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Starship Troupers #3
A Slight Detour
Saga continues of Barry Tallander's fledgling Star Company, narrated by Ramou, who loves to fight, and diplomatic mentor Horace. Puritan colony planet Citadel forbids theater, but a lecture on heads passes elderly deacons' approval in Hadleyburg hall. Pretty Prudence sweet-talks protective brother Elias to help trapped newcomers, but again, the show triggers a riot. Plus preview The Secular Wizard.
297 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1994
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86 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Stasheff
105 books302 followersThe late Christopher Stasheff was an American science fiction and fantasy author. When teaching proved too real, he gave it up in favor of writing full-time. Stasheff was noted for his blending of science fiction and fantasy, as seen in his Warlock series. He spent his early childhood in Mount Vernon, New York, but spent the rest of his formative years in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Stasheff taught at the University of Eastern New Mexico in Portales, before retiring to Champaign, Illinois, in 2009. He had a wife and four children.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 4, 2025
What can a shipload of actors do on a fundamentalist planet where plays are banned? Their currency is no good and the local men want to fight the actors and take advantage of the actresses. In this third book Stasheff gives a completely believable way out for the passengers and crew of the Cotton Blossom.
Well-written with lots of historical theater trivia and some interesting twists. The characters are clearly defined and quite different from each other. New characters are introduced in a believable way with clear motivations. A good wrap-up to the series. 4/5
Well-written with lots of historical theater trivia and some interesting twists. The characters are clearly defined and quite different from each other. New characters are introduced in a believable way with clear motivations. A good wrap-up to the series. 4/5
October 26, 2024
Finished the trilogy only because I do not give up on books easily. What helped is that you can skip through a lot. The rehearsal scenes are all the same (the same characters doing/saying the same things over and again) and everything Ramou is involved in can be skipped as it is always the same. Maybe it is because the author is trying so hard to make him the likeable hero that (to me at least) he is the most annoying character in any book I have ever read. Sad to say, this trilogy makes me reluctant to read any more books by this author. Repetitive and predictable.
June 27, 2018
My story finally came to a close . I will miss these characters. On this occasion, our troupe goes to a planet of Puritans, run by deacons. It all goes to heck from there, but they do get to do the most interesting performance that I would love to see in real life.
January 20, 2013
While I enjoyed A Slight Detour as much as the previous two volumes, it suffers much more extensively from the problem of repetition. Part of this is natural - as a series progresses, if the characters and their circumstances don't change significantly, the same elements will appear - but the rest comes from an amplification of Stasheff's tendency as a writer and a certain stagnation in the concept.
Our brave band of intrepid actors finds themselves - again - on a planet that poses unexpected difficulties to their performance and - again - must discard the material they rehearsed in the first two volumes to come up with something completely new. I confess myself disappointed, because I'd love to see what a performance of Vagrants From Vega would be like. Maybe this would have happened in book four?
This time, the planet is Citadel, a Puritan world, which poses a tense situation for our new arrivals ... and a number of social barriers which our crew of actors finds literally intolerable. There is a lot of entertainment in seeing these played out, though I found the friendships-from-fighting a bit puzzling.
One of the best aspects of this book is the introduction of a new character, Prudence - a native of the planet who turns out to be all kinds of trouble (just barely) hidden behind a sedate shell. She's a lot of fun, and she injects a new element into the character interactions.
Previous reviews of this series have covered Stasheff's tendency to have his characters get up on soapboxes, and with Citadel, it feels particularly uneven. There's no real attempt to present a balanced point of view, so the whole planet feels like a strawman, which is something of a shame.
The main repetition I noticed here, though, was actual repeated text. Trying not to spoil, but the characters are forced to write a script on the fly. Barry (the troupe's leader) praises this script and its clever writing, which already sets up a problem for the reader: the actual text is never going to match what the imagination conjures. And it doesn't, but it's a good speech ... except for the fact it shows up in its entirety twice, once while being rehearsed, and once in performance, with some necessary reiteration of the acting, as well. I can see the logic in showing the speech before its presentation so the reader can follow (and to some degree, anticipate) the beats in the audience's reaction, but it does make the reading a bit tedious.
There is also some repetition in the manner of the ending of the book, though at least that takes on a twist that promises interesting complications in the sequels ... which tragically, were never written.
I still have a soft spot in my heart for these books, but alas, they go no further and this one treads little new ground.
Our brave band of intrepid actors finds themselves - again - on a planet that poses unexpected difficulties to their performance and - again - must discard the material they rehearsed in the first two volumes to come up with something completely new. I confess myself disappointed, because I'd love to see what a performance of Vagrants From Vega would be like. Maybe this would have happened in book four?
This time, the planet is Citadel, a Puritan world, which poses a tense situation for our new arrivals ... and a number of social barriers which our crew of actors finds literally intolerable. There is a lot of entertainment in seeing these played out, though I found the friendships-from-fighting a bit puzzling.
One of the best aspects of this book is the introduction of a new character, Prudence - a native of the planet who turns out to be all kinds of trouble (just barely) hidden behind a sedate shell. She's a lot of fun, and she injects a new element into the character interactions.
Previous reviews of this series have covered Stasheff's tendency to have his characters get up on soapboxes, and with Citadel, it feels particularly uneven. There's no real attempt to present a balanced point of view, so the whole planet feels like a strawman, which is something of a shame.
The main repetition I noticed here, though, was actual repeated text. Trying not to spoil, but the characters are forced to write a script on the fly. Barry (the troupe's leader) praises this script and its clever writing, which already sets up a problem for the reader: the actual text is never going to match what the imagination conjures. And it doesn't, but it's a good speech ... except for the fact it shows up in its entirety twice, once while being rehearsed, and once in performance, with some necessary reiteration of the acting, as well. I can see the logic in showing the speech before its presentation so the reader can follow (and to some degree, anticipate) the beats in the audience's reaction, but it does make the reading a bit tedious.
There is also some repetition in the manner of the ending of the book, though at least that takes on a twist that promises interesting complications in the sequels ... which tragically, were never written.
I still have a soft spot in my heart for these books, but alas, they go no further and this one treads little new ground.
January 16, 2014
Saga continues of Barry Tallander's fledgling Star Company, narrated by Ramou, who loves to fight, and diplomatic mentor Horace. Both narrators sound alike, shouldn't, first would be enough. Used to Stasheff style now, I just skim over annoying lectures.
Puritan colony planet Citadel forbids theater, but a lecture on heads passes elderly deacons' approval in Hadleyburg ("incorruptible" town name from Mark Twain #47 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) hall. Pretty Prudence sweet-talks protective brother Elias to help trapped newcomers, but again, shows triggers riots, and diatribe for free religion slows action.
Puns, insults, quick retorts are part of reason to keep reading, but forgettable.
Questions are left unanswered by author's retirement, but Wiki claims self-published 2012 The Unknown Guest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship.... Chapter 1 on author's own website http://christopher.stasheff.com/ficti... with "so much month left at the end of the money". "The ghost walks" is theater slang for payday, but at their next stop, Gemma aka "Sandrock" in Corona Borealis, "the whole planet is haunted" because "silicon .. natural memory crystals" store "strong emotion .. anyone of a similar personality" can "replay it - sort of". Ramou is not "the only one whose memories really could hurt". (Typo "captain Gavin McLeod" is Captain Gantry in #1-3, always called McLeod (also noted by user gwanbush, but forum does not allow any more entries), "popping aspirin" where is foul syrup "Granny Hoorhee's Home Hangover Cure" of previous books, even other series?
Who is Gray Man who follows? Who "tipped with strychnine" needle in Charles' tights? Why (not fatal, surely)? Could another writer build on and enliven the set, stick with Ramou as single narrator, please?
"Catharsis meant purging the audience of all the emotions that led to evil behavior .. Aristotle .. used to an audience that saw plays maybe one week out of the whole year, not one that was bombarded by 3DT every day" all day p 82.
Puritan colony planet Citadel forbids theater, but a lecture on heads passes elderly deacons' approval in Hadleyburg ("incorruptible" town name from Mark Twain #47 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) hall. Pretty Prudence sweet-talks protective brother Elias to help trapped newcomers, but again, shows triggers riots, and diatribe for free religion slows action.
Puns, insults, quick retorts are part of reason to keep reading, but forgettable.
Questions are left unanswered by author's retirement, but Wiki claims self-published 2012 The Unknown Guest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship.... Chapter 1 on author's own website http://christopher.stasheff.com/ficti... with "so much month left at the end of the money". "The ghost walks" is theater slang for payday, but at their next stop, Gemma aka "Sandrock" in Corona Borealis, "the whole planet is haunted" because "silicon .. natural memory crystals" store "strong emotion .. anyone of a similar personality" can "replay it - sort of". Ramou is not "the only one whose memories really could hurt". (Typo "captain Gavin McLeod" is Captain Gantry in #1-3, always called McLeod (also noted by user gwanbush, but forum does not allow any more entries), "popping aspirin" where is foul syrup "Granny Hoorhee's Home Hangover Cure" of previous books, even other series?
Who is Gray Man who follows? Who "tipped with strychnine" needle in Charles' tights? Why (not fatal, surely)? Could another writer build on and enliven the set, stick with Ramou as single narrator, please?
"Catharsis meant purging the audience of all the emotions that led to evil behavior .. Aristotle .. used to an audience that saw plays maybe one week out of the whole year, not one that was bombarded by 3DT every day" all day p 82.
June 25, 2013
The third book in the Starship Troupers series was, for me very hard to find on bookstore shelves. I expect it would be somewhat easier with the internet now, but don't be surprised if this book takes some hunting down. If you do get it (and you'll definitely want to after reading books 1 and 2) I expect you'll enjoy it just as much as the earlier books! If you thought things could not get anymore complicated for our interstellar touring company, you probably haven't toured with live theatre! ;-) Having worked in theatre for many years, this book and the rest of the series definitely capture what life is like in the industry. I highly recommend this and all of Starship Troopers for anyone in the theatre business, both backstage and on stage!
So far, this is the latest book in the series and I really hope Mr. Stasheff finds time to give us at least one more Starship Troupers book. I would recommend fans of this series check out his book Escape Velocity (a prequel to his Warlock series) as it serves as a bridge between the Warlock novels and Starship Troupers.
So far, this is the latest book in the series and I really hope Mr. Stasheff finds time to give us at least one more Starship Troupers book. I would recommend fans of this series check out his book Escape Velocity (a prequel to his Warlock series) as it serves as a bridge between the Warlock novels and Starship Troupers.
July 17, 2008
I'm so disappointed that he didn't continue this series. It's my favorite of stasheff's work.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews