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The Dark Beyond the Stars
For two thousand years, the starship Astron has searched the galaxy for alien life--without success. Now, just as the ship is falling apart, the only direction left to explore is across the Dark, a one-hundred-generation journey through empty space.
The ship's captain--immortal, obsessed--refuses to abandon the quest. He will cross the Dark, or destroy the ship trying.
Only Sparrow, a young crewman uncertain of his own past, can stand against the captain, and against the lure and challenge of the dark beyond the stars...
The ship's captain--immortal, obsessed--refuses to abandon the quest. He will cross the Dark, or destroy the ship trying.
Only Sparrow, a young crewman uncertain of his own past, can stand against the captain, and against the lure and challenge of the dark beyond the stars...
420 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
About the author
Frank M. Robinson
96 books49 followersFrank M. Robinson was an American science fiction and techno-thriller writer. he got his start writing for the old pulp fiction magazines. He wrote several novels with Thomas N. Scortia until Scortia's death in 1986.
Born in Chicago, Illinois. Robinson was the son of a check forger. He started out in his teens working as a copy boy for International News Service and then became an office boy for Ziff Davis. He was drafted into the Navy for World War II, and when his tour was over attended Beloit College, where he majored in physics, graduating in 1950. Because he could find no work as a writer, he ended up back in the Navy to serve in Korea, where he kept writing, read a lot, and published in Astounding magazine.
After the Navy, he attended graduate school in journalism, then worked for a Chicago-based Sunday supplement. Soon he switched to Science Digest, where he worked from 1956 to 1959. From there, he moved into men's magazines: Rogue (1959–65) and Cavalier (1965–66). In 1969, Playboy asked him to take over the Playboy Advisor column. He remained there until 1973, when he left to write full-time.
After moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, Robinson, who was gay, was a speechwriter for gay politician Harvey Milk; he had a small role in the film Milk. After Milk's assassination, Robinson was co-executor, with Scott Smith, of Milk's last will and testament.
Robinson is the author of 16 books, the editor of two others, and has penned numerous articles. Three of his novels have been made into movies. The Power (1956) was a supernatural science fiction and government conspiracy novel about people with superhuman skills, filmed in 1968 as The Power. The Glass Inferno, co-written with Thomas N. Scortia, was combined with Richard Martin Stern's The Tower to produce the 1974 movie The Towering Inferno. The Gold Crew, also co-written Scortia, was a nuclear threat thriller filmed as an NBC miniseries and re-titled The Fifth Missile.
He collaborated on several other works with Scortia, including The Prometheus Crisis, The Nightmare Factor, and Blow-Out.
In 2009 he was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame
Born in Chicago, Illinois. Robinson was the son of a check forger. He started out in his teens working as a copy boy for International News Service and then became an office boy for Ziff Davis. He was drafted into the Navy for World War II, and when his tour was over attended Beloit College, where he majored in physics, graduating in 1950. Because he could find no work as a writer, he ended up back in the Navy to serve in Korea, where he kept writing, read a lot, and published in Astounding magazine.
After the Navy, he attended graduate school in journalism, then worked for a Chicago-based Sunday supplement. Soon he switched to Science Digest, where he worked from 1956 to 1959. From there, he moved into men's magazines: Rogue (1959–65) and Cavalier (1965–66). In 1969, Playboy asked him to take over the Playboy Advisor column. He remained there until 1973, when he left to write full-time.
After moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, Robinson, who was gay, was a speechwriter for gay politician Harvey Milk; he had a small role in the film Milk. After Milk's assassination, Robinson was co-executor, with Scott Smith, of Milk's last will and testament.
Robinson is the author of 16 books, the editor of two others, and has penned numerous articles. Three of his novels have been made into movies. The Power (1956) was a supernatural science fiction and government conspiracy novel about people with superhuman skills, filmed in 1968 as The Power. The Glass Inferno, co-written with Thomas N. Scortia, was combined with Richard Martin Stern's The Tower to produce the 1974 movie The Towering Inferno. The Gold Crew, also co-written Scortia, was a nuclear threat thriller filmed as an NBC miniseries and re-titled The Fifth Missile.
He collaborated on several other works with Scortia, including The Prometheus Crisis, The Nightmare Factor, and Blow-Out.
In 2009 he was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews
June 5, 2012
My favorite science fiction books are usually "idea" driven. By this, I mean that characters are introduced only to move the story along. Authors that come to mind are Stephen Baxter, Alastair Reynolds, Greg Egan etc.
At the other end of the spectrum are authors like Robert Charles Wilson, Frank Herbert and Ursula K. LeGuin who start with a "what if?" scenario and study how it effects the lives of the people in the book. While I don't dislike these kinds of books, I generally tend to forget them rather quickly. I find bizarre aliens and physics much more interesting in their own right than case studies in how people come to terms with "The Big Questions".
So, what does this have to with "The Dark Beyond the Stars"? Well, I would place this novel almost entirely in the second category above, with the big difference being that 5 months after I finished it, I still vividly recall many scenes from the book.
A lot of the book revolved around the day to day lives of the crew of a generational ship, which I found extremely well written. None of motivations or actions of any of the characters felt forced.
I also really liked that the question of whether or not the crew actually encountered alien life was left open (mostly!). A lot of times, an author runs the risk of over explaining things, but not here!
In summary, this book really is the best of its kind. You would be doing yourself a great disservice to pass this up!
At the other end of the spectrum are authors like Robert Charles Wilson, Frank Herbert and Ursula K. LeGuin who start with a "what if?" scenario and study how it effects the lives of the people in the book. While I don't dislike these kinds of books, I generally tend to forget them rather quickly. I find bizarre aliens and physics much more interesting in their own right than case studies in how people come to terms with "The Big Questions".
So, what does this have to with "The Dark Beyond the Stars"? Well, I would place this novel almost entirely in the second category above, with the big difference being that 5 months after I finished it, I still vividly recall many scenes from the book.
A lot of the book revolved around the day to day lives of the crew of a generational ship, which I found extremely well written. None of motivations or actions of any of the characters felt forced.
I also really liked that the question of whether or not the crew actually encountered alien life was left open (mostly!). A lot of times, an author runs the risk of over explaining things, but not here!
In summary, this book really is the best of its kind. You would be doing yourself a great disservice to pass this up!
August 20, 2007
SF. Sab told me she was reading a book where this guy wakes up with amnesia and starts having lots of gay sex in space. Doesn't that sound like a great story? I thought so. Sadly, it's only a small part of this one. There's a lot of casual, same sex fooling around, but it's in a culture where "gay" doesn't have any meaning and sex has no taboos attached, so there's no sense of tension. It's barely even gay. I wanted more of an exploration of the sexual politics of the spaceship's closed society, a society where the occupants must occasionally breed or die out, but this wasn't that book. It was the book where you're on a giant spaceship commissioned to seek out new worlds and your narrator's suffering from a wicked case of deja vu and being kind of annoying because you know there's something important he needs to remember, but he's too busy deluding himself and avoiding the subject to remember it. Overall, I give this a meh, but I liked it enough that I'm interested in trying something else by Robinson.
Three stars for atmosphere -- a working, vaguely doomed spaceship and its crew, with a nice mix of sociology and science.
Three stars for atmosphere -- a working, vaguely doomed spaceship and its crew, with a nice mix of sociology and science.
May 30, 2021
I love multi-generational spaceship stories, from Robert Heinlein’s “Orphans of the Sky” to A.E. Van Vogt’s “Rogue Ship” or Tau Zero by Paul Anderson... I even loved the ‘70’s T.V. Series “Starlost” (first conceived by Harlan Ellison and Edward Bryant). For those who don’t know who Frank M. Robinson was, other than a fine author of fiction, you have but to watch the movie “Milk” starring Sean Penn. Frank, who had a cameo part in the film, was Harvey Milk’s real life speech writer. Like the writing of Walter Tevis, this is more an introspective type of story rather than the “hard” sci-fi that was dominant during the time it was published back in 1981, being more about character, self discovery and growth. How the story concludes, reminds us that F. M. Robinson’s sci-fi root stem from the peak of the golden age, as with his famed 1956 publication of “The Power” - and I have also read one of his even earlier works from a Sept 1951 copy of Astounding (of which is part of my treasured collections of such items).
June 10, 2011
First Read:
Wow! This is an AWESOME book! I could not put it down, and ended up reading its 408 pages in a day and a bit. This novel has everything going for it! Great writing, great story, believable characters, the right amounts of tension, action, drama, thought-provoking ideas and revelations... I definitely recommend this!
Second Read:
I knew where the book was going, so I didn't get many of the benefits this time around, but I still enjoyed it a lot :)
Wow! This is an AWESOME book! I could not put it down, and ended up reading its 408 pages in a day and a bit. This novel has everything going for it! Great writing, great story, believable characters, the right amounts of tension, action, drama, thought-provoking ideas and revelations... I definitely recommend this!
Second Read:
I knew where the book was going, so I didn't get many of the benefits this time around, but I still enjoyed it a lot :)
February 8, 2013
Generation ship stories are a fairly well-known sub-genre of SF, starting as a logical explanation for how humanity would be able to cross the great distances between the stars without violating the laws of physics, tucking in for a journey that might conceivably take thousands of years. A lot of the times those stories can be subdivided into a few other distinct types. There's the ones where the people on the ship don't realize they've been on a ship for years and years and have evolved new cultures and modes (Brian Aldiss' famous "Nonstop") and the ones dealing with the rigors of being stuck on a voyage that you probably won't be around to see the end of (Gene Wolfe's "Book of the Long Sun", although its a bit oblique). Frank Robinson attempts to have a blend of both ways and surprisingly, he pulls it off.
Young Sparrow sustains an accident while the crew is out exploring a planet as part of their generational mission to discover life somewhere in the universe, and wakes up having very little memory of what happened before the accident. The crew is nice but treats him kind of odd, the Captain is really intense, two thousand years old and is really friendly to him and he constantly feels like he's missing something. Turns out, he is. Lots of somethings. And not all of them involve him.
By this point the ship has been on a voyage of two thousand years and has not been successful at finding any sort of life, leading the crew (who unlike the Captain, aren't immortal) to wonder if there is any life in the universe at all besides themselves. The Captain insists on heading outward even further, into what they call "The Dark" the vast field of space between the stars that will probably take another thousand years to cross, a journey they're not even sure the ship will survive. This, needless to say, leads to a bit of tension. Sparrow begins to think he was involved in it somehow but the depths of the "how" of it are where the book finds its strength.
Giving Sparrow a variation of amnesia right off the bat manages to make the book work on several levels, as we're forced to experience the ship with his new eyes, learning the culture that has come about during the voyage, the little understandings and quirks that start to develop when people are free of influences they used to have and start to make up their own. Watching the ship go through their own sustained rituals over the course of the novel, the clockwork routines and the variations of our old understandings gives the book a feel not unlike that of Peake's fantasy classic "Gormenghast", as all the main characters and side characters flit their way through a crumbling ship (Thrush makes a good analogue for Steerpike, albeit not as lethal), locked into a closed system that depends on everyone doing their jobs exactly as they always have been, right at the point where things are starting to go off the rails. There's a moment when it seems like Robinson is going to start having the characters subconsciously act out their character names (everyone is named after either birds or people from Shakespeare) and the story is going to move into one of those Samuel Delany discussions on Jungian archetypes and the collective unconscious but fortunately for its page turning aspects, it doesn't complicate itself.
I don't mean to suggest that this novel is just the sum of other influences. It works very well on its own and that's because Robinson has crafted a page turner, sprinkling enough mysteries to keep the ground shifting from beneath Sparrow's feet and ours as well as he constantly has to revise what he knows as he figures out new information that upends what he previously thought. It's a risk, because the book has several "everything you know is wrong!" moments that could strain credulity but Robinson manages to keep the suspense going by a gradual unpeeling of mysteries leading to the discoveries of mysteries that weren't necessarily even apparent from the get-go. Divvying out morsels of information gives the novel a constantly shifting feel, even as the location never really changes, making it feel more wide open than it should be. As the stakes become higher and the novel begins to pivot on the tension between Sparrow and the Captain, with the rest of the characters falling into their two poles, its only when you're mostly through the novel that you've realized there's hardly any action.
It feels realistic in a way that a novel about a generation ship shouldn't. Even the quibbles (a dispatch from Earth showing how the language has drifted only highlights how the crew doesn't sound all that much different and raises questions how the Captain can still understand them . . . not that I want everyone to talk like "A Clockwork Orange") only prove how much detail Robinson has put into the novel, not only giving us a fairly functioning if constantly running down starcraft, but also a logical view of how people might feel that their two thousand year mission into futility might be a waste of their time. Its a nice change from the usual SF trope that insists life must be out there somewhere and easily found, and as much as the Captain insists hey guys, its out there, all the crew knows is that they're staring at a dark expanse of space that sure doesn't seem like it might have company.
I'm not sure the climax has the impact it should but given all the clues we were dangled in the pages prior it all holds together and manages to wrap up on a satisfying note, giving us the rare actual saga that doesn't need to be five thousand pages long. Its the closest thing I've seen to a SF novel how they used to do it, taking a concept and wrapping an interesting story around it without dragging it out forever or trying to dazzle us with a zillion avant-garde techniques. It did win the Lambda Literary Award for that year, which are given to works that explore homosexual themes, and while sex is a concern in the book its not the ultimate focus, being treated seriously where it needs to be without overcoming the plot. It deals with the topic honestly and feels even realer for it, and isn't something that should turn off any potential readers. It would even work for people who like well plotted thrillers if they can get over the fact that it takes place on a spaceship. A good "meat and potatoes" SF novel that proves with a bit of intelligence and dexterity you can ensure that "science-fiction" and "story" aren't two mutually exclusive concepts.
Young Sparrow sustains an accident while the crew is out exploring a planet as part of their generational mission to discover life somewhere in the universe, and wakes up having very little memory of what happened before the accident. The crew is nice but treats him kind of odd, the Captain is really intense, two thousand years old and is really friendly to him and he constantly feels like he's missing something. Turns out, he is. Lots of somethings. And not all of them involve him.
By this point the ship has been on a voyage of two thousand years and has not been successful at finding any sort of life, leading the crew (who unlike the Captain, aren't immortal) to wonder if there is any life in the universe at all besides themselves. The Captain insists on heading outward even further, into what they call "The Dark" the vast field of space between the stars that will probably take another thousand years to cross, a journey they're not even sure the ship will survive. This, needless to say, leads to a bit of tension. Sparrow begins to think he was involved in it somehow but the depths of the "how" of it are where the book finds its strength.
Giving Sparrow a variation of amnesia right off the bat manages to make the book work on several levels, as we're forced to experience the ship with his new eyes, learning the culture that has come about during the voyage, the little understandings and quirks that start to develop when people are free of influences they used to have and start to make up their own. Watching the ship go through their own sustained rituals over the course of the novel, the clockwork routines and the variations of our old understandings gives the book a feel not unlike that of Peake's fantasy classic "Gormenghast", as all the main characters and side characters flit their way through a crumbling ship (Thrush makes a good analogue for Steerpike, albeit not as lethal), locked into a closed system that depends on everyone doing their jobs exactly as they always have been, right at the point where things are starting to go off the rails. There's a moment when it seems like Robinson is going to start having the characters subconsciously act out their character names (everyone is named after either birds or people from Shakespeare) and the story is going to move into one of those Samuel Delany discussions on Jungian archetypes and the collective unconscious but fortunately for its page turning aspects, it doesn't complicate itself.
I don't mean to suggest that this novel is just the sum of other influences. It works very well on its own and that's because Robinson has crafted a page turner, sprinkling enough mysteries to keep the ground shifting from beneath Sparrow's feet and ours as well as he constantly has to revise what he knows as he figures out new information that upends what he previously thought. It's a risk, because the book has several "everything you know is wrong!" moments that could strain credulity but Robinson manages to keep the suspense going by a gradual unpeeling of mysteries leading to the discoveries of mysteries that weren't necessarily even apparent from the get-go. Divvying out morsels of information gives the novel a constantly shifting feel, even as the location never really changes, making it feel more wide open than it should be. As the stakes become higher and the novel begins to pivot on the tension between Sparrow and the Captain, with the rest of the characters falling into their two poles, its only when you're mostly through the novel that you've realized there's hardly any action.
It feels realistic in a way that a novel about a generation ship shouldn't. Even the quibbles (a dispatch from Earth showing how the language has drifted only highlights how the crew doesn't sound all that much different and raises questions how the Captain can still understand them . . . not that I want everyone to talk like "A Clockwork Orange") only prove how much detail Robinson has put into the novel, not only giving us a fairly functioning if constantly running down starcraft, but also a logical view of how people might feel that their two thousand year mission into futility might be a waste of their time. Its a nice change from the usual SF trope that insists life must be out there somewhere and easily found, and as much as the Captain insists hey guys, its out there, all the crew knows is that they're staring at a dark expanse of space that sure doesn't seem like it might have company.
I'm not sure the climax has the impact it should but given all the clues we were dangled in the pages prior it all holds together and manages to wrap up on a satisfying note, giving us the rare actual saga that doesn't need to be five thousand pages long. Its the closest thing I've seen to a SF novel how they used to do it, taking a concept and wrapping an interesting story around it without dragging it out forever or trying to dazzle us with a zillion avant-garde techniques. It did win the Lambda Literary Award for that year, which are given to works that explore homosexual themes, and while sex is a concern in the book its not the ultimate focus, being treated seriously where it needs to be without overcoming the plot. It deals with the topic honestly and feels even realer for it, and isn't something that should turn off any potential readers. It would even work for people who like well plotted thrillers if they can get over the fact that it takes place on a spaceship. A good "meat and potatoes" SF novel that proves with a bit of intelligence and dexterity you can ensure that "science-fiction" and "story" aren't two mutually exclusive concepts.
August 27, 2010
Good hard SF. Moby Dick meets Star Trek with a dash of Wandering Jew.
The basis premise is flawed, though. The "Dark" is pictured as the starless void between two arms of the Milky Way which the multi-generational explorers must cross to find a richer area to search. But that's exactly where the earth is. The less crowded neighborhood between the arms may be the best place to look. Like Star Trek, Robinson commits the error of picturing it as having an "edge" with lots of starts on one side and a black void beyond.
Oh, and they recycle bodies to recapture "trace elements" and "mass", yet they land on barren planets with sulfur and iron. All the trace elements and mass are there for the taking.
The basis premise is flawed, though. The "Dark" is pictured as the starless void between two arms of the Milky Way which the multi-generational explorers must cross to find a richer area to search. But that's exactly where the earth is. The less crowded neighborhood between the arms may be the best place to look. Like Star Trek, Robinson commits the error of picturing it as having an "edge" with lots of starts on one side and a black void beyond.
Oh, and they recycle bodies to recapture "trace elements" and "mass", yet they land on barren planets with sulfur and iron. All the trace elements and mass are there for the taking.
November 29, 2017
I loved this book. My hang-ups included two rape scenes (one aftermath and one short yet overt scene) and a weird reproduction ritual. Nevertheless the author investigated/viewed these in a way I did not expect from 1990s sci fi. The book was also incredibly inclusive, especially for being written in 1991.
Also I'm now thinking about belief in a whole new way, and the overall adventure and mystery of this book was superb. Still not sure how I feel about the ending, but hey, I'm definitely thinking about it.
Also I'm now thinking about belief in a whole new way, and the overall adventure and mystery of this book was superb. Still not sure how I feel about the ending, but hey, I'm definitely thinking about it.
April 25, 2013
I was in my pre-teens when I read this BUT I thought it was so great that I still remember it now. There's so much food-for-thought about the existance of other life in the universe and just how small the human race really is.
And there's a whole lot of gay/bi-sexuality going on and none of the characters thought it was anything unusual. This storyline was also the first time that I realized that all these societal norms we all understand as "normal" don't actually mean anything. Lock a handful of us in a house for many, many years and soon, "normal" will take on a whole different tone.
And there's a whole lot of gay/bi-sexuality going on and none of the characters thought it was anything unusual. This storyline was also the first time that I realized that all these societal norms we all understand as "normal" don't actually mean anything. Lock a handful of us in a house for many, many years and soon, "normal" will take on a whole different tone.
July 13, 2020
I hate using star ratings, especially when one is limited to five - it's such a crude calibration.
Nevertheless, Frank M. Robinson's The Dark Beyond the Stars is a pretty damned good 3-star novel.
It is set aboard a starship that has been seeking alien life for centuries - and coming up empty. The crew is tired and dwindling, the ship itself is ageing, but the captain intends on leading her into an empty space that will take 100 generations to cross.
I read this maybe five or more years ago, and enjoyed it quite a lot. But as is so often the case with 3-star books, I don't remember much about it now that I am actually writing about it. I'm down-sizing (hence the spate of brief reviews today) so probably won't read it again, but if you're into space opera that doesn't necessarily involve big battles, you'll likely enjoy this one.
Nevertheless, Frank M. Robinson's The Dark Beyond the Stars is a pretty damned good 3-star novel.
It is set aboard a starship that has been seeking alien life for centuries - and coming up empty. The crew is tired and dwindling, the ship itself is ageing, but the captain intends on leading her into an empty space that will take 100 generations to cross.
I read this maybe five or more years ago, and enjoyed it quite a lot. But as is so often the case with 3-star books, I don't remember much about it now that I am actually writing about it. I'm down-sizing (hence the spate of brief reviews today) so probably won't read it again, but if you're into space opera that doesn't necessarily involve big battles, you'll likely enjoy this one.
January 23, 2011
One of my favorite SciFi books ever! I've been waiting for it to come to the kindle for years so I could re-read but finally gave up and got the dead tree version.
Plot wise it's not epic. It's strength is character development and one of the best plot turns I've ever read.
The author telegraphed it loud, you knew it was coming, and it was still amazing.
Plot wise it's not epic. It's strength is character development and one of the best plot turns I've ever read.
The author telegraphed it loud, you knew it was coming, and it was still amazing.
September 12, 2018
Lots of intrigue, mystery, which made it a little challenging for me. Def. thought-provoking. And fun hard sf, too. Well-done, and recommended.
January 7, 2021
Tres estrellitas, aunque he estado a punto de dejarlo en varias ocasiones. Y es que apenas pasa nada. Me he cortado de hacerlo por ver qué narices pasaba al final. Y, bueno, afortunadamente no decepciona demasiado. Modesta primera lectura del año.
October 21, 2020
Well written and entered but at times was staggering along when it could have picked up the pace. I liked Sparrow and though this was a random pick it was still a good one. A solid three ✨.
March 11, 2021
The beginning was great, the middle was painfully depressing, borderline dull, and then the ending was ok. Like the concept, not sure about the book.
July 19, 2021
A slow beginning, but the story and momentum builds. Several reveals in the last 1/3rd of the book answer a lot of questions and bring the story to a satisfactory end.
October 17, 2021
Out of this world 🤣
August 2, 2012
I was recommended this book off a list of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror novels that have gay characters in them. Pretty much every character in the novel was bisexual, which is fine, but I was expecting the main character to be gay, so that was mildly disappointing. This has nothing to do with my review, it's just an FYI in case you're hoping the novel is about the experiences of a gay character in space.
As for the book itself, I felt annoyed with the way it was written most of the time because it's written as the story of a character looking back on things he's done; it almost feels like a memoir, but not quite. It seems like after he's done something, sparrow says "I later realized I shouldn't have done that" and the commentary on his own actions became quickly irritating for me. The reason why is because, as a reader reading the novel for the first time, I have no idea of figuring out why he's momentarily regretting the way he handled some situation; if feels like the author is constantly rubbing in your face the obvious idea that something is terribly terribly amiss with the way the other characters treat sparrow without telling you any more about the situation than sparrow knows. If I were ever planning on reading this again, I'm sure I'd have lots of "a-ha!" moments at those points in the story, but a skilled reader would be able to have those same moments without the author pointing them out anyway. In spite of how annoying this was, it does make the narrative move along pretty quickly, and did keep me more interested in the story than I probably would have otherwise been.
I did enjoy the portrayal of the characters (and especially their relationships) and the setting of the novel, and it was an interesting story (although it would have been better if the author hadn't seemed to assume his readers would suffer from just as much amnesia as the main character and stop reminding us about it), but I'm only giving it 3 stars because I didn't really care too much for the writing style - the lack of authorial generosity and the annoying way that it's constantly shoved in your face.
As for the book itself, I felt annoyed with the way it was written most of the time because it's written as the story of a character looking back on things he's done; it almost feels like a memoir, but not quite. It seems like after he's done something, sparrow says "I later realized I shouldn't have done that" and the commentary on his own actions became quickly irritating for me. The reason why is because, as a reader reading the novel for the first time, I have no idea of figuring out why he's momentarily regretting the way he handled some situation; if feels like the author is constantly rubbing in your face the obvious idea that something is terribly terribly amiss with the way the other characters treat sparrow without telling you any more about the situation than sparrow knows. If I were ever planning on reading this again, I'm sure I'd have lots of "a-ha!" moments at those points in the story, but a skilled reader would be able to have those same moments without the author pointing them out anyway. In spite of how annoying this was, it does make the narrative move along pretty quickly, and did keep me more interested in the story than I probably would have otherwise been.
I did enjoy the portrayal of the characters (and especially their relationships) and the setting of the novel, and it was an interesting story (although it would have been better if the author hadn't seemed to assume his readers would suffer from just as much amnesia as the main character and stop reminding us about it), but I'm only giving it 3 stars because I didn't really care too much for the writing style - the lack of authorial generosity and the annoying way that it's constantly shoved in your face.
July 13, 2019
Scary and creepy at the same time. What if fire apes are not the only type of humans on earth.
March 31, 2019
The idea of a generation ship is one of the most terrifying in science fiction - people hurtling through space for hundreds or thousands of years, toward a destination most of them will never see, from a home most of them will never remember.
The Dark Beyond the Stars takes this idea and adds some wrinkles to ratchet up the anxiety, including a maniacal, immortal captain and a terrifying destination. It's a page-turner throughout, particularly in the back half, after it has worked through the somewhat cliched situation of the protagonist beginning the book as a total amnesiac. The reveals are interesting, and the outcomes are uncertain and ultimately satisfying.
A few knocks against it: Though this is a relatively modern novel, it sometimes reads like one written in the sixties, with descriptions and conversations that feel a little wooden. Many of the characters lacked depth; some of the protagonist's friends, enemies and lovers started to feel interchangeable. Some of the science is not entirely logical, though that's what you get sometimes with a book like this.
Speaking of which, don't even get me started about the spoiler on the very last page. It is completely unrelated to, and in fact antithetical to, the 400+ pages that have come before. It's like a cheap, tacked-on homage to Rod Serling. Again, though, it's not anything that will spoil your enjoyment of what comes before.
And ultimately, despite its flaws, this is overall an extremely entertaining book, with some interesting concepts that are fleshed out well.
The Dark Beyond the Stars takes this idea and adds some wrinkles to ratchet up the anxiety, including a maniacal, immortal captain and a terrifying destination. It's a page-turner throughout, particularly in the back half, after it has worked through the somewhat cliched situation of the protagonist beginning the book as a total amnesiac. The reveals are interesting, and the outcomes are uncertain and ultimately satisfying.
A few knocks against it: Though this is a relatively modern novel, it sometimes reads like one written in the sixties, with descriptions and conversations that feel a little wooden. Many of the characters lacked depth; some of the protagonist's friends, enemies and lovers started to feel interchangeable. Some of the science is not entirely logical, though that's what you get sometimes with a book like this.
Speaking of which, don't even get me started about the spoiler on the very last page. It is completely unrelated to, and in fact antithetical to, the 400+ pages that have come before. It's like a cheap, tacked-on homage to Rod Serling. Again, though, it's not anything that will spoil your enjoyment of what comes before.
And ultimately, despite its flaws, this is overall an extremely entertaining book, with some interesting concepts that are fleshed out well.
April 27, 2021
Many like this book a lot, but I'm only giving it 2 stars because of the weird sexual themes the author injected into what was otherwise a very good story. The book is an account of a multi-generational starship voyage launched from earth to search for life elsewhere in the galaxy. Two of the characters (somewhat inexplicably) do not age, while the other generations come and go. The story develops numerous interesting characters as each generation tries to decide between continuing to follow the obsessed ship captain, or mutiny. However, the book contains multiple scenes which can only be described as rape, and which are treated somewhat flippantly by the author. These scenes often arise from several twisted sexual plot themes: (1) every member of the crew must submit to the first sexual advance by any other member of the crew (male or female, and whether they want the encounter or not), (2) virtually every crew member is bisexual (or forced to attempt to be), and (3) females chosen for childbearing must submit to potential impregnation by multiple random male partners within the span of a few hours. They are typically drugged to make the ordeal more bearable. These weird plot elements were implausible and unpleasant, and interfered with my enjoyment of the book.
February 18, 2013
There seem to be two main subgenres in SF: action packed or meditative.
This work belongs to the second and has many merits but, after reading a couple of them, I really begin to think they hardly make for good reads: their quality may differ -here it is definitely high- but in the end they always end by being gloom, bleak, depressing; the evil innate in human society is usually a relevant theme.
In this book plot is tight, writing fine and always to the point; a perfectly believable social structure is outlined and peopled by magnificent characters, extremely well rounded.
A collateral but interesting aspect of this novel is the description of sexual mores on spaceship Astron: sex is considered an ideal way to release the pressure of a monotonous life; every member of the crew feels free to mate with anyone else on bord and the gender of the occasional companion is not an issue. More permanent relationships may involve two, three or even small groups of people.
These colourful details aside, after finishing this book I was left with nothing but a deep sense of sadness. If you love hard SF at his best you cannot miss it; if you look for pure entertainment just skip it.
This work belongs to the second and has many merits but, after reading a couple of them, I really begin to think they hardly make for good reads: their quality may differ -here it is definitely high- but in the end they always end by being gloom, bleak, depressing; the evil innate in human society is usually a relevant theme.
In this book plot is tight, writing fine and always to the point; a perfectly believable social structure is outlined and peopled by magnificent characters, extremely well rounded.
A collateral but interesting aspect of this novel is the description of sexual mores on spaceship Astron: sex is considered an ideal way to release the pressure of a monotonous life; every member of the crew feels free to mate with anyone else on bord and the gender of the occasional companion is not an issue. More permanent relationships may involve two, three or even small groups of people.
These colourful details aside, after finishing this book I was left with nothing but a deep sense of sadness. If you love hard SF at his best you cannot miss it; if you look for pure entertainment just skip it.
June 20, 2011
I would give this book 5 stars except the author's voice at times was difficult to follow. The content and pace of the story was great, a little slow at first but it picked up near the end. I cant exactly put my finger on why the author's voice was strange at times, but it just was. Other than that this was a terrific book! The ending was absolutely fantastic.
I loved the author's take on what humans would be like in an isolated environment for generations and how they maintain their link to the ancestral home planet. The flexibility of gender within the book was also a testament to the depths of human sexuality and our society's misguided views on what gender is. In my opinion, the best part of it all was that the alternate sexuality was not the main focus of the plot, merely serving to show what the lives of these people aboard Astron consisted of.
All in all it is a good book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in sci fi!
I loved the author's take on what humans would be like in an isolated environment for generations and how they maintain their link to the ancestral home planet. The flexibility of gender within the book was also a testament to the depths of human sexuality and our society's misguided views on what gender is. In my opinion, the best part of it all was that the alternate sexuality was not the main focus of the plot, merely serving to show what the lives of these people aboard Astron consisted of.
All in all it is a good book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in sci fi!
September 5, 2014
After tearing through "The Power," I had to read all of Robinson's major works and came to TDBTS next. Fantastic! Just the kind of sci-fi I love--visual, suspenseful, atmospheric, epic conflicts, questions of cosmological import, and characters with whom you can deeply identify. Robinson uses imagery ingeniously to convey the irony on board the Astron. Nothing is as it first seems, and the layers of truth are expertly peeled away to reveal mysteries and surprises in a thrilling way. The ambitious scope is also satisfying. Over hundreds of generations in the backstory and many more during the course of the action, we gain a unique, vividly-imagined telescopic view of human life. This is a hugely underrated classic. I don't know why "The Dark Beyond The Stars" is not more widely known and recommended.
December 30, 2021
D'une simplicité à couper le souffle, un ode à la vie et à la mort aussi. Je mettrais ce livre dans le rang des essais philosophiques, la science fiction n'est que le support à une analyse d'un huis clos de l'humanité en marche vers sa disparition, son hégémonie ou encore sa faiblesse. sont abordés tour à tour les thèmes de l'éternité face à la mort, de la communauté face à l'individu et vice versa, des rapports de pouvoir, du pouvoir de la procréation, de l'absolu face au quotidien,... et tout cela sans une seule prise de tête, dans la légèreté d'un héros de 17 ans qui découvre la vie, sa vie...
A recommander...
A recommander...
October 21, 2019
The reviews here remind me of the negativity of Yelp, as in everybody here is focusing on one MINOR detail and docking stars because of something so trivial. No, this isn't some gay sex odyssey where everyone has bisexual orgies every other chapter. If that is what you took away from this then a piece of great fiction was lost upon you.
I haven't read a generational ship story this good since Children of Time (which you need to read too). This book had a lot of morally gray areas and philosophical dilemmas and insights that really made me think.
Highly recommend!
I haven't read a generational ship story this good since Children of Time (which you need to read too). This book had a lot of morally gray areas and philosophical dilemmas and insights that really made me think.
Highly recommend!
Read
September 25, 2021Frustrating. In the end it was not my type of book. My excitement kept diminishing as I read. It didn't tell the story I wanted to read. It focused on ideas, human nature, philosophizing... I didn't want that. I wanted plot and characters. I didn't want the stuttering pacing; didn't want everything to stop right after each exciting incident or tense event. Didn't want the protagonist to go groping blindly every which way. Didn't want the last part to be so dull. Definitely didn't want that last paragraph.
July 29, 2016
To be plain, I loved his style. The pacing was good, the plot interesting, and he used just enough words to get the story to the reader. No wonder this guy has had movies made of his books. I haven't read anything else by him, but I probably will... and soon. Recommend this one to anyone who likes science fiction, stories about deep space exploration, love, loss, sociological studies, human history, or just a good yarn to keep you up all night!
September 6, 2011
Frank Robinson returns to Sci-Fi with a complex, intriguing space opera concerned with the nature of man and of being human which harkens back to The Power. Great plot, great characters, surprise ending, great read.
To hard SF fundamentalists: It ain't hard SF. Get over it!
To hard SF fundamentalists: It ain't hard SF. Get over it!
December 30, 2012
I first thought this would be yet another run-of-the-mill science fiction book. No, it is not. It nicely ties in with my inquiry of 'do we really need/want to know the truth?' that's been running around in my mind lately...
Love his writing style. The question of what is/isn't humanity; genetic manipulation; seeing threads of personalities. It is rich.
Love his writing style. The question of what is/isn't humanity; genetic manipulation; seeing threads of personalities. It is rich.
July 28, 2011
Good, but it took me forever to read this novel. There were passages that bored me to no end and others more thrilling. But overall, while it was a well-written book, the plot development however, was waaaay too slow for my tastes.
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