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To the Stars #1
Homeworld
Jan Kulozik was one of Earth's privileged elite. A brilliant young electronics engineer, he enjoyed all the blessings of a 23rd-century civilization that survived global collapse and conquered the starts, unaware of the millions who slaved or starved to maintain his way of life. Then Jan met Sara, a beautiful agent of the rebel underground dedicated to smashing Earth's rigid caste system. Through her he discovered the truth behind the lies he'd been taught. His every move watched by the state surveillance, Jan risked his position and his life to restore humanity's heritage.
199 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 16, 1980
29 people are currently reading
755 people want to read
About the author
Harry Harrison
1,261 books1,040 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
September 18, 2021
If you're looking for a straight-up espionage adventure that reads like Harrison but feels like Brave New World, then you've come to the right place.
It's basically taking us on a descent from the high-caste rich overworld into the rigidly poor underclass future world, trying to spark a light of outrage in our hearts, and do it with spy stuff and action.
It's a call-back to the golden-age SF even if it was pubbed in 1980. A strong, capable man/spy gets the girl, takes on the rigid western caste system, and has fun while doing both. It's cliche, but it's still a good cliche. Fun, light (for what it is), and fundamentally hopeful.
Of course, Harry Harrison was disparaging the massive amount of economic inequality of the time. Of course, we'd read this "dystopia" and say, hey! Isn't that TODAY? Well, yeah, we've got it even worse, but what we don't have NOW is that sense of optimism and drive and HOPE that our strong arms and sharp minds can see us through.
That's what Homeworld offers. :)
It's basically taking us on a descent from the high-caste rich overworld into the rigidly poor underclass future world, trying to spark a light of outrage in our hearts, and do it with spy stuff and action.
It's a call-back to the golden-age SF even if it was pubbed in 1980. A strong, capable man/spy gets the girl, takes on the rigid western caste system, and has fun while doing both. It's cliche, but it's still a good cliche. Fun, light (for what it is), and fundamentally hopeful.
Of course, Harry Harrison was disparaging the massive amount of economic inequality of the time. Of course, we'd read this "dystopia" and say, hey! Isn't that TODAY? Well, yeah, we've got it even worse, but what we don't have NOW is that sense of optimism and drive and HOPE that our strong arms and sharp minds can see us through.
That's what Homeworld offers. :)
December 5, 2011
I don't think this book ever got its due. Harry Harrison will always be best known and loved for The Stainless Steel Rat. But, trust me on this, if you spot any of his books with the word "world" in the title, grab it, read it. I have always found the Deathworld series even more enjoyable than the Rat series. And, oddly enough, Homeworld is my favourite of all of Harry Harrison's novels.
The reason is simple. We love the 'Rat', but let's face it, we know he's always going to win in the end. There's never anything real or critical at stake in those novels. But in Homeworld, Harry Harrison has crafted a true, classic, science-fiction suspense thriller. We really care about what happens to Jan, and unlike with Slippery Jim, the outcome is far from certain.
This is a tense, white knuckle thriller that will keep you turning the pages until the end.
The reason is simple. We love the 'Rat', but let's face it, we know he's always going to win in the end. There's never anything real or critical at stake in those novels. But in Homeworld, Harry Harrison has crafted a true, classic, science-fiction suspense thriller. We really care about what happens to Jan, and unlike with Slippery Jim, the outcome is far from certain.
This is a tense, white knuckle thriller that will keep you turning the pages until the end.
October 14, 2012
I liked this book very much. I read the second book back when I was in high school and only recently decided to read all three parts.
As far as dystopian fiction goes, I don't think there is anything new here. What makes the book, however, is Harrion's writing and characterization. The story moves briskly and smoothly throughout, and I admit, I did not expect the one big thing to happen at the end that happened. The main character is very capable, but not a superman. He is outsmarted by the baddies even when everything seems perfectly planned.
Even more impressive, Harrison is capable of telling his tale in a couple of hundred pages. All three books together are not as long as a single volume in the ten book traps writers push off on readers today.
Recommended with no reservations whatsoever!
As far as dystopian fiction goes, I don't think there is anything new here. What makes the book, however, is Harrion's writing and characterization. The story moves briskly and smoothly throughout, and I admit, I did not expect the one big thing to happen at the end that happened. The main character is very capable, but not a superman. He is outsmarted by the baddies even when everything seems perfectly planned.
Even more impressive, Harrison is capable of telling his tale in a couple of hundred pages. All three books together are not as long as a single volume in the ten book traps writers push off on readers today.
Recommended with no reservations whatsoever!
September 30, 2019
This story was bad all the way around, the Hero was perfect, totally logical, cared about everyone, completely selfless, and perfectly positioned. He is always up against some force of 'pure evil' that wants to exploit and harm for selfish reasons.
The writing was bad. Every woman the Hero is interested in is primarily interested in dropping her panties whenever possible, and of course they are always young and beautiful. It's just set up situation, hero dominates everyone and shows off how much smarter and capable and selfless he is, and how the evil people are evil and stupid, then the evil people force hero into new situation. Over and over and over for this entire series.
The Deus ex Machina's are everywhere. The hero is about to be killed as a spy? His brother in law steps in to save him 'because he's too valuable as an engineer'. He's about to get beaten to death by the primitives he lives with in space (book 2): a ship lands and the captain (who is part of a revolution that overthrew the evil government from book 1) instantly slaps down all of the hero's enemies from book 2 and gives the hero everything he wants.
This is the sort of junk writing that gives science fiction a bad reputation as a genre.
The writing was bad. Every woman the Hero is interested in is primarily interested in dropping her panties whenever possible, and of course they are always young and beautiful. It's just set up situation, hero dominates everyone and shows off how much smarter and capable and selfless he is, and how the evil people are evil and stupid, then the evil people force hero into new situation. Over and over and over for this entire series.
The Deus ex Machina's are everywhere. The hero is about to be killed as a spy? His brother in law steps in to save him 'because he's too valuable as an engineer'. He's about to get beaten to death by the primitives he lives with in space (book 2): a ship lands and the captain (who is part of a revolution that overthrew the evil government from book 1) instantly slaps down all of the hero's enemies from book 2 and gives the hero everything he wants.
This is the sort of junk writing that gives science fiction a bad reputation as a genre.
November 3, 2022
Jan Kulozik is a privileged engineer in a world where people are much stratified since the period of profligate wastage of Earth resources by that generation called The Wreckers. An accident while on holiday causes a chance encounter with a female Israeli agent named ‘Sara’, who reveals that the world is neither as benevolent nor as peaceful as Jan has believed. At first scoffing at this, a number of subsequent meetings with workers (proles) starts his Road to Damascus revelation that he lives in a very strict police state in England, but his wealth and education have hidden this from him. Becoming enamoured of Sara, Jan starts to take a more active role in Sara’s affairs, which they refer to as a revolution, but Jan soon finds that you can’t play revolutionary in a fascist regime without consequences. A more or less straight political thriller, Harry Harrison has cast Israel as the voice of reason in a fractured world, where even the off-Earth colonies are being controlled by Earth. Tinged by Brave New World and with snatches of 1984, the book is entertaining enough except for the disappointingly sudden ending which fails to tie up any ends at all. First book of a trilogy.
August 22, 2021
Pretty thin on the characterisation. Lots of parallels with 1984, that being said, it was a well told story. Looking forward to the next two parts.
July 20, 2015
I used to think I liked Harry Harrison's work, now no longer with us apparently, but even though Homeworld had been on my bookshelf for years I had never completed it, and now having done so I can understand why. It shows its age (1980) although when you have finished reading it, the plot holds together moderately well. But getting there is difficult, and the sex scenes? Well, its all milky thighs and heavy breathing, and I may have overdone it a bit in this description. And if there is one bit of advice I would offer Homeward is the first of a trilogy called "To the Stars". Try to get the other two books before you start.
April 4, 2021
'The ruling elite issued the orders and police and troops saw that they were carried out. This was the only alternative to chaos, famine and death at the time, so it seemed reasonable. And it was reasonable given the circumstances. The only trouble was that when the emergency lifted and things were physically much better, the ruling elite liked the authority they had and did not want to relinquish it. A great thinker once wrote that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Once the hobnailed boot is firmly planted on the neck it will not be raised voluntarily.’
Having recent read The Man From P.I.G., I very much expected this book to be in the same, fun filled, mould. However, I was greatly mistaken. This was a true dystopian masterpiece, up there with George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
The setting is a near future where the planet has recovered to a level of normality following a period of darkness, famine and death after the natural resources of the planet were used up. Society is split into two classes with the proles living a harsh life with most on the dole and only 10% employed doing the mundane jobs in society. The lucky few, born into the elite class enjoy a much happier experience and want for nothing. One such elite is electrical engineer, Jan Kulozik.
Whilst on holiday in the Mediterranean, Jan's life is turned upside-down when he is involved in a random boating accident. Suddenly he finds out that the world is not as it seems and he soon finds himself involved with a resistance force looking to disrupt the status quo and free the proles from their life of servitude.
It is a fast paced thriller with twists and turns as Jan and the resistance try to outfox the authorities who have the technology to monitor their every move. Worse still is that Jan's brother-in-law is the head of one of the branches of the security services. A great book and an intriguing start to this series. 5 stars!
Having recent read The Man From P.I.G., I very much expected this book to be in the same, fun filled, mould. However, I was greatly mistaken. This was a true dystopian masterpiece, up there with George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
The setting is a near future where the planet has recovered to a level of normality following a period of darkness, famine and death after the natural resources of the planet were used up. Society is split into two classes with the proles living a harsh life with most on the dole and only 10% employed doing the mundane jobs in society. The lucky few, born into the elite class enjoy a much happier experience and want for nothing. One such elite is electrical engineer, Jan Kulozik.
Whilst on holiday in the Mediterranean, Jan's life is turned upside-down when he is involved in a random boating accident. Suddenly he finds out that the world is not as it seems and he soon finds himself involved with a resistance force looking to disrupt the status quo and free the proles from their life of servitude.
It is a fast paced thriller with twists and turns as Jan and the resistance try to outfox the authorities who have the technology to monitor their every move. Worse still is that Jan's brother-in-law is the head of one of the branches of the security services. A great book and an intriguing start to this series. 5 stars!
May 5, 2022
I’ve read a lot of Harrison’s work over the years, but most of it from among his comic novels, the Stainless Steel Rat and Bill the Galactic Hero books and Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers. But Harrison has other strings to his bow, and here he is in full on paranoid dystopian thriller mode.
And to be fair, he does a pretty good job of it. Written over 40 years ago, some of the ideas are a little outdated, and the technology he posits in his far future world often consists of things we either already have or have in fact already surpassed. But the political situation he conjures up is disturbingly plausible.
It is some hundreds of years from now, and Jan Kulozic is one of the elite members of British society. As a highly educated engineer, he lives a charmed life of social excess. In this world, civilisation collapsed at the end of the 20th century due to overpopulation and the world’s resources running dry. People turned to those who could, to fix the situation and they did so in the most logical way.
This meant taking control of everything from the means of production to the corridors of power, ruling with a firm hand and taking the hard headed decisions that would keep the maximum number of people from starvation and death. Eventually they came up with the answers, cheap unlimited energy from nuclear fusion, mining the asteroid belts for resources, factories producing nutritionally rich if tasteless food for the masses.
The problem was that in this new post-scarcity society, those at the top did not want to go back to the democratic systems of government that had prevailed before. Indeed they changed the history books to remove all references to apparent freedoms and to create a backstory that suggested that their rule had always been found to be the most perfect form of government.
When an accident causes Jan to come into contact with the resistance movement, the scales are slowly lifted from his eyes and he starts to realise the unjustness of the society has always taken advantage of. Slowly he gets drawn into becoming a resistance asset, but it means avoiding the ever diligent gaze of his security agent brother-in-law.
All of this is handled well by Harrison, driving the story along with a good amount of suspense and momentum. Most of the resistance schemes, admittedly, don’t seem to mount up to much, but he is good at convincing you that these people are just small cogs in a much bigger organisational wheel.
Overall, it’s a quite short book and a quick read, and its never going to challenge Brave new World or 1984 in the league of dystopian thrillers, but if your stuck for something that fits in your pocket on a long train journey, you could do a lot worse.
And to be fair, he does a pretty good job of it. Written over 40 years ago, some of the ideas are a little outdated, and the technology he posits in his far future world often consists of things we either already have or have in fact already surpassed. But the political situation he conjures up is disturbingly plausible.
It is some hundreds of years from now, and Jan Kulozic is one of the elite members of British society. As a highly educated engineer, he lives a charmed life of social excess. In this world, civilisation collapsed at the end of the 20th century due to overpopulation and the world’s resources running dry. People turned to those who could, to fix the situation and they did so in the most logical way.
This meant taking control of everything from the means of production to the corridors of power, ruling with a firm hand and taking the hard headed decisions that would keep the maximum number of people from starvation and death. Eventually they came up with the answers, cheap unlimited energy from nuclear fusion, mining the asteroid belts for resources, factories producing nutritionally rich if tasteless food for the masses.
The problem was that in this new post-scarcity society, those at the top did not want to go back to the democratic systems of government that had prevailed before. Indeed they changed the history books to remove all references to apparent freedoms and to create a backstory that suggested that their rule had always been found to be the most perfect form of government.
When an accident causes Jan to come into contact with the resistance movement, the scales are slowly lifted from his eyes and he starts to realise the unjustness of the society has always taken advantage of. Slowly he gets drawn into becoming a resistance asset, but it means avoiding the ever diligent gaze of his security agent brother-in-law.
All of this is handled well by Harrison, driving the story along with a good amount of suspense and momentum. Most of the resistance schemes, admittedly, don’t seem to mount up to much, but he is good at convincing you that these people are just small cogs in a much bigger organisational wheel.
Overall, it’s a quite short book and a quick read, and its never going to challenge Brave new World or 1984 in the league of dystopian thrillers, but if your stuck for something that fits in your pocket on a long train journey, you could do a lot worse.
July 25, 2019
I picked this from one of my many Small Stacks of Found books (found this in an antique shop in Tennessee) for a read today while on holiday - a little cultural appropriation there, but then Harrison did place this one in a semi-sort of 23rd century near future England. Semi-sort of because for two hundred plus years out, way too many 1980 thoughts for this to not be near future. And other than a mild dystopian Big Brother overcast, it doesn't get to be science fiction until page 161 (of 199). More of a dime novel spy mystery, Harrison still wrote a light book that engaged.
One blink and you'll miss it bit: Harrison's main character created a recording device in a lighter that had...wait for it! ... a 64K magnetic bubble memory! Oh my, but I'm dating myself that I knew what that was and that for a short period in the 1970s you could get a 64K memory module. Early solid state static memory technology, it didn't fare well with Moore's "Law". At least Harrison shrunk it for his distant future.
I laughed and loved one exchange between the main character and his boss: She invited him to a reception for an Italian physicist, and he said, "I know all of his work. He's a physicist who thinks like an engineer..." Brilliant! Her reply: "I'm sure you can think of no higher praise."
His far future also included a relatively recent late 1970s product of a breathalyzer incorporated in a car (which people drove in that future) to prevent drunk driving.
I don't have the next book in the trilogy in any of my Small Stacks, but I can get a copy. For another holiday, I suppose.
One blink and you'll miss it bit: Harrison's main character created a recording device in a lighter that had...wait for it! ... a 64K magnetic bubble memory! Oh my, but I'm dating myself that I knew what that was and that for a short period in the 1970s you could get a 64K memory module. Early solid state static memory technology, it didn't fare well with Moore's "Law". At least Harrison shrunk it for his distant future.
I laughed and loved one exchange between the main character and his boss: She invited him to a reception for an Italian physicist, and he said, "I know all of his work. He's a physicist who thinks like an engineer..." Brilliant! Her reply: "I'm sure you can think of no higher praise."
His far future also included a relatively recent late 1970s product of a breathalyzer incorporated in a car (which people drove in that future) to prevent drunk driving.
I don't have the next book in the trilogy in any of my Small Stacks, but I can get a copy. For another holiday, I suppose.
July 2, 2025
I found this book stylistically odd. On the one hand, it was published in 1980, so the science is reasonably modern — electronics, tiny surveillance devices, wireless networking, and so on. On the other hand, the flavor of it somehow reminded me of "golden age" science fiction.
The title doesn't really match the story — there's a brief trip to earth orbit, but everything else takes place solidly on terra firma. I'd describe it as a spy novel with sci fi elements.
The protagonist gets pulled from situation to situation with no apparent introspection, just playing along with whatever the plot demands. And hoo boy, sure hasn't aged well.
I'm not sure how the Stainless Steel Rat books would hold up if I reread them as an adult, but this is nowhere near as good as "Make Room, Make Room". I don't plan to pick up the other two books in the trilogy.
The title doesn't really match the story — there's a brief trip to earth orbit, but everything else takes place solidly on terra firma. I'd describe it as a spy novel with sci fi elements.
The protagonist gets pulled from situation to situation with no apparent introspection, just playing along with whatever the plot demands. And hoo boy, sure hasn't aged well.
I'm not sure how the Stainless Steel Rat books would hold up if I reread them as an adult, but this is nowhere near as good as "Make Room, Make Room". I don't plan to pick up the other two books in the trilogy.
December 31, 2020
Weer ouwe sci-fi die ik uit een ruilbieb plukte. Man met comfortabel leventje ontdekt dat de wereld heel anders in elkaar zit dat hij dacht. Alhoewel: hij wist vooraf ook wel dat Schotland een soort strafkolonie is, dat het grootste deel van de Britse bevolking in extreme armoede leeft en dat de geheime dienst iedereen afluistert. Hij had er alleen zelf geen last van. Dus eigenlijk: man leert verder kijken dan zijn neus lang is.
Favoriete stukjes:
“Vrede is een woord dat niet bestaat - alleen maar aangepaste termen voor oorlogsvoering op hoog niveau”
“De wereld is op zich een poel van verderf en het heeft geen zin de mensen met de onaangename details van het leven te confronteren”
“Realiseer jij je eigenlijk wel, wat de invloed van die computers is?”
Favoriete stukjes:
“Vrede is een woord dat niet bestaat - alleen maar aangepaste termen voor oorlogsvoering op hoog niveau”
“De wereld is op zich een poel van verderf en het heeft geen zin de mensen met de onaangename details van het leven te confronteren”
“Realiseer jij je eigenlijk wel, wat de invloed van die computers is?”
January 24, 2019
It's a decent book and it passed the time on train trips to/from London but it's trying to exist in the same mould as 1984 which does it more terrifyingly and threateningly. I loved Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series, which felt more original, while this feels a bit more "me too" while telling a story that's very topical today in the Facebook era but if you want to get the definitive story of how Big Brother is watching us all and crushing all dissent, read 1984 instead of this. The litmus test for me was when I finished, did I care enough to go and get the next two books in the series. The answer was no.
May 15, 2020
If you read Harrison to get a philosophical sense of science fiction and/or futuristic revelation, let me spoil it all for you: The murderer is disillusionment with wide shoulders. However, the utmost joy and excitement await you if you read it as a space-action-fiction-opera. Constant action, games and competition in many scales and layers make the pages turn.
I find Jan a tad better than Jim because he is still not very certain about his moral compass and his ethical dilemmas seem to be more sincere. The Steel Rat on the other has almost solved everything in his mind and as ready for action as a kindergarten bully.
I find Jan a tad better than Jim because he is still not very certain about his moral compass and his ethical dilemmas seem to be more sincere. The Steel Rat on the other has almost solved everything in his mind and as ready for action as a kindergarten bully.
January 23, 2018
Homeworld, in 1980, was a reprise of 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. Today it is as topical as its forerunners are, still. The frog boiling experts have won. "Against ignorance the gods themselves strive in vain." Good people will read this and weep, knowing Jon would today die in a hail of SWAT bullets when he lands in book 3, instead of triumphing for democracy. Trump voters can't read, and wouldn't if they could. George, Ray, and Harry spelled it out. Stupid evil won. Yes, Ms Arendt, it is banal indeed.
July 15, 2022
An elite engineer learns by chance about the secret organization of society (keeping most people effectively as serfs) and the pervasive world government control to maintain it. He spends most of the book collaborating with an underground rebel group, finally accomplishing nearly nothing. The book has slight value as action-adventure entertainment, but the politics--especially the complete ignorance of society that everyone is kept in--is not believable.
August 4, 2022
A little dated as the "future" technology in this series doesn't have many of the advances we have in present time. The main character was good and I liked the 1984 political intrigue. I didn't like how romance was handled in the book, meaning there were love interests, but not real romance. The twists in the book had less impact because of it.
I would compare this book to a decent B-movie that you enjoy watching, but you will soon forget it.
I would compare this book to a decent B-movie that you enjoy watching, but you will soon forget it.
April 5, 2025
A man is drowning, but he is rescued by the crew of a submarine, which belongs to the last democratic state in the world. They cannot reveal this terrible secret to him, but they immediately disclose it anyway. A few minutes later, they drop him off on the shore, informing him that he cannot tell anyone about them; otherwise, their entire state will be in danger. Actually, it would have been better if he had drowned...
Everything is poor in this book.
Everything is poor in this book.
December 17, 2018
This book has aged itself out of being sci fi, far too much of what is proposed is either now possible or actually easier to track someone today. Overall it reads like something between the 39 steps and Brave new world, high octane thriller set in a dystopian future. The protagonist has little agency and just gets swept along. In itself not that brilliant but I held out hope for the sequels.
March 3, 2019
Typical ya uprising story but supposed to be an adult book. Fairly interesting yet dry at the same time. A man high up in society notices how the lower classes are treated and tries to do something to help change. He gets involved with a free government (Israel) and some shenanigans ensue on Earth.
November 3, 2020
This science fiction book was an entertaining easy read about espionage that was ahead of its time. Written in 1980, it contains what seems to be predictions of WiFi, Bluetooth, and the internet. I was initially put off by the bad reviews on Goodnight but what I got was much better than I had expected! I’m going to be continuing the series, as well as everything else Harry Harrison.
July 22, 2024
This is a fun bit of science-fiction espionage in the future. I think one of the best details, though, is how well Harrison predicted our current electronic surveillance state. He presented it as a dystopia that the protagonist, Jan, had never even particularly thought about, but almost everything described is essentially how we're living right now.
October 27, 2018
Poor work
The punctuation is a mess. Very poor transfer to digital. The story was exciting but ending was horrible. This is the first book I’ve read of the author. And the last.
The punctuation is a mess. Very poor transfer to digital. The story was exciting but ending was horrible. This is the first book I’ve read of the author. And the last.
February 28, 2023
Some of the predictions are common place today largely because they were not that far-fetched. Otherwise, this felt like a thriller with schoolboy technology - A James Bond without the panache, intrigue and sophistication.
January 22, 2025
It's the plot of 1984 covered in a conspiracy with some secret agent action going on in the future where we have colonized planets. It's pretty cool but it doesn't get very introspective like 1984 did. But this is a trilogy and it may get there in the sequels.
May 28, 2019
Книжка написана прекрасным языком, но уж очень банальна.
August 17, 2020
Not bad for a bit of light reading, holiday novel escapism... Certainly not enough to put me off reading the other 2 books in the series
October 24, 2021
Didn't like getting left hanging at the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 20, 2022
this book was very easy to get into. the character build up was good and the story compelling.
October 8, 2025
I usually like Harrison - Stainless Steel Rat, Make Room! - but this was just a tedious read. The Ending was unsatisfying and the left me indifferent about continuing this series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews