Blurb
The Jesus Incident is the second science fiction novel set in the Destination: Void universe by the American author Frank Herbert and poet Bill Ransom. It is a sequel to Destination: Void, and has two sequels: The Lazarus Effect and The Ascension Factor.
First Published
1979
English
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Skyril
"Is the lesson diminished because the history that moves you is fiction?" ***Trigger Warnings for THE JESUS INCIDENT at the bottom of the review*** For a story set on a spaceship and a fictional planet with alien entities, clones, and an AI that has decided it is god, this book embraces or spotlights many core values of humanity. If it weren't so long, I'd be inclined to call it a fable, because there is a moral to it, if you pay attention. Unfortunately, it IS long. Longer than it seems like it should be for 430-ish pages, much of which could have been cut out without losing much or any real plot or character developments. For example, there was one 29-minute long chapter in which one of the characters stares at some art and has the same thought again and again in a circular pattern with only mild deviations. The point of this character being so troubled could have been made in half the time or less. This is only one example of how dry this book could, at times, become. The disjointed nature of it, with vague time slips and skips, changing character perspectives as well as setting every single chapter made it almost not feel like less a story, more a philosophical character study with only ever TENDRILS of overarcing plot for about 70% of the book. Around the 70% mark, those tendrils finally tethered into something substantial, and everything suddenly started moving very quickly after pages and pages and pages of thought exercises and religious allegory. The last 30% of this book I actually quite liked a lot. All of the characters had their moments, boiling points were reached, and the questions left unanswered thus far were satisfied. I find myself one of the few who neither loved nor hated the experience of THE JESUS INCIDENT. Overall, I'm glad I read this book. It makes you think. It fills you with something at the close of the final pages. But my gosh, was it a slog to get through at times. I wouldn't say I recommend it unless you're ready for 70's sci-fi lingo and an incredibly slow build of painstaking development for a surprisingly decent ending. I'm not immediately inclined to read the sequels (and it's not necessary to get a full story), but I'm not absolutely ruling it out either. Maybe someday. ***THE JESUS INCIDENT Trigger Warnings*** ~Discrimination/Racism/Classism (of clones) ~Body horror-ish (lots of past lab experiments involving growing clones) ~Implied torture ~Possibly implied rape ~Implied past torture or rape ~Non-con (or, at best, reluctant) sex that's on screen but vague and fade to black ~Tons of religious jargon, not only in the sci-fi sense, but also pulling from other religions, especially Christianity ~Predatory behavior ~Cheating, technically ~The use of the term "ship tits" that are feeding tubes of some sort from the Ship that people suck from *gags* (I realize this isn't a typical trigger, but my gosh, did it turn me off and almost make me quit the book) ~ This is all I can think of, but it may not be all possible triggers. Tread with care.
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Skyril
"Is the lesson diminished because the history that moves you is fiction?" ***Trigger Warnings for THE JESUS INCIDENT at the bottom of the review*** For a story set on a spaceship and a fictional planet with alien entities, clones, and an AI that has decided it is god, this book embraces or spotlights many core values of humanity. If it weren't so long, I'd be inclined to call it a fable, because there is a moral to it, if you pay attention. Unfortunately, it IS long. Longer than it seems like it should be for 430-ish pages, much of which could have been cut out without losing much or any real plot or character developments. For example, there was one 29-minute long chapter in which one of the characters stares at some art and has the same thought again and again in a circular pattern with only mild deviations. The point of this character being so troubled could have been made in half the time or less. This is only one example of how dry this book could, at times, become. The disjointed nature of it, with vague time slips and skips, changing character perspectives as well as setting every single chapter made it almost not feel like less a story, more a philosophical character study with only ever TENDRILS of overarcing plot for about 70% of the book. Around the 70% mark, those tendrils finally tethered into something substantial, and everything suddenly started moving very quickly after pages and pages and pages of thought exercises and religious allegory. The last 30% of this book I actually quite liked a lot. All of the characters had their moments, boiling points were reached, and the questions left unanswered thus far were satisfied. I find myself one of the few who neither loved nor hated the experience of THE JESUS INCIDENT. Overall, I'm glad I read this book. It makes you think. It fills you with something at the close of the final pages. But my gosh, was it a slog to get through at times. I wouldn't say I recommend it unless you're ready for 70's sci-fi lingo and an incredibly slow build of painstaking development for a surprisingly decent ending. I'm not immediately inclined to read the sequels (and it's not necessary to get a full story), but I'm not absolutely ruling it out either. Maybe someday. ***THE JESUS INCIDENT Trigger Warnings*** ~Discrimination/Racism/Classism (of clones) ~Body horror-ish (lots of past lab experiments involving growing clones) ~Implied torture ~Possibly implied rape ~Implied past torture or rape ~Non-con (or, at best, reluctant) sex that's on screen but vague and fade to black ~Tons of religious jargon, not only in the sci-fi sense, but also pulling from other religions, especially Christianity ~Predatory behavior ~Cheating, technically ~The use of the term "ship tits" that are feeding tubes of some sort from the Ship that people suck from *gags* (I realize this isn't a typical trigger, but my gosh, did it turn me off and almost make me quit the book) ~ This is all I can think of, but it may not be all possible triggers. Tread with care.
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