The Stars Are Also Fire (Harvest of Stars)

This book was twice as long as it needed to be. As he got older, Poul Anderson seemed to need more words to say less. This book is like that. Still a good book for those who like science fiction and who like to think.Late in his career, Anderson seemed to conclude that it is inevitable that eventually humans would become subordinate to man-made creations of artificial intelligence. Many of his books lead to this common conclusion. Anderson plainly views this as depressing, which makes this book a dark and unhappy vision of humanity's destiny. He may be right, but he seemed to be stuck in this groove and unable to think outside of this particular box, at least towards the end.This book epitomizes another Anderson staple: distrust of government. It compares feudal society (the Lunarians) with the ultimate State (the machine-dominated Earth government or, alternatively, the Avantist government that supplants America's present republican form of government.).Despite the above, this book is worth reading, especially if (like me) you are a big Poul Anderson fan. This book is entertaining and imaginative, and worth more than just a look.

This second installment in Anderson's H.O.S. universe takes place about hundreds of years after the first one. Now the world is controlled by benevolent and caring but stifling machine intelligences. Dagney Beynac, a descendent of Anson Guthrie's, and others go on a round the solar system jaunt searching for an elusive secret that she believes is the key to reigniting the passion for exploration that the majority of now-pacified humans had lost in their centuries of being coddled by AI beings. A secret that the AIs and their conglomerated consciousness, the Teramind, will do anything to protect. Really on par with Harvest Of Stars, which means a lot, unless you haven't read HOS in which case you shouldn't be trying to buy this book, because it is a sequel to an equal or better novel.

Anderson has written a fine space opera and a wonderful paean to the human spirit. The characters make the book - they are people that you care about and sympathize with as they struggle with each other and the nature of freedom. The author interleaves two distinct, but ultimately related, plot lines in a story that covers several hundred years and the creation of a new type of Human. The relationship between the competing societies is well done and very credible. The writing style is some of the best I've read in this or any other genre. The ending is somewhat disappointing as the story ends with a whimper, not a bang but is still well worth the read. Recommended