SOJALS rating:

Good (3/5)

I first read this in 1980 and most recently on the 4th August 2006

This is the first of six novels in the critically-acclaimed Galactic Center series.

Early 21st century Earth is in the path of asteroid Icarus! Our hero, Astronaut Nigel Walmsley is sent to intercept the asteroid, plant a nuclear weapon and destroy obliterate the offending asteroid. However once he discovers evidence of alien technology and realizes the rock contains the remains of an alien spacecraft, he refuses to destroy it, incurring the wrath of Earth-based bosses.

Years later Walmsley and the folks at the Jet Propulsion Lab make contact with the Snark, an alien interstellar probe, forerunner to the machine intelligences bent on destroying biological life and the epic story carries on from there.

I love the perceptivity of his writing and the mood that pervades it, and I wish I could write like this. Having said that, I don't particularly like his novels. They always feel a little drab to me, I want to open the window, shake them up and let the breeze and the afternoon sun give them a little sparkle.