Sheffield, Charles

• The Web Between the Worlds (6)

  • The big idea behind this novel involves an engineer's project to create a "skyhook" extending from the surface of the Earth to a Lagrangian point. Basically, it is a very strong cable that can transport material into Earth orbit much more cheaply than a rocket, but the actual set-up is quite dangerous (for the Earth) since so much mass is involved. There's an interesting subplot involving an intelligent squid, but not much is ever made of it, sadly. The other subplots I found to be more distracting than interesting, so the book overall was hit and miss for me. A bit above average, but I came into it with somewhat higher expectations based on the interesting driving idea.

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