I did like the first two Giants novels. Hogan's writing could be somewhat clunky and a bit dry in scientific detail, but the imagination and play with scientific ideas are often first rate. I found that redeeming in the first two novels. I was majorly annoyed in the third novel though when the conspiracy angle came up. That probably didn't leave me in a very forgiving mood going into this fourth novel, written over a decade after the first three. It just got way too eye-rolling ridiculous for me when Velikovsky's name came up on Page 30, and even though I persisted beyond that by page 100 I was wondering why I kept trying with all those lovely books out there unread. I'd still recommend Hogan's Voyage to Yesteryear and Code of the Lifemaker, and maybe Realtime Interrupt, though I can't imagine wanting to reread the last. But unless you're a completest, I'd skip this one. ( )

Story starts out rather slow and is hard to connect to the original trilogy from which this is based. Also, there is a lot of pompous and dated social ideas thrown in as well that are obviously world views from an 80's time-frame. In addition, there is a lot of unnecessary sexual references tossed in to excite the 80's teenage male libido that has no real bearing on the story. However, for all of its flaws, the second half of the story makes up for the teeth gnashing. I especially liked the ideas put forth for the creation of a universe based on the quanta of data instead of energy like our universe. If you can make it through the childish 80's mentallity, the book is worth the read. ( )