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Stardance #1-3
The Stardance Trilogy
And the Aliens Came—
Immensely powerful and with technology so advanced it is like magic. We need to talk. But how That's why we keep artists around. Even the failed dancers, whose broken bodies and fierce determination drive them to the weightlessness of space where they still might move with grace. And save us all.
For the first time in one Mega-volume: SF legends Spider and Jeanne Robinson's celebrated "Stardance" saga, winner of both the Nebula and Hugo Awards.
Immensely powerful and with technology so advanced it is like magic. We need to talk. But how That's why we keep artists around. Even the failed dancers, whose broken bodies and fierce determination drive them to the weightlessness of space where they still might move with grace. And save us all.
For the first time in one Mega-volume: SF legends Spider and Jeanne Robinson's celebrated "Stardance" saga, winner of both the Nebula and Hugo Awards.
ebook
First published January 1, 1997
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About the author
Spider Robinson
197 books674 followersSpider Robinson is an American-born Canadian Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction author. He was born in the USA, but chose to live in Canada, and gained citizenship in his adopted country in 2002.
Robinson's writing career began in 1972 with a sale to Analog Science Fiction magazine of a story entitled, The Guy With The Eyes. His writing proved popular, and his first novel saw print in 1976, Telempath. Since then he has averaged a novel (or collection) a year. His most well known stories are the Callahan saloon series.
Robinson's writing career began in 1972 with a sale to Analog Science Fiction magazine of a story entitled, The Guy With The Eyes. His writing proved popular, and his first novel saw print in 1976, Telempath. Since then he has averaged a novel (or collection) a year. His most well known stories are the Callahan saloon series.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 11, 2009
I'm really shocked at how positively this is reviewed. I was stunned by the racism in the second book (Starseed) and am surprised no one else has commented on it.
A Japanese character dies in the novel...because she's too polite to tell anyone that she's running out of oxygen. "They say lifeguards in Japan have to be terribly alert, because most drowners there are too self effacing to disturb everyone's wa by calling for help." What? WHAT? WHAT? Our only other named Japanese character drops out because he just can't hack EVA.
Let's not get into Kirra, who falls into the Magical Negro cliche. (The Magical Negro, for those who aren't familiar with the term, is the black person with mystical abilities, patient and wise and closer to the earth, though not as educated as other characters, who is the sidekick to the white hero and whose magic is directed at enlightening the main white character.) And every line of dialogue she has is an Australian cliche! She's the only character who is written in dialect.
And then, THEN we have the evil guy. Who is, of course, Chinese. Couldn't have the WHITE guy in the book be the treasonous, tricksy betrayer. (And the other terrorists in the book? Muslim. Because WHITE PEOPLE don't have terrorists like the IRA.)
Really, at the end, when the main character hallucinates "a tiny Negro in a clown suit" (I kid you not, that is the line, and this book was written in 1991!), it was just the capper.
A Japanese character dies in the novel...because she's too polite to tell anyone that she's running out of oxygen. "They say lifeguards in Japan have to be terribly alert, because most drowners there are too self effacing to disturb everyone's wa by calling for help." What? WHAT? WHAT? Our only other named Japanese character drops out because he just can't hack EVA.
Let's not get into Kirra, who falls into the Magical Negro cliche. (The Magical Negro, for those who aren't familiar with the term, is the black person with mystical abilities, patient and wise and closer to the earth, though not as educated as other characters, who is the sidekick to the white hero and whose magic is directed at enlightening the main white character.) And every line of dialogue she has is an Australian cliche! She's the only character who is written in dialect.
And then, THEN we have the evil guy. Who is, of course, Chinese. Couldn't have the WHITE guy in the book be the treasonous, tricksy betrayer. (And the other terrorists in the book? Muslim. Because WHITE PEOPLE don't have terrorists like the IRA.)
Really, at the end, when the main character hallucinates "a tiny Negro in a clown suit" (I kid you not, that is the line, and this book was written in 1991!), it was just the capper.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 7, 2011
Reread numerous times. Love it so much, that I bought it, again, for my kindle!
October 7, 2022
Triumph. Masterpiece. Classic. Genre-defining. None of these stock phrases go far enough. The Stardance trilogy is simply essential reading, an extraordinary blend of science fiction, dance, romance, Buddhism, and transcendence. I enjoy reviewing books, but I simply can't do these three novels justice. I can't even bring myself to write some kind of personal response to them. The Stardance trilogy must be read to be understood, and it MUST be read.
March 7, 2018
My advice is....DON'T read this book......unless you want to support the Chinese version I just finished translating it into.
October 11, 2015
Of the three books in this omnibus volume, I definitely enjoyed the first the most. That one seemed to have the same sort of ethos as the Callahan's stories, and the same sense of empathy. I felt that that got somewhat lost in the other two volumes and in particular, I found the protagonist of the second book somewhat annoying and difficult to relate to.
The idea of dance and art more generally was quite central (it being the Stardance books, after all) but I've never really been able to appreciate dance to a particularly high level. In particular, I've never found it particularly expressive of abstract concepts, something which is quite central to these books. I guess that's a failure of imagination on my part, though.
It was slightly uncomfortable having Chinese people be the villains across all three books. Admittedly, they were all members of the same family across time, but still, it felt a little uncomfortable to read, but it still felt a little off.
If I were to score each book individually, it would be 4 stars for Stardance, 2 stars for Starseed and 3 stars for Starmind.
The idea of dance and art more generally was quite central (it being the Stardance books, after all) but I've never really been able to appreciate dance to a particularly high level. In particular, I've never found it particularly expressive of abstract concepts, something which is quite central to these books. I guess that's a failure of imagination on my part, though.
It was slightly uncomfortable having Chinese people be the villains across all three books. Admittedly, they were all members of the same family across time, but still, it felt a little uncomfortable to read, but it still felt a little off.
If I were to score each book individually, it would be 4 stars for Stardance, 2 stars for Starseed and 3 stars for Starmind.
September 21, 2007
This trilogy (particularly the second book) brought to life my ideal world. Plus Spider Robinson is really fun to read.
October 25, 2007
just when you thought sci-fi didn't have a heart...
August 5, 2015
The first book was pretty good, but I recall it going downhill from there.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews