Berserker's Star

Rating:
Summary: Maracanda was a dangerous place...
Review: An almost-planet, trapped between a black hole and a neutron star, this is the last place youi would think Harry
Silver would end up at. But being on the run from the Space Force makes for an interesting life and, as he is always looking for more adventure, he agrees to take some passengers to this world.
Little did he know he would have to deal with the Space Force, drug smugglers, missing persons and, of course, berserkers.
366 pages, very focused, much better than the last few Berserker books. Still, I would of liked more berserkers.

Rating:
Summary: Maracanda was a dangerous place...
Review: An almost-planet, trapped between a black hole and a neutron star, this is the last place youi would think Harry
Silver would end up at. But being on the run from the Space Force makes for an interesting life and, as he is always looking for more adventure, he agrees to take some passengers to this world.
Little did he know he would have to deal with the Space Force, drug smugglers, missing persons and, of course, berserkers.
366 pages, very focused, much better than the last few Berserker books. Still, I would of liked more berserkers.

Rating:
Summary: Latest in a series
Review: As a nearby star explodes, the Space Force evacuates humans from Hong's World. With that backdrop, Lily Gunnlod asks renowned or notorious (depending on one's perspective) pilot Harry Silver to take her to Maracanda, a planet residing amidst a neutron star and a black hole. There she hopes to rescue her husband Alan, kidnapped by religious fanatics. As the Templar tells him not to go there, Harry soon finds he is an in demand transporter when Mr. Redpath and Mr. Dietrich claim they need to go there on business too.

Dietrich and Redpath try to take command of Harry's ship The Witch of Endor, but the pilot thwarts the duo and drops them off at a remote space station. Harry helps Lily search for Alan on Maracanda, which proves difficult as this is no "normal" planet and she failed to explain that he willingly joined his "kidnappers". Already in danger from the non-welcoming religious group, now the Berserkers arrive seeking to kill life whenever they find it and Harry is a target.

The latest Berserker tale is typical of the series and many space war novels, but the Han Solo like Harry insures a freshness so that series fans will appreciate the brisk story line. The action starts from the moment Harry takes his three passengers off of the doomed Hong's World and never lets up until the climax. Readers will enjoy Fred Saberhagen's latest saga in his Berserker Universe.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: fine Berserker tale
Review: As a nearby star explodes, the Space Force evacuates humans from Hong's World. With that backdrop, Lily Gunnlod asks renowned or notorious (depending on one's perspective) pilot Harry Silver to take her to Maracanda, a planet residing amidst a neutron star and a black hole. There she hopes to rescue her husband Alan, kidnapped by religious fanatics. As the Templar tells him not to go there, Harry soon finds he is an in demand transporter when Mr. Redpath and Mr. Dietrich claim they need to go there on business too.

Dietrich and Redpath try to take command of Harry's ship The Witch of Endor, but the pilot thwarts the duo and drops them off at a remote space station. Harry helps Lily search for Alan on Maracanda, which proves difficult as this is no "normal" planet and she failed to explain that he willingly joined his "kidnappers". Already in danger from the non-welcoming religious group, now the Berserkers arrive seeking to kill life whenever they find it and Harry is a target.

The latest Berserker tale is typical of the series and many space war novels, but the Han Solo like Harry insures a freshness so that series fans will appreciate the brisk story line. The action starts from the moment Harry takes his three passengers off of the doomed Hong's World and never lets up until the climax. Readers will enjoy Fred Saberhagen's latest saga in his Berserker Universe.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Saberhagen Coasting
Review: Berserker's Star reads like a first draft and is badly in need of some editing. The plot drags through the first half of the book, and, even when it does pick up, it is convoluted and confused. The characters are not well-developed, and are, on the whole, rather uninteresting. Kul is an exception, but still he gets tedious. With only a brief role, General Pike may have been the best of the bunch. I grew all too tired of them. The story line is interesting, but hardly sufficient to hold this together. Still, I think that there is a great book in here that is fighting to get out, probably at about half the length. I read many of the books in this series years ago, and my recollection is that they were well-paced. It appears that established authors, like Saberhagen, don't feel compelled to really put in the kind of work necessary to create polished jewels, but are content with producing only rough cut stones, and coast on their name. Saberhagen has followed in the footsteps of Roger Zelazny and Tony Hillerman, to name a couple, who have failed to maintain the same level of storytelling as they had in their early works.

Rating:
Summary: Saberhagen Coasting
Review: Berserker's Star reads like a first draft and is badly in need of some editing. The plot drags through the first half of the book, and, even when it does pick up, it is convoluted and confused. The characters are not well-developed, and are, on the whole, rather uninteresting. Kul is an exception, but still he gets tedious. With only a brief role, General Pike may have been the best of the bunch. I grew all too tired of them. The story line is interesting, but hardly sufficient to hold this together. Still, I think that there is a great book in here that is fighting to get out, probably at about half the length. I read many of the books in this series years ago, and my recollection is that they were well-paced. It appears that established authors, like Saberhagen, don't feel compelled to really put in the kind of work necessary to create polished jewels, but are content with producing only rough cut stones, and coast on their name. Saberhagen has followed in the footsteps of Roger Zelazny and Tony Hillerman, to name a couple, who have failed to maintain the same level of storytelling as they had in their early works.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best in the Berserker series
Review: Fred Saberhagen is widely acknowledged as one of science fiction's foremost masters of military science fiction, especially with his acclaimed "Berserker" series. However, "Berserker's Star" is the worst installment I have seen so far, coming across as a poorly written "Star Trek" novel, than another exciting tome in Saberhagen's series. His two protagonists, Harry, the irascible merchant ship captain, and Lily, his passenger, didn't garner much enthusiasm or interest in either character from me. If you are a fan of Saberhagen's work, I would recommend skipping this novel and reading instead, his earlier, critically acclaimed works.

Rating:
Summary: Latest in a series
Review: This book is the latest in Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series. I haven't had the time to read it yet, but I will eventually.

Rating:
Summary: Very full of surprises
Review: This is the first berserker novel I have read in several years. I found it quite entertaining, largely for the quite extraordinary stellar system, which consists of a black hole, a neutron star "pulsar," and a "habitable body" called Maracanda. This place is NOT a planet, as several characters keep repeating almost as a mantra.

The concept -- for the sake of entertainment at least -- is that the gravitational distortions of massive objects in a tight orbit have created weirdness on the habitable portion of Maracanda. Traveling around or adventuring on Maracanda is quite an experience of time and space dilation.

The characterization is not very deep for the most part, although the protagonist Harry came to life pretty well for me. He is part rogue and part "the last honest man." There's a kind of love linkage in the character of Lily, although the author never really has time or room to build this into too much. Really, Harry's first love is his intelligent ship, the Witch. The ship is actually a better developed character than some of the characters.

As a very "fun read," I give this book pretty good marks. As for quality, I think the author succeeded in creating an imaginary place that is -- ta ta! -- ORIGINAL and that keeps you guessing.

The berserkers are a fun concept -- a bit like the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica or the "replicators" in SG-1. In short, legion of self-replicating robots with the gone-wrong mission imperative of exterminating all life. These are not original, but they make pretty good -- and scary -- villains. Because in the war with the berserkers, it appears mankind is LOSING . . .

If you want a fun read that keeps you turning pages, and some very original ideas spun off of Einstein's relativity and astrophysics -- I think you will like this. It is not "War and Peace" but it is fun -- and good of its kind.

Rating:
Summary: Tedious and meandering
Review: Years ago, Saberhagen published a series of short stories on berserkers which collectively became classics. Since then, his productivity on this idea has slowed. But he recently released this book.

Sadly disappointing compared to his earlier work. Part of the reason may have been that his short stories intrinsically had to have tighter focus. Here, the plot meanders over a zany unearthly landscape. Perhaps Saberhagen was trying to show his ability in fashioning a truly bizarre arena. But it was hard to identify with any of the characters.

Though the main character shows some potential. Akin to the Stainless Steel Rat, Slippy Jim diGriz, in Harry Harrison's novels.

More to the point, people who read Berserker novels want to see descriptions of actions against the Berserkers. Not the tedious shilly shallying of this book.

Saberhagen is capable of far better than this sloppy rendition.