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Asgard #1
Journey to the Core of Creation: A Romance of Evolution
It is 1847, and Paris is edging closer to its next revolution, but something is also astir inside Mont Dragon in the Ardeche. This is a place of annual pilgrimage for a band of enigmatic nomads, and also a place of interest to the ambitious Bishop of Viviers. In spite of his distaste for travel, Auguste Dupin makes the long southward journey, in the hope that he might be able to help an old friend, the evolutionist Claude Guerande. Guerande believes that he has made discoveries in the caves of Mont Dragon that might cast new light on the origin of humankind, and of life itself. Over the years, however, not everyone who has gone into the caves has come out again, and not everyone who has come out has been unaltered...and 1847 promises to be a critical year, more dangerous than any before it. And when the bizarre flameflower begins to bloom, everything changes! Another great tale in the Auguste Dupin series.
220 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
7 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
About the author
Brian M. Stableford
883 books135 followersBrian Michael Stableford was a British science fiction writer who published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped the middle initial and appeared under the name Brian Stableford. He also used the pseudonym Brian Craig for a couple of very early works, and again for a few more recent works. The pseudonym derives from the first names of himself and of a school friend from the 1960s, Craig A. Mackintosh, with whom he jointly published some very early work.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
April 25, 2017
Hımm kitapla ilgili kafam bir hayli karışık. Her ne olursa olsun hikâyenin devamını çok merak ediyorum ve bir sonuca ulaşabileceğimizi umuyorum. Söylenebilecek hemen her şeyi, 6.45 arka kapakta özetlemiş galiba, kalbimizi kıracak bir şekilde:
"Her 6.45 okuru bilir ki, sonsuz hayatı arayan bir kaybedene, 'sonsuz hayat yoktur' dendiğinde alınacak tek bir yanıt vardır. 'Yoksa aramakta mı yoktur.'"
"Her 6.45 okuru bilir ki, sonsuz hayatı arayan bir kaybedene, 'sonsuz hayat yoktur' dendiğinde alınacak tek bir yanıt vardır. 'Yoksa aramakta mı yoktur.'"
January 17, 2018
Book: "What I have for you is an artificial planet with nested subterranean levels, in ruin, built by some mysterious lost species. Scruffy, disreputable scavengers obtain technological salvage at great danger to themselves."
Me: "I am completely on board with this concept."
Book: "But first the protagonist must be framed for a crime, noir-style, and we have to go through the planetary jurisprudence and dealing with gangsters and boring alien philosophies etc etc etc before we head below the surface. That will take about half the page count."
There's a lot going on here that is _not_ spelunking under a mystery planet for treasure, and this must be waded through until the reader reaches the ruined machinery and sealed-off environments where the planned ecologies have gone wild, and wayward civilizations unaware that they live inside a big onion floating in the infinite dark. And while there's interesting ideas about free will and social organization, it is not as interesting as spelunking under a mystery planet for treasure.
I never had a good picture of the topology of the inner levels, of how the levels relate and how they are structured. Stableford talks of them being independent, but also of one of them being originally agricultural. The narrator uses the words "cave", "tunnel", and "complex", so these spaces are open unless they're not.
While Rousseau and space-captain Lear have an adversarial relationship, it's unclear if there was be sexual tension between them. Lear gets short shrift in that she's usually described as "the blonde" by Rousseau and other characters, but Rousseau never mentions desirability or attraction or anything like that. And Lear, a hard-bitten military officer on an urgent mission, is all business and no interest in an underling. That the story is arranged this way is kind of interesting and pretty refreshing given the stock characters you'd expect.
Me: "I am completely on board with this concept."
Book: "But first the protagonist must be framed for a crime, noir-style, and we have to go through the planetary jurisprudence and dealing with gangsters and boring alien philosophies etc etc etc before we head below the surface. That will take about half the page count."
There's a lot going on here that is _not_ spelunking under a mystery planet for treasure, and this must be waded through until the reader reaches the ruined machinery and sealed-off environments where the planned ecologies have gone wild, and wayward civilizations unaware that they live inside a big onion floating in the infinite dark. And while there's interesting ideas about free will and social organization, it is not as interesting as spelunking under a mystery planet for treasure.
I never had a good picture of the topology of the inner levels, of how the levels relate and how they are structured. Stableford talks of them being independent, but also of one of them being originally agricultural. The narrator uses the words "cave", "tunnel", and "complex", so these spaces are open unless they're not.
While Rousseau and space-captain Lear have an adversarial relationship, it's unclear if there was be sexual tension between them. Lear gets short shrift in that she's usually described as "the blonde" by Rousseau and other characters, but Rousseau never mentions desirability or attraction or anything like that. And Lear, a hard-bitten military officer on an urgent mission, is all business and no interest in an underling. That the story is arranged this way is kind of interesting and pretty refreshing given the stock characters you'd expect.
November 16, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. It was almost like reading a science fiction hard-boiled crime novel - minus the detective though. Instead the protagonist is a treasure hunter who gets caught up with the mob and framed for murder. A really great read!
August 29, 2025
3.5 ⭐️ Stableford is a just right author. He’s not blowing minds and exuding novum, he’s telling an SF adventure story with just enough characterization, world building, plot, dialogue, science and likability in just the right amounts to make a cheap paperback highly enjoyable. In this case a savvy loser wrangles several groups of opponents to investigate a crime, a planetary mystery, and the fascinating planet itself.
December 25, 2024
2.75
Started out good...went steadily down hill..
Started out good...went steadily down hill..
January 28, 2022
Journey to the Centre is a dry yet engaging story of exploration that focuses less on the plot than on alien culture. So, I was here for it.
The world-building in this novel is wonderful. There is a depth to not only the world the story takes place on but the alien cultures that inhabit it. I loved the idea of a planet built on top of the ruins of another mega-civilization that people are researching. Very very fun!
In terms of characters though, Mike is a bit of a … dick. He’s not terrible, but he doesn’t have a sexiness about him to offset his very condescending way of being. He also info-dump a lot, which is maybe where it comes from. Stableford, I guess, decided rather than do a narrative info-dump he did a lot of character monologue infodump. Did I mind the infodump? Not really, because it was about alien cultures which I love.
The other character are pretty flat. Captain Susarma Lear is cool because she’s a woman space marine, but she doesn’t have a lot of backstory, nor do any of the other characters. We get glimpses but I can’t tell you a thing about any of them except for their jobs.
I loved that there were two female characters in the book and neither were love interests. That was different and refreshing for an older sci-fi!
The plot is very thin and not enough time is spent in the ruins, but it moves fast enough that you’re entertained.
The aliens are the coolest part. There is a huge focus in this novel on alien cultures and worlds, so that aspect is quite a treat.
Overall, a bit dry of a novel with very flat characters, but the world-building is fantastic.
The world-building in this novel is wonderful. There is a depth to not only the world the story takes place on but the alien cultures that inhabit it. I loved the idea of a planet built on top of the ruins of another mega-civilization that people are researching. Very very fun!
In terms of characters though, Mike is a bit of a … dick. He’s not terrible, but he doesn’t have a sexiness about him to offset his very condescending way of being. He also info-dump a lot, which is maybe where it comes from. Stableford, I guess, decided rather than do a narrative info-dump he did a lot of character monologue infodump. Did I mind the infodump? Not really, because it was about alien cultures which I love.
The other character are pretty flat. Captain Susarma Lear is cool because she’s a woman space marine, but she doesn’t have a lot of backstory, nor do any of the other characters. We get glimpses but I can’t tell you a thing about any of them except for their jobs.
I loved that there were two female characters in the book and neither were love interests. That was different and refreshing for an older sci-fi!
The plot is very thin and not enough time is spent in the ruins, but it moves fast enough that you’re entertained.
The aliens are the coolest part. There is a huge focus in this novel on alien cultures and worlds, so that aspect is quite a treat.
Overall, a bit dry of a novel with very flat characters, but the world-building is fantastic.
June 2, 2022
3 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews
Summary
Mike Rousseau is a freelance explorer - digging into the mysteries of the seemingly abandoned planet (or construct) Asgard. But trouble finds him when he's framed for murder, seemingly so that a criminal mastermind can call on his services.
Review
My introduction to Brian Stableford was via his novel The Realms of Tartarus, which I loved. While I’ve picked up much of his other work, none of it has struck me quite the same way, whether the earlier, pulpy stuff or the later, more grim work. This book is definitely in the earlier category.
The story starts out well. If there’s a notable debt to Frederik Pohl’s Gateway concept, the story also focuses a little less on the clever technology and more on the adventure. Unfortunately, many of its threads fall apart at the end. While Stableford gets away with the fairly thin, pulpy characterization, it feels like he simply ran out of plot ideas toward the end, and his publishers went with his placeholder summary instead. It works only in a very rough way.
That said, I hadn’t realized there were sequels until today. The story could be seen as setting those up, but frankly it doesn’t do a great job of that either. Stableford’s an able writer, but this book is in many ways a disappointment.
Summary
Mike Rousseau is a freelance explorer - digging into the mysteries of the seemingly abandoned planet (or construct) Asgard. But trouble finds him when he's framed for murder, seemingly so that a criminal mastermind can call on his services.
Review
My introduction to Brian Stableford was via his novel The Realms of Tartarus, which I loved. While I’ve picked up much of his other work, none of it has struck me quite the same way, whether the earlier, pulpy stuff or the later, more grim work. This book is definitely in the earlier category.
The story starts out well. If there’s a notable debt to Frederik Pohl’s Gateway concept, the story also focuses a little less on the clever technology and more on the adventure. Unfortunately, many of its threads fall apart at the end. While Stableford gets away with the fairly thin, pulpy characterization, it feels like he simply ran out of plot ideas toward the end, and his publishers went with his placeholder summary instead. It works only in a very rough way.
That said, I hadn’t realized there were sequels until today. The story could be seen as setting those up, but frankly it doesn’t do a great job of that either. Stableford’s an able writer, but this book is in many ways a disappointment.
July 22, 2013
I recently looked again at Journey to the Center. This was one of the first sf books I ever purchased. It is the story of humans who live on an artificial planet, built by some unknown race millennium earlier. The planet has endless levels and passages honeycombing its interior. The center has never been reached, and in the circumstances of the plot, one explorer who makes his living searching for artifacts within the planet
is caught between several factions who desire to journey deep into its interior.
This book holds up well after all these years since its initial publication. I did not realize until recently that Stableford had eventually written two sequels, now out of print. Seeking them out is on my agenda.
Stableford is or should be considered an sf master. He has published more than 50 novels since the seventies, and is also an editor, non-fiction writer, and translator.
is caught between several factions who desire to journey deep into its interior.
This book holds up well after all these years since its initial publication. I did not realize until recently that Stableford had eventually written two sequels, now out of print. Seeking them out is on my agenda.
Stableford is or should be considered an sf master. He has published more than 50 novels since the seventies, and is also an editor, non-fiction writer, and translator.
March 7, 2010
The hollow world of Asgard is thousands of levels deep but only the first three or four have been explored. Mike Rousseau, a scavenger -- someone who goes into the unexplored bits looking for ways further down and technology to sell on -- finds himself caught up in a race to the lower levels.
This was a fun adventure story told from a first person perspective, something which always makes me hear it in an American private dick sort of voice. The protagonist spent lots of time ruminating on the Big Questions of the universe in the bits when he wasn't fleeing for his life, or being shouted at and it had a surprisingly downbeat ending, which slightly surprised me. Nothing hugely memorable, but an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.
This was a fun adventure story told from a first person perspective, something which always makes me hear it in an American private dick sort of voice. The protagonist spent lots of time ruminating on the Big Questions of the universe in the bits when he wasn't fleeing for his life, or being shouted at and it had a surprisingly downbeat ending, which slightly surprised me. Nothing hugely memorable, but an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.
July 11, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"Brian M. Stableford’s Journey to the Center (1982) is a poor man’s Ringworld (1970) mixed with a light dose of Pohl’s Gateway (1977). The combination is pleasantly surprising in parts but also downright dull. Stableford’s alien species are interchangeable and uninteresting and his descriptions of the world — although a fantastic idea — fail to encapsulate the awe Asgard should inspire.
The tone, verging on light-hearted, does [...]"
"Brian M. Stableford’s Journey to the Center (1982) is a poor man’s Ringworld (1970) mixed with a light dose of Pohl’s Gateway (1977). The combination is pleasantly surprising in parts but also downright dull. Stableford’s alien species are interchangeable and uninteresting and his descriptions of the world — although a fantastic idea — fail to encapsulate the awe Asgard should inspire.
The tone, verging on light-hearted, does [...]"
February 9, 2017
I read the last part of this trilogy a few years back. I've always enjoyed Stableford's books, and although this isn't his best, it has his hallmarks of a well imagined and scientifically thought through alien world. Asgard's Russian doll construction of worlds nested in worlds is an interesting conceit and a clever variation on the Ringworld concept.
May 8, 2015
1985 grade B+
April 17, 2025
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER is a rip-roaring adventure to the center of an artificial planet brought to our galaxy by an advanced race that has apparently disappeared. A group of humanoid species are mining the planet for advanced technology, and (barely) maintaining a peace overseen by another advanced race. The hero of the book is taken from noir mystery central casting—a smart aleck loner who is down on his luck. But his knowledge of the lower worlds makes him valuable, and, through some chicanery, he is framed for murder and sold as a slave to the highest bidder, in this case a ruthless group out to exploit his skills. In the meantime, a star ship from earth arrives after a brutal war and rescues the narrator and then presses him into service to help them find a giant android who’s escaped underground. They are out to kill him as he was developed by their enemies to destroy the earth. Stableford is not just a good writer of action SF, but includes a lot of his science background and occasional philosophical musings about what constitutes “civilization” and how humans as omnivores veer from violent destroyers to cooperative builders. An excellent start to the Asgard series I will continue to read.
March 12, 2022
While this book is a short read, I found it very interesting. A planet entirely manmade. Seemingly deserted with level upon level to explore. Adventurers look for valuable technology they can resell within the depths. Throw in that there is little atmosphere anywhere, nothing working under surface layer so its pitch black AND that the planet sits at near absolute zero, and it becomes a daunting task to search it. Throw on top of it a bit of intrigue between the star troopers and a band of gangsters and it's a real adventure. Told in first person, with a fun voice by a character you love to root for, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable read. The novelty of where the story is set makes for a very intriguing prospect. There are two other books in the series, I think I'll look them up.
June 29, 2023
Yet again, Stableford comes through with a winner. This is a tight, well-told adventure tale. It's a delightful romp of a sci-fi story, full of action, drama and betrayals. The characters are never really all that deep, but Stableford has a wonderful imagination and his premises and ideas are remarkably original. Stableford also flirts with some deep themes, even if the ending paragraph/sentence is a bit too on the nose! If you want a thrilling yet also slightly heady sci-fi tale, look no further. Also - I'm sure he was influenced by it, but the Star Trek influences shine strong in this one. Definitely had some Trek vibes and themes - I had Star Trek music running through my head at one point as I read!
September 30, 2019
A straight forward and entertaining science fiction novel. I enjoyed it quite a lot.
January 19, 2022
Nice idea, poor execution.
January 19, 2024
A rather dull read! If you're into scifi, keep looking. Put this one back on the second-hand bookstore shelf.
November 14, 2024
Such a fun book to read!
July 7, 2025
Stableford is always good for a quick fun read.
This one appears to be some sort of hollow-earth space crime noir thingy...
This one appears to be some sort of hollow-earth space crime noir thingy...
March 11, 2012
I didn't like this one enough to continue the three-volume series.
January 19, 2013
gerisini okuyacak kadar heyecanlandırmadı, üçlemenin devamına ters bir anımda devam ederim ancak.
January 7, 2013
AN enjoyble little space opera from the tail-end od DAW Book's golden age. I'll be checking out the sequels.
April 5, 2013
Great read! It was so captivating, I read the whole trilogy. I still think this one (first book of the trilogy) is the best.
December 5, 2016
Sci-fi adventure set on a planet with mysteries below its surface. Not bad.
October 9, 2023
Slow going to get an interesting end.
Very long to finally building to an moment of speculation. Could have been a long
short story rather than a novel.
Very long to finally building to an moment of speculation. Could have been a long
short story rather than a novel.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews