Tomorrow's Heritage

Children of the Stars #1

by Juanita Coulson

Although plagued by internal conflicts and power struggles, the Saunder family holds the key to the future of human civilization and the Earth's defense against approaching aliens

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Juanita Ruth Coulson (née Wellons) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer most well known for her Children of the Stars books, published from 1981 to 1989. (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juanita...)

Reviews

[Terence · Rating 2 out of 5]

I first read Tomorrow's Heritage around 40 years ago now, the Science Fiction Book Club edition. Somewhere, I got it into my head to reread it & since it was available as an e-book, I downloaded it to my Kindle.

It takes place in 2040, when Earth is beginning to recover from an extended period of economic, political and climatic chaos. Much of the recovery is due to the inventions of Ward Saunder, whose family has become one of the most powerful institutions in the new order of things - a "quasi-nation" as they're called in the novel. His three children are Patrick, the suave politician who's been groomed by Ward's widow to secure the Saunders' place as the de jure as well as de facto rulers of Earth; Todd, the middle son whose predelictions and talents are closest to their father's; and Mariette, whose desire to establish an offworld colony clash with her mother's and Patrick's. As other reviewers have commented, the book is more about the relationships between the siblings as opposed to what kicks off the novel - the approach of a alien probe.

It held up surprisingly well. Considering the state of the world in 2021 as I write this, one could argue that Coulson was prescient in many ways. Particularly in her description of how unscrupulous politicians and other charlatans exploit the alien's presence to gin up fears and paranoia based on no evidence. There's only one really cringe-worthy episode. There's a point where Todd has to infilitrate a secure facility to get the evidence he needs to stop his brother and impersonates someone, and the author goes blackface. It's a high-tech blackface, to be sure, no shoe polish but it's still blackface.

I can't really recommend this. It's written competently enough and, as mentioned, there are parts that read like they're from 2021 headlines, but it's just "OK."

[Maria Beltrami · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of the premises of this novel are common to several science fiction books: a future world in which the gap between rich and poor is very wide, a fairly recent past of war and disease, and a violently sovereign and populist politics. Indeed, read in 2021, a book written in 2016 about a pandemic and an Earth First movement gives one the creeps. That said, underlying the novel is a complicated family feud, the mechanisms of which are quite well described. The alien vehicle approaching Earth is the obvious trigger for a series of conflicts simmering beneath an apparently calm, if not benign, surface and, after a brief moment of reckoning, the happy ending is fairly predictable.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 2.25 of 5

I haven't read much by Juanita Coulson, but when I see her name I have two reactions ... first, that she was one of the early authors for the LaserBooks series in the 1970's, and that I met her and Buck at a convention in Minneapolis many, MANY years ago.

Reading this book brings to mind another thought ... science fiction writing has changed over the past four decades.

The story: Alien life is making its way to Earth. Not much more is known other than that an intelligence outside the solar system has sent a signal and it's getting closer. On Earth, Ward Saunder was the leader of the Saunder family and fought to protect his family from chaos and death with the approach of the aliens. Now, the family matriarch, Jael, is continuing the battle, determined to make the Saunder family into a formidable dynasty. But that proves challenging since the family members are all head-strong and pushing against the aliens, and against family. Who will win the battle of control?

This is a pretty fascinating idea and was generally well received/reviewed when it was first published in the 1980's. But just as fashion and music has changed over the decades, so has literature and reading tastes.

The book starts out with a bang and really captures the reader's attention, but then book slogs through 300 pages of family squabbles. Aliens on the way? That's not nearly as important as the internal strife of siblings. Right?

There's a great truth to this ... we all go on living our lives despite disasters and atrocities happening all over the world. The difference? Our lives aren't meant for dramatic story-telling.

Mostly I just didn't ever care about the family. Nobody was particularly interesting or worth caring about, which makes for 300 pages of slow reading.

The book reminds me of a sci-fi version of the television shows Dallas, or Dynasty. Is it coincidence that these shows were popular in the 1980's, when this book first came out? I don't think so. Would those shows be popular today? Probably not so much. Neither will this book.

Looking for a good book? Tomorrow's Heritage is a reissued book by Juanita Coulson. It shows its age. It is about a dysfunctional, powerful family at a time when aliens are about to invade the earth.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[Dorothy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had potential but it was bogged down by excess verbosity and side plots. Things did not start to get interesting until the end, when the young man goes to investigate the location of the political prisoners. There needed to be much more editing- show, don't tell; avoid jargons and cliches; and draw the reader in from page one. Show them why the society depicted in the book is relevant to today's society in the issues that people face and the larger life questions that must be resolved.

[Venture Press · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is published by Venture Press.

[C Jon Tice · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written piece focusing on the planetary prowess of one family. I wasn't as intrigued by the political rivalry of the siblings as I was the alien messenger, so I was disappointed with the ending.

[Megan]

DNS 7/16/2021

[James]

Children of Stars 1, Ballantine 1st paperback vg+

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A unmemorable science fiction soap opera. First volume of the Children of the Stars tetralogy.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jael Saunder was trying to keep a giant global company afloat, but her children had their own goals. This story is about the family conflicts and contact with aliens.

[Howard]

7

[David Price]

loved this book trying to find electronic edition of this series

[SciFiOne · Rating 4 out of 5]

1983 grade B+