Rogue Ship

Great cover, but a disappointing read. The first half of the book takes us through a century on board the giant ship The Hope of Man, launched from Earth to explore distant galaxies in search of a habitable planet for colonization in order to avoid extinction due to a predicted devastating solar event. The scientists leading the mission had a plan for light speed travel that didn't work out, so the going was much slower than anticipated. As generations pass, the faction that wants to return to Earth and the faction that wants to continue the mission clash, even as less and less people on board have any memory of Earth itself. When they do reach the far-off galaxies, there is some neat stuff around their interactions with the beings on show more the other planets, but for the most part, this is choppy and, honestly, kind of boring writing. The second half spices up a bit after an alien encounter changes the physics of their travel at the same time that a rogue faction takes over the ship. When the ship reappears in an altered space/time state near earth six years after it took off, the ship's owner (a very rich Musk / Bezos type), goes on board to investigate. The science-y discussions of space and time are neat here, but that is about it. Things roll to a conclusion with slightly more interesting characterization throughout the second half, but mega negative points for dismal female characters and treatment of women in general and for ham-fisted points about political systems. That is all a bit par for the course for mid-60s sci-fi, but this one isn't even that fun to read. This was what Van Vogt deemed a "fixup" -- three separate stories mashed together into one novel, and it shows. show less

A pretty good psychological thriller that happens to take place in outer space. And maybe psychological thriller" is not the best description for it - maybe revolution in space would be better. It's a short little volume and explores the various captains of the spaceship Centaurus that is on a multi-decade trip into outer space to find other worlds where humans of a doomed earth can live.

There are sections that deal with the intended takeovers and their discoveries (or demises), others that deal with the ship itself, and still others that describe encounters with alien races. Be warned - it is pretty necessary to pay attention to these latter portions, as they are what cause the various takeovers to occur: how a captain handles one show more fly-by affects his grandson and the man who takes over his grandson's position as captain.

The final section deals with space-time bending at almost-light speed and at faster-than-light speed. The results sound like what I remember from discovering science fiction and good people like Carl Sagan and Neil Degrasse-Tyson being able to explain to an intelligent person how these things work. A physicist may be able to agree or deny the validity of Van Vogt's findings but they make the story possible.

Oh, and if you are interested in female characters - there are no names for any women on board the ship until the last 25 or so pages. It's a product of its times and my thanks are there to the pioneering women who gave women a name and a voice in the late 20th century." show less

After the pain in my ass that was The Battle of Forever, I thought "Hey, you have that other random book by Vogt, let's see if it was just sub-par like you remember it, or if reading that other piece of junk helped you pinpoint all of Vogt's self-indulgent fancies." Can you guess the outcome? It did not make me as violently hateful as The Battle of Forever, but man, I finished this only out of spite.Again, Vogt has good ideas and sometimes a nice theme, but he handles them with all the delicacy and finesse of a turtle gluing bone china back together.

A generational spacehip novel that just crumbles as it progresses. Disappointing. Some might find the science concepts at the end of the novel interesting, but unfortunately, they're merely window dressing .