A Hunger for the Infinite

A Galactic Center Story

By: Gregory Benford

Narrated by: Robin Sachs

Length: 1 hr and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

A Hunger for the Infinite, which first appeared in Robert Silverberg's Far Horizons anthology, is a novella that takes place in the universe of "The Galactic Center Saga", detailing a galactic war between mechanical and biological life. Here, the pilots had made it to True Center in order to destroy something, anything, important to the Mechs, but Paris had something else on his mind. A story of the Mantis, and the decline of humans beginning in 3600 AD.

©1999 Gregory Benford (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Good, textured buildup, but a slightly pale ending

Do you have any additional comments?

The story builds very well in discussion of art and human life. The Mechs were very frightening and viscerally abhorrent, which made their talk of art and well… not beauty, but experience… very interesting. The very end resolution stuck me as a little flat and pedantic, though. Still, solid story and lots of lovely, lurid detail!

Don't get this if you have a weak stomach.

Would you try another book from Gregory Benford and/or Robin Sachs?

Maybe, depending on the content.

Would you ever listen to anything by Gregory Benford again?

Maybe, depending on the content.

Would you be willing to try another one of Robin Sachs’s performances?

Sure, the narration was fine.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disgust. Though the story intrigued me, it was much too gory for me to handle.

Short, and mediocre.

It's short, and not all that impressive. I think I might have gotten it for free, but I don't remember. Anyhow I was not impressed.

Not for entertainment

Would you try another book from Gregory Benford and/or Robin Sachs?

Unlikely, but authors often write better books as they develop skills, and accomplished writers often try something new with poor results. I would not assume that Gregory Benford work is all like this.

What could Gregory Benford have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Maybe start with a plot. More real color, and definitely character development would help.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator was excellant.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Not unless the advertisements for the movie were deceptive, and I probably would not stay for the ending.

Any additional comments?

I could argue this book should get 5 stars. I could argue it deserves none. I give it 3 as result of the indecision. Most books contain some philosophy, the author bombarding the reader with his or her self-described wisdom about the life experience. This book contains abundance. It is not what I would call science fiction. Artistic fiction, maybe, an hour and a half of vivid descriptive language involving long sentence with seldom used words, but there is no science in there anywhere. No description of the space ships; no explanation how they work, no flow of time, only a lot of gore with no suporting science as to how it was created. Some readers may like that. It’s not for me.

At a writer’s conference a few years ago, the speaker explained that there was a basic format for all “good” stories. Three acts, character development, plot, setting, tension, resolution, dark moments; Gregory Benford was obviously not at that conference. The speaker further explained that some artistic authors purposely deviated from the tried and true methodologies. This book is an example of severe deviation. The speaker said there was a name for these writers. Homeless is the word she used.

If you read for a better understand your inner psychology, you may find value here, and I have to say, it was worth every penny I paid for it.

Disjointed

I suppose if you are familiar with the characters, this story might make a bit more sense. Not having any idea of what it was about or knowing the characters left me feeling like I was having flashbacks to things that never happened to me. There was no sense of reality and I struggled to even begin to understand what was going on. The story itself felt stilted and disjointed as if the author were only using the setting and characters to expound on philosophical ideas that interested him more than his own creation. I'm afraid this left me not caring enough about the characters to want to continue reading more about them. The only reason I finished this one was because it was so short. I won't be continuing with the series.

Narrator: Robin Sachs did an excellent job with what he had to work with.

Intellectual Big Ideas

Do you think A Hunger for the Infinite needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

This is a set-up for a long series, so yes.

Any additional comments?

With Benford's Galactic Center series you are getting big, really big, ideas and not much character development, particularly in a shorter story like this. This is more of a sample to see if you really want universe spanning ideas that can seem cold, bleak and distant. Ultimately the series gets down to the fate of the universe and there is nothing warm and fuzzy about that but some intellectual speculation and mind-blowing ideas.

Didn't click

I guess sometimes you get what you paid for, and since I got this for free I can't complain too much.

This novella and I just didn't click. Maybe I have gotten used to different styles of writing and different types of perspectives but much as I tried to I couldn't get involved in this book. Written in the more classic SF style and dealing with more of the strange (yeah, the main character was human, but far removed from present day humanity) I felt like I was tossed into the middle of something that I didn't have the background on.

Overall not a complete waste of time, but the odds of me ever reading/listening to this again are asymptotic to zero...

Employ your active listening skills for this one..

Benford is taking us 'outside the box' in this short story.

Now a few of his stories are in my huge Wish List.

It is not just the future, or wars, or offworlders a little like us. The tech stuff is there and humanity out there exploring and yes, warring. Is death really the worst that could happen?
Then surviving in the 'worse than death' experience what else could happen?

I expect Star Treck fans could enjoy this for the ideas expressed and like me add a few of Gregory Benford's books to their Library to savour slowly.
Thank You Audible.

Good for a listen, not a good starting point

What did you love best about A Hunger for the Infinite?

The story was quite good and as a stand alone story, it was well written.

What does Robin Sachs bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Although he does a wonderful job as a reader, the voices he does sometimes get confused as there were several voices that sounded the same.

Any additional comments?

However, since this is not a standalone book, it would not make since for the average reader/listener to start here as they would not get the background needed to understand the bulk of the references.

More horrific then a finger in a blender...

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

A freaking sadistic monster.. of sorts..

What was most disappointing about Gregory Benford’s story?

You know those thoughts you wish you could never, ever have. Guess what ?

Which scene was your favorite?

Never came up, unless it was a breath between the absolute senseless gore.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from A Hunger for the Infinite?

Frankly, I really believe the writer needs some serious cute and fuzzy kitten time. But kill it first, before he does !

Any additional comments?

Some where, someone, is crying over something horrible in their life. I think the author suspects, it's himself......