SOJALS rating:

Awful (1/5)

I first read this in 1995 and most recently on the 20th April 2013

Robert Singh is captain of the spaceship Goliath. He, his crew and his craft, have two-hundred and forty-one days, thirteen hours and five minutes to save the Earth from the devastating hammer blow of an impact asteroid.

Can he do it?

Do I care?

The plot of course should be gripping. It surely would be a disaster if a massive asteroid should hit the Earth. However, this book reads like notes for a larger novel and it lacks vitality and emotional warmth. Even the finely drawn character of Robert Singh leaves me uninterested. I've had this book for years but this is only my second reading and I almost gave up, too demotivated to keep on turning the pages.

Not a patch on "Imperial Earth" or, of course, any of his other classics.