Greg Bear

Greg Bear is indeed a very good story teller, and he knows how to create complicated plots and to manage suspense as well as depicting superb panoramic scenes.










Eon

Front cover Legend Books edition 1985 

For me, this novel is a pure marvel; I did read it several times and found no mistake, no weakness in it. Greg Bear is really very good at describing huge vistas and grand projects, giving sufficient details of the context to render a realistic scene without falling into torrents of technical data, like some of his colleagues. I found the first chapters really remarkable, and the point made at the end of the fourth – I don’t want to unveil it here – surprised me. I found this dramatic spot very well brought. The political events are realistically rendered in their complexity, even now that the Berlin Wall has been dismantled and the Cold War is past. The different characters, either the people of the near-future of the novel or those from the far future, are well depicted and have consistency enough.




I couldn't find the name of the illustrator of the cover opposite

Cover of the 1988 Popular Library edition 
by Ron Miller

Eternity


The sequel to Eon was not as impressive for me, since in my opinion it lacks the spirit of the first novel. Greg Bear did a thorough job of describing in details a civilization based on Ancient Egypt, but I found the history of Patricia Vasquez and her descendant not completely convincing. Yet there are some pieces of bravura; for instance the struggle between Ser Olmy and his Jart host that is very well rendered and adds good elements of suspense.












The Forge of God

Cover of the 1988 Tom Doherty edition 
by Alan Gutierrez

Impressive novel, which deals with no less than the total destruction of earth depicted step by step with minute accuracy. I read it several times and found no flaw in it; what impressed me were also the very convincing emotions felt by the different figures. As the good storyteller he is, Greg Bear let us follow the pains and sorrows of a few main characters evolving in front of the scene while the planet insensibly goes toward its death throes.

Anvil of Stars

Cover illustration of the 1992 Warner Book edition 
by Donald Puckey

In this sequel to The Forge of God, a group of children of earth’s survivors named The Children of Earth wanders in the immensity of interstellar space in order to avenge the death of their planet. But instead of giving lengthy descriptions of their surroundings or the regions of the galaxy they are crossing, Greg Bear focuses upon the community of the young adults confined into the starship and the evolution of their moods. Here also, as in the Eon series, I found the quality of the sequel a bit lower than the first novel: less action, some lengths in the course of the story.

But on the whole, this novel remains a very good piece of work, much entertaining.