Anvil of Stars

A Sequel to The Forge of God

By: Greg Bear

Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies

Length: 20 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

The Forge of God described the destruction of Earth itself by self-replicating robots, Von Neumann machines designed to use the planet's mass to create more robotic creatures and spread throughout the Galaxy. Only a few humans have survived, aided by a mysterious alien race known only as “The Benefactors”, who arrived at Earth too late.

Now the small group of human survivors is determined to track down the criminal race who launched the planet killers. Humanity is given a starship by The Benefactors, and driven only by revenge they set out to find the unknown beings who are responsible for the destruction of Earth, and many other worlds.

©1992 Greg Bear (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Especially creative and fantastic

Would you listen to Anvil of Stars again? Why?

Awesome ideas, great tension, great characters

Who was your favorite character and why?

All of them. Except Rosa, she is to hate and that has to be that way.

What does Stephen Bel Davies bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

It's a very very good performance. He is very pleasant to listen to and he gave the story a lot of additonal character. in a good way.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Those aliens they encounter, they are just so awesome all the time! and the performance makes them even better

always a great story from mr bear.

Always detailed characters you can love and hate against a rich background of altiverse. fantastic book

a little slow getting started and never picks up

I was hoping that this novel would be more like slant where a slow start builds to an interesting and more dramatic finish however the story meanders and I found the characters less engaging than the ones from Queen of Angels, slant, or blood music. It was interesting to see what happened with the crew after the destruction of Earth, but it felt like Michael Moore did the sequel to a Roland Emmerich movie.

Extraordinary

Best novel Bear has ever penned, possibly the best scifi I've ever read. Brilliant. Breathtaking.

Long winded, but worth it

Very long and winding story. Very different than Forge of God. If I didn't know better, I'd think this was written by a different author. Took me several months to get through, because finding my place again was difficult each time, do to very long chapters. Great dialogue and character development. Hard to track at times. Conclusion well worth the wait. 👍

Great story, but the underage sex is VERY akward

Any additional comments?

Loved the first book int he series. Same reader, he does a stellar job in this one too. But holy cow, the steady stream of sex between the underaged characters is super akward and uncomfortable, not to mention totally not needed. I felt myself cringing listening to the description of a couple 15 year olds getting busy.

Still as good as I remember it

I originally read this story back when it came out and I was just a teenager and now when I listen to it again 25 years later I think I enjoyed it even more.

I also have to give credit where credit is due. When I listened to Forge of God I did not care for Stephen Bel Davies performance at all. I thought it was bland and a struggle not to put me to sleep. But, in this book he was so much better. I almost could not believe he was the same narrator. He did an excellent job of giving the characters life, and especially with all of the strange alien voices.

Good

This story left me with much pause for thought. It is great story . I would recommend it as an important Science Fiction work.

Not sure what to say

I loved forge of God so was excited to read this one. somehow though this book just seemed off to me, it was OK but left a lot to be desired and has filled me with questions. Also I'm over reading about women's breasts so much.

Confusing at first but worth it.

The book was a struggle to start with. At times it did not seem like a sequel at all. The story did make it worth finishing. over all it was a good listen.