Reviews

One of the best-loved authors in SF, Simak has built an appealing private universe with his rural settings and Midwestern ethos. His new novel once again questions material progress that scants moral values. A family of refugees flees into the past to escape the Infinites, aliens who are seducing Earth people away from their apathetic utopia and toward a transformation to an immortal but incorporeal state. Two contemporary Americansa reporter and a secret agent who have enhanced abilitiesare swept up in the chase through time and space. They encounter diverse challenges, from confronting killer robots and sabertooth tigers to dealing with aliens and finally trying to understand the place of humanity in a complicated, populous galaxy. The pleasing adventure itself brings up many questions that are never explained, but it is an enjoyable ride, not the least for its strong evocation of the surviving natural world, as humans learn to converse with wolves and consider these as the probable successors to man on this Earth. (June 2)