Product Description

One man must make a journey across a once colonised alien planet. Abandoned by man when it was discovered that the species there were actually sentient, the planet is now a place of mystery. A mystery that obsesses the lone traveller Gundersen and takes him on a long trek to attempt to share the religious rebirthing of the aliens. A journey that offers redemption from guilt and sin. This is one of Silverbergs most intense novels and draws heavily on Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It puts the reader at the heart of the experience and forces them to ask what they would do in the circumstances.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24397 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-12
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Roz Kaveney, TIME OUT
...An intelligent New Wave classic from the mid-1970s which blends mysticism, world-building and literary references in an inventive mix...
...This is perhaps SF's finest tribute to Joseph Conrad, both in its keen moral sense and its portrayal of a vividly realised alien forest...

Review
...An intelligent New Wave classic from the mid-1970s which blends mysticism, world-building and literary references in an inventive mix... ...This is perhaps SF's finest tribute to Joseph Conrad, both in its keen moral sense and its portrayal of a vividly realised alien forest... (Roz Kaveney TIME OUT )

Synopsis
One man must make a journey across a once colonised alien planet. Abandoned by man when it was discovered that the species there were actually sentient, the planet is now a place of mystery. A mystery that obsesses the lone traveller Gundersen and takes him on a long trek to attempt to share the religious rebirthing of the aliens. A journey that offers redemption from guilt and sin. This is one of Silverbergs most intense novels and draws heavily on Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It puts the reader at the heart of the experience and forces them to ask what they would do in the circumstances.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic and powerful
This is absolutely one of the best sci-fi novels ever. It's riveting stuff which takes 'Heart of Darkness' to an (in my opinion) even higher level, looking at the true meaning of being human. It's one of the few novels I've read that I genuinely found difficult to put down and it has stayed with me for a long time. Don't hesitate.

Aliens are not always humanoid....
Holman's World, now known as Belzagor, a planet occupied by not one but two intelligent races, was once Edmund Gundersen's home. He was a Company man, having a career and a life there, ten years previously. Why has he returned? Because he is haunted by his time there. He knows that he must embark upon a journey of discovery, not only to uncover this planet's great secret, but to be part of it, fully and completely. And embark upon it he does, at great risk....
Robert Silverberg proves what a fertile imagination he has in this powerful and moving SF novel.

Downward to the Earth (1970) - Robert Silverberg
DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH is Robert Silverberg's mythical masterpeice of mankind's awakening. Citing Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Silverberg breaks the conventions of science fiction and creates an intelligent, somber tale of one man's jounrey into his own heart of darkness. Beautifully written and completely engrossing, Downward to the Earth is a novel of endless wonder and amazement.

***** out of *****