Harvest of Stars

Rating:
Summary: Harvest of Yawns
Review: I wasn't a Poul Anderson fan before I read this book, and I still am not. The last Anderson book I read was in the Ensign Flandry series in the late 80's which told a nice story but was nothing special. This book has an interesting idea: the downloads of the head of Fireball trying to outwit each other. The corrupted download is a pawn of the oppressive government while the other fights to maintain Fireball's independence and freedom. Too bad Anderson forgot to tell a story or build the characters along the way. Another author could have made this into a great book with this premise. The book is indeed a ponderous read as Kirkus Reviews indicates. Instead, of concentrating on developing a good storyline and dialogue, Anderson describes EVERYTHING is excruciating detail. If you want to be entertained, I would recommend that you read some of Anderson's earlier Flandry novels.

Rating:
Summary: A Great SF Epic
Review: In my opinion this book is a great triumph for Anderson. Previous books by this author have been disappointing to me but this is in a whole different league. Beginning as a fast paced adventure and ending in a grand flourish portraying the future of humanity, this story is full of surprises, plot twists and very human characters. Even more signifigant in my mind is science that is actually believable and has defined limitations. This could actually take place in the not so distant future portrayed in this gripping story. The disconcerting, (though not necessarily bad) thing is that this is almost two stories in one. The first two thirds are all adventure and intrigue covering less than a years time. The last is a moving and thought provoking view of the divergent future of the human race spanning hundreds of years in fewer pages. However short this ending is, it still manages to overwhelm the reader with awe and scope not achieved by many other more renowned authors

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, deeply moving, a masterpiece
Review: It has been a while since I have read Harvest of Stars, but I remember it as one of the most emotionally gripping SF novels I have read. Anderson deeply involves the reader in the lives and deaths of his protagonists, and the book's treatment of "eternal life" (realized by transferring a mind into a computer) is powerful and unique.

Rating:
Summary: Very good, but not outstanding
Review: It starts out great, with a war of liberation for Earth. However, the last section of the book is a bit too lengthy. Still, it is conceptually fascinating and rich with ideas.

Rating:
Summary: A masterwork
Review: Poul Anderson has brought lifetime's worth of craftsmanship and pure artistic genius to bear to create this, the crowning acheivement of his science fiction career. The downloaded copy of late Anson Guthrie, with the help of Fireball pilot Kyrie Davis, is fleeing the totalitarian Avantist world order; but the Avantists have secured and brainwashed another copy of Guthrie, so that his most dangerous opposition is himself.

The background is awe-inspiring in its complexity and completeness. Instead of a stale monoculture, or an endless array of postapocolyptic punks, the reader is treated to a tapestry of cultures of the future, including the eerie, elfin Lunarians, perhaps Anderson's most successful and memorable creation.

The main action of the book, however, is just a backdrop for a more chilling and larger threat: the spectre of bioengineering and true artificial intelligence slowly displaces Man from his seat as lord of his own fate, and an increasingly inert and sheeplike humanity becomes merely the clients and wards of a supreme cybernetic system. The only hope for Man to retain his human spirit is a risky and uncertain project to colonize one of the doomed worlds of Alpha Centauri.

HARVEST OF STARS moves from an action thriller seamlessly into profound conflict over the ultimate spiritual destiny of man, whether one of numb security or perilous liberty.

Magnificent on all levels, rich in characterization, vivid in detial, profound in scope and philosophic depth, I cannot imagine how any science fiction reader could help but award this book the highest possible rank. A classic.

Rating:
Summary: A thought-provoking speculation about humanity's future.
Review: Science fiction may be the last genre where genuinely heroic characters and a Romantic view of humanity's future are still welcome; this book epitomizes these qualities. Although the backbone of this novel is an action-adventure story, that isn't its strength. The writing and plot development are leisurely and quietly provocative, inviting the reader to THINK about where we're going and who we are. This is the best thing Anderson has written, and I was sorry to come to the end of it.

Rating:
Summary: Well-balanced and satisfies sci-fi lovers desires complety
Review: This book will turn the reader into a believer because of its realistic humanity. Poul Anderson makes you feel like a sidekick on an adventure with the greatest minds in the universe. Harvest of stars is a well-balanced journey with all of the ingridents of a page-turning quest for justice. It will be finished before you want it to be.

Rating:
Summary: Astonishingly engaging hard sci-fi
Review: This is the book that made Poul Anderson my favorite hard science fiction author of all time. The plot is novel and engaging, the characters are well-developed, and the underlying themes cause a reader to pause and think. Anderson has developed an entire universe that, while grounded in scientific reality, is as imaginative and engrossing as any I have read. This book, along with the others in the series, is a must-buy.

Rating:
Summary: OK read, but would not read again
Review: This novel is an OK read but not one I would specifically recommend. Too many plot details and changes, overdone descriptions... (a string of adjectives does not a sentence make!) I'll admit to wishing at times that it would just wrap up and be done with. There were some good concepts and enjoyable bits, so it wasn't a total loss, but there is much better fare in the genre.

Rating:
Summary: A SWEEPING AND MOVING SAGA OF MAN'S FUTURE IN SPACE
Review: THIS NOVEL IS ONE THE MOST MOVING SF SAGAS I'VE READ. ANDERSON TAKES US INTO A THE FUTURE WHEN EARTH IS RULED BY THE TYRANNICAL AVANIST GOVERNMENT. THE ONLY ONES WHO ARE RESISTING THEM ARE FIREBALL COMPANY HEADED BY THE UNFORGETTABLE ANSON GUTHRIE WITH THE HELP OF KYRA DAVIS, A BRAVE SPACE PILOT. THIS NOVEL'S SPECULATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND SPACE TRAVEL ARE FIRST RATE.ANDERSON ALSO WRITES LYRICAL PROSE THAT MAKES HIS STORY LITERALLY SING.