| Malachi Constant is a selfish billionaire until he meets Winston Miles Rumfoord. Rumfoord ran his space ship into a phenomenon that turned him into a timeless wave,
materializing regularly at different points in the solar system. He is being manipulated by a robot society on a distant planet to deliver a spare part to their messenger, Salo, on Titan. Rumfoord does some manipulating himself. He tells Constant that he will have a child with his (Rumfoord's) wife, Beatrice. Malachi doesn't like Mrs.Rumfoord and doesn't want to leave earth. In attempting to escape his fate, he loses his fortume. Moneyless, he is easy to recruit for the army of Mars being assembled by Rumfoord who, unknowingly, is doing it for the robot society. Beatrice is tricked into going to Mars with Constant. Their son Chrono is conceived on the trip. After going to Mars, Constant is sent to Mercury and then back to earth where he is reunited with Beatrice and 11-year-old Chrono who has a "good luck piece" from Mars that turns out to be the spare part for Salo. Rumfoord (during a materialization) sends all three to Titan. There, Rumfoord is spun off to somewhere else in the universe, Chrono joins a bird society, and Constant and Beatrice grow old together, falling in love at last. When Beatrice dies Salo flies Constant to earth, landing in a snow storm. Constant dies waiting for a bus. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book - cynical or dry-wit FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story Time Travel: - into past and future equally Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Time Travel story? Yes Descript. of chases or violence - 10 % planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 50 % Main Character Identity: - Male Profession/status: Age: - long lived adults Main Adversary Identity: - society Age: - long-lived adults Profession/status: How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Genius (really!) Setting Terrain Not Earth, in Solar System? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - explicit references to deaths scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation Sex in book? Yes How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog |
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