Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: 'The Wreck of the River of Stars' is one of the most extraordinary SF novels I've ever read (I've been reading SF for more than 40 years). As another reviewer noted, it is a tragedy that turns on the personal flaws of its characters, and this is not something you find much in science fiction. I found myself hoping that Hollywood takes notice (what about Graham Beckel as Gorgas, Kate Mulgrew as Satterwaithe, and Lance Hendricksen as Ratline?).The ship's captain chooses a flawed crew, then dies on the first page, setting the tragedy in motion. The acting captain is indecisive. The senior officers are divided. Ghosts from the past haunt the ship. The understaffed crew is unseasoned. And the ship's course will take it through a dangerous region of the asteroid belt. Other reviewers have noted that the plot is driven by the characters. This is true, but Flynn, the author, makes the technology and spacemanship come alive in ways that will delight the reader; at least it delighted me. He also establishes setting superbly. Plot a starward course, and read this first rate book.
Rating: 
Summary: A great read!
Review: A great read! I truly enjoyed reading this It's a rarity these days to find an author capable of such good storytelling. The story is well written and very engaging, and despite the fact that it lost some momentum in the middle, I found myself eagerly turning pages to find out what would happen next. All in all, though this is not quite a perfect novel, it comes close.
Rating: 
Summary: neat science, poetic writing, but unsympathetic characters
Review: I enjoyed this book, but not enough to gush over.
I enjoyed Flynn's vision of future technology. Especially the milli-g acceleration, the different types of humans, with different bone structures and biologies from the different parts of the solar systems, and of course, the solar sail technology.
I also found Flynn's writing to be sometimes poetic and beautiful.
I didn't care much for the characters. They were unsympathetic; I couldn't care about them. Sometimes characters' flaws make them interesting. I didn't find that to be the case here. And I found the writing about the characters to give the whole book a relatively pessimistic flavor, which left a bit of a bad taste.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding science fiction!
Review: I have been reading science fiction since I was about 12 years old (30 years) and have read many works from the best authors. This is one of the best I have read. There are many reasons I rated this book highly; here are a few:
1. Takes place in space; our solar system.
2. Good character development.
3. Does not have a happy ending.
4. Involves a space-ship.
5. Has a navy feel to it; I am a fan of high-seas/pirate novels.
If this book were a film, it would make a good film noir; this book is dark. For me, that makes it very enjoyable. I think the other reviewer's one-star rating was undeserved...
Rating: 
Summary: Over hyped, slow start -- left in first Chapter
Review: I went on a retreat this weekend looking forward to a highly rated and reviewed book. I didn't make it through the first chapter of stilted character introductions. If I hadn't read the reviews and jacket flap I would have been totally clueless as to what this story was even about. The idea of magnetic sail space ships providing luxury accomodation to decadent passengers only 40+ years in the future also set me off. Too soon, too slow, just an aching fabrication from the 1920's. Why is this book popular? Advertising budget is my guess.
Rating:
Summary: More like The Wreck of the Plot of the River of Stars
Review: I'm a huge Flynn fan, having read everything I've been able to lay my hands on from him. (For those who haven't yet read it, -get a copy of 'The Forest of Times and Other Stories', and read the last story in it, 'Melodies of the Heart'-- this is practically a mandate!) So when I say I was sorely disappointed by this book in particular, please understand that I regret that I feel that way about it.
Usually characterization is Flynn's strongest talent in any of his stories. By the end of this book I was still regularly confusing the characters with each other, as none of them were well-defined & all had too-similar personality flaws. Frankly it felt like reading about a group of hormone-driven high-school students, where each of them is so completely obsessed with self that there simply -is- no communal gestalt.
I look forward to more stories like the Firestar series, and like Fallen Angels (with Niven and Pournelle), which were all excellent books, if a little too winding at times. Please, though-- no more depressing, dismal, disappointing, dreary and deadly boring books like this one.
Rating:
Summary: Top-notch science fiction
Review: I'm surprised that this book hasn't received more attention. It's an absolutely outstanding novel and is that rare case of genre fiction that transcends its genre and qualifies as literature. The story is simple --- the title says it all --- but compelling and the characterization, narration, and dialogue are sharp and intelligent. Best of all, the characters drive the story, rather than the other way around (a common failing in sf, where ideas are typically much more interesting than people). The entire novel takes place on The River of Stars, a Jovian merchant ship that has seen better days. Its crew and a single passenger are the only characters, and their backgrounds and interactions propel the story to its tragic conclusion. There are very few missteps in this book. I can think of two: that the characters of Corrigan and Gorgas seem fuzzily delineated (were they a single character in an earlier draft?) and that mysterious events in the pasts of the crew are somewhat abruptly and implausibly revealed at the end of the book. These are minor, however, given the overall success of the novel, which I highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: A great science fiction adaptation of the storm story!
Review: Michael Flynn has written a great, character driven novel. The novel the follows the story of the crew of the interplanetary freighter _The River of Stars_, a ship that bridged the era of magnetic sailing ships and fusion propelled vessels, after the death of the captain that brought them together. Flynn bends the traditional storm story of a ship in distress to the science fiction genre like a new sail to a mast. The best comparison would be to Joseph Conrad's novella, "Typhoon." Both examine a crew under the stress of great events and great danger. The characters are fairly well-characterized individuals with their own faults, flaws, and strengths. More than technology and technological change, the stories are driven by the character of the actors and loom at their histories, motivations, and, especially, faults. Flynn writes is a thoughtful style with a fluid, almost late 19th Century, use of language. A similar adaptation of the genre is Susan Schwartz' 2001 novel, _Second Chances_, which takes Conrad's _Lord Jim_ to science fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Superb, Highly Literate Space Opera from Flynn
Review: Michael Flynn, inspired by Robert Heinlein, but writing in a graceful literary style more akin to Gene Wolfe's, has written one of the finest space operas I have come across in "The Wreck of The River of Stars". His captivating tale is a splendid homage to mankind's second Age of Sail, recounting the ill-fated final journey of the greatest of the metallic sail-rigged spaceships, The River of Stars, as it heads towards Jovian space. This is a memorable tale of men and women pitted against the bleak cold of interplanetary space and each other; a fascinating look at group dynamics aboard a doomed spaceship. Flynn conjurs up Herman Melville with more than a passing nod to Patrick O'Brian, letting us think that he has lived aboard this spaceship and trekked through every deck and passageway. Indeed, I concur with other reviewers who recognize that "The Wreck of the River of Stars" is not just fine science fiction, but also superb literature, since it is a well-written and well-told saga. Readers should be warned that this book starts slowly, but once it picks up its pace, it will move onward relentlessly towards its dismal conclusion.
Rating:
Summary: The best in a long time
Review: Most of the sf published in the last few years has left me bored or uninterested. In contrast, "The Wreck of the River of Stars" is a grand reminder of why science fiction once comprised most of my pleasure reading. It has that combination of solid writing, interesting characters, and ideas worth contemplating after the story is done, and more. As others have indicated, Flynn was channeling Heinlein when he wrote this novel, and that doesn't detract from Flynn's own style. An example of this is the masterful way he gives his world a vivid past that is still in our future, not through the "infodumps" of less polished writers (think Dan Brown), but through casual references interspersed in the characters' conversations. Fans of Patrick O'Brian may also come away from River thinking that Mr. Flynn has spent more than a few hours in the company of Jack Aubrey and co., from the way he evokes the terminology of an earlier age of sail. This excellent novel deserves all the accolades it has received.
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