Starfire

Rating:
Summary: Hard Science Fiction but is there a trace of fantasy?
Review: Aftermath was certainly as believable as Starfire AND is well worth reading even if you read the latter first. There is some building of the Starfire tale from bits and pieces of Aftermath BUT you have so little of Aftermath presented that reading the first member of this series will not be spoiled. Yes, the change in some characters must be taken in a very laid back fashion (that variation doesn't seem like hard scifi). But it is the ultimate source of the beamed particles that has been left to a sequel that seems like fantasy. I guess we will have to wait for the sequel to discover what the Scientific origins are on this one. The story does move and holds ones attention even if the different major characters are a bit too improbable at times. But in true Sheffield fashion if you will just relax and allow that human nature and Science are not always what we anticipate, then this is a tale you will enjoy. I too had a feeling as to who the murderer must be beyond the books mid point but had not worked it out (other than by elimination within the characters presented in detail - a major assumption!). This reads fast enough that there is no reason to skip to the end unless you just don't want to get the scientific detail that will wait for an explanation in the sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Two for one
Review: Charles Shefield, like a jungler, mixes with great talent two stories, two sets of characters. With even more talent, he mixes two different styles of writing, taking you effortlessly from one to the next. Mr Sheffield has always told us that his writing comes from a lot of hard work. It's easy to believe. Starfire is wonderfully written.

So where is that 5th star? The end to one of the two stories disappoints after so much build-up, and the character of Maddy Wheatstone is rather shallow for one so central to the book. Don't let it deter you, though. Starfire makes for a fascinating, yet still an easy read.

Rating:
Summary: Two for one
Review: I bought the book expecting a darn good read of the "hard sci-fi" type. I was delighted to find such creative and imaginative touches in the book.

The hard sci-fi aspect has to do with a focused particle beam heading for earth from a supernova that occurred 27 years earlier. Earth knows it is coming, and is building a great shield out beyond Jupiter that is 24,000 kilometers long. It has drained Earth's resources for decades to pay for it. Well . . . you guessed it folks-- as the book begins, we are just a couple of months from zero hour. The shield will work or fail-- Earth will survive or cook away its oceans.

The pleasant surprises involve some highly inventive and delightful characters. These include US President Celine Tanaka, a very sexy and brave female Pres who tells us part of the story in her own words; electronics genius Gordy Rolfe, a vicious, murderous little dwarf who has accrued such power as "the world's richest man" that he can "get away with murder;" and finally, space engineer John Hyslop, an understated kind of anti-hero who -- for all his self-depreciating ways-- is alone possessed of the engineering genius to complete the shield in time.

My favorite character, and the most fun character in the book, is this remarkable Australian black girl. She never had any formal education, but stole books from an astrophysics library. She is a supergenius-- like a young female Albert Einstein. Her I.Q. must be off the scale. She alone can do the mathematical synthesis to identify grave flaws in the shield -- and make revelations about the TRUE nature of the particle beam. But this little self-educated female is truly a native savage-- combining tensor equations with gutter-coarse language. Combining shocking rudeness with a disarming ingenuousness. She's a little barbaric doll, and I loved her.

So you get more than you paid for-- a great hard sci-fi story, and the most inventive and creative characters one could imagine.

I liked it lots-- hope you do.

Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly Surprised-- Hard Sci-Fi With Surprising Touches
Review: I bought the book expecting a darn good read of the "hard sci-fi" type. I was delighted to find such creative and imaginative touches in the book.

The hard sci-fi aspect has to do with a focused particle beam heading for earth from a supernova that occurred 27 years earlier. Earth knows it is coming, and is building a great shield out beyond Jupiter that is 24,000 kilometers long. It has drained Earth's resources for decades to pay for it. Well . . . you guessed it folks-- as the book begins, we are just a couple of months from zero hour. The shield will work or fail-- Earth will survive or cook away its oceans.

The pleasant surprises involve some highly inventive and delightful characters. These include US President Celine Tanaka, a very sexy and brave female Pres who tells us part of the story in her own words; electronics genius Gordy Rolfe, a vicious, murderous little dwarf who has accrued such power as "the world's richest man" that he can "get away with murder;" and finally, space engineer John Hyslop, an understated kind of anti-hero who -- for all his self-depreciating ways-- is alone possessed of the engineering genius to complete the shield in time.

My favorite character, and the most fun character in the book, is this remarkable Australian black girl. She never had any formal education, but stole books from an astrophysics library. She is a supergenius-- like a young female Albert Einstein. Her I.Q. must be off the scale. She alone can do the mathematical synthesis to identify grave flaws in the shield -- and make revelations about the TRUE nature of the particle beam. But this little self-educated female is truly a native savage-- combining tensor equations with gutter-coarse language. Combining shocking rudeness with a disarming ingenuousness. She's a little barbaric doll, and I loved her.

So you get more than you paid for-- a great hard sci-fi story, and the most inventive and creative characters one could imagine.

I liked it lots-- hope you do.

Rating:
Summary: Hard Science Fiction but is there a trace of fantasy?
Review: Quite honestly, this is one of those books that, after you finish, you wonder if maybe it's your fault that it didn't grab you. But also again quite honestly, I gave up toward the end and skipped to the last page just to see if the universe went on intact. It's not that it's badly written -- it's not, nor would I expect it to be,coming from Charles Sheffield. Consider, though (trying not to give anything away), that a serial killer (Oliver Guest) has become one of the good guys, guiding another not particularly nice character from the first book in divining who on the space station is also a serial murderer. Mr Guest, however, sniffs at the boorish and messy way the murders were carried out.

As a backdrop to this murder mystery (and it IS merely a backdrop), it appears that the Earth may very well perish along with everyone in the space station in the next few days. So we go back and forth from Sherlock-like sleuthing to the impending doom of the planet. It's an incredibly hard balancing act, and for me it didn't succeed. It reminds me of "Independence Day" when, even though aliens have landed and life is certainly never going to be the same, Will Smith's character is despondent because he got another rejection slip from the astronaut program. It's one of those "Huh! " moments that are hard to get past, especially when so much of the book is involved with that particular subplot.

It's always difficult when an author you admire puts out something with which you just can't connect. My advice? Think for yourself. If the book sounds as if it would appeal to you, buy it. If you enjoy it, read more of Mr. Sheffield. But if you didn't enjoy it, don't despair. My advice is the same. Read other books by Mr. Sheffield.

Rating:
Summary: Not a particularly worthy sequel to Aftermath
Review: Quite honestly, this is one of those books that, after you finish, you wonder if maybe it's your fault that it didn't grab you. But also again quite honestly, I gave up toward the end and skipped to the last page just to see if the universe went on intact. It's not that it's badly written -- it's not, nor would I expect it to be,coming from Charles Sheffield. Consider, though (trying not to give anything away), that a serial killer (Oliver Guest) has become one of the good guys, guiding another not particularly nice character from the first book in divining who on the space station is also a serial murderer. Mr Guest, however, sniffs at the boorish and messy way the murders were carried out.

As a backdrop to this murder mystery (and it IS merely a backdrop), it appears that the Earth may very well perish along with everyone in the space station in the next few days. So we go back and forth from Sherlock-like sleuthing to the impending doom of the planet. It's an incredibly hard balancing act, and for me it didn't succeed. It reminds me of "Independence Day" when, even though aliens have landed and life is certainly never going to be the same, Will Smith's character is despondent because he got another rejection slip from the astronaut program. It's one of those "Huh! " moments that are hard to get past, especially when so much of the book is involved with that particular subplot.

It's always difficult when an author you admire puts out something with which you just can't connect. My advice? Think for yourself. If the book sounds as if it would appeal to you, buy it. If you enjoy it, read more of Mr. Sheffield. But if you didn't enjoy it, don't despair. My advice is the same. Read other books by Mr. Sheffield.

Rating:
Summary: Solid, old-fashioned
Review: Sheffield's work reminds me of the hard-science multi-plot future history works of the writers of the 50s and early 60s. The work has very much the feel of a serialized sci fi mag piece from Astounding or some such. The usual ingredients are there--a collection of disparate characters enmeshed in a handful of subplots, the mildly dystopian but recognizable earth of fifty years hence, a global threat, eccentric yet capable minds that work to solve it, and, finally, not one but two little puzzle mysteries, with punch line endings to both inquiries. Sheffield's plotting is a real strength; the characterization is a bit pat. I recommend this one, though, as the central dilemma is compelling, and the book lacks the gratuitious glandular or violent juvenalia which infects so many more modern sci fis. This is a fun afternoon, rather than an epic voyage, but not every unmanned satellite can discover a new universe....

Rating:
Summary: Solid, old-fashioned
Review: Sheffield's work reminds me of the hard-science multi-plot future history works of the writers of the 50s and early 60s. The work has very much the feel of a serialized sci fi mag piece from Astounding or some such. The usual ingredients are there--a collection of disparate characters enmeshed in a handful of subplots, the mildly dystopian but recognizable earth of fifty years hence, a global threat, eccentric yet capable minds that work to solve it, and, finally, not one but two little puzzle mysteries, with punch line endings to both inquiries. Sheffield's plotting is a real strength; the characterization is a bit pat. I recommend this one, though, as the central dilemma is compelling, and the book lacks the gratuitious glandular or violent juvenalia which infects so many more modern sci fis. This is a fun afternoon, rather than an epic voyage, but not every unmanned satellite can discover a new universe....

Rating:
Summary: Will the real Nero Wolfe please stand up?
Review: Starfire is ostensibly a sequel to Aftermath, but you don't really need to read Aftermath first. Me, I read them in the wrong order and still enjoyed both.

This book is Sheffield's take on the old Nero Wolfe concept - a brilliant detective who has someone else to do the legwork. In this case, the Wolfe role is filled by the serial killer/Clone King Dr. Oliver Guest, and the Goodwin role by our old friend Seth Parsigian.

The science is, as always for Sheffield, spot on... within the limits of SF. The best definition of Hard SF I ever heard was this: Take or create *one* outlandish but possible theory, assume that it's true, and leave the rest of known science intact. Project how the truth of such a theory would affect humanity, and then write the book. Mr. Sheffield stayed true to this concept throughout his career, with admirable results.

My one real problem from a character perspective in this book is based on the interactions from the prior one: Imagining a Tanaka/Auden ticket forming in the first place seems quite a stretch for both of them. But maybe that's just me.

Rating:
Summary: Will the real Nero Wolfe please stand up?
Review: Starfire is ostensibly a sequel to Aftermath, but you don't really need to read Aftermath first. Me, I read them in the wrong order and still enjoyed both.

This book is Sheffield's take on the old Nero Wolfe concept - a brilliant detective who has someone else to do the legwork. In this case, the Wolfe role is filled by the serial killer/Clone King Dr. Oliver Guest, and the Goodwin role by our old friend Seth Parsigian.

The science is, as always for Sheffield, spot on... within the limits of SF. The best definition of Hard SF I ever heard was this: Take or create *one* outlandish but possible theory, assume that it's true, and leave the rest of known science intact. Project how the truth of such a theory would affect humanity, and then write the book. Mr. Sheffield stayed true to this concept throughout his career, with admirable results.

My one real problem from a character perspective in this book is based on the interactions from the prior one: Imagining a Tanaka/Auden ticket forming in the first place seems quite a stretch for both of them. But maybe that's just me.