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.

letdown

Compared with the rest of the books in the galactic center series, this was a huge disappointment.

Complex and Thought-provoking

Where does A Hunger for the Infinite rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Way above my expectations. It centers around a concrete thought-provoking question: What is the meaning of being human? Great stuff. Well worth the listen.

10 lbs of great sci-fi in a 5 lb bag!

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

The author's ability to cram so much vitality into the main character's live while fully exploring the environment in such vivid detail and quenching the thirsts for those of us with the need for scientific knowledge (theoretical and non-theoretical alike). And the way he was able to interject the feelings of the defeated and enslaved throughout the whole novella and battle was a wonderful insight.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The Main character, regardless of name, could be any one of us or at least what one would strive to be...

Which character – as performed by Robin Sachs – was your favorite?

"Mantis". To be a machine yet wanting to understand, albeit morbidly, the human condition, was very well translated by Robin.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

The human ability to adapt cannot be defeated

Any additional comments?

Only complaint is that it was too short. At least it was developed into series which I will definitely include in my future collections. It is definitely worth the small change to purchase and far exceeds the ratio of enjoyment vs. cost.

Definitely worth downloading

This free 1 ½ hour novella will allow you to decide if the Galactic Center Series is worth perusing.

Personally I will not be getting any more books in this series but this is a case where you shouldn’t be relying on reviews.

Go ahead and download it. If you do not like it you are out no money and only a little time.
However
If you do like it you not only received a free novella, you now know of a series of six books that are probably your cup of tea.

Poet

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

This is a poet trying to make a living writing and selling SF to SF fans-----Fo Get About It. This thing was terrable and it was free. Don't waste your time.

A Hunger for More Gregory Benford

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

This is an excellent story, especially for those who like a lot of hard science in their science fiction. This novella has it all: vibrant characters, very-alien intelligent machines, spaceships and wormholes...all wrapped up in a fast-paced, good guy-bad guy action extravaganza. The story takes place in a far future where "enhanced" humans living near the Galactic Center spend their lives pursued by relentless machine entities (most notably the Mantis, whom you won't soon forget). Benford has done a great job of world-building here; and he paints his fabulous, colorful 3D universe with a truly spell-binding--almost poetic--narrative flourish.

Who was your favorite character and why?

This would have to be a tie between the main protaganist Paris, a human who takes advantage of his "special" abilities to become the leader of his clan and a formidable foe to...my other favorite character, the aforementioned Mantis. Here Benford has created a very memorable super-advanced killing machine whose personaility somehow resembles Hannibal Lector: eerily cold and patently evil, with a few seriously twisted tendencies...

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

He reads the Mantis part well--soft-spoken, but very creepy, evil character. You can't get that by reading it yourself. Sachs also does a superb job with Benford's incredible narratives describing the Galactic Center: that material alone is worth the price of admission.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Man vs. Machine in a distant future, where survival depends on far more than instinct...

Any additional comments?

Although I read Gregory Benford's entire Galactic Center series back when it was first written, I never knew of this novella. After hearing the story, I'm absolutely going to be purchasing each of those six novels in the series, now that they've all been recently released on audio.

Too much philosophising, not enough story

While I certainly can appreciate a fair amount of philosophical introspection in a book, Benford leaps straight to it in this book, and never seems to let up. A half hour in, I felt no connection to any of the characters and no desire to keep listening. I've left it unfinished, and am unlikely to try another of Benford's books. If this book was given out free to draw readers into the series, it's completely failed to do that with me.

I feel sorry for the narrator, shackled to such dry wittering.

Excellent

This novel is an instant classic. I found the development of the artificial intelligence alien species fascinating.

Haunting

I never thought I could be so creeped out by robots. The antagonists of this futuristic sci-fi novella are called "Mechs." They see humans as vermin, and the author luridly describes some of the tortures they inflict upon the human race. Even more disturbing than the grotesque and perverse artworks created by the Mantis, a mech that is trying to understand humanity (literally from the inside out), is the voice that the narrator gives to the character. It is calm and polite, almost soothing, as it talks of "harvesting" humans. Eeek!

I thought this novella was great. The language is definitely poetic and sometimes slightly vague, alluding to things that are left unsaid. The mood is cold and dark, but also witty and elegant. There were moments of extreme beauty and elation, but also chilly fear.

This novella is not warm, and its not really friendly. It explores some frightening and complex themes. If you need obvious story telling with copious amounts of dialogue, you will probably not enjoy this story. I loved it. The narrator is excellent. I will be purchasing all available books from this author.

A narrative, but not a story

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

I cannot think of anyone.

Would you ever listen to anything by Gregory Benford again?

No

Which scene was your favorite?

Some were tolerable, none were favorites.

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

I am sorry I wasted my time on this. To be fair, I listened to it all--I shouldn't have.

Any additional comments?

It misses the mark by not creating a character about which one cares.