Our Children's Children

Our Children's Children isn't so much a novel as an exploration. The idea is one echoed later by [a:Julian May 23284 Julian May https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1340457886p2/23284.jpg] in her [b:Saga of Pliocene Exile 378639 The Many-Coloured Land (Saga of Pliocene Exile, #1) Julian May https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1174314750s/378639.jpg 368245] - humans come to our time, escaping from 500 years in the future, only our time is a pit-stop on the way to the Miocene.The story is a careful and thoughtful examination of the ways in which humans - generous, cautious, and venal - might react. It's packaged nicely - mainly through the eyes of the White House press secretary - but what Simak is interested in here is the idea, not primarily the people.It's an interesting exploration, and holds up for most of the book. The end, however, is something of a letdown. Having created a troublesome situation, Simak cops out at the resolution. It essentially fixes itself.Despite the somewhat weak ending, the concept is interesting and thought through. Plus, this is written with Simak's characteristic engaging style and pleasant characters - that's primarily what rounds it up to 4 stars from 3.5.

This was a good science fiction book with lots of untapped potential. I liked the interactions between the people from the future and the ones in the present. At the end, however, I found myself wondering what happens next and being a little disappointed that there were so many unanswered questions.