Starfarers

First in a tetralogy. As such, this is very much "here are the main characters, here is the situation" but the star-faring is for volume 2. They're the crew of the Starfarer so technically the title is not wrong. It's set in the same universe as her young adult novel Barbary. There's no character overlap but both involvethe same O'Neill-style structure and a passing reference is made to the plot of Barbary.

I didn't buy this years ago because the packaging and acknowledgments made it seem like she was doing a variant of her Star Trek adventures in her own universe. That's doing it a disservice. This has more in common with Slonczewski's A Door into Ocean. Women of science dominate the story. It is not as black-and-white as Door -- while show more all the villains and dupes of villains are male, there are good males as well. Sexism seems, in this book at least, to be mostly a thing of the past -- not distant past, but about two generations back.

The focus is on the huge space station cum star ship, how it's constructed, what it's like to live on it, and the community that is forming on it, waiting for their chance to catch a ride on a wandering cosmic string to another star system. Sitting somewhat awkwardly in this not-so-far future is that a new race of altered ocean-dwelling humans has been created and been around long enough to have their own culture. This part feels like Star Trek -- we need an alien on the crew so shoehorn one in. It made more sense on Star Trek.

Recommended for the world-building and quiet feminism, with a caveat that very little happens in this first volume. show less

Superb. Thoroughly enjoyable example of what SF should be like. Interesting characters living in a novel environment with clever technologies in thebackground to support it. A clear inspiration of science and politics commenting subtly on the society around us today. The plot isn't original, it feels very much like a retelling of Greg Bear's famous Eon although it does actually differ substantually in several areas. Where Eon is stilted and badly dated, despite only being written a few years apart, this sparkles with fun characters and a much more relevant political scenario - that is likely to remain relevant in the future too.

Mankind is preparing to visit the stars, a drifting Cosmic String provides the necessary FTL possabilities, show more and at vast expense a giant spaceship consisting of two rotating cylinders has been constructed (this is the bit that feels very Eon-esque). However in the time taken to complete this world-wide project, the political support on Earth has altered. New powers have arisen, and the old powers wish to subvert the new project to helping them maintain the status quo. The scientists on board are not amused. We bounce around between various characters, not a style that usually appeals to me, but it works well enough here. Victoria is our main protagonist part of the alien contact team - just in case - but also physics and astronavigation. Her partners and the relationship between the three of them provide much of the characterisation of the story. SD sauvage is the other principle character. She applied and was declined before being re-invited and nearly declines herself. Only a secret that she learns from the genetically altered divers and the Ocra family around her, allows her to consider the possabilities space offer her. Her last minute acceptance to the program provides plenty of cues for explanations.

The character intereactions are superb, whether it is the lover's banter between Victoria and her family; or the artists and journalists responding to events; or even the Grandparents in Space program to provide stability, all are well crafted with joy and wit, and incitefulness that bring out the vivid descriptions of the world. I'm eager to try out the rest of the quartet and see whether this degree of joy can be continued. show less

This was slower than I expected, but I think that’s a factor of its age and the expectations of the time. There’s a lot of set-up—how they’ve designed the ship and why, who the cast is and what drives them, discussions of the political situation, and so on. It’s sort of a mix between character drama and the Big Dumb Object novel, but there’s also a side plot with some humans artificially adapted to ocean life. Lots of cool science and thinking through that science, and I liked a lot of the characters, but it never felt like the plot had much momentum? Plus it felt very much like McIntyre was constantly setting the sequel.

6/10

Note: I received this as a review copy from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

This is an e-book reprint in omnibus format of Vonda N. McIntyre's Starfarers Quartet, originally published in the late 1980s - early 1990s. In a nutshell, what if first-contact were handled by academics? The research starship named Starfarer has been designed as a university campus under international control, but the US government wants to re-purpose it as a military station. In order to escape this fate, the academics, including the Alien Contact Team, decide essentially to steal the ship. The next three books continue the story with what they find in alien systems, dealing with shortages from having left so precipitously, and the emotional tangles show more from having multiple people in close quarters who don't always necessarily like each other very much.

The science is well-done throughout the books. The environmental concerns of a space-faring community are covered quite nicely, as well as how easily that environment can be disrupted. I can't speak to the hard science of the form of travel, but it certainly seems consistent with what I remember of cosmic string theory in that time (anybody with more current knowledge care to chime in?) The genetics research seems to at least be in line with the time period, and nothing stood out as being too overly dated upon reading in 2011. McIntyre's AI/intranet is a bit dated to anyone familiar with today's social networking, but it still reads as a rather fond retro bit of tech.

On the emotional side of things, it is absolutely wonderful to see so many non-White Male American characters. More authors should try it. Full disclosure, I'm a white female American, so it's entirely possible that someone actually from the cultures discussed in the book might see issues that I don't. Even so, it's refreshing to see such a diverse cast and how that not only doesn't detract from the storytelling, but actually seems to enhance it, allowing the reader multiple perspectives. I found each character's emotional journey to be quite well developed. Sometimes, the journeys felt a bit slow, but that's often the way life works.

While the first book could be read on its own, I wouldn't recommend reading any of the others alone as they are quite dependent on the reader's familiarity with previously-described physical & personality descriptions. The last book ends with something of a cliffhanger as much as the earlier books do, making me wonder if there were meant to be more installments in the series. This is good in the "leave 'em wanting more" school of thought, but it can be frustrating when you realize there isn't more. show less

(This is a review of the 4 book e-book edition.)

As a life-long reader of Science Fiction, I desperately wanted to like the Starfarers series. Colonists in Space is one of my favorite sub-genres when done well -- but sadly, Starfarers is too flawed for me to really enjoy. While I did love the world built in McIntyre's book, neither the compelling setting nor the mechanics and environment of the FTL spaceship were enough to keep my interest when faced with the books' characters.
I found all of McIntyre's main characters self-involved and entirely unlikable, no matter how much she wants to convince the reader that these are fascinating people. And she tries: They're all described as near geniuses, the men are beautiful and headstrong, and show more clearly, they are all meant to be together – and I kept waiting for the implied threats against them to actually happen. If the focus had been a little more on the world and frankly compelling science versus the characters acting like the story should be a romance novel in space, the series would have had a lot more potential. show less

I'd love to read the sequels. There are so many characters that I care about, and I want to learn how they cope with all that's been, and being, changed about their plans and their world.

McIntyre writes one of the kinds of SF that I like. I think that's part of her success as a Star Trek writer. Intelligent, exciting, high stakes, interesting characters... but still not too heavy or challenging.

I wanted to like this more than I did. There's a lot of cool elements to it, and all the structure to be a great story, but... I felt it's better at plot than at characterisation. So many of the characters were so one-note. The antagonists were never allowed to really have good reasons to disagree (or even to be wrong with dignity) and the government was plain evil. The minor characters got to be the Temperamental Artiste, the Possibly-Senile Grandmother, the Hermit Hero, the Dashing Journalist, etc. And the main characters are never wrong about anything of substance.

As set-up for the rest of the series it might work better than as a stand-alone. But as set-up it hasn't really convinced me that I care enough about the characters to read show more more. show less