Portal

By Rob Swigart

Book Overview

Originally published as an interactive novel on computer disk in 1986, "Portal is the story of an astronaut who returns to earth from a mysteriously aborted mission prematurely awakened from suspended animation. One hundred years have passed; animals and plants thrive, cities stand intact. Every human being, however, has disappeared. With the help of a slowly reviving computer network, the astronaut begins to piece together the events of the last century. He learns of the child prodigy Peter Devore, of a world orchestrated by stunning new technologies, and of Peter's race against time to unlock the secrets of the Portal.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312014945
• ISBN13: 9780312014940
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 346 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Portal, the book of the story of the game.

I played the game, Portal, when I was in gradeschool. I had a Commodore 64 and the game was 3 disks, 5 sides total. Wonderful depth and imagery, the book is told from the perspective on a space traveller sent off at near light speed who returns to find Earth deserted; about an AI computer program named Homer who desparately wants to remember what happened and about how all of it ties together with the expansion of human experience. I would highly recommend this book as a good read for everyone from 8 to 80 who likes sci-fi. Larger libraries should have this, including the DownTown Fort Worth library.

Yes, this is the GOOD stuff.

Not much to say, other then Portal was one of the first Interactive Fiction game, that REALY succeeded telling a story. This is the Novel that came of the Game. Highly recommendable. A truly great read.

Excellent storytelling

It does not matter how long ago this book came out. When I noticed that there was no review I thought I had to correct this terrible injustice and write one myself. The book is certainly not perfect by sci-fi standards, but there are few books that I've read which got me enchanted like this one. A little like reading Peter Pan when I was ten years old. It transports you into its imaginative world, making it so real that when you close the book you actually ask yourself if the real world might not actually be inside the book. Did I read "out of print"? What a shame. But don't give up so easily. ASK for it. With luck they'll get the press rolling again.