced beings.

Those with more interest in this idea should flip to the back of Dragon's Egg, where Forward has helpfully included a (fictional) technical appendix that gives some of the science behind his idea. And with that, stop, because the rest of the novel is simply atrocious. Whatever Forward's technical talents, his writing ability is severely limited. Everything about the book--from the plot, to the writing style, to the characters, to the dialogue--sounds as though it were churned through the pen of a first-time high school fiction writer. And, unlike in other books, the cool ideas do not keep coming in; the sole cool idea of the book is given away very close to the beginning, and the rest of the book is concerned solely with the very dull history of the cheela, and the equally dull chronicle of mankind's journey to the neutron star.

It's too bad that such an exciting idea has to be presented in such a boring book.

Copyright © 2003 Steven Wu