review:
Overall, I think I was intrigued with the plot of galactic scale alien civilisation finally come to the fore; but it was marred by the constant focus back on human stuff that felt tedious and just ended up breaking the flow. There are some prescient imaginative moments, such as when the person dies and their consciousness is uploaded to a machine - what is their legal status? But it never gets further. Or how data is being stored and transferred - considering this is an old book now. Most of the times, I couldn't wait for the human squabbling to get over and the actual Heechee plot to move further. But the book just prolongs it so much that nothing much really happens between the first and last chapters. Disappointing. Also the way the aliens were described was so anthromorphic and boring that it takes away all the allure of having them as these imaginitive beings in the first two books - which were quite interesting to go through. The story was left at a cliffhanger. I don't think I will go and read Book 4. Stories rarely take a turn for the better for these kind of series.,