Book details
  • Gateway See large image

    Gateway (S.F. MASTERWORKS) (Paperback) By (author) Frederik Pohl

    04

    Free worldwide delivery

    Currently unavailable

    We can notify you when this item is back in stock and you don't have to register

    | Add to wishlist

    OR try AbeBooks who may have this title (opens in new window).

    Try AbeBooks
    Also available in...
    Paperback $12.69

    Short Description for GatewayOne of the very best must-read SF novels of all time.
    Full description

Other books

Other people who viewed this bought | Other books in this series | Other books in this category
Showing items 1 to 10 of 10

 

Full description | Reviews | Bibliographic data
Showing 1 to 1 of 1 results

Reviews for Gateway

Write a review

  • Russian roulette in space!4

    Josip Malenica Considering all the pedigree this book comes with (at its time the winner of Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award and John W. Campbell Award - all for Best Novel) and the fact that it's considered one of Pohl' best books I must say that I was left a bit disappointed.

    While I loved the fact that space travel was turned into a game of Russian roulette where you either strike a gold mine or die (there's also a possibility you are left empty handed but it seems that everybody prefers the first two scenarios to this one), I thought the characters were slightly bland and underdeveloped (besides the main character that is).

    I also minded the fact that the best parts of the book are also the shortest. Main character Rob has sessions with a computer shrink he nicknamed Sigfrid and those pages are pure fun to read. They're also very insightful and provide Rob's character a lot of growth. The novel doesn't get better than that. But the book takes a zig-zag route with its chapters. You get one chapter (at best 5 or 6 pages long) of psychiatric session and then a chapter (about 20 pages long) that's set a little earlier in the timeline, while Rob was trying to score some money being deployed on space missions on Gateway. Gateway is an ingenious way to set space travel setting in a matter of pages. A reader doesn't need to know much, because nobody really knows much about Gateway or Heechee, the alien race that made it and went missing for some reason. It's millions of years old, it has thousands of ships that still work. But how they work is anyone's guess. They just know how to enter a course, but they don't know where the ship will end up.

    I actually think that the whole aspect of Gateway space travel is barely used. Instead of making great buildups and anticipation of where the ships might takes us next the wonders of space are unfortunately set aside. It doesn't take long to realize that Rob's psyche is the first and foremost thing Pohl wanted to explore. But I think that he set up as great backdrop and it's a shame he didn't use it more. There are some great things Pohl ponders about here. The already mentioned psychiatric sessions chapter were enough for exploration of Rob's psyche, so it wouldn't be bad if the Gateway chapters were used to develop/concentrate on other characters and space travels slightly more.

    Before reading this book I actually wasn't aware that Pohl made a continuation of Gateway story. I don't know if that's what he had in mind while writing Gateway, but to me the book definitely feels like it's missing some parts. Maybe he felt like that too and was compelled to write more later. Whatever the reason I will gladly read the rest of the books though, I'm intrigued enough! by Josip Malenica

Write a review
Showing 1 to 1 of 1 results