Arkwright (edition 2016)

by Allen M. Steele

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281	21	94,925	(3.29)	1
"Written by a highly regarded expert on space travel and exploration, Arkwright features the precision of hard SF with a compelling cast of characters. In the vein of classic authors such as Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke, Nathan Arkwright is a seminal author of the twentieth century. At the end of his life he becomes reclusive and cantankerous, refusing to appear before or interact with his legion of fans. Little did anyone know, Nathan was putting into motion his true, timeless legacy. Convinced that humanity cannot survive on Earth, his Arkwright Foundation dedicates itself to creating a colony on an Earth-like planet several light years distant. Fueled by Nathan's legacy, generations of Arkwrights are drawn together, and pulled apart, by the enormity of the task and weight of their name. This is classic, epic science fiction and engaging character-driven storytelling, which will appeal to devotees of the genre as well as fans of current major motion pictures such as Gravity and Interstellar"--… (more)

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Member:	LisCarey
Title:	Arkwright
Authors:	Allen M. Steele
Info:	Audible Studios, Audible Audio
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Tags:	audiobooks, f-sf, fiction

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Arkwright by Allen Steele

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Showing 1-5 of 21 (next | show all)

This whole book is an homage to the "golden age" of Sci Fi. And in some ways that's nice... but I found myself not liking it more and more because it (perhaps intentionally?) faithfully replicates some of the great weaknesses of "sci fi of a certain age": characters are thin, plot runs and jumps over what are kind of holes, what would be emotional in real life is handled at great remove, etc.

The references to e.g. Asimov and Heinlein are obvious, but others are less so (e.g. to Asimov's Foundation and Sagan's religious anti-project protesters/terrorists) but get to a point where I felt like, "Yes, I get it..."

I'm torn: two stars or three? But forced to pick, I'm saying two. (

)

dcunning11235 | Aug 12, 2023 |

Read the bulk of this but wasn't compelled to finish it. It's Foundation trilogy inspired
(and which the book makes direct references to) but the way it was written makes it easy to give up as you move into later generations, which I did after the second generation. (

)

mvolz | Jul 10, 2022 |

I've been in a reading slump where it's been hard to find anything that really blows my mind or is really awesome. This book was pretty decent, some of it depressing in parts or at least sad. But overall, it didn't thrill me or excite me very much. (

)

pacbox | Jul 9, 2022 |

A science fiction writer during the Golden Age of science fiction writers devotes his considerable fortune to developing a starship to colonize a distant world.This book guest stars most if not all of the GoldenAge writers from Asimov to Williamson. Written like a series of biographies the story chronicles the inception of Arkwright Foundation, the development of its starship and the outcome of colonization effort.The story kept me engaged. While it lacks the action of his Coyote Universe series, it more than makes up for this in the depth of his character development and his knowledge of and use of hard science. (

)

Cataloger623 | Oct 24, 2021 |

Two and a half stars.
I liked the beginning, and the general setup. But one of the main characters was an unsympathetic ass, and I'm tired of anti-religious screeds in my science fiction.
It had its moments, but not enough to redeem the book. (

)

VictoriaGaile | Oct 16, 2021 |

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io9 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the Year (2016)

RUSA CODES Reading List (Winner – Science Fiction – 2017)

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2016-03

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▾Book descriptions

"Written by a highly regarded expert on space travel and exploration, Arkwright features the precision of hard SF with a compelling cast of characters. In the vein of classic authors such as Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke, Nathan Arkwright is a seminal author of the twentieth century. At the end of his life he becomes reclusive and cantankerous, refusing to appear before or interact with his legion of fans. Little did anyone know, Nathan was putting into motion his true, timeless legacy. Convinced that humanity cannot survive on Earth, his Arkwright Foundation dedicates itself to creating a colony on an Earth-like planet several light years distant. Fueled by Nathan's legacy, generations of Arkwrights are drawn together, and pulled apart, by the enormity of the task and weight of their name. This is classic, epic science fiction and engaging character-driven storytelling, which will appeal to devotees of the genre as well as fans of current major motion pictures such as Gravity and Interstellar"--

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