Rating: 
Summary: The Joy of Transparent Third-Person Narration
Review: First of all, if you've held off buying this book because you've been scared by Matthews' other books (think Andrej), be reassured. In all honesty, this is much more conventional. It's a fine read, and won't challenge your sensibilities or your equilibrium.What does Matthews get right? First of all, her technology is well thought-out and believable. She writes this one in good old transparent third-person narration, which is pleasant. While I loved all three Andrej Koskuiscu novels, there were times when the more dramatic breaks of sentence would send me back to the start of the paragraph to figure out what, precisely, was happening. Justice gets handed out, always a pleasant ending. What does she get wrong? Matthews writes her characters as much more simple and unitary than I guess I believe people to be. Her characters may tell themselves something, but they don't have the doubter, the mocker, the comforter and so on talking back. One doesn't feel that her characters ever find an empty room crowded, if you can follow what I mean. The society pictured here felt wrong - how to explain that? Not morally repugnant, as the society surrounding the Bench is, just overly simplified. The beginning impressed me, the "What are we waiting for?" response to disaster felt right. But the society of Jneers, Admin and Mechs felt non-functional. It just wouldn't work. And her heroine wasn't presented as resilient enough to manage the transition from class one to class three. Nope. The villain felt closest to real, but even so, he felt cartoonish. I wanted to like this book much more than I did. I kept going back and trying to figure out if I was missing something (if this was a satire, sorry, but I missed it), and I couldn't come up with it, if I were. This isn't perfect, by any means, but it's worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Best ?Generation Ship? story in a long time
Review: Generation Ships launch colonists from Earth to the stars, hopefully with habitable planets. The ships are usually totally self-contained environments constructed to support life until arrival. The initial crew knows full well that when the ship eventually arrives, it will be long gone, as well as numerous successive generations. This gives rise to several questions. First, will the people on board at the time of arrival even remember the mission or even know they are on a ship? Will the on-board society remain constant or evolve. Heinlein's "Orphans in the Sky" (probably the standard for the genre) and Stephen Baxter's Ring address both questions, but with strikingly different endings. Frank Herbert's "Destination: Void" asks philosophical and religious questions in a generation ship taken over by an artificial intelligence. Colony Fleet varies the theme by sending numerous ships (hollowed out asteroids), as well as supporting vessels, to ensure the survival of humankind in the wake of a collapsing Earth. There is not one, but instead several destinations, called Waystations. The story involves a society stratified into the "Jneers" at the top and "Mechs" at the bottom. The journey didn't start out that way. The Jneers live in the big ships, called Noun Ships, which have names such as "Polar" and "Temperate" that define the types of environments the fleet is trying to preserve. The Jneers have evolved into a ruling class and have vested interest in maintaining the status quo. The Mechs fix things and live in the supporting vessels, which are run down and often lacking in resources. There is an in between "Admin" class that plays supporting role. The story begins about 400 years in the future and revolves around a young woman, Hillbrane Harkover, as she prepares for her Jneer exam. The results of the exam are a foregone conclusion; she will pass (everyone passes) and take her rightful place among the Jneers. However, her best friend betrays her during the exam and she ends up failing, the first failure in the fleet in a long time. She is banished to the Mechs' ships as unfit to be a Jneer. After her initial shock and disappointment, she discovers she likes her Mech life and falls in love. Eventually, she and her love are assigned to the advance party to Waystation One This party is a mix of Jneers and Mechs; her "friend" is also a member of the advance crew. A things go worng, the friend constantly rationalizes that everything he has done is for her. He is absolutely convinced that once she realizes it, she will go back to him. He really hasn't a clue and (hope this does not become a spoiler) plays a significant role in the many problems experienced by the advance party both to and on Waystation One. She and several others manage to escape the planet and make their way back to the fleet. The story ends years later; Waystation One is settled by residents of one the Noun Ships, which remains in Orbit. The rest of the fleet sails toward Waystation Two. H. "aitch" Harkover is a now mother and wife and lives happily ever after with her Mech husband. And that is a fine way to end a story. This is a good book, I've always liked generation ship stories (and happy endings); I really liked this one. The crew knows and understands what its mission is and is focused on it. However, the society has changed considerably from what the mission planners had intended. The Jneers are not about to give up their position. The book is also a very easy read. Ms. Matthews write clearly and concisely. I will read more of her.
Rating:
Summary: Best ¿Generation Ship¿ story in a long time
Review: Generation Ships launch colonists from Earth to the stars, hopefully with habitable planets. The ships are usually totally self-contained environments constructed to support life until arrival. The initial crew knows full well that when the ship eventually arrives, it will be long gone, as well as numerous successive generations. This gives rise to several questions. First, will the people on board at the time of arrival even remember the mission or even know they are on a ship? Will the on-board society remain constant or evolve. Heinlein's "Orphans in the Sky" (probably the standard for the genre) and Stephen Baxter's Ring address both questions, but with strikingly different endings. Frank Herbert's "Destination: Void" asks philosophical and religious questions in a generation ship taken over by an artificial intelligence. Colony Fleet varies the theme by sending numerous ships (hollowed out asteroids), as well as supporting vessels, to ensure the survival of humankind in the wake of a collapsing Earth. There is not one, but instead several destinations, called Waystations. The story involves a society stratified into the "Jneers" at the top and "Mechs" at the bottom. The journey didn't start out that way. The Jneers live in the big ships, called Noun Ships, which have names such as "Polar" and "Temperate" that define the types of environments the fleet is trying to preserve. The Jneers have evolved into a ruling class and have vested interest in maintaining the status quo. The Mechs fix things and live in the supporting vessels, which are run down and often lacking in resources. There is an in between "Admin" class that plays supporting role. The story begins about 400 years in the future and revolves around a young woman, Hillbrane Harkover, as she prepares for her Jneer exam. The results of the exam are a foregone conclusion; she will pass (everyone passes) and take her rightful place among the Jneers. However, her best friend betrays her during the exam and she ends up failing, the first failure in the fleet in a long time. She is banished to the Mechs' ships as unfit to be a Jneer. After her initial shock and disappointment, she discovers she likes her Mech life and falls in love. Eventually, she and her love are assigned to the advance party to Waystation One This party is a mix of Jneers and Mechs; her "friend" is also a member of the advance crew. A things go worng, the friend constantly rationalizes that everything he has done is for her. He is absolutely convinced that once she realizes it, she will go back to him. He really hasn't a clue and (hope this does not become a spoiler) plays a significant role in the many problems experienced by the advance party both to and on Waystation One. She and several others manage to escape the planet and make their way back to the fleet. The story ends years later; Waystation One is settled by residents of one the Noun Ships, which remains in Orbit. The rest of the fleet sails toward Waystation Two. H. "aitch" Harkover is a now mother and wife and lives happily ever after with her Mech husband. And that is a fine way to end a story. This is a good book, I've always liked generation ship stories (and happy endings); I really liked this one. The crew knows and understands what its mission is and is focused on it. However, the society has changed considerably from what the mission planners had intended. The Jneers are not about to give up their position. The book is also a very easy read. Ms. Matthews write clearly and concisely. I will read more of her.
Rating: 
Summary: Hits the mark
Review: Generation ships to the stars, rigid caste system that isn't so rigid, a main character who isn't compelling, and an adversary (can't call him villian) who we just don't care about. This stuff has been done to death, and in this case there is nothing new. I thought there would be some interesting plot turns when the opportunity arose, but alas, no. Ms. Matthews seemed content to write an average book with no real "bite" to it. There is simply nothing here to hold a readers attention. The science is straightforward, and the people seem to be wooden. The characters are in an essentially life or death situation, and yet they are reduced to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Average or slightly below. A true ho-hum of a book. Sorry, not worth any real effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Average Science Fiction, Nothing New
Review: Generation ships to the stars, rigid caste system that isn't so rigid, a main character who isn't compelling, and an adversary (can't call him villian) who we just don't care about. This stuff has been done to death, and in this case there is nothing new. I thought there would be some interesting plot turns when the opportunity arose, but alas, no. Ms. Matthews seemed content to write an average book with no real "bite" to it. There is simply nothing here to hold a readers attention. The science is straightforward, and the people seem to be wooden. The characters are in an essentially life or death situation, and yet they are reduced to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Average or slightly below. A true ho-hum of a book. Sorry, not worth any real effort.
Rating:
Summary: Ms Matthews has done better.
Review: I enjoyed this novel from beginning to end. The premise is convincing, the science unshakeable, the characters distinguished and likeable. No one does the painting of human interactions on a solid sf background like Susan. Just a joy to read!
Rating:
Summary: Humanist hard sf
Review: I enjoyed this novel from beginning to end. The premise is convincing, the science unshakeable, the characters distinguished and likeable. No one does the painting of human interactions on a solid sf background like Susan. Just a joy to read!
Rating:
Summary: Hits the mark
Review: I recommend this book to anyone planning a career in the technical fields -- it will help you keep a clear head when seduced by the temptation of technical arrogance! It's a good read, also. After 20 years in the defense industry, specifically aerospace, I can say that COLONY FLEET examines a true difference in approach between the engineering and technical sectors of our field. Matthews provides an excellent and entertaining look at the engineering/technical worldviews and how each group's prejudices can affect such a project as colonization. This is a perfect subject for science fiction. I found the plot and the characters totally engrossing. The heroes are neither all-knowing nor annoyingly anguished. Those who stand in opposition to the heroes are not stupid, but believably, and so deeply, invested in their worldview that they cannot see outside it. Ultimately, this is an optimistic book, which I also found refreshing.
Rating:
Summary: No real surprises
Review: Matthews has never quite lived up to the expectations created by her first novel, the wonderful 'An Exchange of Hostages'. Where that first work was bold and imaginative her subsequent novels have been either luke warm re-interpretations of the same theme ('Prisoner of Conscience' and 'Hour of Judgment') or poorly conceived and clumsily plotted (the abysmal 'Avalanche Soldier'). Yet I still keep buying and reading her novels! Why? Probably because they are, even at their worst, pleasant escapist stories that aren't too taxing to read. There are no real surprises in Matthews' work but that doesn't work against her. 'Colony Fleet' quickly sets itself up as a typical 'Good Girl Hardly Done By' story. Hillbrane Harkover is a Jneer, one of the ruling class of the fleet sent from Earth 400 years earlier. Through a fairly quick series of events culminating in Hillbrane being betrayed by her best friend she is demoted to the level of a Mech. Surprisingly, she finds the harsh life of a Mech more to her liking, even as she dreams of returning to the privileges of being an elite Jneer. This is not a challenging book but it is definitely an improvement over Matthews' last novel and a welcome step back in the direction of her intelligent and thought provoking first novel.
Rating:
Summary: No real surprises
Review: Matthews has never quite lived up to the expectations created by her first novel, the wonderful `An Exchange of Hostages'. Where that first work was bold and imaginative her subsequent novels have been either luke warm re-interpretations of the same theme (`Prisoner of Conscience' and `Hour of Judgment') or poorly conceived and clumsily plotted (the abysmal `Avalanche Soldier'). Yet I still keep buying and reading her novels! Why? Probably because they are, even at their worst, pleasant escapist stories that aren't too taxing to read. There are no real surprises in Matthews' work but that doesn't work against her. `Colony Fleet' quickly sets itself up as a typical `Good Girl Hardly Done By' story. Hillbrane Harkover is a Jneer, one of the ruling class of the fleet sent from Earth 400 years earlier. Through a fairly quick series of events culminating in Hillbrane being betrayed by her best friend she is demoted to the level of a Mech. Surprisingly, she finds the harsh life of a Mech more to her liking, even as she dreams of returning to the privileges of being an elite Jneer. This is not a challenging book but it is definitely an improvement over Matthews' last novel and a welcome step back in the direction of her intelligent and thought provoking first novel.
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