B_Delacroix
09-28-2006, 07:36 AM
Title: The Wreck of the River of Stars
Author: Michael Flynn
Category: Science Fiction
I have just completed reading this book.
It is a story about the last days of the last magsail ship "The River of Stars". You get to ride along as the tragedy unfolds. However, it isn't about the technology as much as it is about the characters. Which is a good thing. It is a tragic tale of miscommunication and misunderstanding and bad decisions that while you read it, you can understand how anyone could have made them. You can identify, at least in part, with every one of the characters.
I had trouble, at first, getting into the story as it seemed that Flynn would jump from character to character almost at random. However, you get used to it before too long.
The action builds in successive plateaus. Things seem slow for a while then something happens, but settles out, then something a little more exciting begins to happen and settles out. It continues this way until the climax.
Flynn writes about believable characters in a believable universe. It doesn't hurt that the technologies in the book are real, though not developed. It is science fiction, but only in its setting. The same story could have been written in the setting of old sailing vessels on the open seas. Very heavily influenced by Heinlein. He writes in a way that makes it seem he has actually been there. It says that on the book cover reviews, but they didn't just make that up.
It has been a long time since I found a good book to read and I am not disappointed that I read this one.
Author: Michael Flynn
Category: Science Fiction
I have just completed reading this book.
It is a story about the last days of the last magsail ship "The River of Stars". You get to ride along as the tragedy unfolds. However, it isn't about the technology as much as it is about the characters. Which is a good thing. It is a tragic tale of miscommunication and misunderstanding and bad decisions that while you read it, you can understand how anyone could have made them. You can identify, at least in part, with every one of the characters.
I had trouble, at first, getting into the story as it seemed that Flynn would jump from character to character almost at random. However, you get used to it before too long.
The action builds in successive plateaus. Things seem slow for a while then something happens, but settles out, then something a little more exciting begins to happen and settles out. It continues this way until the climax.
Flynn writes about believable characters in a believable universe. It doesn't hurt that the technologies in the book are real, though not developed. It is science fiction, but only in its setting. The same story could have been written in the setting of old sailing vessels on the open seas. Very heavily influenced by Heinlein. He writes in a way that makes it seem he has actually been there. It says that on the book cover reviews, but they didn't just make that up.
It has been a long time since I found a good book to read and I am not disappointed that I read this one.