Eternity’s End by Jeffrey Carver

Eleven people attended this meeting at the home of Jeff Hurst and Judy Strange. Our topic of discussion was Eternity’s End, a futuristic space opera by Jeffrey Carver. The book tells the story of Renwald Legroeder, a star rigger whose ship is captured by space pirates. The crew is forced into slavery, but Legroeder eventually escapes. When he returns to his home planet, he discovers that he has been accused of collaborating with the space pirates. To clear his name, Legroeder must lead a daring mission to infiltrate a space pirate base. Eight people at the meeting had started the book, and six had finished it.

Several of us thought this book was a tremendous amount of fun. We enjoyed reading a fast-paced SF adventure novel. It follows an old-fashioned tradition established by Doc Smith and Jack Williamson, but with a more modern writing style and more three-dimensional characters. The plot was a suspenseful and fun ride, and we found the pace picked up throughout the whole book. The book offers some interesting speculation about the future of the Internet. We enjoyed the concept of “flux” (a means of traveling faster than light speed), and several of us thought the scenes of flux travel were reminiscent of the dimension hopping in Zelazny’s Amber novels. We liked the Legroeder character and enjoyed reading about his daring escapes and romances. One person who’d read prior Carver novels appreciated the appearance of major characters from Star Rigger’s Way as supporting characters in this book.

A few in the group felt that Eternity’s End was just not their type of book. One person complained about too many characters, locations, and plot threads. Another wanted more background on Legroeder’s character. The length of book intimidated some folks, prompting one person to read the book in hardback because it had fewer pages than the paperback edition.

While we had mixed feelings about Eternity’s End, most people who liked the book enjoyed it a great deal. After the meeting, we had an unimpressive dinner at Thomas Super Buffet.

— A. T. Campbell, III