End of the Age of Sail
Written: Nov 25 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful Characterization, Excellent tragic action, Fascinating setting
Cons: Historical comparisons sometimes over the top
The Bottom Line: An awe-inspiring, character driven gem of a novel. Recommended to all who can stand the heartache.
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| blindharper's Full Review: Michael Flynn - The Wreck of the River of Stars |
It was a grand and decadent age, and the MSS River of Stars was its greatest symbol. A luxury liner, plying the Void between LEO habitats and far-flung habitats throughout the solar system, it was the largest and most luxurious Magnetic Sail ever built, and in its time it inspired awe in all who beheld it and love in all who worked its decks.
But that was then. This is now. The fusion engine is faster, simpler, and cheaper than the magnetic sail, and after that fateful race which the River lost to one of the first-generation fusion craft, the Age of Sail was as good as ended. Now, in this prosperous age when most humans have never even seen Earth and fusion craft ply the spaceways with an almost inevitable regularity and safety, the grand beauty of the River of Stars has been all but forgotten. Escaping decommission again and egain, it is now a tramp fusor operating on the ragged edge of bankruptcy, crewed by misfits and has-beens, its magnificent sail all but forgotten.
This ship is the setting entire for The Wreck of the River of Stars, an excellent sci-fi tragedy chock full of allusions to Earth's own Age of Sail and the ends of eras. Replacing wind sails with solar sails and steamers with Farnsworth Cages, the book paints a picture of the development of space that parallels the development of Earth. These parallels are sometimes overstressed, in both the sociosphere and the language and skills attached to the various professions of Sailor and Engineer, but these quibbles are relatively unimportant as it is character that drives the story. The MSS River of Stars is inhabited by a diverse cast of characters, diamonds in the rough rescued from dark fates by the cheerful and personable Captain Evan Dodge Hand. But Evan Hand, the glue which bound this crew of unfortunates togeather, is dead of a mysterious disease - the first step on the road to tragedy. He leaves in command Stepan Gorgas, disgraced ex-Space Guard commander, a dour introvert who manages his crew via the Principle of Least Effort, writing memos and burying himself in historical wargames as the ship is run around him. His first officer, 'Al Aziz Corrigan, is the kind of fatalist that only a devout Muslim can be; his second officer and 'Sailing Master', Eugenie Sattherwaite, is a martinet who once captained the River in its glory days and believes that it is her right to do so again; both of them are enchanted with the romance of their long-ago days sailing the solar wind and look upon the 'new-fangled' fusion engine with distrust. The Lotus Jewel, expert in the operation of the ship's AI, is a superficial soul who thinks in curves and listens to her heart before her head. Ramachandran Bhatterji, Chief Engineer, has a tendency to 'make it up as he goes along', flying on instinct with no real plan in mind, and is an unrepentant pedophile who evokes hostility from many of the crew. Doctor Wong, the newest crewmember, is a depressive drug addict with a martyr complex. And ancient Moth Ratline, cargomaster and 'Shroudmaster' for the forgotten sail, has spent his life on the River of Stars and is as battered and scarred as she is. Then there are the youngest crewmembers - Engineer's Mate Mikoyan Hidei, an Oliver Twist-esque orphan who hides in and spies on the crew from the ship's air ducts and forgotten steward's passages; the cargo wranglers - Okoye, a pledged virgin who thinks in mystical terms about everyday life; Rave Evermore, the brilliant technician who can't get her out of his head; 24 deCant, a discarded clone out to find her biological mother; and her lover, the good-natured Ivar Arkhturian, a 'cade' signed over to the ship's crew as ward and student. Rounding out the cast are Ethan Grubb, Biosystems Chief, a born romantic who keeps the ship habitable but is generally thought of as simply 'the ship's cook'; Bigelow Fife, passenger, a hard-edged rationalist concerned primarily with his own survival and self-interest; and the ship's AI, a developing intelligence which the author speaks of in exactingly searlist terminology even as he makes it into an unmistakeably real being.
Of course, these glib thumbnails do no justice to the depth and complexity of the characters which Flynn painstakingly builds, using every trick of characterization to breathe life and three-dimentionality into them. But it's easy to see how such a diverse cast of powerful personalities might easily come into conflict. And when a stray asteroid destroys the ship's transciever antenna and two of its engines, the crisis grinds them togeather like rocks in a rock tumbler. While Bhatterji works feverishly to repair the engines in time to brake the ship into Jupiter orbit, Sattherwaite, Corrigan, and Ratline have a different and secret plan - repair the long-forgotten Magnetic Sail and glide into port on the power of the solar wind, a vindication of the bygone technology and a reminder that old doesn't always mean worthless. It is a glorious vision which slowly draws in the rest of the crew. But fate has placed many obstacles in their way; and the first steps toward the inevitable tradgedy spelled out in the novel's title have already been taken.
Even though you pretty much know the ending before you begin, one can't help falling in love with the River of Stars, her crew, and the grandiosity of their dreams and vision; and as the plot takes step after step to its unfortunate conclusion, you can't help but shed a tear for their fate. This is an excellent novel, vast in scope but personalized in a way that the grand dreamers of sci-fi can sometimes fail to achieve, and its ending is perfectly suited to the fading illusions and run-down beauties it presents.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
blindharper
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Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Reviews written: 51
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
A mendicant student of the arts trying desperately to find meaning, fame and fortune, whatever.
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