The Wreck of the River of Stars
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4.1 • 12 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Michael Flynn has written the best SF in the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein of the last decade. His major work was the Firestar sequence, a four-book future history. "As Robert A. Heinlein did and all too few have done since, Michael Flynn writes about the near future as if he'd been there and was bringing back reports of what he'd seen," said Harry Turtledove. Now, in this sweeping stand-alone epic of the spaceways, Flynn grows again in stature, with an SF novel worthy of the master himself. Indeed, if Heinlein's famous character, the space-faring poet Rhysling, had ever written a novel, this would be it.
This is a compelling tale of the glory that was. In the days of the great sailing ships, in the mid-twenty-first century, when magnetic sails drew cargo and passengers alike to every corner of the solar system, sailors had the highest status of all spacemen, and the crew of the luxury liner the River of Stars, the highest among all sailors.
But development of the Farnsworth fusion drive doomed the sailing ships, and now the River of Stars is the last of its kind, retrofitted with engines, her mast vestigial, her sails unraised for years. An ungainly hybrid, she operates in the late years of the century as a mere tramp freighter among the outer planets, and her crew is a motley group of misfits. Stepan Gorgas is the escapist executive officer who becomes captain. Ramakrishnan Bhatterji is the chief engineer who disdains him. Eugenie Satterwaithe, once a captain herself, is third officer and, for form's sake, sailing master.
When an unlikely and catastrophic engine failure strikes the River, Bhatterji is confident he can effect repairs with heroic engineering, but Satterwaithe and the other sailors among the crew plot to save her with a glorious last gasp for the old ways, mesmerized by a vision of arriving at Jupiter proudly under sail. The story of their doom has the power, the poetry, and the inevitability of a Greek tragedy. This is a great science fiction novel, Flynn's best yet.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The accomplished Flynn (In the Country of the Blind) offers more character analysis than action and adventure in this stand-alone novel, which fans of more cerebral SF will find thoroughly absorbing. Late in the 21st century, The River of Stars, an aging tramp freighter whose magnetic sails once plied the entire solar system, is reduced to trading in the Middle System past Jupiter. Personality conflicts exacerbate technical problems among the misfit crew, operating on a shoestring budget. After the death of beloved Captain Hand, his successor, self-absorbed First Officer Gorgas, quickly loses control. When two of the River's four fusion-powered engines malfunction, precious resources are cannibalized in an ill-conceived attempt to get the magnetic sails working again. The inability of the ship's navigational systems to account for the sails leads to costly course corrections. Flynn layers the personalities and disasters in this complicated story with his usual attention to detail. One can find the precise, if understated, point at which this or that misjudgment results in tragedy that might otherwise have been averted. Inevitably, no one in command is able to make reasonable decisions. This is a sad but compelling study of (literally) explosive group dynamics in an arena where technology is critical to human life.
Customer Reviews
Intricate and compelling
This is one of the best science fiction books I've read in a long time. Flynn has elevated the genre as few sci fi writers have done. While the pace is a little slow, it somehow suits the story of a ship heading toward the doom mentioned in the title. This and Eifelheim are not just sf masterpieces, but Great Books. Not everything Flynn writes is this good: I couldn't stand to finish In The Country Of The Blind, for example. The January Dancer series is a fun romp but nothing too deep. But this book...it's going to stick with me.